An Ageing Margaret Thatcher (Image Courtesy of the BBC)Alzheimer’s Disease is a terrible affliction, and I wouldn’t wish it upon anyone. The sight of eighty-seven year-old Margaret Thatcher in the midst of her dementia is not a pretty sight, and her family will be suffering just as much as any other in similar circumstances. The news that Mrs. Thatcher has again been admitted to hospital (for a ‘minor’ surgical problem) will be worrying for her nearest and dearest, who must be bracing themselves for the inevitable, which by the time it happens, may be seen as something of a blessing. However, the old lady’s eventual departure from the mortal world will present the ‘establishment’ with something of a quandary.
There has been much talk recently on the subject according Mrs. Thatcher the honour of a state funeral (paradoxically proposed by Gordon Brown when PM), and plans are apparently already well advanced should the decision be made to go ahead with a public send-off. It seems likely to be a final decision will be made by the current Prime Minister. David Cameron would do well, I believe, to give serious thought to what the repercussions of a state funeral might be.
Cameron only needs to look at what happened at Orgreave during 1984 miners’ strike, or in London itself during the ‘poll-tax’ riots of 1990 for an example of what might happen. Trafalgar Square 'Poll Tax' Riots 1990 (Image Courtesy of the Daily Telegraph)There remains an enormous depth of anti-Thatcher feeling within the communities that were devastated following the collapse of the miners’ fight against pit closures. There is probably as much resentment in the ex-steelmaking areas, too, many of which were equally devastated by the Thatcher government’s anti-working class agenda. After the recent riots of 2011, it’s obvious that public unrest is still simmering. Riots equal to 2011 could easily happen again. Think again Mr. Cameron, because scenes like those, and in Trafalgar Square in 1990, could easily take place again.
Thankfully however, Cameron has only to give one issue a moment’s consideration and a decision will be made for him. The worst aspect of a Thatcher state funeral, would be the sight of her odious creep of a son, Mark Thatcher, making the most of what will probably (and thankfully) be his final occasion in the public eye. No one, whatever their political views, wants that to happen.
