Margaret Thatcher has passed away. Lots of news outlets will now be full of glowing tributes from former colleagues as well as opponents. is there anything more disheartening than watching people you know loathed someone like this be trotted out to pay tribute to a 'great opponent' or 'towering colossus of politics'?
It's not their fault - these are the conventions of politics. we are not supposed to say what we feel lest we cause any smidgen of offence.
I did not like her politics. I did not like her public persona. I did not like her approach to those in need and those who showed compassion for those in need. Saying this does not make me a bad person. I would have said it yesterday when she was alive and I'm saying it today now she's not - the opinions and experience don't change.
She WAS a towering figure i British politics. She WAS a genuine conviction politician. That was her weakness - you have to be able to work with others, to build a consensus, to manipulate coalition situations. Churchill knew this and did it as have many other leading political figures.
So RIP Maggie T, but i will not pretend you were not divisive or that I liked you because you have passed away now. In may ways I imagine she would not thank anyone who pretended otherwise anyway.
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