Jo Erickson
Controversy followed her in life and it still follows in her death. Former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher battled the country’s recession by initially raising interest rates to control inflation. She was best known for her selling off Britain’s traditional industries, her attacks on labor organizations such as the miner’s union and for the massive privatization of social housing and public transport.
One of her staunchest allies was U.S. President Ronald Reagan, a fellow conservative. The two shared similar political philosophies, and both had or will have state funerals, the only difference is that that many members of Parliament (PM’s) Trade Unionist, Foreign Prime Ministers and activists will boycott her funeral.
On April 17, Baroness Margaret Thatcher’s funeral procession will be paraded through the streets of London and the funeral service will be held at St Paul’s Cathedral. The state funeral guest list will include: HRH Queen Elizabeth II, the royal family and international politicians like Hillary Clinton, German PM Angela Merkel and other state officials.
Absent from the list is Argentina President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner. Parliament decided that the Falkland War issue would cloud the day, and therefore Argentina’s PM name, so officials were omitted from the guest list.
“What do I care if I’m not invited somewhere that I wasn’t planning on going?” said Argentina President Cristina Fernandez.
Many U.K. politicians are also boycotting the state funeral. MP Glenda Jackson announced in Parliament her disgust at spending a huge amount of taxpayer’s money on a prime minister she describes as “The first Prime Minister of female gender, OK. But a woman? Not on my terms.”
Ms. Jackson added, “I was meticulous in not being personally rude. I didn’t know the woman: I did know the policies. I spoke up because history has been rewritten over the past week. I lived through the Thatcher period. I know what it was like. I know what it was like for my constituents. The reality bore no resemblance to what’s being presented.”
Protesters plan to line the streets by St. Paul’s Cathedral on Wednesday so they can “turn their backs” on Baroness Thatcher’s casket. Nearly 3,000 people have joined the Facebook group “Maggie’s Good Riddance Party,” which claims it will hold a “right jolly knees up” outside St. Paul’s Cathedral on the day of Baroness Thatcher’s funeral.
In recent days, police intelligence, Scotland Yard and the Metropolitan police have been put on high alert for threats and riots.
“The authorities in London are prepared for rioting as people “celebrate” the death of Margaret Thatcher” warned Boris Johnson, the Mayor of London. He added that protesters who break the law during the street parties will be “properly dealt with.”
Anarchist groups have warned of more mass protests on Saturday, with 2,000 to 3,000 people expected to attend. There are events at 25 locations across the U.K. that are being organized by a group called Class War, with the help of other organizations, such as the All London Anarchist Revolutionary Mob, which says it is “committed to radical action to undermine the state.”
The news of the death of Baroness Thatcher was met with a variety of reactions, many officials, MPs and heads of states expressed their sadness of the news, while on the streets of London, Manchester and Glasgow, activists and average citizens were chanting the song “Ding-dong the witch is Dead” to the news of Margaret Thatcher’s death.
Today, that song, which has rocketed into the Top 40 following a Facebook campaign set up by Thatcher critics, has climbed from obscurity to the U.K. Top 10 charts.
The Judy Garland version of the Wizard of Oz song has already reached No. 1 in the iTunes download chart and is on course to be the shortest Top 10 single of all time (with the most popular version running to just 51 seconds) and the only sub-60 second single to make the Top 10.