Yes, she’s finally dead. She tore apart the country and sold off the family silver. Under her rule, the North-South divide grew larger and people were urged to think only of themselves. Large swathes of the country had their hearts torn from them.
I promised myself that I’d play this on a loop when Thatcher snuffed it and here it is.
Here’s another tune that sums up the moment.
Elvis Costello wrote and recorded this at the height of Thatcher’s rule.
It’s 1322, I may go for a beer. I don’t usually drink during the day but this is a very special day.
Let’s remind ourselves of what happened in 11 years of her misrule.
- The sale of council homes. Councils were forbidden to use their capital receipts to build new homes. We now have the biggest housing crisis since WWII
- The Miners Strike. Subsequent pit closures devastated the communities that grew up around the collieries. The Metropolitan Police served as Thatcher’s private army
- Section 28
- The Poll Tax
- The abolition of the metropolitan counties
- The Falklands War
- The deregulation of the financial sector, which has contributed to the banking issues we see today.
- The widening of the North-South divide
- School league tables
- The wholesale privatization of nationally-owned industries and public services
- The marketization of education
- The Toxteth, St Paul’s, Handsworth and Brixton riots
- The lack of real jobs to replace those lost through privatization
- Anti-union legislation (revenge for 1974)
- Canary Wharf and the rest of the “Enterprise Zones” where people could be paid less and weren’t allowed to collectively bargain for improvements to pay and conditions
- British Rail effectively starved of funding to prepare it for privatization
- Massive cuts to arts funding. Arts and culture reduced to commodities.
- Unqualified support for Pinochet and his repressive regime.
So there you have it. The wicked witch is dead. Now let’s get rid of this shower in power.
Guy Debord's Cat 