When the time comes, should Margaret Thatcher be given a full state funeral

[sp1814]

You could argue that there's a precedent (Churchill), who led the country to victory in a 20th century war.

Two opposing stories, and their responses from the Daily Mail, show that there might be some division in the way her demise may be percieved:

http://www.dailymail....-worried-frailty.html

http://www.dailymail....Maggie-grave-man.html

[Arti]

Hitler became Chancellor of Germany in 1933. Winning is not really a measure of a decent person.

[Mick-Talbot]

mrs_overall ...and she gave those Argentinians what for!


did she? what was she mrs o, a Royal Marine?

[Mosaic]

Do we have to wait till she's dead?

[dotty.]

She should be left to live out her years in peace but I would totally be against a state funeral for her, she is unworthy of that accolade.

[Arti]

lol, mos. Cruel, but funny.

[Gromit]

No. The two do not compare, not even slightly. Rather than unite the country she was very divisive. She is as much hated now as she is exalted by others.

[sp1814]

I am against according her a state funeral, but strangely, if it happened, it wouldn't really bother me, because I was largely unaffected by Tory policies in the 80s (personally I've benefitted financially and socially much more by some of Roy Jenkins' policies in the 60s and Tony Blair's in the 90s).

However, I have a nasty feeling that if she WERE given a full state funeral, it would open a number of wounds which we all thought had healed.

Dunno - maybe there's a compromise between a public and private ceremony?

Also - notice that this is a subject which really divides people?

[Gromit]

I would be in favour of a burial at sea.

[Mick-Talbot]

I always remember her smug face telling us to rejoice in the news that HMS Conqueror had sunk the Belgrano.

I can not remember her facing the cameras a few days later when, HMS Sheffield was sunk, she sent out her puppet to tell us.

[Arti]

I remember a docudrama a few years ago (I think it was Lindsey Duncan as Thatcher) and she cried when she heard about HMS Sheffield. Yeah, right, course she did!!

[Kromovaracun]

"No. The two do not compare, not even slightly."

True. She does, however, compare to Gladstone (who received a state funeral) in terms of her impact etc.

(note: I am against it. But I think the Churchill argument doesn't work - in terms of her status as a politician, she is perfectly consistent in the line of people who have been offered state funerals).

[sp1814]

Interesting point (re: Gladstone).

For clarification, the following received a state funeral:

Admiral Robert Blake (1657)
Sir Isaac Newton (1727)[3]
Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson (1806)
Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington (1852)
Henry Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston (1865)
Charles Darwin (1882)
The Rt Hon. William Gladstone (1898)
Frederick Roberts, 1st Earl Roberts of Kandahar (1914)
Douglas Haig, 1st Earl Haig (1928)
Edward Carson, Baron Carson (1935)
The Rt Hon. Sir Winston Churchill (1965)

I'm not sure that Thatcher can be ranked alongside Gladstone, Chruchill, Darwin and Sir Isaac Newton...but then again, I'm sure her supporters would strongly disagree.

Think I'll remain sitting on the fence on this one.

[Kromovaracun]

You're not including people like Disraeli who were offered them but didn't accept.

While different, Thatcher is easily comparable in her impact and status as a political heavyweight to Gladstone (who it's true was a much longer-term figure in British politics but is easily of comparable long-term influence in terms of bureaucracy, ideology, economics etc.)

As I've made clear before, I'm (broadly speaking) a supporter of Thatcher, but I am against a state funeral. I'm just saying I can understand why people think she deserves one.

[Kromovaracun]

(And come to think of it, while she's clearly not as deserving as him, she's also probably of equivalent levels of contemporary controversy as Charles Darwin...)

[cc1]

I think she deserves it but it shouldn't happen, let's not give the great unwashed anymore "excuses" for a riot.

[sp1814]

cc1

I think you may have hit upon something there...no doubt if there were a state funeral, there's a strong possibility of an 'anti-Thatcher' demo being organised which would detract from the official ceremony.

[modeller]

I don't believe in state funerals for politicians. Churchill was different in that he inspired the nation in 1940 when we were looking at a possible invasion and we were alone in the world . He also kept it up for the following 5 years. He also warned us against the Russians . How right he was.
Maggie Thatcher saved us from the tyranny of the trade unions when we were known as the sick man of Europe and we had lost most of our industry . She also enabled millions of working class people to own their own homes despite intense opposition from the unions and the Labour Party. She also brought down the national debt to the lowest level since WW I. compare that with the massive debt left by Blair /Brown . Churchill and Maggie were needed at their time in history and deserve to be recognised as such .
Churchill had a single task , winning a war ( even then the unions called strikes ) but Maggie had to save the peace , a much more difficult task.

[anneasquith]

no

[I.Don No]

As a parent of small children when that women entered 10 Downing Street I will not shed one tear when she finally dies. She did more to harm this country that any contemporary I can think of and she did not do it alone. Though she gained power I never came across anyone who would say that they actually voted for her, even though a great majority of voters voted against her.

I do not wish her personal harm and it will be very sad for her family and friends when she does leave this world but many people will not be unhappy at her passing.

She divided and spoiled this country and does not in any way deserve any more tax pounds spent on her.

[The-HouseHusband]

Why should she have a state funeral, that would be like dancing on the graves of all those that she sent to their death in 82 because of false economy.

Plus why should the people of the country have to fund what would be a pathetic waste of money in times of severe cutbacks.

State funerals should be for the ruling monarch and their close family.