Ding Dong, The Wicked Witch Is Dead

The speed and style probably wasn't the best - even if the outcome was inevitable (and needed)

There are many issues not raised often enough - such as funding and wages.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2002/may/27/mondaymediasection.politicsandthemedia
Perhaps it's not the time...

But I have to say, there seems to be one voice missing in recent days.

Analysis: Arthur Scargill's silence over Thatcher death

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-22079887

Kudos?

 

You'll get over it, cobber.

Strewth, plenty of old ladies die in far worse "nursing homes" than the Ritz Hotel. Save your pity for them.


And I think you need to consider that all the street celebraters aren't doing it just to piss you off (nor is their any evidence that they're all unemployed), but its a genuine outburst of joy at grassroot level - something we haven't seen before, in my memory.

It really is a cathartic moment, I think.

You'll get your day on Wednesday, and if you'd like to to contribute something to defray the 8 million pound cost of the state funeral to UK taxpayers, I'm sure it'll most welcome. Send to: 10 Downing Street, London.

Meanwhile, back at the party...


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ikhRGrJReJ8"]MARGARET THATCHER DEAD!! Brixton Celebrates Party - Ghost Town - YouTube

 

Those who were there, through the times of despair,
Can never forgive, of the things with no care,
Many affected of working class ilk, and lets not forget - she removed a childs Milk,
Now she is gone, there are those who will cheer, a party, a glass or a bottle of beer,

It's easy to look at the Good things she did, and how much sorrow also done that's now hid,
Thatcher's children now grown focused / have a plan, to overcome others regardless of other woman, or man,
Leaders of Bank, and in Parliment they be - and there lies an example that we can all see,

Out went the unity, of family kin, said with a smile, and surly patronising grin,
"Look out for yourself and put yourself first in your head"
"Though you don't like it, take your medicine" she said
The break up of relationships, No cash and lost jobs,
'cept those "in the cliche'" of the rich and the snobs,

Time they say heals. many things in the past,
But some things there done, will see many memories last,
To some she was strong, striving for 'Brittania' lead,
Though to the working class heroes, arrogant, dismissive promoting the benefits of Greed.

 

During the 1970s when the mines were open and the miners had jobs, we had lots of power cuts, people stocked up on candles and blankets and sat in the dark in the cold this happened quite a bit .
Now those mines are all closed their communitys dead those miners either retired or moved on to other things we don't have power cuts .
Talk to someone who lived in the uk during the 1970s I did

you had a three day week thats where they didnt have enough coal because of industrial action by miners to run power stations, and all the other business's could only run for 3 days out of 7 .

you had at least 3 governments before thatcher that were defeated by strikes including a labour government, in fact thatcher took 5 years before she had a showdown with the miners, although they started drawing up plans when heath got defeated by strikes .

yup the mines were closed communitys were destroyed but when they were open they blackmailed the country for at least a decade.

Be interesting if any of you guys were trying to run a business that was hit by secondary picketing, or was forced to close because there was no electric, and this went on for years strike after strike whether you would still hate the person who stopped all that .

Some things she did I didnt agree with the battle of the beanfields, the poll tax, but the main thing people voted her in for which was stopping strikes and the country being held to ransom she did .

There was something like a 25% swing to the conservatives in 1979 during the winter of discontent, people started voting for her because of tha action of the left and unions she would never have been elected if it wasnt for the winter of discontent .

 

Why not?

 

Do you know, that's the one thing I cant complain about - never liked the school milk. I found out much later that I'm slightly lactose intolerant.

Nice verse, though.

 

Really, years ? I dont recall power shortages being a major issue, I'm sure we didn't even get a day off school for them.

On the subject of work, during the 1980s I was working in horticultural labouring, which had a minimum wage guaranteed by the Agricultural Wages Bord... hardly high wages, I was getting about 2.50 an hour.

Thatcher abolished that wages board - wages dropped. I couldn't afford to work there anymore. We didn't have a union - I wish we had.

I was lucky in that I managed to get work immediately in a warehouse, which wasn't great but was at least well paid. For a while...Thatcher's end-of-the-1980s depression caught up, and it was goodbye again. The company, formerly a nationwide competitor in its market, went bust early on because it supplied the building trade...always the first to go.

No unions involved here, either.

Ever since then, the longest job I've had is 14 months, but most have been in the 3 - 6 month range. We now live in a society where there is little chance of anything like permanent work of any meaningful kind.

All this is, I believe, a result of anti-union policies.

And as for unions holding the country to ransom...as I noted before, I'm now being held to ransom by a French-owned water company, German-owned local transport, etc.

Is that any better ? I might wonder, when I'm trying to get through to the water board,who used to have an office in the town centre, but now I have to grapple with some guy in a call centre in Delhi who says his name is Gerald, but I bet its not really. But hey, he's much cheaper than someone in Britain.

Crushing the unions ushered in an era where the rich few get to make the money off the backs of as few workers as they can get away with.

The rest will be unemployed, and blamed for a situation they had little say in , and pusnished for it.

The crushing of the unions did not usher in a bright future of milk, honey and opportunity. Quite the opposite.

And I guess that was probably the plan all along.

 

what your talking about could be a result of globalization and no tarrifs, I'm not sure what the left or unions would have done about that .

We had strikes for years, would thatcher have been able to crush the union if she hadn't been elected, she was a minister of the heath govt that was brought down in 1974 by the miners, the plan they used to defeat the miners was written then by nicholas ridley http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ridley_Plan

10 years before the 1984 miners strike that destroyed the miners, if the miners hadnt brought down heath and then callaghan they most likely wouldnt have been so keen to destroy a entire industry

 

Let the poor lady rest in peace ... God rest her soul.

 

I stopped reading here. You obviously didn't grow up in an ex-mining community. I did. They didn't move on to other things. When you're stuck in a village in the countryside with very little industry or opportunity and no skills or other experience you don't move on easily, you go on benefits and rot. I'm sure a few managed to move to a city and make it somehow, but from my experience they're the rare few. If you've got a mortgage and young mouths to feed you can't just start over at the age of 45 without it really heavily affecting your household. If anything, the community becomes more tightly-knit out of a need to help and comfort eachother during such hard times.

Such flippancy about the matter is short-sighted to say the least jonny. As I was growing up the effects were still being felt all around me.

 

She never quite had the class and the necessary arrogance of people like Churchill.

 

Well maybe it could, except that I specifically said that the Thatcher government abolished the Agricultural Wages Board, so workers in that industry no longer had even the guarantee of minimum wage which was particularly low even for those days

So your boss can now come along quite legally cut your wages. Like you, I dont know what the left could have done about it, but I was left in no doubt what the right did do. And I still resent that.

They - the government - didn't have to do it - they chose to.

And by doing so, created a situation where I really would have been better off on benefits, had I not lucked into a new job almost immediately.

My reference to wishing I'd been in a union...well, it should be self-evident - support. Not feeling utterly alone and helpless in the face of market forces. Knowing that no matter how hard you worked - and it was hard work - your labour is now worth less than it was last week.

Incidentally, the bosses in that industry have their own union, the National Farmers Union, which gives the lie to any assertion that all unions are naturally left-wing.

 

When?

http://www.birketts.co.uk/resources/legal-updates/1339/the-demise-of-the-agricultural-wages-board/

 

Actually, the BBC has taken the cowardly route of refusing to play the full song. Now they're just going to play a 5 second clip of it in some sort of news broadcast instead. Shame really....


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-21241791

 

The Media are having a field day showing the Left as cruel gloating sneering 'protesters' disrespecting the death of an old lady . This could be a real own goal for the left-handing the moral high ground to the Right ! I believe that Thatcher would have loved the partys,the Single ect. If you are into partying or 'protesting' try to keep it tasteful and not act up for the cameras ? Think you can fucking manage that ?

 

It might be a little late for that Anyway, how is that possible?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ikhRGrJReJ8"]MARGARET THATCHER DEAD!! Brixton Celebrates Party - Ghost Town - YouTube

 

fuck tooth whitening.. that shit is pretty funny tho.

 

Agreed...although I for one wouldn't discount the possibility of agent provocateur action if things dont look look they're going to kick off. Dont forget how the police dealt with royal wedding protesters, even those gathered a long way from the event.

Personally, I always think surrealism beats violence every time. Maybe people should dress up as zombies with customised Thatcher, Cameron, IDS, etc masks, stuff like that.

That said, here's some protest/party news - be careful (and clever) out there...

Resistance to austerity could explode back into life this weekend with protests and civil disobedience planned across the UK and all topped off by the long awaited Thatcher Death Parties in Trafalgar Square and elsewhere.

UK Uncut will begin the day by declaring “Who wants to evict a millionaire?” and taking anti-austerity to the doorsteps of the rich. Creative protests are planned in central London, Chelmsford, Brixton, Manchester and Birmingham to highlight the upcoming bedroom tax set to plunge over half a million people into immediate destitution.

To join the central London event meet at 11.30am, Kings Cross station, main concourse, Saturday 13th April., full details on at: http://www.ukuncut.org.uk/actions/1007

Anti-workfare protesters will also be out this weekend with demos targeting Homebase amongst others in Wood Green and Bristol on Saturday 13th and Bath and Haringey on Sunday 14th.

Then at 6pm thousands of people could descend on Trafalgar Square after a nasty attempted smear campaign by the right wing press turned the Thatcher death gig into the hottest show in town. The long advertised party called by Class War to celebrate the death of the old crow has been splashed across the newspapers in the last couple of days – meaning that the rejoicing should be plentiful in the Square from 6pm on Saturday 13th April. Many more celebrations are planned on Saturday around the UK, please feel free to leave links in the comments.

Source- The Void
http://johnnyvoid.wordpress.com/201...rts-to-rot-let-the-seeds-of-resistance-bloom/

 

To become electable we should be showing some dignity & restraint, The austerity protests are valid but placed alongside this hysterical celebration of Thatchers demise you know that the press will use it against us & relevant current issues will be tarred with the same brush. Theres real sympathy out there for our causes & we're happy to risk that for what? We didnt beat Thatcher 30 years ago and now shes kicking our arses again because in our childish celebrations the Left is shooting itself in the foot-again! The Right are laughing up their sleeves at us.

 

Dont mind me asking, but who is this "we" who should become electable by... electable to what ? That sounds a little too much like the road taken by career politicians (those with no real experience outside of politics) like Blair or Miliband, who would fit in pretty seamlessly into any of the major parties by trying to be all things to all men - well, the middle classes anyway. More men and women in suits and strange haircuts.

And instead of decrying the Thatcher Dead celebrations, shouldn't politicians wonder why its happened and that maybe, just maybe, there is a lesson to be learnt here ?

When was the last time anything like it happened in British society ? I said before that I think that for many people - thousands, millions even, its a genuine catharic moment. The wickid witch IS dead, we CAN move forward. But not very far, I suspect, playing by the rules laid down by people in power who intend to remain the people in power.

Thing to remember - on Wednesday the pro-Thatcher faction will be holding their celebrations. It'll be costing the nation a hell of a lot more money than the grassroots ones.

:bobby: PS - Did you know that Ebay has started censoring Thatcher Dead badges ? Luckily I got my order in before it was taken down.

Funny, really, because I always thought one of the main tenets of Thatcherism is that everything is to be exploited, everything is for sale.