[MK Chris]

I didn't take Ben's post to be celebratory, it could just as easily have been surprise or even sadness.

Ben on Twitter an hour ago:

Thatcher dead! Finally!"

Ben here 30 mins ago:

Is it bad that I don't know exactly what she's done to make us all hate her?

It could be that the 'Finally!' could be an expression of happiness that she's at rest - but given that he doesn't know much about her, I doubt it!

OK, I'll concede that, I hadn't seen his tweet and therefore could only go by his post on here.

She was polorising I'll give you that but the lack of respect she has received from the members here is disgusting. I'd say a lot of the dislike from some of you stems from her being a woman in power. She was a strong woman who at the very least doesn't deserve this sort of reaction to her death.

I don't personally think she deserves respect. There are an awful lot of women who would say the same thing. It's nothing to do with her being a woman and everything to do with her being a horrible *.

I've said this before, but the bottom line is this: if you're dead, it doesn't make you a better person. Therefore, if you were a * and you die, you're just a dead *. I think she was a *.

[chrysostom]

A good summary I saw on an article:

"To her supporters, she was a revolutionary figure who transformed Britain's stagnant economy, tamed the unions and re-established the country as a world power.

Together with US presidents Reagan and Bush, she helped bring about the end of the Cold War.

But her 11-year premiership was also marked by social unrest, industrial strife and high unemployment.

Her critics claim British society is still feeling the effect of her divisive economic policies and the culture of greed and selfishness they allegedly promoted."

[The Deadly]

I didn't take Ben's post to be celebratory, it could just as easily have been surprise or even sadness.

Ben on Twitter an hour ago:

Thatcher dead! Finally!"

Ben here 30 mins ago:

Is it bad that I don't know exactly what she's done to make us all hate her?

It could be that the 'Finally!' could be an expression of happiness that she's at rest - but given that he doesn't know much about her, I doubt it!

OK, I'll concede that, I hadn't seen his tweet and therefore could only go by his post on here.

She was polorising I'll give you that but the lack of respect she has received from the members here is disgusting. I'd say a lot of the dislike from some of you stems from her being a woman in power. She was a strong woman who at the very least doesn't deserve this sort of reaction to her death.

I don't personally think she deserves respect. There are an awful lot of women who would say the same thing. It's nothing to do with her being a woman and everything to do with her being a horrible *.

I've said this before, but the bottom line is this: if you're dead, it doesn't make you a better person. Therefore, if you were a * and you die, you're just a dead *. I think she was a *.

She was a great leader and deserves respect. Stop crying because she took away your milk money.

Your opinion and the way you have put it makes you a *. A massive one at that.

[MK Chris]

As for the woman in power thing, here is a direct quote:

The feminists hate me, don’t they? And I don’t blame them. For I hate feminism. It is poison.

Far from just stealing milk when she was Education Secretary, she tore down playgrounds, sold off the council houses, killed off manufacturing, privatised utilities... I totally disagree that she was a great leader and therefore that she deserves respect.

[chrysostom]

As for the woman in power thing, here is a direct quote:

The feminists hate me, don’t they? And I don’t blame them. For I hate feminism. It is poison.

For the whole quote & context (the article written by one of her advisors 2 years ago was around the failings of feminists for focusing on ideology over achievement):

She said to me: ‘The feminists hate me, don’t they? And I don’t blame them. For I hate feminism. It is poison.’ The feminists opposed her because she disproved all their theory and adages. They never quote her as an example of women’s success in ruling and try to explain away all her triumphs. They hated her successful power-dressing, her extraordinary skill in keeping the hairdo impeccable during the longest and most stressful day (such a contrast to the pathetic Shirley Williams) and her ruthless use of female allure to get her ends. It would be difficult to think of any woman in the whole of history who so obstinately refused to fit into the feminist picture of the ideal woman in power, though Elizabeth I and Catherine the Great of Russia offer strong competition.

[The Deadly]

Barring people that have committed serious, nasty crimes I don't think anyone should be called a * a few hours after they have died. It's extremely disrespectful. I understand the political hatred towards her in some respects but still the woman has just died.

[Wykey]

Margaret Thatcher was a great leader and a truly excellent Primeminister. Anyone celebrating her death should be hung.

Ken Livingstone has put it into far better context than I could have.

"Almost everything wrong with society is her legacy".

[The Deadly]

Margaret Thatcher was a great leader and a truly excellent Primeminister. Anyone celebrating her death should be hung.

Ken Livingstone has put it into far better context than I could have.

"Almost everything wrong with society is her legacy".

And Ken Livingstone is a shining beacon of British political life isn't he?

[MK Chris]

As for the woman in power thing, here is a direct quote:

The feminists hate me, don’t they? And I don’t blame them. For I hate feminism. It is poison.

For the whole quote & context (the article written by one of her advisors 2 years ago was around the failings of feminists for focusing on ideology over achievement):

She said to me: ‘The feminists hate me, don’t they? And I don’t blame them. For I hate feminism. It is poison.’ The feminists opposed her because she disproved all their theory and adages. They never quote her as an example of women’s success in ruling and try to explain away all her triumphs. They hated her successful power-dressing, her extraordinary skill in keeping the hairdo impeccable during the longest and most stressful day (such a contrast to the pathetic Shirley Williams) and her ruthless use of female allure to get her ends. It would be difficult to think of any woman in the whole of history who so obstinately refused to fit into the feminist picture of the ideal woman in power, though Elizabeth I and Catherine the Great of Russia offer strong competition.

You've provided the extra stuff around which someone was explaining why feminists hate her - it added nothing from the mouth of her herself though.

[Wykey]

Margaret Thatcher was a great leader and a truly excellent Primeminister. Anyone celebrating her death should be hung.

Ken Livingstone has put it into far better context than I could have.

"Almost everything wrong with society is her legacy".

And Ken Livingstone is a shining beacon of British political life isn't he?

No idea, what's that got to do with it?

[The Deadly]

Ken Livingstone is a crook and is as hated in some circles as Thatcher is.

[chrysostom]

You've provided the extra stuff around which someone was explaining why feminists hate her - it added nothing from the mouth of her herself though.

The quote originated in that article, I just thought I'd add context to it and why those beliefs were attributed to her. To be honest, I think that everyone can feel how they want about her death - had I have been brought up differently, with different views on financial gain, the state & it's role in encouraging work, or even nationalism then I might see things in a very different way.

[Wykey]

Ken Livingstone is a crook and is as hated in some circles as Thatcher is.

Well I'm sure you think that's relevant, but I'm not sure why.

[The Deadly]

Ken Livingstone is a crook and is as hated in some circles as Thatcher is.

Well I'm sure you think that's relevant, but I'm not sure why.

He has no business commenting on the political integrity of a former leader who has just died. That is the point.

[Wykey]

He didn't.

He stated that almost everything wrong with society is her legacy. Which I think he's more than qualified to do.

Does he have to be mother theresa in order for that opinion to be valid?

[Nicola_Red]

As for the woman in power thing, here is a direct quote:

The feminists hate me, don’t they? And I don’t blame them. For I hate feminism. It is poison.

For the whole quote & context (the article written by one of her advisors 2 years ago was around the failings of feminists for focusing on ideology over achievement):

She said to me: ‘The feminists hate me, don’t they? And I don’t blame them. For I hate feminism. It is poison.’ The feminists opposed her because she disproved all their theory and adages. They never quote her as an example of women’s success in ruling and try to explain away all her triumphs. They hated her successful power-dressing, her extraordinary skill in keeping the hairdo impeccable during the longest and most stressful day (such a contrast to the pathetic Shirley Williams) and her ruthless use of female allure to get her ends. It would be difficult to think of any woman in the whole of history who so obstinately refused to fit into the feminist picture of the ideal woman in power, though Elizabeth I and Catherine the Great of Russia offer strong competition.

I'm a strident feminist and I don't hate her. I disagreed with almost everything she stood for politically, but that isn't the same thing. One doesn't have to identify as a feminist oneself in order to become a role model to other feminists.

[The Deadly]

He didn't.

He stated that almost everything wrong with society is her legacy. Which I think he's more than qualified to do.

Does he have to be mother theresa in order for that opinion to be valid?

Anything that Ken Livingstone says or does has to be questioned. Look at his record.

[Wykey]

Everything everyone says should be questioned.

[Chris]

She helped to invent Mr Whippy ice cream. That alone should be grounds for respect, no matter what did/didn't go wrong afterwards: http://www.mrwhippyicecream.co.uk/the-h ... ice-cream/

[Bruvva]

She helped to invent Mr Whippy ice cream. That alone should be grounds for respect, no matter what did/didn't go wrong afterwards: http://www.mrwhippyicecream.co.uk/the-h ... ice-cream/

Just makes her guilty of inspiring this country's obesity epidemic and, seeing as she inspired the decimation of the health service, she's responsible for people dying of heart attacks because of it.

[bmstinton93]

Maybe I should rephrase, I know that she caused everyone to lose their jobs and I've been brought up in a household that have hated her but besides that I don't know what exactly she did to cause all that.

[Yudster]

Ding Dong.

[MK Chris]

Deadly: this makes some very good points: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree ... -etiquette

[Yudster]

She was no friend of feminism.

[Badger Mark]

Deadly: this makes some very good points: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree ... -etiquette

I agree a lot with that article. The debate you all are having is pretty much identical to what took place in the States when Reagan died. Everyone in the traditional media was saying - "You can't speak ill of him - his body's not even in the ground!" And yet so many of our current problems have their roots in Reagan's two terms as president. Seems to me one should be able to criticize the person's policies and actions during their time in office.