"A 19th Century Barbara Cartland."

A couple of articles by feminist writers have criticised the likely appearance of Jane Austen on Bank of England notes in the near future and the general lack of women on the notes.

Austen is apparently not radical enough, a 19th century Barbara Cartland, whose place should be taken by someone more radical like George Elliot or Mary Wollstoncraft.

They've got a point, we need a more radical female on the £10 note than Austen. Someone who upset the apple cart, tore down gender barriers and accomplished more than most men in her position. We do of course need Margaret Thatcher on the tenner.

Oddballs & Misfits.

It is worth remembering that despite the disproportionate attention given to a collection of misfits and oddballs who are celebrating the death of Margaret Thatcher- it really is a tiny number of people.

They have a lot in common with Fred Phelps of the Westboro Baptist Church who protest at the funerals of soldiers and gays. Like Phelps they represent no wider movement.

The agenda of the press in giving them such coverage is worth considering- the left is probably trying to make her appear more hated than she was, the likes of the Daily Mail are trying to hype something up so they can be outraged at it.

90% of prominent left wing figures that I have heard of have been respectful, 90% of lefties I know personally have been respectful. That isn't to say that they liked her but normal people can tell the difference between an opponent and someone to hate.

Secondly it is worth remembering that while politicians are inherently divisive, Lady Thatcher is not unpopular as this poll in the Guardian from September demonstrates:

Out of 20 national figures, Thatcher was the second most respected, only Boris Johnson beat her.

The least respected figure on the list, George Galloway, is one of the oddballs and misfits I mentioned earlier (as well as being an antisemitic totalitarian crook) . Galloway isn't divisive of course, everyone is united in thinking he's a twat.

These "celebrations" are about thuggery and intimidation- trying to dominate the public space for one fringe outlook.

Judging Lady Thatcher By Her Enemies.

Gerry Adams, Arthur Scargill, General Galtieri, Saddam Hussein, Slobodan Milosevic, George Galloway, Tony Benn, Ken Livingstone, Billy Bragg, Vanessa Redgrave, Bobby Sands, Yuri Andropov, Ted Heath, Morrissey......

Legacy: Margaret Thatcher

1. Confronting the Unions. They were literally subverting parliamentary democracy by refusing to allow elected governments they didn't like to function. After bringing down the Heath government they had shown that they were intent on making Britain ungovernable.
2. Winning the Falklands War. There is some justified criticism of her government for lowering the defences of the islands prior to the invasion but the resolute manner in which she conducted the war was a huge success. It was also done with great competence. The Argentinian junta collapsed after this and most of Latin America democratised from this point onwards.
3. Privatising public utilities. It used to take months or even weeks to have a phone line put in, the modern world would not be possible in a pre-Thatcher Britain.
4. Defending Salman Rushdie. Rushdie was a horrible little man who sneered at her, but when the Iranian Ayatollah's put a bounty on his head for his supposed blasphemy her government responded forcefully by offering him protection and breaking off relations with Iran. An awful lot of politicians of the time tried to justify Muslim anger.
5. Confronting Saddam Hussain. She stiffened George Bush resolve after Saddam invaded Kuwait.
6. Big Bang. Unpopular now but still the right thing to do.
7. Cutting marginal tax rates. 
8. Ensuring a peaceful but positive resolution to the Cold War. She was not the main figure in this but she certainly played a role.
9. Humiliating terrorists- her performance after the Brighton Bomb was simply masterful.
10. Winning the rebate from the EU. Refusing to bow to the Hunger Strikers was also impressive.
11. Inspiring British Euroscepticism- her Bruges speech was the inspiration for the new wave of Tory Eurosceptics who helped ensure Britain didn't join the Euro.
12. The Police and Criminal Evidence Act. I hadn't considered how revolutionary this was before today but it was.
13. Speaking out about the genocidal policies of Slobodan Milosevic. She was out of office by then but it was welcome nonetheless.
14.  Being the first elected woman leader of a major Western country. This aspect has been overplayed a bit today but it is still a big achievement.
15. Agreeing the peaceful transfer of Hong Kong to China. This was about the best deal that could have been achieved.
16. A very good environmental record- acting fast to recognise that action was needed to be taken to protect the Ozone layer for example. Her views on global warming were also correct and prescient. 
17. Creating soft scoop ice cream. This was before she entered politics but a legacy in itself.
18. Keeping the lunatics out of power. In the 1980s the alternative to Thatcher was Foot and Kinnock.
19.  Building a strong alliance with the USA that was neither subservient- when they disagreed such as during the Falklands she stood up to them- nor confrontational.
20. Reforming employment laws.
21. Enraging the Guardian even 23 years after leaving office.

Although there were a  handful of things she got wrong especially in her final years in office such as the poll tax and joining the ERM, she was a far better leader that we have any right to expect.

The Greatest

RIP Lady Thatcher.

Death Celebrations- A Guide

Wrong: Celebrating the death of Osama Bin Laden.

Right: Celebrating (in advance) the death of Margaret Thatcher.

Labour Comedy Evening

Apparently fantasising about murdering Margaret Thatcher is guaranteed to raise a titter at Labour & Union gatherings, especially when it's done by a man who enthusiastically praises an organisation that actually did try to murder her.

The thing is I can't imagine anyone making a "joke" like that at a Tory gathering about a leading left wing figure and receiving applause for it, and it was applause McDonnell got not laughter.

Whilst I certainly hope we don't see Mr McDonnell being charged with anything, the fact that such unhinged hatred is so widely accepted on the left is telling. In fact this sort of hatred is so ingrained that they can't see anything wrong with it, so for example Sunny Hundal believes that it is comparable to Daniel Hannan arguing that we should have a different form of health care provision. I don't follow that line of reasoning either. In fairness his response is at least better than the complete silence by the rest of the left.

Not a single Labour leadership rival has condemned him for his remarks either which tells you how they judge the likely reaction within the Labour Party to the sentiments he expressed.

Via Obo.

Elderly Woman Who Retired Two Decades Ago Responsible For All World's Ills.

Maggie to blame for:

• The credit crunch.
• Children trying to kill children.
• The fact that current artists are so shit (I paraphrase).

Is there anything beyond her powers?

Derek Hatton Is Still Alive!

I would advise against getting worked up about the rantings of 80s throwback Derek "Deggsy" Hatton about Lady Thatcher:

He told the Cyprus Mail: "The worst thing that happened was Thatcher's mother didn't get an abortion," adding: "You can quote me on that word for word, in fact I would like that."

She swatted aside his fantasies of turning Liverpool into some kind of People's Republic so he is understandably bitter. Besides which it would seem churlish for a Thatcher supporter to be angered by the man who did so much to ensure that she remained in power, by making Labour about as appealing to prospective voters as the Gary Glitter School for Girls is to prospective parents.

The only reason for even mentioning the story is to have a look at what the great socialist revolutionary is now doing to fight capitalism:

Mr Hatton was expelled from the Labour Party by Neil Kinnock in 1986 for being part of the hard-left Militant Tendency. He is now a property developer in Cyprus.

Quote Of The Day.

John Derbyshire in NRO's Corner:

I'm thinking of another election 29½ years ago, when Margaret Thatcher swept into power in the U.K. As I recall, there was no great fuss one way or the other about her being the first female Prime Minister. Those of us who supported her just knew she had the right stuff, and so she did.

If the first female Prime Minister had been someone lesser, especially someone from out in left field — Barbara Castle, say — that likely would have been a disaster, and a great many people would have concluded that electing a woman Prime Minister had been a really bad idea.

It is of course a great thing that we are (it seems pretty certain) electing a black President. It's just a crying shame it had to be this shallow, empty man, who has never shown a flicker of interest in wealth creation, whose head is stuffed with all the vapid nostrums of 1980s student leftism, and who seems — putting the most charitable construction on it — not to mind the brazenly thuggish tactics of his supporters.

I'd gladly join in the cheering and self-congratulation of our nation's first black president, if it were a person of the caliber of Margaret Thatcher. This guy is just Jimmy Carter lite. Way lite — ol' Jimbo had at least run a business and served in the military.

I suppose I should try and find something less depressing to write about.

Maggie! Maggie! Maggie! Out! Out! Out!

Over at CiF, Robert Reiner uncovers the person who is really responsible for Ian Blair's downfall.

So yet another thing to thank the Iron Lady for.

'The prime culprit is the neoliberalism launched by Reaganomics and Thatcherism. This generated enormous criminogenic pressures, because of the social tsunami flowing from unemployment and inequality, and the egoistic amoral culture with which it went hand-in-hand: economic and moral laissez-faire'.

??????

Guardian Writer Says Something Silly.

Josh Freedman Berthoud writes at Comment is Free about the recent outbreak of youth violence in London. Can you guess who's fault it is?

Thatcher's children

The unfettered individualism which permeated British society in the 80s also fuels our violent gang culture.

It's an odd thing the supposed Thatcherite crime wave which began about ten years before she came to power. Another strange thing is that despite 'unfettered individualism' being the cause of violent crime, it is the militantly anti-Thatcher Scotland which has the highest rates of violence, including murder, in the UK wheras the comparatively Thatcherphile England which has a very low murder rate.

Scotland has the second highest murder rate in western Europe and Scots are more than three times more likely to be murdered than people in England and Wales, according to a study by the World Health Organisation.

The study, based on the latest crime figures from 21 western European countries, finds that only Finland has a higher murder rate than Scotland.