A Marmite character - you loved her or hated her.

Margaret Thatcher was a strong character (her gender is irrelevant) and like all strong characters, she had a somewhat Marmite effect, in that you either love her or hate her. That divide seems to be in place even now, several years after her last term in office.

Whatever you might think of her politics, I have been genuinely appalled by the vitriolic and inappropriate comments from many people I know, and from many that I don’t, in the 24 hours since her passing.  

Many people did not agree with her views and approach and did not vote for her. Many simply weren’t old enough to do so when she put herself forward for election; younger ones may be thinking “Who was she? What’s all the fuss about?” However many did know her and vote for her, and she was a democratically elected leader for this country three times.

Yes, she got things wrong (the poll tax is a key example), but she also got much right. She had more balls than all of her Cabinet put together and more than most people I know when it comes to making difficult but necessary decisions. She successfully defended our overseas territory against a violent invasion from a dictatorship which is still, even now, sabre rattling about it when most men would have given in and tried talking about it interminably and to no effect until it was too late.

She may have lost it and become slightly imperious towards the end (the famous “we are a grandmother” speech), but that shouldn’t detract from the rest of her time in office when she stood by her principles and did what she felt was right or truly believed in. Oh, that our politicians now were so principled!

Let’s not forget that before their back was broken (again, whether you agree with how it was done or not is another issue) the unions held this country to ransom and we had blackouts and many other inconveniences that stopped us living our daily lives. Rubbish piled up in the streets and old people got cold. Since her time, home ownership and a pride in your area and property has radically changed for the better (and it hasn’t led to a shortage of social housing, since the same people were occupying the properties just with a different tenure and it’s local authorities that have stopped building due to cost causing the shortage) and we have become a wealthier nation. Yes, we still have people on benefits and minimum wage, but by and large we are better off one way or another.

But whether you agree with me on all of that or not, let’s not forget that she was a human being who contributed towards making Britain a real player on the world stage as well as being a mother, grandmother and friend to many people who will genuinely mourn her passing. Anecdotal evidence of her private face is that she was a compassionate person who really cared about those around her. Comments such as “tip her down a coal mine” (I paraphrase) which I saw on a recent Facebook post are not only disrespectful but vicious and unnecessary. Those who make them, even in jest so soon after her passing, should be ashamed of themselves.

There’s nothing wrong with an objective analysis of her achievements and also with putting forward an alternative view. That’s what politics and the right to free speech is all about. But don’t cheapen it by vicious, spiteful and pathetic, childish remarks about the woman before she is even cold.

It’s not clever and it’s not funny. And you can almost hear her saying that.