Today is 'Celebration Day' in the UK. It was created in 2022 as a dedicated opportunity to honour and celebrate the people in our lives, who have since died, yet continue to inspire and influence us. I have to admit that 'Celebration Day' has previously passed me by and I've only become aware of it in the last few days, presumably because the creators have got their advertising act together.
Anyway, having read various contributions by so-called 'celebrities' about people who have died yet continue to be a positive influence on their lives, I started thinking about who I would celebrate. My paternal grandparents, for a start. Jack and May. I keep a photo of them on my desk, one that I took when I was about nine years old and in possession of my first proper Kodak Instamatic camera. They were lovely grandparents. They were interested in us grandchildren, and they were the makers of many memories which I still hold fondly and with a smile today. Grandad died when I was 15 and Gran when I was 21. I wish they had been in my life for longer.
And then I thought of Margaret Thatcher, Prime Minister of the UK between 1979 and 1990. Almost twelve years, which is no mean feat, especially these days. She was leader of the Conservative party for four years before that. I was 13 when she became the first woman prime minister of the UK, and I remember thinking how amazing and momentous this was. To me, she was a role model in professionalism, determination, dignity, and how a woman could succeed in a man's world. As a young woman growing up in a society in which patriarchy ruled - and still does rule - when facing my own problems, I would often think, 'What would Maggie do?'
I still do.
I was upset when she was pushed from office by that unpleasant character, John Major. Seeing her leave Number 10, trying to smile and wave but with tears in her eyes was one of the saddest things I've ever seen. The following general election was the one and only time I didn't vote Conservative.
She was subject to a lot of political aggression. Some people hated her, and thought it was okay to vent that hate by being rude, disrespectful and plain nasty, instead of doing something intelligent like having a measured conversation or coming up with viable alternatives. Plus ça change in modern politics, eh? She always seemed to take this hatred on the chin, though, and as I was a teenager who was bullied, I took courage from her 'chin up' attitude and steely blue gaze.
When she died, aged 87, in 2013, there were people who triumphed in her demise by singing, 'Ding, dong, the witch is dead,' a song from 'The Wizard of Oz' and talking of dancing on her grave. What kind of person does that? Who celebrates the death of an elder stateswoman who did her best to serve her country? Pathetic bully-types, that’s who. And even last Friday evening (23rd May), the BBC had a pop at her through their show, 'Have I Got News For You?' The presenter, Victoria Coren-Mitchell related how the council in Grantham, from where Lady Thatcher hailed, is holding a festival to celebrate her life, as it would have been her 100th birthday this year. It will involve the launching of two new beers, and, continued Coren-Mitchell, '...there will be a variety of events...but no dancing because her grave is elsewhere.'
Just nasty. And what the BBC laughingly call satire.
Today, I celebrate Margaret Thatcher. She remains a hero of mine.
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