[troutman]

Originally Posted by Reaper

I was tempted to go see Billy Bragg last night just to see what he would say about her during the show.

Oh, Morrissey!

Morrissey Attacks 'Barbaric' Former PM

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2013...?utm_hp_ref=uk

"Thatcher is remembered as The Iron Lady only because she possessed completely negative traits such as persistent stubbornness and a determined refusal to listen to others.

"Every move she made was charged by negativity; she destroyed the British manufacturing industry, she hated the miners, she hated the arts, she hated the Irish Freedom Fighters and allowed them to die, she hated the English poor and did nothing at all to help them, she hated Greenpeace and environmental protectionists, she was the only European political leader who opposed a ban on the Ivory Trade, she had no wit and no warmth and even her own Cabinet booted her out."

"She hated feminists even though it was largely due to the progression of the women's movement that the British people allowed themselves to accept that a prime minister could actually be female. But because of Thatcher, there will never again be another woman in power in British politics, and rather than opening that particular door for other women, she closed it.

Outspoken Morrissey, who recently cancelled a series of shows due to ill health, went on: "Thatcher will only be fondly remembered by sentimentalists who did not suffer under her leadership, but the majority of British working people have forgotten her already, and the people of Argentina will be celebrating her death.

"As a matter of recorded fact, Thatcher was a terror without an atom of humanity," he added.


Billy Bragg offers thoughts on Margaret Thatcher while shopping for pearl-snap shirts in Calgary

http://blogs.calgaryherald.com/2013/...ts-in-calgary/

“I was fortunate enough to be doing a gig in Belfast on the night Thatcher resigned and the cheers of celebration are still ringing in my ears. Now, seven times zones away, the streets of Calgary, Alberta seemed strangely calm at the news of her passing.That was until I wandered into a western outfitters, looking for pearl-snap shirts. The two women who worked there were both from Essex and as soon as they heard my accent we fell into to discussing the ignominy that she and her followers heaped upon our beloved county. I bought a couple of shirts and put the two women on the guest list for the show tonight.”

A little while later, he added:

“This is not a time for celebration. The death of Margaret Thatcher is nothing more than a salient reminder of how Britain got into the mess that we are in today. Of why ordinary working people are no longer able to earn enough from one job to support a family; of why there is a shortage of decent affordable housing; of why domestic growth is driven by credit, not by real incomes; of why tax-payers are forced to top up wages; of why a spiteful government seeks to penalise the poor for having an extra bedroom; of why Rupert Murdoch became so powerful; of why cynicism and greed became the hallmarks of our society.

Raising a glass to the death of an infirm old lady changes none of this. The only real antidote to cynicism is activism. Don’t celebrate – organise!”