I had lunch this week with a wise business associate who has a mantra that I have decided to adopt. The mantra is: ‘Don’t get emotional,’
I’ve been really trying but each day, there’s been a new Thatcher moment to, ahem, challenge me.
ARA General Belgrano (Photo credit: Armada Argentina)
Today I hear that the funeral is going to have a Falklands theme.
Now I remember the Falklands. I remember a sunny Saturday morning, sitting on the grey-carpeted floor, listening to the radio. There was a broadcast from the House of Commons. The heated debate was about the sovereignty of the islands and was the lead-up to war being declared.
I remember thinking that the whole world had just gone insane. Or was it just me?
I remember the riots and thinking how the Falklands seemed like a good way of distracting disaffected people. And I remember the blanket shut down on news coverage at the beginning of the war – until we were winning. And I remember the jingoism and the news headlines which really did say, ‘Gotcha, Our Lads Sink Gunboat’ – when 1200 people drowned.
And it wasn’t just the red-tops. I remember the so-called quality press ranting about the humiliation of the invasion and how Argentina wouldn’t have dared to invade the islands 150 years ago – ignoring the inescapable logic of the 150 year gap.
This round of idolising Thatcher is making me think the world has just gone insane again.
Or is it just me?
merlenygate 
I think it’s the world that’s one quite insane. I cannot believe what goes on–is it just “these days?” Or…was it always true and simply not that immediately known? Try to have a good weekend–relish the good in the world
Thanks. Lovely to hear from you. Actually besides the current Thatcher bonkersness which is distressing, I think there are a lot positives about where we are in terms of mutual respect and tolerance. I think some sectors have always attracted the wrong sort – like politics. I saw some great prints recently by Hogarth and people who seek power tend to be of a type.