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?
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.