THE VIEW FROM HEREWE'LL all be queuing up to see The Iron Lady when it comes out next month, particularly after the publicity it has generated.
Meryl Streep and Margaret Thatcher morphing into an explosive mixture of blockbuster politics and biopic intrusion. Unmissable.
The film is bound to reignite all the passion Mrs T engendered when in office, with her more spiteful detractors oblivious to the fact she is now a frail old lady. Nor do they care about her family, who are quite naturally very distressed by this public portrayal of a decline into dementia.
But her detractors have never really made allowances for anything, least of all that Mrs Thatcher is a human being. Even iron ladies have feelings and some of the outpourings of venom have gone far beyond what is acceptable as political criticism.
There is certainly a strong case for disliking Mrs Thatcher as a politician. Many people just couldn’t stand her, though it would be a foolish person who denied she was an extraordinary woman with fearsome talents, whose influence on both British and world politics was phenomenal.
And she was dedicated. She might frequently have been dedicated to the wrong things but nobody could doubt her determination to do what she imagined was the best thing for the country.
Robust opposition to what she stood for is one thing. But the sheer vicious hatred and murderous incitement which is still in evidence is unpleasant in the extreme.
It wasn’t right when she was in power and it is certainly not right now.
How is it there are screams of outrage when the absurd Jeremy Clarkson makes a feeble joke about the strikers, yet nobody takes any notice when Sunderland Council’s deputy leader uses her Facebook page to say she hopes Margaret Thatcher "burns in hell"?
And what about the website
Maggie’s Dead.com (visit www.maggiethatcher.com) which invites people to "use the flame to burn her as many times as you can"?
Such sentiments are beneath contempt, particularly when they refer to a human soul who is nearing the end of her life. Mrs Thatcher may not have been everybody’s cup of tea but she would never have stooped to being so utterly poisonous and hateful, or launching these kind of half-witted personal attacks.
It may be asking too much of those who get a perverted pleasure out of such malice to desist from adding to the distress already experienced by the Thatcher family. But let’s do our best for Cynthia Crawford, Mrs Thatcher’s former personal assistant and close confidante.
Cynthia has already expressed her misgivings about the film. But, she says, she’ll probably go to see it at her local cinema, wearing "a hat and dark glasses" so as to avoid recognition.
Not a good idea, Cynthia. Who on earth goes to the cinema wearing a hat and dark glasses? You’ll attract instant attention and ridicule in such a peculiar disguise. Hide behind a giant tub of popcorn if you must but ditch the titfer and the shades at all costs.
Virtual title is definitely very bad example
THERE was a jolly incident at last month’s IW Council meeting, when Cllr Colin Richards, who already looks like a fulminating hedgerow, whipped himself into a crescendo of anger at an item in Cllr Dawn Cousins’s report on children’s services and education.
What, Cllr Richards demanded to know, was the meaning of "Our newly appointed virtual head and schools and learning link"? This title, if such it was, made absolutely no sense to him.
Cllr Cousins bristled defensively. The virtual head and schools and learning link was a person, she insisted. His name was Gary Booth. He worked with all the schools, looking after all the children. What was Cllr Richards’s problem?
Cllr Richard’s crescendo exploded into a climax of fury. "It’s not good English!" he yelled. "It’s appalling English!"
And so it is. A council spokesman says Mr Booth is a virtual head because he’s not in charge of one specific school but goes to all of them. It wasn’t explained how he gets around but one imagines as he’s only virtual, he travels in a kind of floaty hologram sort of way.
And, apparently, there are other local authorities with virtual heads, so we’re not alone in this unusual development. As for "and schools and learning link", you can throw those words around as much as you like, they still don’t make any sense.
Despite the definition of "virtual" being "in effect, though not in fact", Mr Booth may indeed be a person and I only hope he is more sensible than his title. But Cllr Richards is right. "Virtual head and schools and learning link" is complete rubbish and a very bad example to the kids.
Let’s just call Mr Booth "Sir".