Glasgow leads parties to ‘mark Thatcher’s death’

WORDS on Margaret Thatcher’s passing will run into the millions. But only STV has the apparent scoop that her son Mark Thatcher has also died.

In other news, over 300 people massed in Glasgow to celebrate the former Prime Minister’s death.

Such potential political forces in Britain as the Anti-Bedroom Tax Federation, the Communist Party, the Socialist Party, the Socialist Working Party, the International Socialist Group gathered in Glasgow’s George Square to rejoice in the news that an 87-year-old woman had had a fatal stroke.

Joshua Brown from the Unite the Resistance movement, said: “We’re having a great time, down here. We have banners, placards, a sound system — there’s a real celebratory atmosphere!”

Mrs T. revitalized British pop music:

Musical responses to Thatcher came in three varieties. There were songs that took a hard look at the country, especially during the early 1980s recession and the Falklands war: the aimless dispossessed of Ghost Town, the conflicted dockworker of Shipbuilding, the struggling poor of A Town Called Malice, the despair-poisoned citizens of the The’s Heartland. There were the character assassinations: Crass’s incandescent Falklands response How Does It Feel to Be the Mother of 1,000 Dead (quoted to the lady herself at Prime Minister’s Question Time), the Blow Monkeys’ somewhat premature (Celebrate) The Day After You, Morrissey‘s Margaret on the Guillotine and Elvis Costello‘s venomous Tramp the Dirt Down.

I could name dozens more but there are hundreds in the third category: whole careers, like that of the Smiths, implicitly underpinned by opposition to Thatcherite values. Look at the long list of people who played benefit gigs for such causes as the miners’ strike or Red Wedge and you’ll find such seemingly unlikely names as Wham! and Spandau Ballet’s Gary Kemp.

Elvis Costello is on guitar:

Next up, shoegazers:

And The Beat:

Photo: Margaret Thatcher holds up a “I love Maggie” t-shirt at the Conservative Party Conference exhibition in Blackpool.

On twitter Colchester Labour councillor Tina Bourne posted a photo of bottle of champagne and the message: “Chin chin everyone.”

And in Brixton, London, someone most likely not born when Maggie Thatcher rose to power celebrates her death.

George Galloway, the – irony of ironies – Respect MP for Bradford West wrote on Twitter “Tramp the dirt down”, a comment on the aforesaid Costello song. He then told a tweeter:

You’re obviously a teenage scribbler then? Or one with no memory.

That’s George Galloway the man who stick his nose inside Saddam Hussain’s knickers and inhaled deeply. We remember, George.

David Hopper, general secretary of the Durham Miners’ Association said:

“It looks like one of the best birthdays I have ever had. There’s no sympathy from me for what she did to our community. She destroyed our community, our villages and our people. For the union this could not come soon enough and I’m pleased that I have outlived her. It’s a great day for all the miners, I imagine we will have a counter demonstration when they have her funeral.”

Sinn Fein leader Gerry Addams went on the record:

“Margaret Thatcher did great hurt to the Irish and British people during her time as British Prime Minister. Here in Ireland her espousal of old draconian militaristic policies prolonged the war and caused great suffering. She embraced censorship, collusion and the killing of citizens by covert operations, including the targeting of solicitors like Pat Finucane, alongside more open military operations and refused to recognise the rights of citizens to vote for parties of their choice.”

The IRA tried to murder her in 1984. Five people died and many were injured.

Photo: Debris in Prime Minister’s Margaret Thatcher’s Napoleon suite bathroom on the first floor of the Grand Hotel, Brighton, following the IRA bomb blast.

OddBins wine and booze shop in Crouch End, London, tweeted:

“If for any reason anyone feels like celebrating anything we have Tattinger available at £10 less than usual at 329. Just saying…”

CNN might have topped the lost, leading its tribute with a picture of Mrs T and Jimmy Savile:

And on twitter and all over the web:

Clarin, Argentina’s leading daily newspaper:

“The life of the most controversial of Britain’s 20th century prime ministers ended with senile dementia, confined to her Knightsbridge mansion, under the care of a nurse and unable to go outside because she got lost. Before that, she had suffered the ravages of too many gin and tonics.”

On the BBC: