General Chat

much the same here in Wales Gins, not liked one little bit

....attend to pay tribute then they should do it without charge....

I agree Muffy


.......yes Ann, good point, they must have return tickets :-|

So, the question is, just how much in 'real' terms is the funeral going to cost the government.....oops, sorry ‘us’!


Also, it has been mentioned that some of the people seen on TV (Celebrating her death) have been too young to remember 'Thatcher'...........they and I are suffering the consequences of her actions

The annimosity towards 'Thatcher' has never faded, here in the north. People see this as a time to find 'closure', it’s not so much a celebration of her death but an end to years of remembering, lost jobs, communities, friends, family and purpose

Families fell apart, strikers were killed on picket lines, blacklegs, felt forced to cross picket lines in order to feed their family....they were forever ‘cast out’


Has there ever been a former prime minster that has left such a legacy along with such odium?

they obviously have return tickets anyway

And they could return with no intention of attending parliament.

Money for old rope springs to mind.

well they could return with no intention of attending the funeral

Muffyxx, no chance, Parliament has been officially recalled so the taxpayer picks up "all the bills" for flights etc, from whatever corners of the world they were in at the time the recall was announced :-|

With regard to the money aspect.........as it's not set in stone that MPs attend. I think that.if they choose to attend to pay tribute then they should do it without charge....

I don't agree with them being paid to attend under any circumstances tbh...they earn a decent enough wage and receive countless enough benefits from their jobs as it is.

<<< Puts his Old Cynic hat on

I have been listening to the reports on the news and it is evident that the police and security services are expecting trouble, not just from the rentamob crowd but also from other sources.

In view of that I am at a loss as to why the Prime Minister has recalled Parliament today so that MP's can pay their respect to Baroness Thatcher. It is being reported that the session will last for some 7 hours and I have no doubt there will be considerable rhetoric praising her and much recrimination about her policies from others. In my view this will only lead to more protests running up to the day of her funeral.

A recall can be costly, and apart from the cost, I do not understand why Parliament had to be recalled, surely MP's could do this at some point next week when they return from the Easter recess.

Call me a cynic, but something is saying to me, that David Cameron has an ulterior motive, as he knows this will only add more fuel to what is already a very volatile situation, and the rentamob will fall straight into the trap.

After all George Osborne to further his views on benefit claimants did not hesitate to jumped on the bandwagon over the deaths of the six Philpott children who died in a house fire in Derby.

Yes they were paid the same when they were recalled because of the riots.

It's my personal opinion that they should be in the house now doing business anyhow...far too many long holidays in that place for my liking. !!!!

just read this


MPs who were abroad have already been told they can claim up to £3,750 each for returning to Westminster this week

same here Paula - my in laws never liked m either, but for my husband's sake I kept quiet - which was very difficult for me

Ann. I did not get along with my my husbands parents, they never liked me, but it did not bother me., particularly my FIL was pretty awful to me at times. When they died and people were talking about them ,and how much they thought of me, and what a good DIL I was. I just refrained from saying anything, I jsimply did not feel I needed to. I did this for my husband , he knew what they thought of me and was not happy with it, but they were his parents and they adored him, its a matter of respect, some people just do not have any.

We recenty arranged my FIL's funeral and OH's sister agreed to do a 'tribute'. It is fair to say that she struggled with it beforehand, as FIL was 'raved about' by a number of good friends, for whom he had bent over backwards, but he had an emotional 'block' with his immediate family. She did a grand job though, and included entertaining snippets from a long (98 years) life. Overwhelming emotion for OH and his sister was, I think, relief (he had been very poorly for the last year) but there was still respect and fondness.

I got on so poorly with one of my grandparents that I declined to attend their funeral .

I felt it better to not go than embarrass both myself and my parents by possibly speaking out of turn...

Having heard second hand some of the tributes I suspect a few snorts of disbelief may have accidentally escaped so despite the flack I took from certain areas of the broader family (certainly not my parents) for my absence I'm still convinced I made the right decision.

The same with both my parents too and neither were perfect. Any criticisms were saved for a while after both were cremated with respect. I would wish the same for any person. Although there are many politicians I don't like and whose deeds in the past I don't like, you will not see me showing any disrespect should they pre-decease me.

It is good Rose, the same with my Mum just over a year ago.

That is probably why I really don't like this conflict over Margaret Thatchers death.

She was a mother and grandmother for many years and her family and close friends need to grieve for that part of her life.

xx

I was just reading, in the Mail....

One headline "Crawling out of the woodwork , the old lefties spewing bile aboout Thatcher"

Next to it excerpts from a biography giving details of the effect her progressive dementia had on her marriage....

and I thought, 'you know what , I would rather have my political decisions torn apart by the opposition two days after my death, than have my personal life described for all to see, friend or foe alike'.

But really I think both can wait.

Would have been my mum's birthday today, when she died there was nothing but respect. Nothing big and flashy, no long list of achievements, no apportioning of blame for what she had done, just love from friends and family. Good innit?

I think Terryj that if you wish to post anything that remotely indicates you did not like Mrs T, you'll have to start a thread of your own

I agree with you there Gwynne. The trouble is I would think many of the rabble rousers who are likely to cause trouble would not have been able to tell you who Baroness Thatcher was until the recent riots after her death. They just enjoy a good 'fight'. And it is they who are going to be causing some of the money spent on her funeral by making it a requirement for extra security. They make me sick.

edit to say this is in response to Guinevere's post the previous page re respect.

but do they give free samples :-D