Posted on 04/09/2013 1:16:50 PM PDT by memetic
From the moment I first worked for Margaret Thatcher, almost exactly half a century ago, it was obvious that she was different from any politician I had met. She was strikingly pretty for one thing, more like a milkmaid than an Iron Lady. And she sounded cross, as if she was not being told the whole story. At first I thought this was because her voice was a semitone higher than it later became. In my patronising way – I was all of 25 – I thought she might be a bit nervous because this was her first front-bench post or because she was a woman in a roomful of whuffly men in suits. But that wasn’t it at all. What was so unnerving was that she never stopped asking questions when everyone else wanted to move on. Even when I thought I might have the answer at least half-right, there was an unsatisfied menace in those blue eyes.
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
Yes, I can. Can’t you?
It’s not really an anti-Thatcher article. Think of it in terms of American and British attitudes to Churchill. We can idolize, idealize, hero-worship him. Britons, even if they greatly admire Churchill, can’t help seeing him in the round and have to deal with aspects that we ignore.
I would also say that Britons tend not to hero worship public figures anyway, and always love to mock, criticise and otherwise puncture even our most laudable public figures. No offence, but the amount of reverence that American presidents get from their respective partisans is terrifying. Any hint of poking fun at them is almost treated as a blasphemy against God himself and an attack against all that is holy and good by even their mainstream supporters.
I think that also is product of our two kinds of government, where in Britain you don’t directly vote for the leader, you vote for the party, and the PM is the leader of the majority party.
What’s wrong with it?
Yeah, I sure can. I think it's a great article - Mrs. Thatcher was a real pistol. Thanks for posting.
Wow...I NEVER believed in Cloning, but seeing our so called Leaders, I am changing my mind!!
Your''s is a great post, highlighting the differences between our two (kind of) English speaking nation's system of governance. May I add that the Americans have always been jealous of your Royal Family and the King of Queen for whatever psychological reason, and so we try to make our leaders into Royalty with the results you describe. Politicians are scoundrels that are hard to keep in check when we revere them.
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