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Margaret Thatcher: I Vow to Thee, My Country Lady Thatcher planned her own funeral, right down to the hymns, writes Michael Deacon . By Michael Deacon 12 Apr 2013 In death as in life, Margaret Thatcher remains firmly in charge. The woman whose premiership was marked by ramrod certainty and whipcrack decision-making had, it turns out, a characteristically needle-sharp idea about how her funeral must proceed. Today, the details of that idea emerge. From the singing of I Vow to Thee, My Country to the choice of readings, every aspect of the occasion will reflect some part of Baroness Thatcher’s...

A few hours after Margaret Thatcher’s death on Monday, the snarling deadbeats of the British underclass were gleefully rampaging through the streets of Brixton in South London, scaling the marquee of the local fleapit and hanging a banner announcing, “THE BITCH IS DEAD.” Amazingly, they managed to spell all four words correctly. By Friday, “Ding Dong! The Witch Is Dead,” from The Wizard of Oz, was the No. 1 download at Amazon U.K... --snip-- A generation on, the Thatcher era seems more and more like a magnificent but temporary interlude in a great nation’s bizarre, remorseless self-dissolution. She was right...

Margaret Thatcher, the British Conservative Prime Minister, between 1979-1990, was a Revolutionary. As the first female Prime Minister she emerged as a truly transformational figure both on the domestic and foreign front and soon challenged the entrenched interests with a stance that promoted freedom and economic liberty. She stood on principle and thus became a lighting rod for the continuing scorn of the collectivist left and the former Soviet Union who dubbed her “The Iron Lady.” She died at 87 in London. In 1979 when her Conservative Party was voted into office in an electoral landslide, Britain was the “Sick...

She has been Britain's greatest prime minister since Winston Churchill. As leader of the Conservative Party in Britain she has been the most successful of all in the past 100 years. It should be remembered that Churchill led a coalition national government during World War II. The real measure of Margaret Thatcher's greatness was that she brought about profound change domestically and internationally. The British economy was in a downward spiral when she won office in May 1979; Britons were working a three-day week; uncollected garbage piled up in the streets of London; the all-powerful trade unions effectively ran the...

She was respected more abroad than at home It is still terribly hard for those who opposed her to admit it, but Margaret Thatcher was right about most things. She was right that Britain’s trade unions had become much too powerful. She was right that nationalised industries had to be privatised. She was right that inflation has monetary causes. She was also mostly right about foreign policy. She was right to drive the forces of Argentina’s junta out of the Falklands and she was right to exhort a “wobbly” George H.W. Bush to mete out the same treatment to Saddam...

It will be from heaven that Margaret Thatcher, the greatest friend the United States ever had, will observe the now-inescapable disintegration of the dismal European tyranny-by-clerk whose failure she foresaw even as it brought her down. Margaret was unique: a fierce champion of people against government, taxpayers against bureaucrats, workers against unions, Us against Them, free markets against state control, privatization against nationalization, liberty against socialism, democracy against Communism, prosperity against national bankruptcy, law against international terrorism, independence against global governance; a visionary among pygmies; a doer among dreamers; a statesman among politicians; a destroyer of tyrannies from arrogant Argentina...

APRIL 9, 2013 Margaret Thatcher 1926–2013 We shall not see her like again. By Conrad Black The news of the death of Margaret Thatcher is not, at her age and in the condition that she has been in for some years, a great surprise or entirely sad. But in contemplation of the great career she had and the immense service she rendered the United Kingdom and the Western world, it is overwhelmingly sad. In general, Britain’s greatest prime ministers have served successfully in wars with other Great Powers: William Pitt the Elder (in the Seven Years’ War), William Pitt the...

Former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher . She was 87. Despite many accomplishments during her 11 years in office, she was a divisive figure, and there is still much bitterness surrounding the woman who was dubbed the Iron Lady. Thatcher's long journey to becoming one of Britain's most influential leaders began in humble surroundings. She was born on Oct. 13, 1925, in the small English town of Grantham. Her mother was a dressmaker, her father a grocer and a local politician. Thatcher often credited her father with introducing her to politics. She said he instilled in her the importance of...

Britain's first and only female prime minister Baroness Thatcher has died at the age of 87 after suffering a stroke. Lady Thatcher's children Mark and Carol said their mother, who suffered bouts of ill health in recent years, died peacefully on Monday morning. Downing Street, which joined Buckingham Palace in flying its flags at half mast, said the politician would be given a full ceremonial funeral with honours at St Paul's Cathedral. Sky sources understand she died at the Ritz in central London where she had been staying since January following a minor operation.

Ex-Prime Minister Baroness Thatcher diesBreaking news Former Prime Minister Baroness Thatcher has died at 87 following a stroke, her spokesman has said. Lord Bell said: "It is with great sadness that Mark and Carol Thatcher announced that their mother Baroness Thatcher died peacefully following a stroke this morning." Baroness Thatcher was Conservative prime minister from 1979 to 1990. She was the first woman to hold the post. Her family is expected to make a further statement later.