Thatcher with dementia: not a leftwing fantasy
Posted on Monday 19 July, 2010
Filed Under Conservative Party
A FORTHCOMING Hollywood movie will see Meryl Streep portray a dementia-stricken Margaret Thatcher, and the film makers are promising that the Oscar-winning actress will do so with ‘appropriate sensitivity’. That only leaves me to ask just what degree of sensitivity is appropriate.
The former prime minister’s children are reportedly ‘appalled’ at what they have learned about the script, which will paint their mother as a bewildered old biddy who talks to herself, apparently in the belief that her late husband Sir Denis Thatcher is still alive. It represents, they argue, ‘a leftwing fantasy’.
I am not, of course, an unqualified admirer of the subject of this particular biopic. Indeed, I will find it difficult to share fully in the centrally orchestrated mourning that we will no doubt see when the time for her state funeral ultimately arrives.
But what I need to stress here is that I detest her not because of any qualities she may or may not have possessed as an individual, but because of the brand of politics she once exemplified, and still embodies as an icon.
The deleterious impact of Thatcherism represents the root cause of every single major social problem currently facing this country, from the entrenched pockets of unemployment and social deprivation to the failures of the education health systems.
She is not solely to blame; New Labour had 13 years in office, and succeeded only in partially rectifying the worst shortcomings, largely because it felt constrained not to step too far outside the ideological parameters Thatcherism set. But it was under her administrations that the rot set in.
The ‘no such thing as society’ 1980s saw all too little ‘appropriate sensitivity’ on offer when it came to millions of long-term unemployed, or to mining communities, or gay people, or local government democracy.
I also notice that Carol Thatcher – in a brief respite from referring to black tennis players as golliwogs – was happy enough to sell serialisation rights to her memoirs to the Mail on Sunday in 2008, and perfectly ready to provide titillating details of mum’s deteriorating mental state.
Carol’s own account shows that, far from being ‘a leftwing fantasy’, the film has a solid basis in reality. For her to object to an accurate and unsensationalised portrayal of this state of affairs, by a woman who can fairly be described as one of the most outstanding living thespians, is surely hypocritical, given her own patent readiness to cash in.
As someone who has seen an older member of his own family suffer from Alzheimer’s, I am entirely aware of how heartbreaking the transformation it brings about can be to the loved ones of the victim. So even though I remain very much on the left, I find the idea that I would ‘fantasise’ about a political opponent falling into its clutches somewhat insulting. It would clearly be bad taste for Streep to play this one for cheap laughs.
But there is no indication that she will. Provided we get the serious stab at fictionalised contemporary history promised by Pathé managing director Cameron McCracken, the project is entirely legitimate.
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The Tories have gone from the ‘there is no such thing as society’ mantra to ‘the Big society’ in under thrity years. I must say I find it hard to envisage a plot that will require a demented Margaret Thatcher character. What’s the point?
Quite apart from any issue of poor taste etc it hardly sounds like a box office blockbuster.
Michael Osler. I would not want to pay to be reminded about her. I am sure young cinema goers would say ‘who is she’. It is only those of us that witnessed her vile actions against the miners and the workers at GCHQ that will remember.
She was the finest prime minister, by a long, long way, of the second half of the 20th century – and the first decade of the 21st, too!
Far from being a leftwing fantasy, such a release might well inspire a sort of irrational sympathy for her amongst the general public. At a time when the left would least wish such sympathy to emerge.
David Duff. I would say Clement Attlee who lasted 1 year & 10 months into the 20th Century was the best followed by Wilson. They were human beings.
Jimmy – David Duff has no interest whatsoever in human beings, reason, compassion, or anything outside the contents of his own fetid arsehole.
Jimmy, I would rate Attlee highly as an honourable man but, alas, as a prime minister his domestic policies were more or less a disaster; fortunately he had the excellent Ernie Bevin running his foreign policy! Wilson makes Mandelson look like an upright citizen!
(By the way, word to the wise and all that sort of thing, but with friends (comrades?) like ‘Septic’ Seaton you’ll never need an enemy!
David Duff. I am not into the comrade thing. But I reckon that if Thatcher had dementia it set in during 1979. She went on the attack against her own people. The people on low wages some of whom fought in various wars for their country. She was a disgrace. Ted Heath a decent man detested her more than the comrades. The problem with the comrades was they thought Heath was some right wing reactionary like her. But it is history. Time to move on.
I agree with Dave. Thatcher’s policies were appalling and deserve everlasting condemnation. I do wish she had stayed in Parliament long enough to lose her seat in Finchley, and I do wish that she had witnessed her policies being comprehensively stammped into the ground by a proper Labour government after 1997 (some hope of that).
But, she is a human being, and her decline is a major personal tragedy for her family. The crowing over her condition that i have read in the past does the Left no credit.
This film sounds a sick lot of crap frankly. What will it do for the million or so people who suffer from watching their loved ones suffering from this gross affliction of dementia?
Robbinghood. Well maybe she will reflect on her dying bed what she inficted on decent honest working British communities if that is possible with dementia.
I had a fear that both Blair and Brown were planning for a state funeral when she falls off the perch. I have no idea what Cameron or Clegg have in mind.
For me it would unacceptable that such a divisive figure could have this. For those that would throw in the Churchill comparison I would say fine as long as you are willing to equate WW2 to the Falklands. I suspect most wouldn’t.
As one living abroad at the time of the Falklands War, I felt appallingly conflicted about Thatcher and the successful campaign to reclaim the Falklands.
Wilson and Sunny Jim Callaghan would have gritted their teeth and endured the public humiliation of having sand kicked in Britain’s face by a South American junta – as the F.O. and the M.o.D. both supposedly advised – but Thatcher was adamant.
I was working among Americans at the time, most of them ex-military, and almost all of them admired her stance.
Mind you, as for me, I’d offer the Falklands to the highest bidder on Ebay and throw in Northern Ireland as a Free Gift.
As for the ‘good taste’ or ‘decency’ or ‘bad taste’ of portraying someone with dementia, I’ll withold judgement until we know more about the film.
We’re living longer than earlier generations did and the issues of senile dementia – and euthanasia – have to be addressed, not hidden away like a dark secret everyone knows about but nobody dares to mention aloud.
I can’t for the life of me remember the correct spelling, but the ‘Strulbrugs’ in Swift’s ‘Gulliver’s Travels’ adumbrated the actual existential reality of dementia precisely.
“Margaret Thatcher is perhaps the politician I have the greatest admiration for. I am reading her memoirs at the moment.” ~ Tony Blair – Quoted in Daily Mirror, September 1996.
“Gordon Brown delivered sincere words of praise for the Iron Lady at a monthly press conference at Downing Street this morning. “I think Lady Thatcher saw the need for change,” he said.”And I think whatever disagreements you have with her about certain policies – there was a large amount of unemployment at the time which perhaps could have been dealt with – we have got to understand that she saw the need for change. “I also admire the fact that she is a conviction politician … I am a conviction politician like her.” ~ Telegraph, September 2007.
I just love Gordon’s “perhaps” and “understand”.
The Labour Party eh? A total crock of shitte. The party of Dave.
‘Cary Grant’s Wedding’: Just who exactly do you think will feel sympathy for Thatcher if they see her portrayed as a drooling, incontinent shell? I am afraid that workingclass people have long memories unlike the fly-by-night fairweather friends that you think make up the ‘left’. I read a discription of the film on a website (may have been the Evening Standard), the idea is that she is reminiscing about the events in her life. Not my type of film, but then I thought ‘The Queen’ was a boring idea, made just to be daring. By the way, Harold Wilson ended up senile as well. Must be an occupational hazard with Prime Ministers.
I agree with Cary Grant. It really sums up the film industry that they decide to make a human interest story rather than make a film about Thatcher when she was in power. That would have been more interesting. This film just seems in very bad taste.
Actually, quite a few people – medical professionals and those close to persons with dementia – could see the signs of dementia in Ronald Reagan while he was still in the White House.
He was prone to come out with weird malentendus like “Vietnam Airport” instead of “Vienna Airport” and going on about gibbering like a manic street preacher ” … this may be the generation which will see Armageddon ….”
As it turned out, this didn’t really matter. He had George Bush the Elder and ever-sharp Nancy to steady things.
Even if we feared a Third World War at the time, as some did, our apprehensions were groundless.
It turned out that all along American Foreign Policy had been in the safe hands of Joan Quigly, Nancy’s soothsayer and astrologer.
HEADS UP:
Here’s something of interest. The folks at the Al-Grauniad are usually dissing and badmouthing* the Israelis for the way they treat Palestinians but here it seems the Israelis are being castigated and berated for wanting to expel illegals.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/global/2010/jul/20/children-israels-latest-victims-deport
* dissing and badmouthing are slangy terms but are there more elegant equivalent terms?
But Brown loved her, they even had her photo placed in the Welsh Assembly, which stated the top politician Nye Bevan, the top leader of the country Thatcher.
Politicians are fickle Brown felt he could use Thatcher he more then likely asked her advice, and she said you horrible little man you did not offer Dennis a drink or a seat.
My own labour party which was taken over by new labour had a photo of her on the wall, but not for long it was dumped in the skip but a new one appeared.
Thats why my local party now has a meeting in the living room of a house and not in a hall.
The day is over the long nights of trying to raise money food parcels for strikers the marches the police, all forgotten by some, well not in Wales because history is taught about the miners fight, and I made sure my kids knew about the fight, sadly my son is a Tory as he said New labour Tory he rather the Tories, and I cannot blame him really.
I judge her enormous success by the amount of foam-flecked bile that has splattered this thread. She really socked it to you, didn’t she?
Talking of women in political life, who remembers this lady?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeane_Kirkpatrick#Views_on_Israel
… and the Falklands War?
David Duff. If you mean by ‘socking it to’ as depriving her own people of work and turning hard working traditional British communities into wastelands and drug dens then she certainly achieved that. Yes a great patriot indeed. Churchill would not have pissed on her. As for the Falklands it had to be taken back to save her face. It was her governments incompetence, arrogance and weakness that led to the Argentinian invasion. Her government reduced the British garrison and removed the only naval ship from the area knowing there was always a threat from Argentina. Our men died unnecessarily.
Dave,
I think you downplay how many of the ideas of Thatcherism seeped into New Labour, and how they did VERY little to deal with the underlying issues.
In fact, you might say that Caroline Flint and James Purnell were very much in tune with their own form of “Thatcherism”.
If you need a reminder read this, http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2008/feb/05/uk.topstories3
And don’t forget James Purnell’s attacks on the sick and unemployed, etc etc
“Dave, I think you downplay how many of the ideas of Thatcherism seeped into New Labour”
C’mon Modernity, Why else would this blog exist?
It’s what Dave does… “Downplay,Downplay,Downplay”.
All the way home.