Melanie Phillips
17 April 2013
What was so moving, in the end, was that Baroness Thatcher was buried as a simple Christian. Borne on a gun-carriage to St Paul’s cathedral as a great warrior statesman, Margaret Hilda went as a humble human soul to meet her ultimate fate, as must we all. But what a faith she had, blazing out in those magnificent, soaring hymns and readings that she had apparently so carefully chosen.
The funeral ceremonial was pitch-perfect, solemn but beautiful and uplifting, and choreographed and staged with flawless precision. This after all is what Britain still does so well. So much so that some foolish folk have allowed themselves to get carried away and claim that this shows Britain essentially still remains the same great country it always was.
What a short attention span such individuals must have. Sure, the protests that had been threatened for the funeral, by people whose gross disrespect for the dead suggests an equivalent and alarming contempt for the living, were kept at bay or drowned out by the many who made a point of standing up for elementary decency along the route.
But Britain is now a country where behaviour that was once unthinkable is now routine…
…Yes, we still do these great events incomparably well. Yes, there are still the decent British who turn out in great number to demonstrate their attachment to what Britain once represented. But they are being replaced by younger generations who in their uneducated ignorance don’t even know what has been lost, let alone care, and who can no longer even think for themselves to go against the deadening consensus…
Read the entire article at MelaniePhillips.com
Related: A Tale of Two Leaders: Why Barack Obama Snubbed Royal Invite to Baroness Thatcher’s Funeral
Though no elected or appointed American Democrat bothered showing up; Lady Margaret Thatcher was laid to rest in London, UK yesterday.
People from around the globe have been asking why the Obama Administration failed to send even one senior Democrat to the funeral of Great Britain’s conservative giant, Lady Margaret Thatcher…
The Telegraph has several links and photographs from the day’s events.
_
_
_
_
And more at The Guardian.
Eyewitness to history: A report from Dame Thatcher’s funeral
…As the procession passed, we applauded as before and were left to wonder: would a living Margaret Thatcher pass our way again on either side of the Atlantic, and if so, would we possess the wisdom to grant her power?
Update: Political cartoonist Michael Ramirez imagines Thatcher and Reagan meeting again. He quotes her:
“I always cheer up immensely if an attack is particularly wounding because I think, well, if they attack one personally, it means they have not a single political argument left.” – Margaret Thatcher, 1925-2013
