When I heard that the Iron Lady had left us, I wondered, “What do the Oak Ridge Boys think about this?”
They quickly obliged:
From: Webster PR
To: jheflin@valleyadvocate.com
Subject: The Oak Ridge Boys comment on the passing of UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher
Closure, at last. (Their statement was so wispy, so utterly devoid of interesting content, that I won’t bother. They apparently attended the same dinner once.)
Others had something of substance to say. This resulted in someone largely known as a relatively unfunny clown proving that he is a wickedly talented wordsmith.
Witness the unexpectedly remarkable power of Russell Brand:
“The News” was the pompous conduit through which we suckled at the barren baroness through newscaster wet-nurses, naturally; not direct from the steel teat. Jan Leeming, Sue Lawley, Moira Stuart – delivering doctrine with sterile sexiness, like a butterscotch-scented beige vapour.
And:
…if you opposed Thatcher’s ideas it was likely because of their lack of compassion, which is really just a word for love. If love is something you cherish, it is hard to glean much joy from death, even in one’s enemies.
Last comes a musician whose political opinion ought to carry more weight than that of the Oak Ridge Boys, Billy, Bragg, for the win:
From Billy Bragg, Calgary, AB, Canada, on the death of Margaret Thatcher:
This is not a time for celebration. The death of Margaret Thatcher is nothing more than a salient reminder of how Britain got into the mess that we are in today. Of why ordinary working people are no longer able to earn enough from one job to support a family; of why there is a shortage of decent affordable housing; of why domestic growth is driven by credit, not by real incomes; of why tax-payers are forced to top up wages; of why a spiteful government seeks to penalise the poor for having an extra bedroom; of why Rupert Murdoch became so powerful; of why cynicism and greed became the hallmarks of our society.
Raising a glass to the death of an infirm old lady changes none of this. The only real antidote to cynicism is activism. Don’t celebrate – organise!
