On why I will NEVER see Margaret Thatcher as a feminist icon

It's Saturday, Margaret Thatcher has been dead for nearly a week now and people are still getting their knickers in a twist about whether or not it is okay to hate somebody vehemently after they have died.  Simply put, the  answer is: "Yes".  If you hate them when they are alive (hopefully because of what they stand for, not because of who they are...) then by all means don't stop doing so just because they got old, feeble and eventually carked it.  I mean, seriously.... get a grip people!  Hitler and Pinochet were horrible contemptible beings, there really isn't any doubt about that.  It's okay to speak ill of them even though they are now dead.  The same applies to Margaret Thatcher, vile woman that she was.  I know some folks see her as a feminist icon, which always makes me laugh very loudly and deliberately so whenever I hear it.  I mean, Thatcher absolutely hated feminism almost as much as she hated homosexuality.

Thatcher with her mate

On Wednesday I read two years in the life of Piers Morgan, 1999 - 2000.  It was fairly dull couple of years for him.  Not much happened.  You know, just Paula Yates dying and Concorde crashing.  He got a bit excited about Concorde crashing, mainly because he thought that some celebrities may have been on board, but then he learnt it was "just full of ruddy Germans".  Even he thought he was a bit of a tit for exclaiming something like that across the news room floor.  I have 4 more years to go.  At least 2001 will get a little more interesting.  Hopefully will finish up next week.
On Thursday I continued my sojourn into the mind of Stephen Hawkings.  I sometimes read the journal Nature - the front few pages that summarise the scientific articles although sometimes I read the scientific articles.  When I do, my head starts to spin and although the words are English, the placement of them next to one another make no sense to me and my mind starts to wander.  All credit must go to Mr Hawkings then for being able to write something that actually makes sense when he is talking about the beginnings of our universe.  I have another 50 pages to go on this tome and I will need another whole day in order to process them, so I'm hoping that I  will get to finishing this book next week.

Friday I continued reading Eowyn Ivey's the Snow Child.  I do love a good read and a well written yarn and this is definitely that.  I found myself welling up after every few pages.  Yup, it's a weepy one.  I had planned on finishing this one, I should really have been able to, but instead I ended up going to bed quite tired and unable to focus on the pages after more than a few minutes.  I have recently undertaken to learn the Office 2010 software packages to expert level, as well as how to use Adobe In-Design as a professional operator, so on top of the usual hours of work, home life and everything else that a normal week brings, I have thrown about 10 hours of training time into my weekly schedule.  It does leave me a little tired by the end of the week.

This morning I woke up and after a few coffees I finished Caitlin Moran's How to be a Woman.   Wow.  I love this woman.  I started reading this book a couple of weeks back, you can read my review here and also here. She truly is the kind of person who I want to have around for dinner, as a friend and in general, the kind of feminist that just makes perfect sense in this day and age.  Greer's version of feminism gave us Margaret Thatcher whereas Moran's gives us Lady Gaga.  You'll have to read the book to see where the difference lies, but I'd happily fight the good fight standing next to Moran.  And I think that's the main point: Caitlin would be happy to have me standing next to her whilst Greer would have consigned me to somewhere at the back of her mob, out of sight. After all, I wouldn't be able to stop myself from telling her that I find her views on transsexualism terribly old fashioned and rather offensive.

David has finished Caitlin's too and although if you're in our circles you will have received a notification from either of us, you can also find his beautifully illustrative review here. I urge you all to read it, he makes me proud the way he constructs his prose so eloquently.  






So what next to read on a Saturday?  I'm due for another library visit tomorrow... maybe I will find something there?  I am leaning towards something substantial, something nice 'n' chunky to really curl up with on a Saturday... an Austen or a Dickens maybe?  I will let you know, I'm yet to choose.

Days Left:    347

Books Read:   5