"But I don't think Lady Thatcher would ever have referred to Silas, e.g., had she had occasion to do so, in terms analogous to those he sees fit to use of her."

I tend to agree that the use of invective and abuse in political debates is not helpful and does nothing to advance such debates. But don't forget that Mrs Thatcher was once a powerful force in this land and some of us think that she instituted policies which were not in the best interests of the majority of people in this country. I strongly suspect that many of those policies are contributing to the economic mess that we find ourselves in today. Her fervent espousal of the unregulated, free market is looking more and more like the dangerous nonsense that many of us thought it to be during her premiership. Showering her with abuse serves no purpose - but I certainly don't think that she's worthy of any sort of respect.