"Dick, it's not a " State" funeral."

In all but name it is, and apart from the lying in state Thatcher is being afforded the same privilege as Diana or the Queen Mother. In fact, apart from Churchill (who is a special case) the monarch has not attended the funeral of any of her prime ministers. On top of this, by giving Thatcher the whole shebang from soldiers, gun carriages and a service in St. Paul's the government is attempting to elevate her to the status afforded the royals. This is wrong by any measure, because as a democracy there should be a separation between the heads of the monarchy and the state and this fiasco blurs that distinction further than it already is (especially in the eyes of foreigners) and the more gullible amongst us. It reeks a degree of the self-righteous, hubristic entitlement that one-nation little Englander tories seem to excel at; a complete lack of humility that damns them as the myopic, unquestioning and shallow materialists they are (as an ex-member of the Young Conservatives back in the early 1980's I know this to be true).

Of course, we're paying for this circus in a time of austerity when people are once again suffering under a callous and uncaring tory government, and this is simply insulting, and I guess it is meant to be so. Fair enough, stick the old girl in the ground in the appropriate manner and with due deference and be done with it and we'll all pay as we would any other ex-prime minister, but to rub the noses of the people in the misery of their own suffering as a political statement (which this funeral undoubtedly is, as the view of the organisers is not the consensus of opinion in the country) is rather boorish to say the least.

To dismiss the suffering, depravation and appalling effects on millions of ordinary people in the present economic climate as well as during Thatcher's tenure by holding a populist, ostentatious display of political mutual masturbation under the premise of a funeral ("Look! We are the chosen ones! God is on our side! The Queen and Clarkson are coming to St. Margaret's funeral! You dissenters are all scum for voicing an opinion!) is typical of the insensitive and unpleasant nature of the conservative party, and the people involved deserved the criticism that is being heaped upon them. It's a real shame they don't have a modicum of taste or decorum but them you get the impression they wouldn't know what they were anyway. Louts with cash.

One thing . . . I think many people are not celebrating the death of one infirm old lady (which is distasteful), but the demise of a character; the embodiment of a certain political and social ideology that was called 'Margaret Thatcher'. This is the character responsible for the issues the consequences of which we are still dealing with in the present day.