"Don't care what anyone says, I think she's great."
In 1998 Margaret Thatcher organised a rally in support of mass murderer Augusto Pinochet in Kensington in London.
The hall was bedecked with British and Chilean flags, the platform backed by a crossed Chilean flag and a Union Jack.
Thatcher and one of her cabinet ministers addressed the assembled audience.
She described Pinochet as a shining example of democracy and accused those responsible for his arrest as "running a police state".
Pinochet was directly responsible for the arrest, torture, rape and mass murder of unknown thousands of mainly young Chilean citizens guilty of nothing more than protesting the taking over of Chile by a fascist junta.
Thatcher admired and openly supported this murderous thug - she was one of those who ascertained that he never came to trial for his crimes against humanity.
Thatcher and Pinochet died peacefully in their beds - I trust they managed to find adjacent seats by the fire.
The fate of thousands of Pinochet's (and Thatcher's, by association) victims remain a mystery.
Fickle thing, public opinion - as six million German Jews found out in the 19450s.
Must dig out my DVD of Coriolanus!!
Jim Carroll