That funeral invitation list....

Terry Wogan
Joan Collins
Jeremy Clarkson
Jim Davidson
Freddy Starr
Bob Monkhouse
Hughie Green
Green Hughie
Augosto Pinochet
Adolf Hitler
Martin Bormann
Jean Marie Le Pen
Jimmy Saville
Spit the Dog
Emu
Pierre Poujade
Osama bin Laden
Nick Griffiths
Ian McEwan
Frank Josef Strauss
Kevin Keegan
Nav from the pub
Bernard Manning
Norman Tebbitt

Hadji Abdul Haq

Rupert and James Murdoch
Rebecca Wade/Brooks
Duran Duran
Cliff Richard
Dick Cheney
Ku Klux Klan
Andrew Lloyd-Weber
P.W. Botha
Oswald Mosley
Eoin O'Duffy
James Anderton
Lester Maddox
Richard Littlejohn
Ruth Dudley-Edwards
Paolo Di Canio
Pol Pot
Pope Benedict
Mary Whitehouse
Tony Blair

A great idea

Former Prime Minister's Funeral

The former Prime Minister was buried at a "simple, even austere" ceremony at the Temple Church, ending with the singing of Jerusalem. Fewer than 150 people were in attendance.

The former Prime Minister?

Clement Attlee, who died in 1967.

A far cry from the vulgar display planned for next Wednesday.

(see Martin Kettle in The Guardian 11/4/13).

Bravo, Glenda Jackson

See This

Thatcher's Death: Rejoice, Rejoice

There has been a lot of po-faced sermonising about how unseemly it is to celebrate someone's death. Indeed. This was the woman who after hundreds of young men died horrible deaths on board the Belgrano trimphantly chanted: "Rejoice, Rejoice". And despite the unanimity yesterday - that she was "right" - about the Falklands - that was a totally unecessary war in which about as many people were killed (and certainly more were killed or maimed) than the number of people living on the island. Each of them could have been given a million pounds to relocate to Buckinghamshire and it have cost less and avoided the carnage. But no, had a compromise been reached - leaseback, for example - it would have cost Thatcher her premiership. The war was fought to ensure her re-election.

And that it to leave asise what she did to the inner cities, to mining communities, to the most vulnerable and least advantaged people. The Camerons and Osbornes loved her, and called her "Mummy". Of course they did. The identikit, look-alike, sound-alike personality-free Blair-clones who populate the frontbenches on both sides yesterday mourned their heroine, as they will next week. The funeral next week is really a £10 million Conservative Party political rally, or perhaps an all-party Thatcherite rally. The street parties and protests are necessary to show that not everyone shares the view that Thatcher was a new Messiah, although I gather Spooks and Plods are monitoring emails, Facebook, blogs, Twitter etc and may be making pre-emptive arrests, so I may be in clink by this time tomorrow. Ah, democracy.

Iain Duncan-Smith's Days on Bread-and-Dripping

In that esteemed organ - The Daily Mail - Iain Duncan-Smith records his days of unemployment. He and his girlfriend-soon-to-be-wife were "...living in one room with a one-ring gas oven...furniture tatty, carpet threadbare...". That's Iain the ex-Guards officer with an army pension and "Betsy" Freemantle, daughter of the 5th Baron Cottesloe (and former High Sheriff of Buckinghamshire). Eh by gum lad twere tough. No shoes on their feet. Nowt but bread-and-dripping to eat and soup made from his army boots. Aye but we were happy then...

Have you noticed how he loses his rag when he is out of his depth? And poor IDS - thick as two short planks - is often out of his depth.