150 years ago...

"Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate - we can not consecrate - we can not hallow - this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us - that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion - that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain - that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom - and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."

Abraham Lincoln
Gettysburg, Pennsylvania

November 19, 1863

This blog stands against the Government's cruel, unfair, and unscientific badger cull

U Turn if You Want...

Well, it’s fair to say that this woman divided opinion!  Margaret Thatcher died this week after a stroke, and following a battle with ill health and dementia.  Her legacy will always be a matter of opinion here in the UK, but to me she represented strength in both leadership and political will.  If only the current crop of politicians had half her conviction, just maybe we would turn a corner on this prolonged and dreary recession!

The passing of Baroness Thatcher has thrown up a fascinating amount of old news coverage, which got me thinking about the national and international political landscape during Thatcher’s time in office.  From the Falkland’s Conflict, the miners’ strike, Ireland, the Brighton hotel bombing, the poll tax, the break-up of global Communism, those ‘love-ins’ with Ronald Reagan, and her eventual ousting from office.  Few prime ministers have enjoyed such iconic memoires, nor endured such troubled times.

What I find most interesting is the way the death has been received abroad.  From condolences to scorn, messages have flooded in from all corners of the globe, proof that this woman was far-reaching in her impact.  The Polish Minister of Foreign Affairs tweeted that Thatcher was a “fearless champion of liberty, stood up for captive nations, helped the free world win the Cold War.  Deserves a statue in Poland.”  Barack Obama said America had “lost a true friend”, whilst Vladimir Putin paid tribute to her as “one of the outstanding political figures of the modern world.”  Former German Chancellor Helmut Kohl told how he “greatly valued Thatcher for her love of freedom, her incomparable openness, honesty and straightforwardness.”  There were, of course, less complimentary headlines (namely Argentina’s left-leaning paper, Pagina 12, which stated that “Galtieri waits for her in Hell”), but on the whole I thought the tributes were remarkable in their respect and sincerity.  My personal favourite is German paper die Tageszeitung, whose headline read: “England Has Lost its Best Man.”

So we say goodbye Margaret Thatcher, Britain’s first woman prime minister who, incidentally, had more balls than nearly any of the others before or since.  Love her, hate her, admire her, despise her, the world has lost an iconic woman.  Rest in Peace.