I was going to let my entry yesterday stand as the last entry I’d write about thatcher, at least until next week, but last night it occurred to me that the tories appear to have decided to try to use her death to their advantage. As I noted on Tuesday, she is a highly politicised figure: given that those on the left are using the occasion of thatcher’s death to show the damage she and the tories did, those on the right are trying to do the exact opposite. That is to say the tories are trying to turn her death to their advantage, using it to celebrate conservatism; they are trying to make Thatcher out to be some kind of great patriotic hero.

We can se this in the way CaMoron recalled parliament yesterday, at great expense to the taxpayer, and in the fact that she is getting a state funeral in all but name: the tories are trying to turn her death into some grand state occasion. Nothing would please CaMoron more than the image of thousands lining the streets next Wednesday for her send off, as it would allow him to claim he and his party has support, that they are heirs to a national hero, and so on. In other words, the tories stand to make enormous political capital from the pomp and ceremony of the state funeral of one of their heroes, as then they could suggest she was our hero too, and that opposition to her, and thus them, is smaller than it actually is.

What we need to do, then, is ignore the entire affair. Rather than going and protesting, nobody should go at all. Riotous protests can too easily be ignored, but imagine what a bold, infinitely more profound image it would send if her hearse has to pass through empty, deserted streets. Two years ago, I wrote rather foolishly that the disabled community should boycott the Paralympics in order to send a message to the government. Obviously that was never going to happen, but now we have an even better opportunity: I get the impression that the tories want this to be an occasion like the olympics, where everyone comes together as one nation, but in order to honour one of their heroes rather than to celebrate an international sporting event. They surely aim to foster a similar level of patriotic emotion, but one which is to their advantage. Of course, the mood will be entirely different, but they are seeking to generate the same kind of nationalistic fervour, the same kind of nationalistic imagery with crowds lining the streets, but with a pro-government, pro-tory accent. What if they were denied such images? what if the streets are simply deserted next Wednesday? can you imagine a starker message of opposition to thatcherism, toryism, and thatcher’s current manifestations?