The Right to Offend

So, now we can't even play songs from the Wizard of Oz, for fear that they might offend the increasingly rabid supporters of Mrs Thatcher.  At least, that's what the BBC seems to think, having cravenly decided not to play in full the song 'Ding, Dong, The Witch is Dead', (it runs less than a minute as it is), on Radio One's Chart Show on Sunday, even though it is likely to chart in the top three, as its chart rise is allegedly part of a campaign by those awful lefties who hated The Great Leader.  Indeed, the BBC even appears to have an opinion of its own on the (entirely manufactured by right-wing nutters) 'controversy' - with the head of Radio One saying that the corporation finds the campaign 'distasteful'.  Really?  Since when did the BBC hold what are clearly partisan political opinions?  As one of its many licence fee payers, I don't find this supposed campaign distasteful - last time I checked, we still had the right to hold and express opinions contrary to those of the Tory Party and Daily Mail.  And the BBC, as a supposedly impartial body, shouldn't be censoring such expressions. 

I really am growing weary of the Thatcher apologists who keep telling me, at every opportunity, that they aren't actually admirers of Thatcher herself, you understand, but it's really pretty awful that people are celebrating the death of an old woman and they should all show some respect for the sake of the family.  Which would be fine if we were talking about any ordinary old lady, but, in reality, the 'old lady' in question can't be separated from the poisonous legacy she has left behind.  Most old ladies haven't had such devastating effect on the lives of millions of people.  Most old ladies didn't destroy entire industries and the communities which surrounded them.  As for 'the family', let's not forget that her son Mark has been involved in all manner of shady arms deals and was involved in trying to organise a coup in Equatorial Guinea.  (I can only assume that he intended presenting the country to his mother as some kind of retirement present, so she could keep busy during her 'Golden Years', without such things as democracy, parliament or even the rule of law to constrain her).  Hardly a son to be proud of, I think.  The bottom line here is that we have a perfect right to dispute the warped version of history the right are trying to spin in the wake of Thatcher's death and to point out the fact that she wasn't some kind of infallible demi-God.   She was just a politician - a politician with a highly dubious track record.