Thatcherites

Thacherites by name, your faults I proclaim (Billy Bragg)

Margaret Thatcher's death last week has been met with countless debates and exchanges on the net and elsewhere, most of them pretty heated, to say the least.Hardly surprising for such a controversial figure, whose legacy still lingers on and whose ability to irritate and charm- depending on the side of the fence you were on- was peerless.
What most people seem to agree on, though, is the fact that the doctrines  she started in the early 80s are very  much alive and well and a whole army of Thacherites have assumed the lady's teachings with gusto.
Beyond the way Thacher's approach changed the Conservative Party itself, I think that it's hard to ignore the influence she had on the (New) Labour Party too; when the latter won the elections in 1997, they simply decided to continue the same path, albeit with a softer approach and with more social policies.
In fact, Thacherites became Blairites, and the rest is history...
The world will witness the Iron Lady's funeral this week, on a broadcast beamed to the world and with all the state honours reserved for its leaders; we won't bury, however, the policies she so stubbornly and arrogantly advocated.