Friday, April 12, 2013


BBC Radio 1 Controller Explains Thatcher Row Song Decision

BBC: BBC Radio 1 controller Ben Cooper has said that a "four or five" second clip of the Wizard of Oz song at the centre of an anti-Margaret Thatcher campaign will be played on the Official Chart Show.

Sales of Ding Dong! The Witch is Dead have soared since the former Prime Minister's death on Monday, aged 87.

Mr Cooper called the decision "a difficult compromise" and said he was "stuck between a rock and a hard-place". Watch BBC video » | Friday, April 12, 2013

My comment:

The BBC loses all sense of credibility playing this clip. Even if it is only “four or five” seconds. The song, which I have reluctantly just listened to on YouTube, is in incredibly bad taste. Only a person without any sense of propriety, decency, taste, refinement, or civility would rejoice in the death of another human being.

Mrs. Thatcher, as she was then, was an extremely dedicated leader. She did some great things for this country. Anyone who is old enough will be able to remember the parlous state this country was in when she came to office. Mrs. Thatcher, love her or hate her, turned this country around. And one should respect her for that. You don’t have to agree with all she did, but she should be respected for her efforts to pull the country up by the bootstraps.

Baroness Thatcher was a human being. To be human is to err. So although she did some wonderful things for this country, she also made some mistakes. As we all would.

But I believe that history will be kind to her. She was a lady who rose through the ranks through sheer guts and determination. She had pluck, determination, ‘stickability’, vision, and conviction aplenty. Everything was set against her. In fact, it is quite remarkable that she was able not only to become Britain’s first woman prime minister, but that she was able to become its first Conservative woman prime minister. Give credit where credit is due!

Many of those demonstrating are too young to remember what Britain was like in the pre-Thatcher era. So in many ways it can be said that they don’t even know what they are demonstrating against. They are basing their demos on hearsay and emotion.

Regardless of all this, it is in very bad taste to speak ill of the dead. These people should also remember that there are members of Mrs. Thatcher’s family who are still grieving her death. They should bear this in mind when they demonstrate in the coming days. It would be far better for them to go home in peace and hang their heads in shame, for no-one deserves to be treated like this. Neither in life nor death, but especially in death. – © Mark