Thatcher's funeral: a fitting send-off for the Iron Lady?
St Paul's ceremony undisturbed by protesters - we Brits don't go in for 'shrieking at coffins'
MARGARET THATCHER'S funeral was an "extraordinary" event - part ceremony and part celebration, says one commentator. Others write that the best of Britain was on display as the "silent majority" honoured Thatcher during her ceremonial funeral procession and service at St Paul's Cathedral without being disturbed by "adolescent" protesters. Here's what writers and attendees had to say about yesterday's event:
Matthew Parris in the Times: "'Extraordinary' was the word. Nobody could find a better one as we fumbled for language that would do justice to the theatre, the sentiment and the show, without involving (except for close family) anything that you could honestly call mourning. Was it really a funeral? Was it a celebration? Was it a display? Was it a stupendous social occasion?"
Dominic Sandbrook in the Daily Mail: "For days, hard-Left agitators had boasted that they would turn her final journey into a gigantic shriek of adolescent rage. They would, they swore, drown out the solemn obsequies inside St Paul's and embarrass Britain in the eyes of the world. But I was wrong to worry. For after all the tasteless, infantile antics of the past week, yesterday belonged to the silent majority."
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Tony Parsons in the Daily Mirror: "If there were a small number of protesters, it was not because she was universally loved but because the British don't really go in for shrieking at coffins. There is a time and place for chanting, "Maggie, Maggie, Maggie, dead, dead, dead," but – ironically! – this was not it. Despite all the predictions of a riot, it was a funeral with no real hatred and no real love."
Martin Kettle in the Guardian: "She will be talked about for generations. But her attempt to bequeath a political settlement for the ages is as doomed as Wren's [the man who built St Paul's]. It is a folly, just like her funeral. It is Downton Abbey politics. Her funeral marks an end not a beginning. Thatcherism will not rise again, any more than she will."
Peter Oborne in the Daily Telegraph: "Certainly the deeply moving event brought some kind of closure to the brutal rifts which tore the Conservative Party apart towards the end of the last century. I am less convinced that it brought closure to the national divisions which the Thatcher premiership left in its wake."
Giles Fraser in the Guardian: "Was the service "too political"? That was always going to be the question. But how could it have been otherwise? It was never going to be straightforward to distinguish Margaret Thatcher the person from Margaret Thatcher the politician. Apart from Denis, she was all politics. And the service inevitably reflected this."
Melanie Phillips in the Daily Mail: "The funeral ceremonial was pitch-perfect, solemn but beautiful and uplifting, and choreographed and staged with flawless precision. This after all is what Britain still does so well. So much so that some foolish folk have allowed themselves to get carried away and claim that this shows Britain essentially still remains the same great country it always was. What a short attention span such individuals must have."
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
The Week contest: Demotivational coach
Puzzles and Quizzes
By The Week US Published
-
Magazine solutions - November 15, 2024
Puzzles and Quizzes Issue - November 15, 2024
By The Week US Published
-
Magazine printables - November 15, 2024
Puzzles and Quizzes Issue - November 15, 2024
By The Week US Published
-
What is the next Tory leader up against?
Today's Big Question Kemi Badenoch or Robert Jenrick will have to unify warring factions and win back disillusioned voters – without alienating the centre ground
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
What is Lammy hoping to achieve in China?
Today's Big Question Foreign secretary heads to Beijing as Labour seeks cooperation on global challenges and courts opportunities for trade and investment
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
Is Britain about to 'boil over'?
Today's Big Question A message shared across far-right groups listed more than 30 potential targets for violence in the UK today
By Sorcha Bradley, The Week UK Published
-
UK's Starmer slams 'far-right thuggery' at riots
Speed Read The anti-immigrant violence was spurred by false rumors that the suspect in the Southport knife attack was an immigrant
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
How could J.D. Vance impact the special relationship?
Today's Big Question Trump's hawkish pick for VP said UK is the first 'truly Islamist country' with a nuclear weapon
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
The Tamils stranded on 'secretive' British island in Indian Ocean
Under the Radar Migrants 'unlawfully detained' since 2021 shipwreck on UK-controlled Diego Garcia, site of important US military base
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
Britain's Labour Party wins in a landslide
Speed Read The Conservatives were unseated after 14 years of rule
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Will voter apathy and low turnout blight the election?
Today's Big Question Belief that result is 'foregone conclusion', or that politicians can't be trusted, could exacerbate long-term turnout decline
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published