2013年4月13日
Margaret Thatcher: coverage in fullMargaret Thatcher obituary
Margaret Thatcher dies: latest reaction
The Daily Mail remembers Mrs Thatcher as the "the woman who saved Britain", using a quote from David Cameron, in a "special tribute edition" containing 25 pages of news and a 12-page "souvenir pullout".
It begins its coverage with a story by James Chapman and Tim Shipman calling for her to be given a state funeral:
Allies of Britain's greatest peacetime prime minister expressed disappointment last night that she will not be given a full state funeral. Baroness Thatcher, the first and only woman voted into Number Ten, died peacefully yesterday at the age of 87 after the latest in a series of strokes. Friends and foes alike described her as the most dominant political figure to emerge in Britain since Sir Winston Churchill - the last commoner to be honoured with a state funeral in 1965." Its leader argues that "nothing less than a state funeral will do".
It can be said of very few people that their existence on this Earth made a difference. But that claim can be made with absolute certainty for the great British stateswoman who died yesterday. Indeed, Margaret Thatcher changed the landscape of politics, at home and around the world, in ways that reverberate to this day. She was a giant, beside whom other peacetime politicians of the 20th and 21st centuries look like mere pygmies." It concluded:
True, the Coalition plans a splendid send-off for Lady Thatcher. But for the woman who saved the country she loved and fought for so tirelessly, and who redefined global politics, this paper believes nothing less than a full state funeral will suffice." Columnist Richard Littlejohn said her beliefs are still as relevant today as they were 20 years ago.
She was of the firm conviction that society is the sum of its parts — individuals, families, churches, voluntary organisations, businesses. It was her belief that people expected too much from government, concentrated too much on their ‘rights’ and ‘entitlements’ and not enough on their obligations. We all have a duty to help ourselves and our neighbours. Hers was a vision of a liberated, bottom-up society, not the bureaucratic top-down version favoured by Socialists. It is especially relevant to today’s ferocious debate over welfare — safety net versus cradle-to-grave lifestyle option."
The Times revisits its popular wrap-around picture of Mrs Thatcher on an official visit to Moscow in 1987. On the inside it has a graphic map detailing the "long road from Grantham".
It highlights one of her most famous quotes on being elected Prime Minister:
Where there is discord, may we bring harmony. Where there is error, may we bring truth. Where there is doubt, may we bring faith. And where there is despair, may we bring hope.
Inside, its splash was headlined "The first lady" under a picture of the former Prime Minister at a Tory party conference.
Ben Macintyre reports that "her legacy will live on" (£).
The death of Baroness Thatcher yesterday prompted an outpouring of admiration, some criticism, and a fresh debate over her legacy. Britain began to assess the foremost peacetime politician of the 20th century, a woman who transformed life in this country, profoundly, permanently and through sheer force of personality. Lady Thatcher will have a ceremonial funeral at St Paul’s Cathedral with full military honours, the same status accorded to Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother. It may be no coincidence that the thanksgiving service for victory in the Falklands war, her defining moment, was held at the cathedral. The funeral, to be held next week, will be followed by a private cremation." The paper argues in its full-page editorial that Baroness Thatcher was a "woman of simple truths", who "came to power at the end of a decade in which Britain had lost confidence in itself. On the big issues of her time, she made the right choices".
It concluded:
Mrs Thatcher was a dominant political figure, the greatest, by far, of her time. And as for her words that day, those long years ago, outside No 10, she did indeed make Britain less discordant, less doubting, more optimistic. Where there was despair, she brought hope." Columnist and former Conservative politician Matthew Paris writes that Baroness Thatcher was "worshipped and admired by many, but loved by few" (£).
He writes:
There is History with a capital H, and there is curiosity. The grander kind of history asks what Margaret Thatcher did. The more gossipy kind asks what she was like. Both matter. I was better placed (though from no great elevation or intimacy) to observe her as an individual. Mrs Thatcher became my boss not long after she had become Leader of the Opposition. I worked as a correspondence clerk in her office until she became Prime Minister. After 1979, as a new backbench Tory MP and part of her governing party, I watched her lead the Government." He adds:
My own view is that during her time in office she burnt herself out, physically and mentally. Men often forget that a woman may be wearing make-up. Mrs T was brilliantly efficient at making herself look good, and insistent on the importance of appearance at all times." The Guardian splashes an epitaph written by the late Thatcher biographer Hugo Young, who died in 2003 under the headline "She became harder than hard":
He wrote just days before his own death:
The first time I met Margaret Thatcher, I swear she was wearing gloves. But without any question, sitting behind her desk, she was wearing a hat. 