Just about every journalist in Britain seems to have been having a say about the life of Lady Thatcher - former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher - who died yesterday, aged 87.
Brigg Blog is proud to have no political affiliations, but would like to offer a very positive comment about Mrs T. As a Tory backbencher she campaigned for press freedom and worked wonders to get the Public Bodies (Admission to Meetings) Act 1960 onto the statute book.
This far-reaching legislation gave journalists new rights to attend committee meetings of local councils and report on debates and decisions in the public interest. Up to then, in many cases, only monthly meetings of the full council were open.
The Daily Telegraph's two-page obituary today gives a brief mention to Mrs Thatcher's 1960 triumph, but many other media outlets have failed to mention what was surely one of her greatest achievements.
And we'll end by saying that there's a meeting of Brigg Town Council's Property and Services Committee coming up in the Angel Suite Lounge on Wednesday, April 17, at 6pm. The Public Bodies (Admission to Meetings Act) 1960 applies and it's open to the press and interested members of the public who want to go along.
Perhaps Maggie Thatcher first came to political prominence in the early 70's as the Education Minister.
ReplyDeleteShe progressively stopped free school milk and the chant -
'Thatcher, Thatcher the Milk Snatcher' became quite well-known.
It's somewhat ironic, Nige, that while MT campaigned for media freedom that we now have a degree of censure about a pop song.
ReplyDeletePersonally, I find the adverse promotion of the song at a time of MT's funeral is somewhat distasteful at a sensitive time.
However, unless comments are 'hate speech', the freedom of the press has to be maintained'
Many people are anti-Thatcher and if groups need to demonstrate their
views thro' a pop song, let them.
To ban the song would only serve to legitimise and elevate the groups' concept that they are being politically suppressed and ignored.