Margaret Thatcher has passed

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blogs, England, Great Britain, news, postaday2013, Prime Minister, writing

Today the news coverage was very extensive over the passing of Margaret Thatcher at 87 years of age. The coverage was quite varied from extremely complimentary to quite critical, I would think that the varied reactions show how important and influential Margaret Thatcher’s policies were domestically and internationally. If she hadn’t had such an influence, her passing would have elicited less of a response

What I remember about Margaret Thatcher is her close relationship with our former President Ronald Reagan, they seemed to be two peas in a pod. I used to wonder if Nancy Reagan was ever jealous. I was a teenager back then so my mind would go to the potential love triangle and such, just like in my favorite soap opera’s General Hospital and One Life to Live. Former President Reagan said himself that in Margaret Thatcher he had found a soulmate, so one could see how I could have wondered about any jealousy on Nancy’s part. That reminds me of something a former governor of South Carolina or was it North Carolina, anyway it was one of the Carolina’s, Mark Sanford when he explained why he had lied about his disappearance on the Appalachian Trail; he had told everyone that he went hiking when in actuality he had gone off to see his mistress. His explanation for keeping a mistress was that she was his soulmate. I don’t think married men should refer to other women as their soul-mates, it just doesn’t seem right.

Anyway, I am not saying that Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher were doing anything untoward but it seemed odd to me that one would refer to the other as a soul-mate. They did share the same economical and limited government vision even though they had an odd way of showing it. They both seemed to view big military as crucial to government. Ronald Reagan had his “Star Wars” initiative, his explosive defense spending that had put the U.S in the red for years after. Margret Thatcher had her war in the Falkland Islands which I never understood why it happened in the first place. The Falkland Islands are so very far away from Great Britain but that was then and Reagan sent help during that time.

Seeing Margaret Thatcher’s tributes and reactions to her passing just reminded me about how much Ronald Reagan and she had influenced both their own countries and the world beyond their terms, the direction that the United States and Great Britain would go far into the next century. I wonder if they realized this when they were discussing policy and when they were just talking, if they would dream about the future and their own legacies. I see those two sitting in easy chairs sipping brandy and agreeing with each other over a variety of issues. It’s a vivid portrait of two people comfortable with power.

I will be in my easy chair playing spider solitaire on my iPad feeling very comfortable with my special power of solving my little mental gymnastic games.

I am cheating on Craig Fergeson

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BBC television, Graham Norton, Great Britain, postaday2013, Scotland, T.v, talk show

I have written previously about my newfound favorite talk show host Craig Fergeson. His antics coupled with his delightful Scottish accent make me burst out in laughter every evening when I watch him on TiVo. Craig’s sidekick is a gay skeletal robot voiced by someone who has a gift of mimicry and voice impersonations. The gay skeletal robot’s name is Geoffrey Peterson and he does a mean Morgan Freeman, a hilarious Liam Neeson and Craig Fergeson responds to these impersonations with a few of his own; Michael Caine, Sean Connery, Jason Straham and David Bowie. You never know what is going to come out of these two and they often behave like cheeky monkeys which suits me very much.

However I have started to go astray lately. I stumbled onto the Graham Norton show on the BBC and his talk show is fantastic. He brings his guests out all together and as a viewer, you get the added bonus of seeing how they interact together and it makes them so much more human and ordinary. Often I find myself thinking that this format shines a better spotlight on the movie stars because you get to see why you really like their work. I would imagine that it would be hard to enjoy the work done by a horrible, uninteresting person and being on the couch with two other stars would be difficult to hide that type of character flaw. Graham Norton’s personality is very infectious, he gleefully engages the audience and eagerly welcomes his guests, he never fears teasing his guests and has a wonderful tongue in cheek manner about him. He is as much the reason to watch as are the stars on the show. He isn’t as risque as Craig Fergeson but you are still going to laugh and be entertained. This week’s guest list was Billy Connelly, Dustin Hoffman and John Bishop. The movie promoted was The Quartet, a movie directed by Dustin Hoffman and is about retired opera singers living at a retirement home designated solely for opera singers. It seems to be a very different and interesting movie.

So Craig I’m sorry but I have found someone new; not to replace you, no one ever could, but I am going to share my attentions with another talk show host, but don’t worry I will always make time to watch you on TiVo.