Mrs Thatcher Bites Dog

The BBC never knowingly allows a chance to attack Mrs Thatcher go by however unlikely:

Dr Daniel Conway, author of a paper on the politics of Margaret Thatcher’s clothing, and Tory MP Claire Perry, debate the what these suits reveal about the Iron Lady.

According to Conway Thatcher’s dresses were a physical manifestation of her politics…. which were all about ‘narrow, selfish class concerns.’

No they weren’t…if anything the complete opposite of that.

Conway clearly drinks too much coffee and doesn’t have a real job….a paper on the politics of Margaret Thatcher’s clothing?  Who in his university authorised funding for that research?  Never mind world beating technology and engineering design…let’s fund a course on ‘power dressing’.  Is Conway at a university or working for Cosmopolitan…or Private Eye?

Still I suppose it saves Labour having to go cap in hand to the Union Barons for more money if the BBC coninues to provide so much free anti-Tory propaganda.

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49 Responses to Mrs Thatcher Bites Dog

  1. Alex says:

    Sorry Alan, off topic: I knew from the moment I watched that annoying, snooty women, Allegra Stratton, on Newsnight that her credentials were Left to the core. In my opinion, she epitomizes the upper class, urban lefty:

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allegra_Stratton

       44 likes

    • Brother Duquette says:

      Just what the hell archaeology and anthropology have to do with being a political editor I do not know.. same with Paul Mason and his music degree. It would seem that in order to get a job in politics and economics with the BBC, you must study any subject but these two disciplines.

         22 likes

  2. imaynotalwaysloveyou says:

    If they want to talk about the politics of clothing then the Emperors new clothes comes to mind..who the hell cares what some communist lecturer thinks.

    And as for the so-called tory this :
    In 2010, Perry supported calls for an opt out filtering system for the Internet, where sites with 18+ material would be blocked unless the user opted out of the system. She also suggested that ISPs offer a range of age levels, with the default setting being that anything not suitable for under-14s be blocked.

    makes her sound like some kind of nanny state authoritarian…bitch.

       38 likes

  3. The Highland Rebel says:

    A paper on the politics of Thatchers clothing and the luvvies have the gall to moan about education standards.

       46 likes

  4. chrisH says:

    And this rather creepy bloke is a “Doctor”?
    Of course the BBC would have him to pad out the Toady show as it runs into the sands every morning.
    They really need to shorten it…if only the Tories would give the BBC its three day week, so we could celebrate the 70s as we ought to.
    One example of a test card being of more value to the viewer would have to be “Citizen Khan”.
    And the Beeb have the nerve to say that “It ain`t half hot mum” could be seen as “racist”?
    This Citizen Khan is the most racist, unfunny commission that I`ve ever seen…mother in laws , Sybils birthday plotline from Fawlty Towers…and the canniest canned laughter since Cannes!
    Maybe a silent film of Maggies suits would be more entertaining after all..it really could not be any worse than this tamarind turd of a “comedy”…

       29 likes

  5. Leftie-Loather says:

    True leader Mrs T will remain famous throughout the world for absolutely donkeys years to come. Who the fuck’s Daniel Conway?!!
    I popped in to the world a few months before Churchill died and i’m also absolutely proud as punch to be living during the Iron Lady’s time.

       44 likes

    • Reed says:

      They’ve been lame caretakers ever since. Even Christopher Hitchens, a man of the left, regarded Thatcher as the last radical Prime Minister.

         23 likes

      • Leftie-Loather says:

        Yep!, easily more bollox than any of ’em. As I said, a true leader, famously very rightly recognised and respected as such throughout the world. The Iron Lady’s leadership was the best thing that’s happened to Britain since WWII. (And doesn’t matter what some say, even in the military.. Under Mrs T we were NEVER gonna lose that war against Argentina. They know perfectly well we only really slapped them and that with sub’s, bombers and the SAS/SBS, we could’ve turned to punching their mainland at anytime. There was loads of military stuff going on behind the scenes – attack options, sped up build of another carrier, testing new Tornado bombers for aerial refuelled long range missions, etc – in case the war started dragging on.)

           8 likes

    • johnnythefish says:

      The last Prime Minister with any principles. If you didn’t like them then you didn’t have to vote for them, but one thing you always knew for certain – she wasn’t going to change. She knew what needed to be done to get the country back on its feet and so did the majority of the country. Now we live in a cloud cuckoo land where politicians of a certain party, having racked up the biggest debt and deficit this country has ever seen on a scale which can barely be comprehended, reassure the electorate that it doesn’t really have to be like this, with all these nasty cuts. Even the Tories are scared of saying it like it really is, that people and government have lived well beyond their means believing they were part of a never-ending boom, amassing huge private and public sector debt in the process, and now it’s time to cut back on their lifestyles – big time.

      Maggie would have said it. No politician now will.

         14 likes

      • Leftie-Loather says:

        History will show our kids what forever bloody do-goody burdening political lot their debts were really inherited from! – Labour, same utterly traitorous, immigration crazed, common senseless cock-up merchants every time! How any proud Brit’ or loving parent here hoping for jobs for THEIR kids when they grow up could ever vote Labour again is just completely beyond me.

           11 likes

  6. Reed says:

    Perhaps they’ll follow this up with an article that questions how the typically scruffy, filthy, dishevelled dress sense and the disorganised and aggressive behaviour of many left-wing activist movements reflects on the validity and worthiness of their beliefs and causes.

    Nah…thought not.

       43 likes

    • Reed says:

      How’s this for ‘narrow, selfish class concerns’ – which pretty much sums up the resentment driven by entitlement and envy of the occupy movement…

         17 likes

      • Reed says:

        I encourage him to flee his oppressive life of comfortable, middle class, self-indulgent angst and head for the cooperative worker’s paradise of Afghanistan…

        http://tinyurl.com/7ch8brw

           40 likes

        • London Calling says:

          And the Rich say Fuck OccupyRNC

          Totalitarian communist fashion-politics. Who gives a toss what these anarcho-sheep think? Oh. The bBC.

             18 likes

          • Earls Court says:

            Jealously of people who have done better out of life than them is the most common trait found amougst Socialists/marxists/leftists etc

               13 likes

      • NotaSheep says:

        I have met so many people with that mindset. There is no point arguing with them, they don’t listen. They KNOW the truth and that’s it.

           13 likes

      • Dysgwr_Cymraeg says:

        ” the first 10 miilion years of human history”……yes this product of a western educational system believes human beings have been around 10 million years.
        Couldn’t believe he actually said it.
        Holy shit!

           10 likes

        • Reed says:

          …and it’s only the last few centuries of human history that have seen the vast majority of people escape the long history of short, miserable, filthy, disease ridden lives – thanks mostly to industrialists, entrepreneurs, free trade, property rights etc – you know – capitalism (shhhhhhh).

             11 likes

          • Leftie-Loather says:

            Well said! But that’s do-goody stupid Lefties through and through though, they don’t really know their arses from their heads!

               7 likes

    • Dysgwr_Cymraeg says:

      Well, they could publish a paper on Michael Foot’s donkey jacket. Would be just as enlightening about his policies.

         13 likes

  7. The Highland Rebel says:

    Michael Foot———Donkey.

       18 likes

  8. Guest Who says:

    Had a quick gander.
    Don’t tend to listen to it as it epitomises the denominator any ‘show’ delves down to in filling the demands of the 24/7 ‘news’ maw, of which this sorry piece is a rather typical example.
    I also noted…
    ‘Get in touch with Today via email , Twitter or Facebook or text us on 84844.’
    And, one presumes, in that unique way they have, the editorial team will ‘select’ the views they want to hear.
    Twitter of course is fully controllable on broadcast, so not worth a damn and of value simply to see what quaint bubble they live in by way of what they trot out, leave out and shout out.
    FaceBook does offer more opportunity for variety, but a quick look shows it’s like the Newsnight one, namely a Wild West club mainly for the disaffected to get angry and protest with each other at the prompting of those who shake sticks in their nests.
    Current top ‘story’ synopsis..
    ‘Prof Malcolm Gillies, vice-chancellor of the university, said the report by the UK border agency that there was systemic failure at the university “is wrong in so many details”.’
    One is sure any challenge to that Mandy Rice Daviesian statement was somewhere in the interview linked to, but there was not space to fit anything else bar this singular view?
    Some colourful ‘views’ from some colourful (well the sepia image of this cove paints its own picture – I presume the current 5 are who they ‘select’ to speak for the nation’?) folk suggest a certain like-minded predictability..
    http://www.facebook.com/thetodayprogramme
    ‘Simon Young Sorry, Elkins, I misunderstood you. In which case, I agree. Maybe attacking any intellectual activity is to go side by side with the racism – it all keeps the Tory right happy.
    And some accuse the DM of being where the foam-flecked brigade go to get offended before heading here to tell everyone they are going to ignore this site some more today?
    Whatever the demographic accuracies of respective audiences and opinions, one thing is however clearly different… to a unique degree… and that is only with the BBC are all compelled to pay no matter what.

       9 likes

  9. dez says:

    “According to Conway Thatcher’s dresses were a physical manifestation of her politics…. which were all about ‘narrow, selfish class concerns.’”
     
    No, not according to Conway.
     
    He was quoting the words of Conservative MP Ian Gilmour. Which you would acknowledge if you weren’t so transparently dishonest.
     
    Never mind that Claire Perry was fawning all over “Mrs. T” for the whole five minutes. Just pretend it was nothing more than anti-Thatcher propaganda and hope nobody notices. Job done.
     

       5 likes

    • Backwoodsman says:

      How about the professional gayer given a large chunk of the news on R2, to expound his views (more of a rant, really) that Christians (naturally not given the chance to reply), couldn’t be allowed to decline to marry gays ?
      The bbc , in their own little world.

         14 likes

    • chrisH says:

      Jeez Dez!
      Since when did the liberal media give a stuff about what Ian Gilmour is to be quoted as saying?…and as a source or a reference for ANYTHING?
      Well done on checking up though…now you may care to tell us why” It ain`t half hot mum” is racist, but Citizen Khan “celebrates the contemporary Muslim experience”.
      Hope you`ll apply that “majoring on minors details” mind of yours to something a little more momentous that Thatchers sharp pleats being evidence of her wish to cut the NHS or suchlike.
      Jeez Dez-surely the BBCs direction ought to trouble you, and not whether the string on the air freshener is sustainably sourced or not?
      You may yet be the next Craig if you were to apply forensic analysis to the REAL issues…not whether Ian Gilmour was worthy of a research paper…let alone a cosy berth to bitch on the only State funded monopoly provided that is OUR BBC( John Birt used to say so!…what`s changed since then?)
      Maybe write us a research paper on that one eh Dez?…let`s see if the Beeb are so happy to discuss this one-or be reminded of it anyhoo!

         15 likes

    • Span Ows says:

      No, not according to Conway.

      He was quoting the words of Conservative MP Ian Gilmour.

      Can you provide a source please. I ask because I believe no Conservative MP, be they male, female, straight, gay, black, white rich, poor, Christian, Muslim etc would hold that view; I do not believe any Conservative or even Liberal could hold just a completely ludicrous view; in fact I’ll go as far to say that half of Labour probably don’t believe that (though they may say it). Alan is right: “if anything the complete opposite”,

         4 likes

      • Roland Deschain says:

        It would seem that he did say that, although I don’t think the context was Margaret Thatcher’s dress code.

        By linking the two, Conway is saying that.

           4 likes

        • Span Ows says:

          Excellent Roland thank you, your point is a good one (and IMHO correct), also it seems snob Gilmour was coming from ‘the opposite end’ to what the comment implies: he (soon for he chop) was of the “entrenched party elite”.

             5 likes

        • Reed says:

          Well done, leftist professor (tautology?), for searching for quotes from Tory MPs regarding Margaret Thatcher and stopping when he managed to find one that was sufficiently disparaging.

          No wonder the BBC gave his crap air time – they instantly recognised a fellow traveller.

          Is there a leftist version of ‘gaydar’? If so, can we come up with a name for this phenomenon……

             6 likes

        • Demon says:

          I read a good chunk of that link, at first thinking someone was writing it as politically neutral as possible. Then I suddenly realised that I was disagreeing with more and more of the accusations made against her, so realised it was actually a clever piece of left-wing opinion wrapped in what appeared at first glance to be a fair academic piece.

          It is far from fair and neutral, but is a very clever, insidious bit of anti-Thatcher rhetoric.

             1 likes

  10. London Calling says:

    This Daniel Conway?
    http://www.lboro.ac.uk/departments/eu/people/academics/Conway-Daniel.html

    Seems “Dr” Conway is a South African professional poof – lists his interests as including

    • Masculinities and international politics
    • Sexuality and Queer Theory
    • Whiteness and Race Politics

    Just the sort of person to opine on Thatch’s frocks.

    What a creepy bloke.

       24 likes

  11. DJ says:

    Meanwhile, in a parallel universe, where man has unlocked the secret of journalism, the Today program is asking why, despite all these alleged Toricutz, creepy academic weirdos are still getting paid to play with their masculinity in public.

       18 likes

  12. +james says:

    Funny how Hillary Clinton dresses in a similar style to Thatcher, using the same colour combinations. I wonder how the Beeb would interpret that.

       16 likes

    • Leftie-Loather says:

      Nice shot, james.
      As you know, convenient ignorance is always bliss to Al-Beeb.

         5 likes

  13. Dave s says:

    Is this serious? No wonder the country is sinking into the third world. Pretend academics and useless politicians discussing the completely trivial with the blessing of our national broadcaster.

       14 likes

  14. Bob says:

    ” the BBC coninues to provide so much free anti-Tory propaganda.”

    3.5 billion pounds worth.

    Link: The TV License Scam
    ~~~
    Are you continuing to fund them?

       7 likes

  15. Alex says:

    Off-topic; great clip of Nigel Farage telling a few uncomfortable truths at a Romford QT. Specifically, please note the planned audience reaction to the section on immigration and social housing in this country… the planted droid in the audience was an obvious obstacle to a topic which the BBC will not tolerate…

       8 likes

  16. Pounce says:

    It’s Wednesday any chance of a new board?

       3 likes

  17. The irony is that many of Thatcher’s leftist critics despised her for not looking quite as lofty as themselves:

    When asked why intellectuals loathed her so, the theatre producer Jonathan Miller replied that it was “self-evident” – they were nauseated by her “odious suburban gentility.” The philosopher Mary Warnock deplored Thatcher’s “neat, well-groomed clothes and hair, packaged together in a way that’s not exactly vulgar, just low,” embodying “the worst of the lower-middle class.” This filled Warnock with “a kind of rage.”

    From Claire Berlinski’s entertaining book “There Is No Alternative”: Why Margaret Thatcher Matters, quoted here.

       8 likes