Bjarni and the iron lady

I write the following as someone raised in a working class family in the north of England.

A place where the name of Margaret Thatcher is spoken with revulsion, hatred and contempt for what she did to our communities, our country, and the working class as a whole.

If you were to look into the hearts of those of us from the north of England, you would see three things:

• A strong cup of tea.
• A nice plate of curry and chips
• A burning pyre with an effigy of Margaret Thatcher resting on top.

To see Bjarni Benediktsson unabashedly indulging in the acquisition of Margaret Thatcher memorabilia is a deeply unsettling and jarring spectacle, and something I take personally.

This behaviour casts an ominous pall over the intentions and values of these leaders, exposing a level of audacious insensitivity that demands scrutiny.

Margaret Thatcher remains a figure whose legacy remains indelibly etched in societal strife. The unapologetic veneration of her image by politicians is an act that raises a litany of disconcerting questions about their loyalties and the nightmarish path they are poised to tread.

Margaret Thatcher's enduring legacy is inextricable from her relentless crusade against unions and her ruthless gutting of welfare programs.

Her approach transcended the bounds of pragmatic reform, morphing into an onslaught against the rights of the working class and the social safety nets that the most vulnerable relied upon. The repercussions of these policies persist, as economic disparities persistently haunt our modern landscape.

The audacity of politicians pursuing Thatcher memorabilia transcends mere personal eccentricity; it is an alarming endorsement of her ruinous policies.

The Thatcherite doctrine of deregulation and privatization erected barriers between the privileged and the oppressed, fomenting societal discord and perpetuating the chasms of economic inequality. It sends an unsettling signal about their intentions.

Are they paying homage to history, or are they surreptitiously courting a constituency that fervently craves a return to a time when the elite reigned supreme and the cries of the marginalized fell on deaf ears?

By endorsing a character like Thatcher, Bjarni is showing that he (like her) will not rest until the working poor are consigned to nothing but poverty and misery, unions are gutted, and every essential aspect of society is stripped for parts and sold to the highest bidder. Most likely his family and friends.

As a proud working class Mancunian, I cannot and will not stand by and let that happen.

The author is a manufacturing worker.