Thursday 18 April 2013

Lady Thatcher's Funeral: random rants

Or thoughts, really. Further to my earlier rant.

On celebrating someone's death, an unpublished letter to The Telegraph:

Sir,

In Confucian thought there is the junzi (gentleman) and the xiaoren (small man).

A junzi will never dance on the grave of the newly deceased, even if the latter is a xiaoren.
It brought to mind the occasion when a Singaporean politician died and his sons received a 'letter of condolence'.
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Britons out to protest the cost of the 'not-a-state funeral' said to cost £10 million.
  • There will be winners and losers, as in any free market: caterers, waiters, drivers, policemen (apparently some volunteered), cleaners, public transport workers, etc. will be taking home more money this month as a result of the additional hours they are working.
  • A mother with pink hair interviewed by BBC was vociferous about spending 'our money -- taxpayers' money' on the funeral. I wonder how much tax mother-with-pink-hair pays personally every year. Most of us are too busy working to earn the money to pay the tax to attend a protest. Many of the spectators lining the streets of London are workers, taxpayers, yes, who work in the City (plus tourists, and many others who took time off to pay their last respects). And those of us who work can very rarely get away with pink hair.
  • Isn't it funny that when people are arguing for better benefits they use the term 'government spending', but if it is for something they do not support, it becomes 'taxpayers' money'? There is no such thing as 'government money'. It is taxpayers' money. Next time you ask for more spending, remember it's 'our money -- taxpayers' money'.
  • So they are against the cost of the funeral. What do they do? They threatened to demonstrate. More secruity needed to be deployed, thus jacking up the cost. ???
  • I am sure if 'the government' made it possible for people to contribute (if they wished) to the funeral: £2, £5, for those watching at home, £10 for those lining the streets, or £100 a head for all those inside the Cathedral, say, with any receipts above the actual cost of the funeral going to charity, there will be very many people happy to pay.
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People say that the Queen as Sovereign should not have attended the funeral of a mere commoner.

Anyone spotted the flaw in this logic yet?

Hello! What's the point of being Queen if she could not choose to attend the funeral of any of her subjects (or ex-subjects)?

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