Thatcher triggered cultural revolution

AS well as overhauling Britain's economy, Margaret Thatcher triggered a cultural revolution by igniting a creative burst of anger at her policies, including slashing arts funding.

Thatcher "had a phenomenal impact on the cultural landscape of Britain by creating an ideological backlash", said David Khabaz of the London School of Economics, author of a book on the former prime minister's cultural legacy.

"It was kind of a paradoxical movement: if (Thatcher) hadn't provided that sort of attack on art, the critical edge of intellectual art would never have come about," he said.

Thatcher swept to power in 1979, and among her many controversial reforms was a decision to progressively cut funding for the Arts Council, a public body set up after World War II to help bring culture to the masses.

In line with her fierce free market economic principles, she argued that artists - many seen as broadly leftwing and anti-government - should sink or swim on their own merits, like the rest of the population.

But more than withdrawing funds it was her wider policies - including cutting jobs in mines and elsewhere, while cosying up to the US against the Soviet threat and waging war in the Falklands - which fuelled anger.

"Thatcher polarised society far more than ever before ... What you read, what you watched and listened to indicated whether you were pro or anti-Thatcher," said David Christopher of the European Business School.

"Thatcher affected people's attitudes in their everyday life, her hegemony seems to permeate all aspects of life," including fashion, cinema and music, added Christopher, author of British Culture, an Introduction.

The music world saw the most visible, and sometimes violent, reaction to Thatcher's policies.

Red Wedge, an anti-Thatcher movement formed in the run-up to the 1987 election, brought together a grouping of musicians including The Clash, Paul Weller, The Communards, Madness, Billy Bragg, The Smiths and Elvis Costello.

They played benefit gigs to raise money for striking miners and urging people to vote Labour, while underground events sprung up with concerts and exhibitions in warehouses, or home-made CDs to bypass music corporations.

In 1988 Morrissey penned Margaret on the Guillotine, saying that was his "wonderful dream". Dozens of other songs call for her removal, notably over her friendship with Chile's former dictator Augusto Pinochet.

The same year students from Goldsmiths College in London organised the famous Freeze "happening" in a dingy Docklands warehouse. They were led by Damien Hirst, who later became one of the world's wealthiest artists.

Other galleries, like that of Charles Saatchi, also served as a breeding ground for the counter-culture new British art.

Meanwhile, one thorn in Thatcher's side came from the heart of the British establishment: the internationally respected and fiercely independent BBC.

The Tory leader was not slow to try to clamp down on the BBC, which broadcast damaging news investigation programs like Panorama.

Thatcher "hated the BBC. She became increasingly worried about the BBC until she managed to appoint chairmen who were sympathetic to the government," said Christopher.

Channel Four, a public TV station created in 1982, nurtured a new generation of directors whose edgy social films started on the small screen, but then became cinema hits.

My Beautiful Launderette, a powerful satire on race and class directed by Stephen Frears with the writer Hanif Kureishi, was among the most successful products of that collaboration.

Other openly anti-Thatcher filmmakers included Mike Leigh and Ken Loach, while playwright and later Nobel Literature prize laureate Harold Pinter also joined the cultural onslaught on her government.

The creative burst continued well beyond her departure in 1990, which presaged the demise of Tory government in 1997.

In December 2011, Meryl Streep portrayed her in the film The Iron Lady, although it was criticised in some parts for focusing on her dementia.

"She has become a British icon ... Thatcher is not Thatcherism: Thatcher started the project, but Thatcherism became much, much bigger than her," said Khabaz.

"Half of the country still despise her. It has not gone away."

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Friends and foes pay tribute to Thatcher

FORMER friends and foes alike from across the world have paid tribute to the late British prime minister Margaret Thatcher, remembering an "extraordinary leader" who stamped her authority everywhere.

The "Iron Lady" was a polarising figure in Britain and beyond during her time in office, but foreign leaders were unanimous in acknowledging her place in 20th century history, with Barack Obama mourning a "true friend of America".

German Chancellor Angela Merkel hailed Thatcher as "an extraordinary leader in the global politics of her time".

Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, who held frequent meetings with Thatcher in the 1980s as the Cold War drew to a close, said Thatcher would go down in history.

"Margaret Thatcher was a great politician and a bright individual. She will do down in our memory and in history," the Nobel Peace Prize winner said in a statement released by his foundation.

"Thatcher was a politician whose words carried great weight," he added, calling her death "sad news".

Thatcher, who once famously said of Gorbachev that "this is a man I can do business with", died of stroke on Monday at the age of 87.

Gorbachev admitted their first meetings were tense because the Soviet Union was still a few years from falling apart, and his own commitment to the Communist Party made their relations sometimes rocky.

But he said the two leaders always treated each other with the utmost respect, listening to what the other had to say closely.

"Our first meeting in 1984 gave the start to relations that were at times difficult, not always smooth, but which were serious and responsible for us both," he noted.

Fellow Cold War hero Lech Walesa, the Polish dockyard worker whose pro-democracy Solidarity movement helped create the first cracks in the Soviet system in the 1980s, said Thatcher helped Communism fall in his own country.

"She was a great personality who has done many things for the world that contributed to the fall of Communism in Poland and Eastern Europe," Walesa told AFP.

But even those with reason to remember a sometimes divisive figure less fondly were quick to pay tribute to her huge personality.

In South Africa, a spokesman for the ruling African National Congress (ANC) recalled the differences between Thatcher and those fighting against Apartheid in the 1980s.

"She failed to acknowledge the ANC as the rightful party of governance, but was out of touch with the British people on that issue. It's water under the bridge," said spokesman Keith Khoza.

But he added: "Margaret Thatcher was a leader of note, despite disagreements in policy between her and the ANC."

In Brussels, European Commission head Jose Manuel Barroso paid tribute to Thatcher's "contributions" to the growth of the European Union, despite her reservations about continental European integration.

Expressing his "deepest regrets" to the UK government, Barroso said she had been "a circumspect yet engaged player in the European Union" who "will be remembered for both her contributions to and her reserves about our common project".

Outside Europe, Israel's conservative Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was one of the first world leaders to speak publicly of Thatcher's passing, saying that "she was truly a great leader".

In Spain, Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said Thatcher's "firm determination to make reforms" was an inspiration to European leaders who were currently "facing very complex challenges that require great efforts and political courage".

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Reports of star's demise premature

MARGARET Thatcher's death caused paroxysms of confusion on Twitter where some users were apparently left with the impression that the singer Cher had died.

Members began posting comments on the microblogging site with the hashtag #nowthatchersdead soon after the news was announced.

But it was apparently misinterpreted and led to a flurry of Tweets suggesting it had upset the pop star's fans.

Comedian Ricky Gervais attempted to set the record straight, writing: "Some people are in a frenzy over the hashtag #nowthatchersdead.

"It's 'Now Thatcher's dead'.

"Not, 'Now that Cher's dead'".

Other Twitter users sought to reassure followers. One wrote: "It's OK people, @cher is still very much alive".

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Labor up, but still on track for a loss

LABOR has regained some ground since the Gillard leadership spill, but remains in an election-losing position, the latest Newspoll shows.

Labor's primary vote is at 32 per cent - two points above its result two weeks ago - while the coalition dropped 50 to 48 per cent.

The Greens' primary vote is at 11 per cent, in line with its 2010 election level, The Australian reports.

The opinion poll, taken over the weekend, suggests that if an election was held now Labor would face a five per cent swing.

Based on 2010 preference flows, this could cost it 20 seats and deliver victory to the coalition.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard has risen slightly in the preferred leader rankings, up two points to 37, compared to Tony Abbott, who fell three points to 40 per cent.

That leaves 23 per cent of poll respondents uncommitted to either leader.

On a two-party preferred basis, the coalition leads Labor 55 to 45 per cent.

All the party vote movements were within the margin of error, The Australian noted.

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Thatcher's beliefs 'half-baked': Robertson

AUSTRALIAN human rights lawyer Geoffrey Robertson says it is wrong to eulogise Margaret Thatcher as a conviction politician because her beliefs have since proven to be "half-baked".

Instead, the London-based barrister, who lived through the Thatcher era, says her real legacy is that she was Britain's first female prime minister.

"In retrospect the greatest thing about her was that she was a woman," Mr Robertson told AAP.

"The lady is not for turning will be remembered for the fact she was a lady and not the fact she was a conviction politician."

Lady Thatcher died on Monday aged 87.

Mr Robertson said her political beliefs had proven to be "half-baked and hand-rammed".

She believed letting the market rip could produce happiness for all, he said.

"And it hasn't. Her idea of light-touch regulation led to the banking crisis and so many other crises."

The Australian lawyer said the 1980s were a period of "unalloyed greed" and Lady Thatcher had been incapable of empathising with the poor and disadvantaged.

Mr Robertson on Monday also criticised Lady Thatcher for drinking whiskey with former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet when he visited the UK in the 1990s.

But she did do some good on the international stage, he admitted.

She rightly took Mikhail Gorbachev seriously while the Falklands war led to the overthrow of the "barbaric" military government in Argentina.

Mr Robertson also acknowledged she was right to take on the union power and arrogance that had destroyed the previous Labour government.

Australian Liberals Abroad UK president Jason Groves on Monday described Lady Thatcher as "one of the great transformative leaders of our time".

Mr Groves said the former British PM influenced the conservative side of politics in Australia and around the world.

Former Liberal prime minister John Howard was similar to Lady Thatcher in that both were conviction politicians, he told AAP.

"They both changed profoundly the countries they governed," he said.

"The UK changed out of sight under Margaret Thatcher and likewise John Howard took what was an economy with good fundamentals and put it in the position where it was able to ride out the greatest global financial crisis since the great depression."

Durham Miners' Association general secretary David Hopper, 70, on Monday said the death of Lady Thatcher was a "great day" for coal miners.

"There's no sympathy from me for what she did to our community," he said.

"She destroyed our community, our villages and our people."

But Mr Groves said while some miners suffered under Lady Thatcher's 11-year rule, many of the communities had been transformed because of the way she'd revitalised the British economy.

Australian Peter Tatchell, a leading gay rights activist in the UK, said Lady Thatcher was an extraordinary woman "but mostly for the wrong reasons".

"Thatcher legislated UK's first new anti-gay law in 100 years: section 28," the activist Tweeted on Monday.

"She mocked the right to be gay."

Section 28, since repealed, banned local authorities from promoting homosexuality in any way.

Mr Tatchell said while Lady Thatcher shattered the sexist glass ceiling in politics she did little for the rights of women.

"A macho right-winger," he said in another Tweet.

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Kalashnikov gunmen rob Italy security van

KALASHNIKOV-TOTING gunmen have robbed a security van in Italy, blocking traffic with a blazing truck, firing into the air and setting off a smoke bomb before escaping with cash and gold.

The highly organised robbery happened on a busy stretch of motorway between Italy's northern commercial capital, Milan, and the city of Como, which was closed to traffic for several hours on Monday.

The amount stolen, apparently including gold ingots, was initially estimated at 10 million euros ($A12.5 million) by Italian media citing officials close to the investigation.

The security company, Battistolli, later said that amount was "absolutely exaggerated".

A company spokesman said the amount was still being calculated, but added: "For us a large theft can also be around two million euros".

"Kalashnikovs were used and shots were fired, but no one was injured," the spokesman, Marco Melatti, was quoted by the ANSA news agency as saying.

ANSA said about 50 shots were fired.

The police were first alerted by motorists at 7.05am (1505 AEST), but the assault only took a few minutes and was over by the time they arrived.

The robbers scattered four kilometres of road with three-pronged nails to slow down police.

The smoke bomb was set off under the van to make its occupants believe their vehicle had been set on fire, the police were cited as saying.

The robbers got away in three cars later found abandoned at an isolated farmhouse.

Swiss media reported the security van had been on its way to Switzerland, which has been receiving a lot of Italian cash and gold as authorities in Italy crack down on tax fraud.

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Thatcher's death 'best birthday' for miner

BRITAIN'S coal miners were among the biggest of Margaret Thatcher's foes - and for one senior mining official marking his birthday on Monday, the former prime minister's death is the icing on the cake.

"I'm having a drink to it right now," said David Hopper, regional secretary of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) in northeast England.

"It's a marvellous day. I'm absolutely delighted. It's my 70th birthday today and it's one of the best I've had in my life."

Thatcher's government crushed a year-long coal miners' strike in 1985. The miners were forced to accept sweeping pit closures, in one of the bitterest episodes in British industrial history.

Speaking from his home in the northeastern English city of Durham, Hopper said he and colleagues would organise a party to coincide with Thatcher's funeral at St Paul's Cathedral in London.

"There's not going to be many tears for her up here," said Hopper, who joined the NUM when he was 15 and was among the tens of thousands of miners who joined the strike in 1984-5.

"I don't think there'll be many people watching the funeral on telly either. They'll probably be watching the football.

"Thatcher perpetrated more evil in the northeast than anyone before or since. It isn't just about the coal mines. She set out to destroy unions. She decimated the industry, she destroyed our communities."

Britain has just a handful of working coal pits left, and the National Union of Mineworkers - once a powerful force in national politics - is today primarily occupied with looking after retired miners.

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