The news on Monday was of course entirely dominated by the death of Mrs Thatcher. Fashion Girl, as a feminist in training, wondered why I wasn't so keen on her. After all she was a woman who ran the country which surely was a good thing. And so she asked a very simple question: 'Why was she bad?' It proved more tricky to answer than I'd thought. Explained how she didn't care much for the poor - FG accepted that. that but she didn't really see why selling off national companies was a problem. Why shouldn't Richard Branson run the train service to London if he makes a good job of it? Love having a teenager to talk to: it makes me question and reconsider my own convictions. Then tried explaining how Mrs T encouraged people to pursue individual wealth and success. Again FG saw no problem with this until I explained that I felt she encouraged people to be selfish and not care about the rest of society. Not sure I explained it very well but I had a go.
What she found most shocking was that Margaret Thatcher was the first female Prime Minister and that there hasn't been another one since. Ok so I didn't like Mrs Thatcher, but I do admire her achievement as a woman. Let's hope the women of the FG's generation have more success in getting to the top in politics than we have.
