Oxford Man To Turn His Back On Funeral

[FredPuli43]

An Oxford student plans a protest of getting people to turn their backs on Lady Thatcher's cortege. The Mail sees this as "disrupting". Do you? Should it be stopped? Should he not live in a £700,000 house?

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2308091/Dominic-Francis-Mastermind-plans-disrupt-Thatcher-funeral-Oxford-student-parents-live-700-000-house-Tunbridge-Wells.html

[Sharingan]

Oh well what's a mere £10 million eh? It's that kind of attitude that people are angry about.

[FredPuli43]

Yes, Daisy, rustication (literally "being sent to the country"; how Oxbridge !) still exists, though it is generally known as 'being sent down' whether temporarily or permanently. But, if it was employed against students who had leftish views, however strong, and who demonstrated peacefully, both Oxford and Cambridge would have been pretty empty over the years! And where do you think the Russians looked to find traitors and spies ?

[jim360]

Fred - as a Cambridge student - don't remind me!

[Prudie]

It might be disruptive, it's pointless and disrespectful but certainly shouldn't be stopped - that's what democracy is all about.

[China Doll]

I think it's a fantastic idea for people who want to show their opinion without being violent, loud or otherwise disruptive. I wouldn't go out of my way to go to the funeral so that I could do this, but if the funeral procession were going outside where I work (it's not), then I would probably join in.

We live in a democracy and certainly I don't think this should be stopped, I think it's a much preferable idea for a way for people to express themselves rather than mass celebrations/parties or fighting/chaos in the street.

I have no idea what the figure of his house has to do wtih anything.

[FredPuli43]

Ah, Jim,you were never a female student who did the King Street Run ! That was the really serious offence that got one girl sent down. Don't think any man who did it ever was, but they didn't get national coverage, and, of course, weren't at Girton or Newnham back then.

[humbersloop]

No

No

Don't care about the price of his house

the lad's foolish, but I when I was there, I do remember Oxford antipathy to this hagiography going a long way back -

http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/january/29/newsid_2506000/2506019.stm

[FredPuli43]

Average house price, Tunbridge Wells £333,000 (2012), detached £555,000. There's a semi on Hoopla sold for £836,000 (2013). I'm surprised at the lowish average.

Apparently the Mail thinks that people whose parents live in comparatively expensive houses should admire Lady Thatcher or not complain about the funeral, and certainly not object to what she did. The parents might well be Mail readers, so it's a shock, even a scandal, if they haven't brought their children up to think like them. Blimey, there's barely a house in this village that fetches less than £700k and I can guarantee there are some socialists among the owners. Perhaps Mail readers should look around more.

[naomi24]

It’s silly. Protesting to what purpose? The woman won three democratic elections, she did what she did, time has moved on, she’s now dead, she’s having a fancy funeral - and nothing will change any of it. It’s history. End of story.

[Baldric]

It must be a very slow news day if that's the best they can come up with!

[Khandro]

The story, if it is one, says more about The Daily Mail than anything else.
//Should it be stopped? Should he not live in a £700,000 house?//
Well it can't be, and if it wasn't for the reporting such trivia no one would know or care.

[Kromovaracun]

"It’s silly. Protesting to what purpose?"

The purpose isn't to change anything. It's to express an opinion. Why must everything in politics be strictly functional?

[Prudie]

Split opinion on Margaret Thatcher is already pretty well known. To express it at her funeral is just crass and pointless.

[naomi24]

Krom, So he expresses an opinion. Then what?

[factor-fiction]

I wouldn't do it now- I'd just stay at home- but it's the sort of thing I did as a student in the 70s.

[Kromovaracun]

"Krom, So he expresses an opinion. Then what?"

That's it. That's the big plan. He wants to express his disagreement with Thatcher's legacy in a context where the main message has been adulation. That's all.

Why does he need to do anything else?

[naomi24]

Oh right. Fascinating.

[Kromovaracun]

I'm sure he isn't doing it to please you Naomi :P.

[Prudie]

well he isn't doing it to upset MT, she won't know.

[naomi24]

He neither pleases me nor displeases me, Krom. I think he's an idiot.