General Chat

You are so right there Ter*

Back to Baroness Thatcher.

I agree with JoyBoroAngel, that it was so sad that the mother of two children died without them beside her.

They have chosen to live outside the UK and in Mark Thatcher's case he is a tax exile and is only permitted to visit here for a certain number of days per year.

How awful that financial restraints are so more attractive than being with the woman who brought you into this life at the end of hers..

But there was no warning that my parents were about to die.......one in a car crash, the other in hospital died suddenly and unexpectedly in the night. I can't imagine they wouldn't have been there if they'd known what was to happen. She had a visitor the evening before she died, so it was probably very sudden.

I thought how nice it was that Sarah Fergusson had been a friend for 25 years and still visited her. Not an obvious match are they!

Joeva .................


She was apparently sitting up in bed reading the newspaper when she had the stroke

At least one of her carers and her doctor were in the suite at the time.



one cannot know exactly when such things will strike!



I wasn't there when my dad died ................ he died even more alone than Mrs T ................ in his house alone.

The neighbours found him next morning when he didn't answer the front door, and one of them broke in. He had resisted all suggestions that a neighbour be given a key ............... too private a person.


I was over here ................. if I'd known it was going to happen, do you not think I would have been in the UK????????? Or that my brother would not have been there from his home elsewhere in the UK??

Just as I am sure that Carol and Mark would have been there IF they had known it was going to happen at that time.


you're maligning the Thatcher children without knowing the full story!

Just as you are, I think, blaming "financial restraints" possibly unfairly for Mark's absence from the UK ...........

.................. my understanding from what I have read is that he was told by the authorities not to return to the UK except for very short periods of time.


from the Guardian Thursday April 11 2013 .............

"[In 1984], following a political scandal, it was decided by the then prime minister's PR advisers that Mark would do well to leave the country.

He had been exposed by the Observer for trading on his mother's name in the Middle East, over a contract to build a £300m university in Oman. A company controlled by construction magnate Victor Matthews employed Mark Thatcher as a secret consultant, who would get a large commission if the firm landed the contract."

He'd also managed to embroil his own mother in this imbroglio.

apparently she chose to live at The Ritz rather than at home because she knew she would be cared for - now that is so sad

Did I hear right yesterday? Big Ben is to be stopped for the funeral? Surely not

AnnCardiff, Yes the bells of Big Ben are to be silenced for the funeral as are the bells in the tower at The House of Lords end of Parliament.

Be thankful that Henry VIII broken ranks with the Roman Catholic Church, if he had not they would probably have asked the Pope to canonise her ;-)

Quite ironic really given the lyrics of a certain song in the charts!

To add to all the pomp & pageantry, the dignitaries attending, and the protestors, foremost in the authorities plans must be what happened at the Boston Marathon in the USA yesterday, don't think I would want to be near Central London tomorrow.

With you there OFITG, dreadful scenes.

Such a shame that security will now have to be tightened even more at tax payers expense. And more so security personnel put at higher risk :(((

I would guess that Margaret chose to live at the Ritz because like so many old folks they don't want to die at home for several reasons. My recently departed wife chose a nursing home for the care and the reason I gave)

I see absolutely nothing wrong in her choice - if I had the money I would do something similar and I suspect a lot of others would do the same.

Happy days

quite agree with you there Harry - lovely to see you by the way

however, MT had lots of dosh and two children - had she been my Mum I would have prferred for her to stay in her own home with live in carers if I couldn't be there all the time

Thank you Ann. Perhaps different for younger ones, but i certainly wouldn't want to die in my own home.

My wife felt the same and found it easier to get proper care in the nursing home rather than have her own to look after her, which i certainly wouldn't like.

Yes. Mt could have got excellent care at home with her money. I would guess she would prefer Grantham people to say "That's where MT lived" not "that;s where she died".

Very nice to hear from you. Best wishes Happy days

Naughty Errol ;-)

ironic there will be a toll bell tomorrow,,

Unless you have been in this situation I don't think you can understand what a a very difficult decision you have to make. When my husband became terminally ill, we discussed what he wanted in terms of care, and at first we both thought that for him to stay in the home that we both loved would be the right thing for him. However, as he became so very ill, it was clear that even with nursing support it was going to be impossible me to look after him, to allow him to have the 24/7 support that he needed. He went into to our local Hospice where they gave him the palliative and medical expertise that he needed. I was with him for all of the time he was there. We spent his last few days with family and close friends coming to see him, he was bright and responsive almost to the end. I have no regrets about our decision for him to go into the Hospice and can never ever thank them enough for the love and care they gave him.

I wonder if the unruly and despicable rabble who may show their heads over the parapet tomorrow have even stopped to consider for one second that apart from the utter and shameful disrespect, whilst they are causing their problems they are taking personnel away from the job of protecting those in attendance.

:-S :-S @ Errol. Confused. What rabble?

Errol I doubt it.


Paula I do think hospices do a wonderful job and if I were terminally ill that is what I would choose and my oh says the same.

There is absolutely no point in anyone going to the funeral to protest about anything.

Political decisions from 23 years ago can only be changed by other politicians, and the funeral will go ahead no matter what song anyone buys or how loudly they shout.

I hope the day goes as smoothly as possible for the family and friends.

What exactly are you confused about John?