is Lady Thatcher syphilitic?

If we’re playing rough in terms of spreading the word that Gordon Brown is insane, perhaps it’s worth noting that many of Lady Thatcher’s symptoms, as described by her daughter, are just as consistent with neurological damage caused by tertiary syphilis as with dementia: personality changes, memory loss, minor strokes and so on. The megalomania and grandiloquence noted by many in the later stages of her rule are also consistent with the later stages of the disease. That shuffling gait of hers these days recalls locomotor ataxia, too.

There’s every bit as much justification for putting this about as there is in spreading rumours about Brown’s mental state: there’s an obvious case for re-examining Thatcher’s convictions, now apparently universally shared across the political establishment, if they were the product of sexually acquired organic brain disease rather than intellectual rigour. This is a matter of public interest.

There is no evidence, of course, that Lady Thatcher actually suffers from syphilis. What we have, as revealed by her symptoms, is the possibility that she could have it, and that possibility justifies the question: is Margaret Thatcher a festering old ratbag?

Or at least it does if we favour certain methods of political discourse.

Comments

[Fellow Traveller]

I've now got the horrible image of Margaret Thatcher attending an orgy in my mind. Thank you.

Interesting how both she and Reagan have suffered debilitating brain disorders.

[Barry Freed]

Perhaps she contracted it from unknowingly eating that NYC waiter's jism as you posted a while back.

[Joe]

Barry, I suspect that Thatcher has ingested more spunk than Annabel Chong over the years.

FT, it could always be congenital - which would arguably be even better, since it would mean that not only was her wonderful, upright dad putting it about, but also that he was enough of a bastard not to tell the missus that he'd got himself a dose. I can't be alone in genuinely enjoying the state she's in now - she's incontinent, helpless and demented; her daughter hates her guts and her son is a terrorist pariah; and not only is the only human being she ever cared about dead, but SHE HAS TO BE REMINDED OF THIS FACT ON AN HOURLY BASIS. I got hard just writing that.

[Zorro]

So let me get this straight. You think there is "every bit as much justification for putting this about as there is in spreading rumours about Brown’s mental state".

Really?

Where exactly did the "Gordon is bonkers" meme start? Was it Guido? No. Was it any right wing blogger? No. Was it the Tory party? No. I'm pretty sure it was in fact Alistair Cambell.

So on the basis of a (possibly malicious) rumour started by the spin doctor of the last Labour PM, about the current Labour PM - you think it's reasonable to completely make something up about someone on the other side of the political spectrum, who more importantly has NO bearing on the governance of this country any more.

I'm sorry you are a fucking twat. The mental state of Margaret Thatcher, a woman who did more for this country than your simple ameobic brain could comprehend without imploding, has NOTHING to do with you.

She does not run the country any longer, and any complaints you have about her legacy should frankly be aimed at the party which has been in a position to DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT for the last eleven and a bit years. Basically its none of your fucking business.

On the other hand we have a freak. A one eyed, scottish freaky cunt. A one eyed scottish megalomaniacal cunty freak. A one eyed scottish freaky cunt WITH HIS FINGER ON THE FUCKING NUCLEAR BUTTON.

And you think these two things are comparable?

Let's be honest - you just saw an opportunity to be offensive about someone you don't like in a gratuitous way.

Well I'm afraid I've got news for you lefty scum fucks. Those of us on the other side of the political spectrum are not so easily offended as you halfwits.

You are beneath contempt...

And don't think I'm upset with you because of this silly posting, I'm upset with you because you have the intellect, and probably the good looks, of a slug - evidenced by the fact that you still support the hopelessly corrupt and insane fucks that have destroyed this country.

btw don't worry about me trolling your blog. I won't be back.

[Zorro]

Joe,

Please make that post in as many places as you can so that normal non political types can see just the kind of evil scum fuck that still supports the Labour party.

Did that seem clever when you wrote it? Talk about mental!!

An old lady in distress causes you to get hard.

Be careful, I imagine that's probably been made illegal sometime in the last eleven years!

[Tim J]

Nice stuff lads. Classy.

[ajay]

4.51 pm: "...btw don't worry about me trolling your blog. I won't be back."

4.52 pm: Zorro comes back.

[Joe]

Whereas shouting that having one eye makes Gordon Brown unsuitable for power makes you Victor fucking Mature, presumably. I treasure the image of her festering in her own shit for an hour or so every morning until the nurses turn up, and I'm not about to pretend otherwise in case it upsets some tory cuntwipe.

Interesting that you assume I support Labour, btw. I don't.

[Joe]

Those of us on the other side of the political spectrum are not so easily offended as you halfwits.

And that's rather obviously balls, and all.

[dsquared]

It looks like the national debate is under way! Although I notice that Zorro hasn't actually denied it ("Basically its none of your fucking business" is hardly a denial!) so we're probably short a really articulate advocate of the point of view that Lady Thatcher hasn't got syphilis. I can adopt this point of view myself for the sake of debate if you like.

Fun fact: "Zorro" was the pen name adopted by David Aaronovitch on a couple of occasions for commenting on the Harry's Place blog.

[jamie]

I have the "evidence" that Barry alluded to in comment two, which I'm saving for a follow up. I'll let things develop for now though.

[Fellow Traveller]

Nice to see Thatch still has fans. Zorro's rant reminds me of the Felicity Kendall defense in The Young Ones:

VYVYAN: NO!! No! We're not watching the bloody Good Life!! Bloody bloody bloody!! I hate it!! It's so bloody nice! Felicity 'Treacle' Kendall and Richard 'Sugar-Flavored-Snot' Briars!! What do they do now?! Chocolate bloody Button ads, that's what!! They're just a couple of reactionary stereotypes, confirming the myth that everyone in Britain is a lovable, middle-class eccentric - and I - HATE - THEM!!

[collapses on the couch, exhuasted]

MIKE: That was a highly articulate outburst, Vyvyan. I only hope they're not watching.

RICK: Well, you can just shut up, Vyvyan. You can just about bloomin' well shut up! Cause if you've got anything horrid to say about Felicity Kendall, you can just about bloomin' well say it to me first!! All right?!

VYVYAN: Rick, I just did.

RICK: Oh! Oh!! You did, did you?! Well, I've got a good mind to give you a ruddy good punch on the bottom for what you just said! You're talking about the woman I love!

NEIL: Yeah, and me! I love her too.

NEIL'S DAD: yes, well, I agree with the spotty twerps on that one. Felicity Kendall is sweetly pretty, and just what a real girlie should be. Why, speaking as a feminist myself, I can safely say this: that Felicity Kendall is a wonderful woman, and I want to protect her.

VYVYAN: [sarcastic] Well, it's the first time I've ever heard it called that!

[Fellow Traveller]

As for commentary on the mental state of politicians, I believe Hunter Thompson did the classic analysis on the now little remembered, right wing Democratic Party candidate Ed Muskie:

Not much has been written about The Ibogaine Effect as a serious factor in the Presidential Campaign, but toward the end of the Wisconsin primary race - about a week before the vote - word leaked out that some of Muskie's top advisors had called in a Brazilian doctor who was said to be treating the candidate with 'some kind of strange drug' that nobody in the press corps had ever heard of.

[...]

I immediately recognized The Ibogaine Effect - from Muskie's tearful breakdown on the flatbed truck in New Hampshire, the delusions and altered thinking that characterized his campaign in Florida, and finally the condition of 'total rage' that gripped him in Wisconsin.

There was no doubt about it: The Man from Maine had turned to massive doses of Ibogaine as a last resort. The only remaining question was 'when did he start?' But nobody could answer this one, and I was not able to press the candidate himself for an answer because I was permanently barred from the Muskie campaign after that incident on the 'Sunshine Special' [Muskie's campaign train] in Florida...and that scene makes far more sense now than it did at the time.

Muskie has always taken pride in his ability to deal with hecklers; he has frequently challenged them, calling them up to the stage in front of big crowds and then forcing the poor bastards to debate with him in a blaze of TV lights.

But there was none of that in Florida. When the Boohoo [a man who borrowed Thompson's press badge and crashed Muskie's party on the train] began grabbing at his legs and screaming for more gin, Big Ed went all to pieces...which gave rise to speculation, among reporters familiar with this campaign style in '68 and '70, that Muskie was not himself. It was noted, among other things, that he had developed a tendency to roll his eyes wildly during TV interviews, that his thought patterns had become strangely fragmented, and that not even his closest advisors could predict when he might suddenly spiral off into babbling rages, or neo-comatose funks.

In retrospect, however, it is easy to see why Muskie fell apart on that caboose platform in the Miami train station. There he was - far gone in a bad Ibogaine frenzy - suddenly shoved out in a rainstorm to face a sullen crowd and some kind of snarling lunatic going for his legs while he tried to explain why he was 'the only Democrat who can beat Nixon.'

It is entirely conceivable - given the known effects of Ibogaine - that Muskie's brain was almost paralyzed by hallucinations at the time; that he looked out at that crowd and saw gila monsters instead of people, and that his mind snapped completely when he felt something large and apparently vicious clawing at his legs.

We can only speculate on this, because those in a position to know have flatly refused to comment on rumors concerning the Senator's disastrous experiments with Ibogaine. I tried to find the Brazilian doctor on election night in Milwaukee, but by the time the polls closed he was long gone. One of the hired bimbos in Milwaukee's Holiday Inn headquarters said a man with fresh welts on his head had been dragged out the side door and put on a bus to Chicago, but we were never able to confirm this."

Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72
p 144-45 [Flamingo 1994]

[Flying Rodent]

It would be a really nice gesture from the Parliamentary Tories if they could find out which particular form of dementia Mrs.T has and have it renamed in her honour.

"Thatcher's Disease"... It would really show the new caring, sharing Tory party's deep empathy with the common man, more than any number of statues.

[septicisle]

And you see, there I was thinking it was just us humourless lefties that couldn't take trolling.

[Tim J]

No septicisle you're right - there's nothing funnier than mocking an old woman with dementia. Unless it's imputing that dementia to a sexually transmitted disease - that's comedy gold that is.

[Neil]

I'm surprised Zorro could concentrate on writing his little rant, what with that loud whooshing sound just above his head.

That said, most of it was probably cut-and-pasted.

[septicisle]

I think you're proving the point rather, Tim.

[Tim J]

I suppose it might just be that I'm without a sense of humour. Or it might be that it isn't funny. It doesn't bother me particularly, but yeesh it's pretty distasteful. Still, if that's what flicks your bean, by all means feel free to get erections imagining an old woman being told of the death of her husband. Have fun now...

[ajay]

If only Lady T when in power had displayed Tim's delicate sensibilities with regard to the respectful treatment of the mentally ill...

[Alex]

It's the carers I feel sorry for.

[BritSwedeGuy]

Way to wind up the retarded Daily Mail readership ;)