Thatcher is dead

[ruffneck23]

eta , spoken too soon

 

[lizzieloo]

yep sitting here listening to the charts for the first time in about 26 years..

Pretty sure this is a first for me

 

[ruffneck23]

I wonder if it really did get to number one, but they just couldn't bring themselves to admit it, number 1 is fucking shit too

 

[Maurice Picarda]

I wonder if it really did get to number one, but they just couldn't bring themselves to admit it, number 1 is fucking shit too

There is certainly a precedent for that.

 

[ruffneck23]

its about as conspiratorial as I get these days..

 

[ferrelhadley]

Trolled by a tune from the wizard of oz.

Its worthwhile because everyone it taking a silly pisstake so seriously.

Edited its effectively asking the great and the good their opinions on Can I haz cheeseburger.

 

[butchersapron]

What did the spoken bit say then?

 

[2hats]

So the historical narrative will record the censoring of the track as an apt and fitting epitaph to Thatcher, her ideas and ilk.

Though they did play the precise words "Ding Dong the Witch is Dead".

 

[Maurice Picarda]

What did the spoken bit say then?

Lots of BBC "balance", or at least thesis and antithesis. "Some people believe that Margaret Thatcher ate babies and attacked the poor with her flying monkeys. Others feel that she saved Britain from socialist collapse. Many people felt that playing the song would have been disrespectful. Others said that . . ", and so on.

 

[where to]

What did the spoken bit say then?

they had definitely put a lot of thought into every word, to get it "balanced".

explained that there had been a campaign to get this song into charts after her death since 2007 (is that correct?)

said Thatcher was politically divisive, made lots of people unemployed and some people believed she didn't care about the poor. but she created economic growth (something like that) bla bla bla.

it had obviously been run passed the most senior BBC management.

tone overall similar to usual R1 newsbeat stuff.

they rounded off with "what you've been telling us" with quotes from two south east england girls "the parties weren't very nice but this is just fun i don't see the problem" and a critical opinion from the other saying it was distaseful.

[quotation marks used for clarity - they're not accurate quotes.]

 

[ferrelhadley]

Police are going to allow people to turn their backs to the coffin as it passes.

Thank you very much your lordships.

 

[two sheds]

Are they allowing people to drop their trousers?

 

[JimW]

How about hijacking the gun carriage and charging for the Thames?

 

[Lord Camomile]

How about a little jig?

 

[8115]

tone overall similar to usual R1 newsbeat stuff.

Newsbeat is the worst news ever. It makes Newsround look good.

 

[ferrelhadley]

Are they allowing people to drop their trousers?

I think Maggies pal that did that with the dead has passed away.....

 

[belboid]

they had definitely put a lot of thought into every word, to get it "balanced".

...

they rounded off with "what you've been telling us" with quotes from two south east england girls "the parties weren't very nice but this is just fun i don't see the problem" and a critical opinion from the other saying it was distaseful.

[quotation marks used for clarity - they're not accurate quotes.]

and that is there idea of 'balance.' 90% of people on the Radio Times poll said they should play it, so they find one adamant opponent and one who thinks it okay (not that they bought it). It also was preceded by them saying people argued that they should play it because, and only because, 'Mrs Thatcher believed in freedom.' Where were the people who said 'I bought it, cos I hated her,' in any other instance their presence would have been required to display any kind of balance.

All to save the feelings of a racist and an arms dealing crook who weren't listening anyway. Shameful behaviour.

 

[elbows]

What did the spoken bit say then?

Despite the BBC attempting to manage the situation and say exactly what we could have predicted in the news piece, in some ways it was actually more effective than playing the full song.

 

[Zabo]

A

Police are going to allow people to turn their backs to the coffin as it passes.

Thank you very much your lordships.

Woe betide you if you limp, hop or skip. New emergency powers are being enacted as I write. They intend them to be permanent. People with wooden or plastic legs will require a permanent pass card and if required will need to show their prosthetic.

And they wonder why the police are despised.

 

[ferrelhadley]

in some ways it was actually more effective than playing the full song.

The shuffling embarrassment of the establishment and the draining of credibility of the BBC's impartiality have been just bloody tremendous.

Its a stupid silly little internet prank that has cut them deeper than a dozen vacuous speeches by empty coats on the labour benches at Westminster.

 

[Ranbay]

Iain Duncan Smith could live for 3600 years on the amount of money being spent on Thatcher's funeral.

 

[laptop]

Despite the BBC attempting to manage the situation and say exactly what we could have predicted in the news piece, in some ways it was actually more effective than playing the full song.

True.

The Daily Heil seems to have changed it from a private joke shared among half the population - few of them either Fail readers or chart-show listeners - into a piece of political education for the latter.

Educate, entertain and inform. Well done the Tories

 

[ferrelhadley]

 

[where to]

Shameful behaviour.

they have no shame though. the senior BBC types who came to this decision are just careerists. the perceived centre ground, the path of least resistance. dignity, seriousness or even self respect just do not come into it. that's how you become the most highly paid charity executive in UK history.

 

[elbows]

For those wondering about number of copies sold and how far short it was on being number 1, its mentioned here:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-22145306

I'm In Love With Margaret Thatcher sold 8768 copies, compared to 52,605 for Ding Dong, which needed 5700+ more sales to make it number 1.

All these numbers are really so very small in the grand scheme of things, for extra lols.

 

[elbows]

they have no shame though. the senior BBC types who came to this decision are just careerists. the perceived centre ground, the path of least resistance. dignity, seriousness or even self respect just do not come into it. that's how you become the most highly paid charity executive in UK history.

Shame no, sweaty palms over maintaining the established levels of credibility of propaganda yes.

 

[Wilson]

Police are going to allow people to turn their backs to the coffin as it passes.

Thank you very much your lordships.

How about singing 'The Red Flag' or 'Oh Christmas Tree' both were her favourite songs

Is she still dead btw?

 

[Ceej]

A

Woe betide you if you limp, hop or skip. New emergency powers are being enacted as I write. They intend them to be permanent. People with wooden or plastic legs will require a permanent pass card and if required will need to show their prosthetic.
And they wonder why the police are despised.

I'm almost sure we don't have anyone in Britain with disabilities any more since the miracle of Atos...

 

[JimW]

...

All these numbers are really so very small in the grand scheme of things, for extra lols.

But a few beer tokens for the NotSensibles and some income for that socialist foundation the Ding Dong songwriter supported. Everyone's a winner!

 

[Flanflinger]

Police are going to allow people to turn their backs to the coffin as it passes.

Thank you very much your lordships.

That will make a powerful image to broadcast around the world.