...but the evil spells live on.

Or

...the magic has survived.

because New Labour was more Thatcherite than Thatcher, and the only thing (someone will surely correct me) that is now being undone (a bit) is the total deregulation of the banking system. Although, actually, letting the banks so completely off the leash was a Labour policy, not hers. Ouch?

There have been one or two truly silly statements on radio and TV - possibly the silliest being that Margaret Thatcher was the most influential and important post-War Prime Minister Britain has had. Erm...she was the noisiest, no doubt. But perhaps the very quiet Clement Atlee changed this country just as much, albeit in the opposite direction.

Yet if you had been able to ask them, each would have said that s/he was for the little man. It's just that what was thought to be good for that little man (the woman wasn't much mentioned by either of them) was different. And while we're about it, Mrs Thatcher was neither role model nor help to women, because she hauled that ladder up so fast behind her it's a wonder it didn't bop her on the nose, or the bum.

Baroness Thatcher, vilified by the government and people of Argentina (understandably), incidentally brought down the military tyranny there following Argentina's defeat in the Falklands/Malvinas War. Meanwhile she supported the tyrannical Pinochet in Chile.

Baroness Thatcher, adored by the people of Czechoslovakia, Poland, Hungary, Russia etc etc, could do business with Mikhail Gorbachev who inadvertently let loose the reins of empire, and lost it. In came Boris Yeltsin, of whom Thatcher approved, and he allowed a very small group of people to purloin the wealth of the State while others sold unwanted objects on the streets.

Now we have Putin and...but this is about her, not him. Apropos eastern Europe and Thatcher and miners...during the miners' strike of the early 80s, Coal Miners in the East Bloc reportedly donated parts of their wages to support their brothers in the UK. Oh no they didn't. The money was deducted at source from their wages and sent over...along with, from Czechoslvakia,  beyond their sell by date eggs. Czechs (I can't speak for Sovaks) thought this was hilarious. Actually, only the Czechs I spoke to. There must have been others...

And this non-State State funeral the unturnable lady is having, some of it at taxpayers' expense: they're not telling us how much we're going to be paying for this until afterwards, when it's too late, she's all buried and the dosh has gone. I don't think Clement Atlee got that.

The BBC, our non-State State broadcaster (well, okay, not quite: it's paid for out of public money but not in theory directed by the sitting government) has gone all gooey. It has not reported even handedly the less than tributary tributes - to the annoyance of many of its staff. And if, as seems possible, Ding Dong the Witch is Dead does make it to number one in the charts, will Radio 1's playlist include it as frequently as its popularity would require?

We'll soon find out.