30th Anniversary of Margaret Thatcher Becoming Prime Minister

On the 4th May 1979 Mrs Margaret Thatcher became the first Woman Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. The next 11 Years saw her Government change Britain and the landscape of British Politics. It is now nearly 19 Years since she was ousted as Prime Minister and yet her legacy still influences both daily and political life.

Love her, or loath her (and some manage to do both) she stands out as one of the greatest British Prime Ministers of the 20th Century, at least in the view of the Idle Man. Whilst it is still to early to make an objective judgement of her place in history, there has already been some reassessment of her time as Prime Minister and I suspect she will keep Political Historians occupied for decades to come.

In October of this year Baroness Thatcher of Kesteven will celebrate her 84th Birthday, I for one hope she enjoys it and has many more to come, but her shadow will still be cast over British Politics even if even if she see her 100th Birthday. Not bad for a Grocers Daughter from Lincolnshire!


For those interested in the Thatcher Years then the Margaret Thatcher Foundation
Website is an essential resource. It certainly has kept the Idle Man fascinated for hours.

Other Sites:
Margaret Thatcher - Wikipedia Entry
Downing Street > Prime Ministers In History > Margaret Thatcher

Bishop of Rochester resigns to become defender of persecuted Christians

Not unfortunately my Headline, but from an article in the Telegraph on the 29th March 2009.

As one of the Lords Spiritual Dr Michael James Nazir-Ali has only come to the Idle Man's attention once before when he controversially, but almost certainly accurately warned that parts of the country had been turned into 'no-go' areas for non-muslims. Which inevitably led to him and his family receiving death threats (See BBC: Bishop warns of 'Islamic areas' 6th January 2008 and from the Times: Bishop of Rochester, Dr Michael Nazir-Ali, faces death threats 2nd February 2008)!

Having done a small amount of research, I find myself being extremely impressed by his Lordship, both as a man and as a cleric. Whilst my opinion counts for nothing, it is apparent that within the church he is held in high esteem, even by those who do not always agree with him. In the secular world he has also won the respect of those who have worked with him, or have had other more social contact.

In fact he is just the sort of Senior Cleric the Church needs more of (not just the Church of England either).

However his decision to resign his Bishopric to devote the rest of his career to working in communities where Christians are in a minority, is something I applaud. In too many Countries are persecuted because of their faith and they have long needed a champion of Dr Michael Nazir-Ali calibre.

But it is not only overseas that needs his undoubted talents as converts to Christianity from other faiths (Muslim, Hindu, etc) find themselves, not only ostracized by their former community, but often in danger of being killed, or at least violently attacked.

This country has a long tradition of religious tolerance and whilst I see the urgent need for Dr Michael Nazir-Ali having to pay attention to the problems in the UK, I find it tragic that over the last 30 Years large section of immigrant 'New British Citizens' have not understood that an individuals path to God is their own affair and changing that path is NOT a cause for persecution, much less violence!

For more on and articles by Dr Michael Nazir-Ali see:

• Biography of Nazir-Ali from the Diocese of Rochester
• Extremism flourished as UK lost Christianity (Telegraph 7 January 2008)
• Profile: Michael Nazir-Ali (BBC News 6 January 2008)
• Bishop warns of 'Islamic areas' (BBC 6 January 2008)
• Blair 'nutter' fear angers bishop (BBC 25 November 2007)
• Bishop against 'IVF for lesbians' (BBC 14 September 2007)
• Bishop warns of extremist dangers (BBC 31 December 2006)
• Bishop calls for veil legislation (BBC 24 December 2006)