Margaret Thatcher is one of history's great monsters, a kind of slow-motion Stalin whose ideological extremism plunged Britain into decades of decline and inequality, and whose sympathy for genocidal tyrants like Pinochet were a key factor in the wholesale slaughter of political dissidents: so, of course, her hometown of Grantham is putting up a statue in her honour (Stalin's hometown also has a statue!).
Understandably, the local council is worried that "politically-motivated vandals" will target the statue, so they're seeking to appropriate funds for a ten-foot-tall plinth intended to deter miscreants.
The police support the idea, having identified a "motivated far-left movement… who may be committed to public activism" but they add that "the passage of time does seem to have diminished that feeling".
I eagerly await the Gofundme to buy the Black Bloc an eleven-foot ladder.
Plans to erect the statue in Westminster were rejected by Westminster Council last year with a report saying it could have attracted "potential vandalism and civil disorder".
The report to the authority in Lincolnshire said these issues were present in this case.
It said: "The divisive nature of Baroness Thatcher due to her political career and policy legacy and the potential for this to result in vandalism has been raised as a concern.
"A threat assessment has been carried out by Lincolnshire Police who consider there is a possibility any public statue of Baroness Thatcher could be a target for politically motivated vandals.
£300,000 Margaret Thatcher statue needs plinth 'to keep out vandals' [ITV]
(via Naked Capitalism)
(Image: Ferran Cornellà, CC-BY-SA)
