Citizen Kane's Thatcher and Gertie Ford . . .

Well I didn't say anything about Margaret Thatcher did I? And why would I when the name Thatcher was on the TV wall to wall 24 hours a day. I don't think even Winston Churchill was mentioned that much when he died but there again they didn't have cable and 24 hour news channels in those days.

What I thought was a bit below the belt was the fact that politicians 'cashed in' on her death and the funeral to make political points: we're all Thatcherites now!! I don't think so. Before the Conservatives had anything to do with the railways you could buy a ticket and jump on a train. Not now – now you have to pay a lot of money for a relatively short journey unless you book well in advance.

But it's all gone into history and it's time to move on.

I remember the name Thatcher as being one of the characters in Citizen Kane – I can't remember what he was but I remember what the fella looked like who played him.

A strange film, I have always thought; dark and mysterious and then when I grew up I found people saying it was their favourite film and then finding out that they hadn't even seen it.

I appreciate some things about the film; the fact that it was shot in long focus and that there were ceilings in the shots. Doesn't mean a thing these days does it as a lot of films and TV shows have ceilings in and because of television there has to be 'close ups' in movies or the TV companies wouldn't show them – so much for 'long focus.'

Some of the old films are a bit frustrating to watch when there are no close ups; it's because we're used to them these days and you can't see the facial expressions and images a couple of inches high from your sofa.

Another film everybody goes on about is Battleship Potemkin; great editing on the Odessa Steps sequence but I remember at a lecture the lecturer pointing out that soldiers were walking down the steps but up the screen they seemed to be walking up hill from the bottom to the top; how clever, I thought!!

That was when I did a film studies O/A level Course and I have to say it was harder than other subjects; maybe because they were my own opinions and not necessarily those of the teaching staff.

So off I go to Los Angeles for ten days and I'll write some news here when I get back – I might even write from over there but I'm going to be busy so maybe it'll be in May before I write.

In the meantime look me up on Amazon and buy my novel – Who Was Gertie Ford?

Meryl Streep, Margaret Thatcher - the last word.

The Young Margaret Thatcher.

I know I have been unfair to Meryl Streep and she doesn't like it; she wrote and told me so; she said I have 'rained on her parade' – I jest of course. She will go from success to success and win loads of plaudits no matter what I say; or not.

Not many people have disagreed with me - in fact nobody has; there may be some of you who do disagree but have better things to do than to write to me about it; and I don't blame you.

My big problem with the fact that Meryl Streep is playing Margaret Thatcher is a class thing; there is something rotten in the state of Denmark and in this case 'Denmark' being Britain. The rottenness being that very same class system that we all know and love. It makes drama, comedy, literature and lots of other type of plots and stories (if there are any), interesting.

The late Janet Brown as Margaret Thatcher.

The biggest thing that stood in the way of Margaret Thatcher, being the first British woman Prime Minister in Britain, wasn't the fact that she was a women, but that she was from the lower middle classes; that strange accent she spoke, with the strange vowels and Churchillian cadences was the first false thing about her and that's what the upper classes would hate.

This accent and voice, to Meryl Streep, probably sounds posh. Probably sounds as posh as the Queen when it really is below 'RP' (Received Pronunciation); RP is how the newscasters used to sound on the BBC – in other words posh. The way Laurence Olivier sounded, Rex Harrison, David Niven and all the other posh actors – not quite upper class but posh.

I say 'used to sound' as most of the newscasters these days are Celts; it's less offensive and grating to the general ear than the old style. So now they sound like Richard Burton or Sean Connery – without the lisp.

Also when you call the BBC these days, in London, the phone is answered by a phone bank in the north of England with an accent from up there and they say 'BBC Switchbard' instead of 'BBC Switchboard.'

There's nothing wrong with the accent, in fact I love the Geordie accent, but not to answer the phone for the BBC!!! Pulleeaase!!!

Lindsay Duncan as Margaret Thatcher

Now I don't think the subtlety in the accents and the difference between one and the other would mean anything to Meryl Streep, and whilst the majority of the people who view the film wouldn't know either, it is still a relevant plot trigger to the Thatcher ascendency.

The men in grey suits, who run Britain, must have been appalled when Thatcher suddenly came on the scene, but they saw in her someone that could do the things they wanted;: get rid of the unions, bring the Chicago school of economics to Britain via Keith Joseph, who also worshipped Milton Friedman, who lead it with his cronies, work wonders for the stock market – just as they said about Hitler - and invent the poll tax.

Meryl Streep as Margaret Thatcher.

So from what I have heard about the film it isn't about class at all; it's a typical rags to riches, against all odds, Hollywood type of movie and Thatcher wasn't really that kind of hero - if a hero at all.

And I think there is a film to be made about her and how she was used, abused and dropped.

Believe me I am not a fan of hers and I never voted for her but I will have to see the film one of the days as I have said enough about it – and her.

And that's my last word on the subject and here's my favourite interpretation:

Spitting Image's Margaret Thatcher.