Mrs Whippy

 

As you can see, I haven't been on a Photoshop course. I had hoped to find a more amusing image, but they're nearly all in landscape format, which doesn't lend itself to the Ladybird treatment. Also, my software is 12-years-old (a bad workman always blames his tools).

I wonder what a Ladybird book of Margaret Thatcher would say? I'm sure that it would be a voice of reason, avoiding the hysterical rhetoric of her admirers and enemies. Perhaps something along the lines of Polly Toynbee's succinct summing-up of the Thatcher era:

"She undoubtedly rescued the prestige of the country from its postwar nadir, but at a high cost to the generosity of its political and social culture."

One other piece of common sense about Margaret Thatcher can be found here. Sadly, most of the  responses to yesterday's news are drivel, from Geri Halliwell's tweet about 'Girl power' to the US news item that claimed that Mrs Thatcher had rescued her people from "30 years of socialism."

I have very clear memories of the first and third terms of the Thatcher government, but during the second I lived in rural Wales, which was stuck in the year 1978. When I returned to London, I felt as if I had travelled 20 years into the future. What had happened while I'd been away? Why was it no longer possible to buy a white coffee without going through a list of 20 options?

Rather than add to the many words that have been written during the last 36 hours, here are some random images that I associate with the Thatcher era:

 

 

 

 

 

 

But amongst the various tributes to Mrs Thatcher's achievements, for good or ill, few have acknowledged the important role that she played in developing Mr Whippy ice cream during her days as an industrial chemist. I hope that the next time you enjoy a soft ice cream - possibly a 99 if you're feeling a little dangerous - think of Mrs Thatcher in her white coat, striving to find a technique of adding air and reducing the milk content. It's almost a metaphor for her later career, but not quite.

NB - I have been informed that Mrs Thatcher worked for Mr Softee, not Mr Whippy. My apologies to all fans of Lyons Maid for this error.