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But I think on sober reflection (and a bit of drunken reflection as well - no I wasn't celebrating!) that we need to take a dignified approach to the death of Margaret Thatcher.

I mean for starters we aren't talking about some body genuinely evil in the sense of Hitler or Pol Pot. Yes I agree a lot of people were caused a lot of harm by her decisions but to be honest you could say that about a lot of politicians of all parties.

To see a no mark like George Galloway tweeting the comment about 'Tramping the Dirt down' (a reference to a particularly venomous song by Elvis Costello) was just sad. What is there to celebrate? Its not like Thatcher's death (after a long life) makes any difference to anything. It just makes him look like a sad bitter loser which co-incidentally suits him to a tee.

I can't help but feel that some of the strong feelings have a touch of misogyny about them as well. Would a dead male politician bring up such feelings? I'll guess we'll see when Blair (a bloke who has plenty of blood on his hands) pops his clogs.

Through a quirk of fate I found myself down in London yesterday as everybody mulled over the death. It was interesting to see a different set of people's view point. I wasn't entirely comfortable having to represent the Northern view of things though.

Some of the things people were saying about the seventies and how the unions held the country to ransom at times couldn't be denied. I remember when I was a kid that power cuts seemed like annual occurrences. Something needed to pull us out of that particular rut I guess.

And there are things you have to grudgingly admire about her. She made her way in a man's world (although she pretty much pulled up the ladder behind her) and really she was probably the last prime minister with more real convictions than spin doctors. As somebody said to me today's leaders are all the same - Cameron, Clegg and Milliband. All fighting for the same ground with the differences being pretty minor.

Even the sycophantic tributes couldn't gloss over some stuff. Her support for Apartheid South Africa was mentioned (although of course she abhorred it at the same time - just not enough to stop trading with them). And of course who can forget the Poll tax.

But even her 'successes' came at a price. Yes she cowed the miners unions but at what cost? Whole communities destroyed and her strategy of using more gas to generate electricity laid the foundations for the parlous state of the security of our energy supplies.

Council houses were sold off but no replacement social housing was built and now here we are with a lack of homes for people.

The privatization of various industries and the creation of frankly dubious competition as not always been a great success. For example the trains do run better and some companies are making huge profits out of them. But it still costs a fortune in government subsidies.

The Thatcher modus operandi was to bribe the public to steam roller through her policies. So hence people bought their council houses cheap and made a few quid by getting utility shares and immediately selling them on. In the long term though it was private landlords and big business that made the serious money out of it all. 

Even something like the Falklands that seemed broadly popular raised hackles with me. Was it really necessary to go to war? I'm not completely convinced - lets just hope there's enough oil down there to justify the deaths.

At the end of the day though the de-industrialization of the North and all the 3 million on the dole was just collateral damage and if you are sitting pretty in the South east it might seem like a price worth paying.

The truth of the matter is that its the victors who write the history books. 

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So here's a video to remember those Thatcher years. The formative time of my life if I was to be honest. When she came into power I was 13 and when she left I was 23. In that time I took my O levels, A levels, went to Uni, left home and got my first proper job. Just click here for instant nostalgia. Or for something even more left wing try this.

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