RIP Mrs Tebbit

[andymadmak]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-suffolk-5540...

Margaret Tebbit was left paralysed by the 1984 IRA bomb attack in Brighton. Hard to imagine that it was 36 years ago.

[bitchstewie]

My knowledge of Norman Tebbit at that time was mostly off Spitting Image so most of what I've seen and read and heard of that appalling bombing was a long time after the event.

I had an admiration for how he and his wife handled it.

OK people do tend to just get on with it but my god that sort of thing must change you.

[Sway]

Blimey, for some reason I assumed she must have passed years ago.

The IRA truly are scum. Wonder how she felt with a near 40 year paralysis 'sentence' when she saw so many go free.

[crankedup]

bhstewie said:

My knowledge of Norman Tebbit at that time was mostly off Spitting Image so most of what I've seen and read and heard of that appalling bombing was a long time after the event.

I had an admiration for how he and his wife handled it.

OK people do tend to just get on with it but my god that sort of thing must change you.

My Mother and Sister were in Harrods shopping, then the IRA bomb detonated. The blast blew them off their feet, both of their coats were burnt and of course they were hospitalised. Two years later my Sister passed away, she was 24 years of age at the time and my Mother followed her two years later. It was said at both times the bombing had nothing to do with their deaths.

[andymadmak]

crankedup said:

My Mother and Sister were in Harrods shopping, then the IRA bomb detonated. The blast blew them off their feet, both of their coats were burnt and of course they were hospitalised. Two years later my Sister passed away, she was 24 years of age at the time and my Mother followed her two years later. It was said at both times the bombing had nothing to do with their deaths.

Sorry to hear that Crankedup. That must have been tough for you.

[lauda]

Sway said:

Blimey, for some reason I assumed she must have passed years ago.

The IRA truly are scum. Wonder how she felt with a near 40 year paralysis 'sentence' when she saw so many go free.

Pretty much my thoughts on the matter.

Anyone else notice that the BBC find it necessary to explain who the IRA are in the article? I appreciate that the GFA was a while ago now but surely most people reading BBC News are going to know what the IRA is aren't they?

[bitchstewie]

crankedup said:

My Mother and Sister were in Harrods shopping, then the IRA bomb detonated. The blast blew them off their feet, both of their coats were burnt and of course they were hospitalised. Two years later my Sister passed away, she was 24 years of age at the time and my Mother followed her two years later. It was said at both times the bombing had nothing to do with their deaths.

That's awful

There are times you read things that have happened to someone you "know" that only happen to people you see or hear or read about on the TV or other media.

I'm so sorry.

[Taylor James]

lauda said:

Sway said:

Blimey, for some reason I assumed she must have passed years ago.

The IRA truly are scum. Wonder how she felt with a near 40 year paralysis 'sentence' when she saw so many go free.

Pretty much my thoughts on the matter.

Anyone else notice that the BBC find it necessary to explain who the IRA are in the article? I appreciate that the GFA was a while ago now but surely most people reading BBC News are going to know what the IRA is aren't they?

It doesn't surprise me in the slightest. I don't know what they teach kids about history but I had to explain The Troubles and The Falklands to three mid twenties professionals recently. They seem knowledgeable about celebs and woke issues and feck all else.

[craigjm]

lauda said:

surely most people reading BBC News are going to know what the IRA is aren't they?

The GFA was 22 years ago so there will be a lot of people under 30 that probably have no idea.

[crankedup]

Thank you andy and bhstewie,
I am not seeking sympathy, it was a long time ago but ‘you never get over it, but learn to live with it’. I have lived with that notion and it’s very true, as have tens of thousands of others losing loved ones in the most awful of circumstances. For me it was life changing in my attitude, not always evident in here

[TwigtheWonderkid]

lauda said:

Anyone else notice that the BBC find it necessary to explain who the IRA are in the article? I appreciate that the GFA was a while ago now but surely most people reading BBC News are going to know what the IRA is aren't they?

I suppose it's a good thing that many young people have never heard of them. Relegated to the dustbin of history.

[Eric Mc]

lauda said:

Sway said:

Blimey, for some reason I assumed she must have passed years ago.

The IRA truly are scum. Wonder how she felt with a near 40 year paralysis 'sentence' when she saw so many go free.

Pretty much my thoughts on the matter.

Anyone else notice that the BBC find it necessary to explain who the IRA are in the article? I appreciate that the GFA was a while ago now but surely most people reading BBC News are going to know what the IRA is aren't they?

Never underestimate peoples' lack of knowledge or history.

[crankedup]

TwigtheWonderkid said:

lauda said:

Anyone else notice that the BBC find it necessary to explain who the IRA are in the article? I appreciate that the GFA was a while ago now but surely most people reading BBC News are going to know what the IRA is aren't they?

I suppose it's a good thing that many young people have never heard of them. Relegated to the dustbin of history.

Two schools of thought on this, personally I agree the dustbin of history is a deserved place. But then we do need events in history to serve as a reminder and a lesson at just how evil humankind can be to each other.

[Taylor James]

crankedup said:

TwigtheWonderkid said:

lauda said:

Anyone else notice that the BBC find it necessary to explain who the IRA are in the article? I appreciate that the GFA was a while ago now but surely most people reading BBC News are going to know what the IRA is aren't they?

I suppose it's a good thing that many young people have never heard of them. Relegated to the dustbin of history.

Two schools of thought on this, personally I agree the dustbin of history is a deserved place. But then we do need events in history to serve as a reminder and a lesson at just how evil humankind can be to each other.

Slippery slope, deciding what should be consigned to the dustbin. Suggest that with slavery or the Holocaust and see how far you get.

[dandarez]

People today seem to know so little of what was not very long ago. 'They were terrible times' I get told often. But these people were not there!

As for how somebody handles tragedy - we all handle it differently.

5 yrs prior to the Brighton bombing, in 1979 the news has one topic... the bds in question had blown Airey Neave to bits with the bomb under his car as he was driving to leave the HoC. Airey was MP for Abingdon just up the road from here.

His wife, Diana, was back at her desk a couple days later sorting a mountain of mail in Conservative Central Office.
Somebody said they were astonished to see her after such tragedy.
She answered: 'Airey would have wanted me to do what I could. He badly wanted Margaret (Thatcher) to win this election.'
And she (Thatcher) did.

[BlackLabel]

Lord Tebbit's first interview since his wife died is worth a read.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9203649/T...

[bitchstewie]

BlackLabel said:

Lord Tebbit's first interview since his wife died is worth a read.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9203649/T...

Thanks for that a good read.

[Stuart70]

bhstewie said:

BlackLabel said:

Lord Tebbit's first interview since his wife died is worth a read.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9203649/T...

Thanks for that a good read.

Not a man I liked or shared views with, but I thoroughly respect the way he has lived his life.

[Stuart70]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

... we would have a terrible number more dead.

But I take your point and don’t see any reason why it has to be a substitutional decision.

[230TE]

TwigtheWonderkid said:

I suppose it's a good thing that many young people have never heard of them. Relegated to the dustbin of history.

I don't agree that it's a "good thing". Without knowledge of the past, large chunks of the present make absolutely no sense. The Troubles are part of the context which explains how the UK and Ireland came to be as they are today. I don't know what it would be like to live a context-free life, but I should imagine it would be hard work. Would you consider it a good thing if young people had never heard of the Holocaust? It's a more extreme example but the same principle. Evil acts relegated to the dustbin of history.