Even in death former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher remains one of the western world’s most controversial figures.
So much so that a BBC radio station has consented to play five seconds of the song “Ding Dong! The Witch Is Dead!” from the 1939 classic “The Wizard of Oz” on its top hits show this weekend after a viral campaign led by critics of Thatcher’s pushed the song to the Number 1 spot on British iTunes and, consequently, into the mix for the top spot on the Radio 1 show.
In a statement, the BBC said that it “finds this campaign distasteful but does not believe the record should be banned. On Sunday, the Radio 1 Chart Show will contain a news item explaining why the song is in the charts during which a short clip will be played as it has been in some of our news programmes.”
According to the British paper The Telegraph, as many as 20,000 copies of the song have been sold since Thatcher’s death was announced Monday, putting in on track to become the fastest top 10 single ever in the United Kingdom.
Unfortunately the controversy over Maggie’s death isn’t just contained to the British Isles. Here in the U.S. Senate Democrats are refusing to honor the late Iron Lady, despite her role in making Great Britain one of our strongest allies in the world. The chamber was supposed to pass a resolution honoring Thatcher Thursday night, but the Democrats have put the measure on hold for unknown reasons. The House unanimously passed the resolution Tuesday evening.
