Who2 Editorial Blog

Notes and Commentary from the Editors

Monday, August 25, 2008

'This Cruel Disease Takes Its Own Course'

Alas. The Daily Mail reports that Margaret Thatcher has been in mental decline since 2000.

The Mail yesterday ran excerpts from a new memoir, A Swim-On Part in the Goldfish Bowl, by Thatcher's daughter Carol.

Thatcher's illness reminds one of the dementia that claimed her staunch ally, Ronald Reagan, in his later years. (His 1994 letter acknowledging his Alzheimer's Disease is still quite touching.)

Even before her mother's decline, Carol says, Thatcher missed high office:

"She was at least able to retain her driver and police protection after leaving office, but the former told me he avoided driving up Whitehall because as their car passed Downing Street she would look up wondering why they hadn't turned in. Then she would remember."

Posted by Mr. Holznagel at 12:00 PM Share on Facebook

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