Matt Arnold

Freelance Television Producer

For the politically partisan, this event, like the previous 10 days, will be a chance to re-open the political wounds of the 1980s. But what about the ambivalent? As a 'resting' freelancer, I realised the occasion called for 'The Thatcher Funeral Drinking Game'.

Adam Jung

Artist and Industry Relations for Occupation Records

Ernie Harburg is the son of the late Yip Harburg - the lyricist of "DIng Dong! The Witch Is Dead" (and all the songs in the "Wizard Of Oz") - and President of the Yip Harburg Foundation. He has released a statement passed on through Ian Baldry, the creator of the facebook campaign to make the track number one.

Alastair Roderick

Research Fellow at the Schumacher Institute for Sustainable Systems

The curious thing about Thatcher was not so much that she was divisive, but that in a funny way she actually united people around the idea that politics and economics were important again.

Mark Hodge

Film, Politics and Sports Writer

Arguably the finest example of Thatcher's Britain captured on film is Stephen Frears's My Beautiful Laundrette (1985). The director, along with screenwriter Hanif Kureishi, managed to encapsulate pertinent social and economic issues in a truly unconventional romantic comedy.

Brian John Spencer

Brian is a writer, artist and former unemployed law graduate who writes about the university myth, the economy and Northern Ireland. Also found at www.brianjohnspencer.com

While it would be wrong to suggest that the Irish are big fans of Thatcher, the majority want to see her off with respect. And a great many Irish have done so. Including the current Taoiseach Enda Kenny and current President Michael D Higgins.

Roz Morris

Media Trainer and Broadcast PR expert at TV News London Ltd

Mrs Thatcher won three elections in a row - so despite those who always criticised her - she definitely got through to large sections of the British public. And we can all learn some very useful lessons from her commitment to handling media interviews professionally - whatever our political views.

Laurna Robertson

Assistant editor for What House?

There's no feeling like owning your own home - a retreat from the rest of the world, a safe haven, a place where you can fully express yourself. Does that feeling of satisfaction double when you have two or three properties?

Linton Kwesi Johnson

Poet and reggae recording artist

Thatcher will be remembered by many black people of my generation as a bigot and a xenophobe who fanned the flames of racial hatred, giving succour to the fascists who were emboldened to carry out terrorist attacks against black and Asian people.

Dr Raj Persaud and Adrian Furnham

Consultant Psychiatrist and Emeritus Visiting Gresham Professor for Public Understanding of Psychiatry

Margaret Thatcher's electoral success could be linked to her superior performance before TV cameras, compared to her main adversaries of the era. Behavioural scientists have uncovered evidence suggesting she was an outstanding proponent of psychologically manipulative techniques.

Robert Philpot

Director and editor of Progress

The degree to which Blair's time in office was merely a continuation of Thatcherism has long been hotly debated, and it is a subject that has been returned to often over the past week.

Paddy Duffy

Writer and broadcaster

Thatcher's Britain was one that lauded individualism, conspicuous consumption, and the fetishizing of creature comforts. It unitised the world around us, and made a virtue of economic hubris, cleverly rebranded as "freedom', no doubt with the help of an advertising agency.

William Brett

Researcher and writer on politics, anti-politics and European democracy

During Thatcher's reign, few would have uttered the now-commonplace anti-political statement: "They're all the same as each other, so why should I vote for anyone". She gave people a reason to vote, one way or the other.

Simon Cohen

Social commentator

Justin Bieber raised eyebrows this week at the Anne Frank museum, when he said he hoped the Holocaust victim would have been a 'belieber'. With news...

Endeavour Press

London-based digital publisher

n the aftermath of Margaret Thatcher's death last week, those who didn't feel too sentimental about her time in power looked to an Elvis Costello song almost 25 years old to speak for them.

John Wight

Writer

Awarding what amounts to a state funeral to Margaret Thatcher is an obscenity and an insult to the millions who suffered as a direct result of her time in office and afterwards under the ideology, Thatcherism, which bears her name.

Bonnie Greer

American-born, London-based playwright, author and novelist

These are dangerous times for all politicians, especially those in the Big Three because We The People aren't buying it anymore. This must be confusing the Westminster Village because there are loads of politics in the air on all sides. We just don't like politicians at the moment.