UK Guardian Hammers Cost Of Thatcher's Funeral: '23 Things You Could Pay For With £10m'

On the eve of the state funeral for Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in London, London’s left-wing paper The Guardian couldn’t let the moment pass without one, last socialist slam at the Iron Lady and the attention paid to the paper’s former Bete Noir. 

Margaret Thatcher’s funeral will cost around £10m, although we won’t know the exact figure – and how much of it is being spent by the state – until afterwards. What else can £10m pay for? Here are some ideas …

In keeping with the Guardian’s political leanings, the list is full of class warfare, socialist agenda bullet points. 

322 nurses
Based on a median annual salary of £31,095

272 secondary school teachers
Based on a median annual salary of £36,789

320 fire officers
Based on a median annual salary of £31,258

269 paramedics
Based on a median annual salary of £37,164

Four months’ worth of the state’s contribution to the Monarchy
Per year it costs the UK £32m

7,042 households’ electricity and gas bills
Based on a typical annual dual fuel bill of £1,420 each

25,773 households’ annual water bills
£388 per household average

44 libraries
£963,284,000 spent on libraries in 2011-12 – for 4,265 ‘service points’

177,777 jobseekers’ allowance claimants
On £56.25 a week each

1,199 students’ annual tuition fees
Average tuition fees are £8,338

10 days of arts spending
Annual spending on the arts for a year: £398m

Two years of UK foreign aid to Iraq
It costs the UK £5m a year

Two and a half Leveson Inquiries
The cost of the Inquiry was £3.9m

Two weeks of the BBC World Service
The annual FCO spending on the World Service is £255m

Two years of the Wales Office
It costs the UK £5m a year

152 MPs’ basic salaries
Before allowances, this is £65,738 each

16,949,152 pints of milk – enough to give everyone in London two pints each
Based on a price of 59p each

60% of a Trident missile
Cost: £16.8m each

49 days of British forces in the Falklands
Based on annual spending of £75m

Flights for everyone in the Falklands to the UK and back and a trip up the Shard each. Three times over
Return flight (plus tax): £1,208, Shard: £24.95

400 black Asprey ‘Margaret Thatcher’ handbags
Her handbag shown above sold for £25,000 at auction

6,079 duck houses for MPs claiming on expenses
The amount that former Conservative MP Peter Viggers claimed for a floating duck house was £1,645

11,111 public health funerals
These are free funerals for poor people or those without any relatives or money, each costs the state £900