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Journalism of Courage
Former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher’s short-term memory has faded to the extent that she cannot remember the start of a sentence by the end, her daughter Carol has revealed.
The ‘‘Iron Lady’’ (80), who has suffered a series of strokes, can still vividly recall events in the distant past, but is “ very frail”, Carol said.
‘‘For someone who had such an exciting life, she doesn’t take well to having time on her hands,’’ journalist and broadcaster Carol (52) told The Daily Mail.
‘‘She doesn’t read much because of her memory loss. It’s pointless. She can’t remember the beginning of the sentence by the time she reaches the end. She picks up on little bits of the news.’’
Thatcher, who was Conservative PM from 1979 to 1990, spent Wednesday night in hospital after feeling faint.
Carol Thatcher said: ‘‘The memory loss is very strange because her recollection of distant events is still sharp. A friend commented to her the other week: ‘Oh, Margaret, it’s like rationing!’
‘‘Immediately, my mother sparkled and this fellow got 15 minutes on wartime privations, including all mum’s favourite recipes for spam.
‘‘She can talk lucidly about things that happened half a century ago but she cannot remember the last minute.’’
