DIVISIVE in life, it was only to be expected that Margaret Thatcher would be divisive in death, and so it has proved.

But for a while earlier this week, it seemed that the blanket of decorum that traditionally descends when the Great and the Good die might smother any meaningful dissent.

Of course, one has to observe a modicum of respect at such times, but while we should not condone some of the more extreme reactions of glee at the news of her death, we should not be surprised.

Margaret Thatcher came to power in troubled times and for many on these shores, those troubled times continued and worsened under her Premiership.

I was a few days short of my 15th birthday when she was swept into 10 Downing Street in May 1979, politically wet behind the ears but savvy enough to know that, for all the disruption of the recent Winter of Discontent, things were going to get a whole lot harder.

I'm not sure what age you have to have been when she became Prime Minister to subsequently qualify as one of Thatcher's Children. Ed Miliband was eight, so he's one. David Cameron was 12, so he's one too.

Perhaps I was one of Thatcher's Adolescents/Young Adults, old enough to understand from the off - in a single parent family with little money around - that the next few years weren't going to be a picnic.

During the 11 years of her Premiership, I worked first in the north east of England, and then in South Wales, areas that bore the brunt of the Thatcher Government's radical policies.

No-one can honestly say that things didn't need to change. They did. But the pace and mechanics of that change, allied to a seemingly uncaring attitude toward those most affected, is what still makes Margaret Thatcher a hate figure in many parts of the country.

That change was also accompanied by an apparent contempt for the metaphorical 'glue' that holds us all together - and remember, it was Mrs Thatcher who said "there is no such thing as society."

Coming to South Wales in 1988, I witnessed and reported on the dying embers of the mining industry in Gwent and the wider region.

While the Right-leaning media peddled the pin-striped, champagne-quaffing, shoulder-padded vision of a Britain on the up, the mood across much of the South Wales Valleys and the north east of England was downbeat, even hopeless.

Even today, many areas are still struggling to come to terms with the economic catastrophes triggered by pit closures and the decimation of heavy industry that the Thatcher administration oversaw.

So the celebrations in some quarters of her death, while lamentable, are understandable, if only perhaps as a consequence of the loosening of that societal glue she appeared so contemptible of.

This column will play no part in those celebrations, but neither will it celebrate her alleged achievements.

Sometimes the costs - what those who like to hide behind jargon call 'collateral damage' - are too high.

ACCORDING to new research, Sunday evening is the prime time for comfort eating.

Maudlin thoughts of Monday morning and the long working week ahead are enough to prompt us to seek solace in cakes, crisps, biscuits and other unhealthy treats at around 7pm on the Sabbath day.

Not in our house. At Weekender towers, 7pm on Sunday stands in for our lunchtime, a time to fuel up after a busy day standing on touchlines cheering on junior footballers, or doing DIY, or walking the dog, or all three of the above and more.

I've never understood the psychology of Sunday melancholy. For me, Tuesday afternoon is a regular comfort eating period - well into the week, but with three days of toil still to go until Saturday.

What better time to pop to the nearest confectionery emporium for a replenishing bag of sweeties.

My colleagues might observe that I pop to the shop every morning for a couple of bars of chocolate - but this is not for the purposes of comfort eating. I would argue that this is a regular mealtime.

The aforementioned study, by diet supplements brand Forza, found that two extra snacks after a meal is apparently the standard comfort eating treat.

Most over-eating happens after lunch, and much over-eating is work-related.

You don't say.