Maybe Mantel is not totally to blame for her crankiness

Hilary Mantel is on a peculiar attention-seeking kick with her theGrauniad-fuelled fantasies about murdering Margaret Thatcher, the only effective prime minister in the 2nd half of the 20th century. But she revealed, in an article in the Daily Mail, that she suffered from polymyalgia for a number of years. This distressing condition shrinks the muscles, saps strength and makes every movement painful. So it is possible that being in constant pain for an extended period of time has left her cranky and unbalanced her sense of proportion.