It's in the script

Today is Margaret Thatcher Day. Named for the former British Prime Minister, it is commemorated in the Falkland Islands. Until today, I had no idea that this holiday existed. It commemorates the 1982 Falklands War, which was one of the defining events of the Thatcher years.

Pictured at left is a front page headline from The Sun, evocative of the patriotic, gung-ho fervour for the war that was whipped up by British tabloid newspapers.

There was an element of this in the 1997 James Bond film, Tomorrow Never Dies, in which the villain, Elliot Carver, a global media tycoon, attempted to start a war between China and Britain to further his business interests. I dare say this was intentional. That's certainly the first thing I thought of when I watched this scene in the film. In the customary Bond film scene in which the villain explains his evil plot to James Bond, he shows him this headline from one of his own newspapers.

When Carver dies aboard his stealth boat at the end of the movie, M and Moneypenny put out a cover story saying that he was missing at sea, presumed drowned. It's left up to the audience to work out for themselves whether or not this was based on actual events. More astute viewers should have no trouble making these connections.