Some More Thatcherite Than Others

Great detail in a YouGov poll spotted by Hopi Sen, who sent me this “Skitch”. Among those who thought Thatcher was a great prime minister, Blair is her heir; among those who thought she was terrible, Cameron is.

This is partly a false negative created by Labour supporters who disliked Thatcher and therefore say that Cameron [...]

By John Rentoul | Eagle Eye | Wednesday, 24 April 2013 at 6:42 pm

Top 10 Misquotations

The fabulous misquotation by The New York Times on the day of Lady Thatcher’s death, “Turn if you like; the lady’s not for turning,” suggests another subject for a Top 10. As I argued the other day, what Mrs Thatcher actually said

was one of the best-crafted word plays in modern English speech-writing, transforming the familiar phrase “U-turn” [...]

By John Rentoul | Eagle Eye | Monday, 22 April 2013 at 3:30 pm

“The handles on her coffin”

I think I may have inadvertently broken my own embargo on She Who Used To Be Obeyed by replying to someone on Twitter this morning. So I might as well say that the evidence from the extracts from Charles Moore’s book in The Daily Telegraph is that the early life, as so often in biography, [...]

By John Rentoul | Eagle Eye | Saturday, 20 April 2013 at 5:45 pm

Thatcher: history’s verdict

Lady Thatcher’s governments did indeed achieve something of a renaissance in British productivity. The question is: at what cost was this victory bought?

By Glen OHara | Eagle Eye, Econoblog | Wednesday, 17 April 2013 at 1:54 pm

The Thatcher Effect

What effect will her death, funeral and its media coverage have on British politics? Not much, I suspect, despite a tiny flurry of interest in this morning’s YouGov poll, which showed the Labour lead at seven points – the lowest since, oh, three months ago. That is well within the margin of variation you would expect [...]

By John Rentoul | Eagle Eye | Wednesday, 17 April 2013 at 12:03 pm

How we launched Thatcher’s ‘Privatisation’ word in the FT in 1979

One of Margaret Thatcher’s most significant legacies is privatisation – not only for introducing the policy itself, but also for adding the word into the world’s every-day vocabulary. Her death this week seems a good moment to recount how we launched the word on July 28 1979 in The Financial Times.
The day before, I [...]

By John Elliott | Notebook, The Foreign Desk | Thursday, 11 April 2013 at 7:34 am

Thatcher Betrayal Myths

I understand if you’ve had enough Thatcher, but the same thing applies to people who think recalling Parliament is excessive or the tribute session too long. If you don’t like it, don’t watch it; and if you don’t want to read any more, go and read something else (but not before you have posted a [...]

By John Rentoul | Eagle Eye | Wednesday, 10 April 2013 at 4:59 pm

Iron Lady and eco-warrior? Margaret Thatcher’s commitment to green matters

She may be better known for taking on the unions and transforming Britain through her dogged promotion of the free market – but it seems Margaret Thatcher was also something of an eco-warrior.

By Tom Bawden | Energy | Tuesday, 9 April 2013 at 4:59 pm

The New Fallacy

Ferdinand Mount – The New Few, or A Very British Oligarchy (Simon & Schuster, 26 April 2012)
Now might be a good time to post my review of Ferdinand Mount’s comically trite book. It starts with information that “everyone knows”, namely that the gap between rich and poor is widening. It isn’t. But it did in the [...]

By John Rentoul | Eagle Eye | Tuesday, 9 April 2013 at 12:17 pm

Thatcher and the Centre Ground

There will be lots of nonsense said and written about Margaret Thatcher this week, but Ed Miliband wins an early prize

By John Rentoul | Eagle Eye | Monday, 8 April 2013 at 2:22 pm