Having had all my earlier comments censored by the usual suspects, I hesitate to enter this thread again, but there is so much rewriting of history that the context has to be re-emphasised. During the 1970s we had two governments brought down by militant trade unions (Heath 1974, Callaghan 1979) and the country almost bankrupt, needing bailing out by the IMF.   With that background, the country needed a sound economy and the union leaders had to be put in their place as representatives of their members, not as unelected politicians. Wilson had tried, for instance in closing more coal mines than Thatcher did (although no-one wants to believe that) but, just like Miliband now, Wilson depended on union backing to stay in power so he couldn't do too much.   Mrs Thatcher did a great job in reforming manufacturing industry, the City, the unions etc but, sadly, left alone the major monopolies of the BBC, NHS, Police, Post Office etc, which are now the bastions of loony leftism: the smart leftwingers regrouped, stopped trying to use the unions as their way of running the country, and turned to these unreformed bodies to have their unelected way. And, worst of all, starting during Thatcher's time, the socialists were allowed to take over the schools and their exams, dumb them down and turn schools into places for social engineering instead of education. It is no surprise that the majority of members of the Labour Party are teachers. Even basic education – the three Rs as it used to be called – now has to be provided after the kids leave school, by employers and universities.

Agreed there sir_arthur_strebe-grebling. here Ive changed your words to italic.