Silence is regarded as a sort of sin now, and it has to be filled with a lot of gossip and soundbites.

Some people find it difficult to argue with a woman Prime Minister and shrivel up.

Margaret Thatcher was fearful of German unification because she believed that this would bring an immediate and formidable increase of economic strength to a Germany which was already the strongest economic partner in Europe.

If Margaret Thatcher had been Prime Minister at the time, there would have been no Treaty of Maastricht.

Men like Hitler and Stalin and their immediate lieutenants cannot plead in defence of their actions that these were justified by the accepted values of that time.

There are thus great swathes of the past where understanding is more important and reputable than judgement, because the principal actors performed in line with the ideas and values of that time, not of ours.

It is normal for politicians in all countries to profess themselves the pupils of history, anxious to draw the right lessons from her teaching.