Margaret Thatcher, growing up in a bombed and battered Britain, derived a distrust which has grown with the years not just of Germany but of all continental Europe.

War on Iraq runs the risk of turning the Middle East into an inexhaustible recruiting ground for anti- western terrorism.

The tragedy of 9/11 galvanised the American superpower into action, leaving us in Europe divided in its wake.

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.

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

There is no consensus even today on the merits of Napoleon - and certainly no agreement on the rights and wrongs of the origins of the First World War.