"Or, if you live and work in Hollywood, how very modern and up to date.""It seems," said the man with the dog," that the homesteaders would dress up scarily to frighten the spirits away.""Much as we do with children trying to trick or treat," said the red lady."And put their fires out, to make believe they were not at home.""Much as we also do with children trying to trick or treat," said the red lady."Well," said the Welshman, "if I had to choose between being attacked by a few children demanding to be given Smarties, or dispossessed spirits demanding occupation of my body, I know which one I'd go for.""Me, too," said the man with the dog. "Apparently," said the man with the dog, after he had bought his first pint, "apparently, even though Hallowe'en has got a Catholic name, it is an old Celtic feast and predates Christianity by centuries." "Everything predates Christianity by hundreds of years," said the resident Welshman "Poor old Christianity It's only been going for two thousand years Religion has been around for much longer than that Christianity is a Johnny-come- lately religion. A lame duck in the White House, a lame duck in Downing Street; George Bush and Tony Blair have arrived at the same state of powerlessness by different routes. Mr Bush is limited to two terms by statute; Mr Blair has promised to go by the end of his third term. Events have so conspired that neither can retain the loyalty of supporters as time runs out. If this were the only similarity between the political situations in the US and Britain, it could be classified as just a coincidence. But the parallels are numerous and alarming and highlighted by the the prosecution of a senior White House official, Lewis Libby, announced on Friday. More from Andreas Whittam Smith.
He has to put up with a number of colleagues who do not understand that any successful Conservative leader will require the same tactical flexibility which Margaret Thatcher employed.David Cameron could carry on where Margaret Thatcher left off His main obstacle in doing so may not be Tony Blair. It could come from some of his own simpler-minded supporters who, after three successive defeats, are still not at ease with the real world of politics More from Bruce Anderson. She spent a great deal more money, without changing the structures. She also signed the Anglo-Irish Agreement and the European Single Act, which gave away far more power to Europe than the Maastricht Treaty did. She accepted a deal with the French which kept the Common Agricultural Policy in being. On any objective assessment of her record, Margaret Thatcher was not a Thatcherite.She has a defence.
She understood that government requires compromises, while electoral politics necessitates concessions. Even when she appeared to wander from the line of march, she kept the ultimate goal in view. But she chose her own way of getting there.So did John Major But he lacked her force of personality. His gentle, measured, nuanced exposition was far too grown up for many of his Tory colleagues. It did not provide them with a drug powerful enough to prevent them from committing electoral suicide.The aftershock of all that is still a problem for David Cam-eron.
