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I don't think it's Anglocentric to think the British Prime Minister played some part in the ending of the Cold War. That isn't to take anything away from Gorbachev at all. His slow, measured withdrawal was genius. The tragedy was his forced resignation at the hands of the ambitious Boris Yeltsin...

I think, to some extent, that Thatcher's friendship with Gorbachev and, following from that, Gorbachev's friendship with Reagan, formed a triumvirate of countries which trusted each other and wanted to bring about the end of the Cold War. I know Poland well, and it was always a country of...

I agree with you there. I'm not fond of Millibaby, but his speech yesterday was respectful and well-balanced.

Perhaps, but if too many people have degrees, then too many people are over-qualified for most jobs.

Good question. I believe she supported herself. Her husband had died so perhaps she inherited his estate, though that wouldn't have amounted to much, as they were immigrants to this country. There was certainly no one else to support her.

Well, it was my dear old Dad who was mixed up then, as were so many Left-wingers at the time, obviously. In fact, it was his Trotskyite spoutings and quotes from Morning Star which actually drove me away from the Labour Party.

There weren't any jobs in Brighton at the time. So we bought the Evening Star one day, and he applied for a job in London, which he got after 6 months on the dole/doing a TOPS course. And he's still there.

After 30 years as a secretary, my great-aunt decided to train as a doctor when she was 49 years old. You are never too old to study.

Come on! How come so many of our young graduates are unemployed, then? It's partly because some of their degrees are actually all but worthless. The latest trend is for undergraduates to attend university in the USA, partly because British universities have had to dumb down some of their...

Yes, they were and are called Labour supporters.

No, this is rubbish. Labour and the unions had brought the country to its knees and anyone who denies that really hasn't got their thinking caps on. My father was an International Socialist (IS) in those days, and a Shop Steward and his reading matter was Morning Star. When his colleagues voted...

My husband has had to do that since 1978 after 6 months on the dole, though he comes home every night from his job in London.

The Guardian, Tuesday 6 November 2012 17.47 GMT QUOTE The Office of National Statistics says emigration from Britain rose sharply over the past decade from 363,000 a year to a peak of 427,000 in 2008. Since then it has fallen back to 350,000 a year. Long-term migrants are defined as those who...

In 1908, Churchill was President of the Board of Trade in Asquith's Liberal Government. William Beveridge was already a proponent of social reform, and had promoted ideas of free school meals, old age pensions, labour exchanges and national insurance. Churchill invited Beveridge to join the...

That was a Liberal Party initiative from Beveridge, but it took until after the war for it to come about. And Labour reaped the glory.

It did happen. It was called the Brain Drain.

You must be in the wrong job, then. I've had lots of builders and such round lately, and they charge about £120 a day. My son, on the other hand, earns £11,000 a year, but he is trying to do something about it by studying and hoping to change career.

Hardly succinct. It's a bloomin' great list.

How did she manage that?