Guido reports that Ben Bradshaw mentioned the name 'Thatcher' and got a small cheer, I can't find the transcript myself unfortunately, but I will ask this:

Are the left still really that thick, or was it ironic?

We can argue about the impact of Thatcher til the cows come home, but is it not time to lay the hatred to rest? It's been twenty years since she left! We had just as many years of Blair, did he save us from the evils of Thatcher? Or was he pretty much the same, just with a worse spending policy?

Unless they can somehow prove that this country was about to collapse when Major came in, and that Blair actually saved us, then this whole 'Thatcher is the devil' thing needs to be laid to rest - it's history, if we have a go at Callaghan it's too long ago, but Thatcher is somehow still relevant when Labour have had more time than she had to 'fix' the wrongs she committed

It's just childish name-calling - their partisan nature really turns me off

Oh and as for Brown's 'commitment' to AV, this is clearly a tactic to hook people like me - I would love electoral reform, and I also like his pledge about hereditary peers, but it's too little, too late for several reasons:

1) AV is not enough

2) You've had 13 years to ask us, don't think I'm going to give you another 5 just for that

3) Blair lied in 1997, so why won't you?

No, I think I'll stick to my anti-Labour beliefs rather than be bought off, thank you very much