There's one great difference between Blair and Thatcher. Five years after her elevation to power, Thatcher had succeeded in bringing the various elements in her political handbag together. The wonks wrote about the lady, but they also wrote about an ism. No such ism today.

Would Labour be any different if Gordon Brown took over? In style, perhaps. Brown isn't quite so much in awe of business. Otherwise, it's business as usual whatever the political party nominally in charge. [Guardian].

Almost exactly five years ago, just before the general election, I wrote about the poverty of imagination behind Blair's 1997 vision. The Guardian's Gary Younge, reporting recently on the rise of the extreme right in Burnley, shows what's happened since then.