Adrian Brown: When Margaret Thatcher came to power in May nineteen seventy nine, Britain was a very different place to today. The trades unions were a political force to be reckoned with, government was involved in everything from generating power to making cars and many people looked to the state to provide their every need. Much of that changed during her eleven years in power. She neutered the labour movement, oversaw the privatisation of large swathes of the economy, and encouraged people to take more responsibility for their own lives. Much of this was fiercely resisted but is now political orthodoxy in Britain. But she didn't win all the arguments. The National Health Service has been spared from comprehensive privatisation and a policy of ever-smaller government and lower taxes has been abandoned by her Conservative party. One thing that hasn't changed however is the argument over Britain's place in Europe. It still divides the Conservatives and could yet be the undoing of Britain's current Prime Minister Tony Blair. VOCABULARY trade unions - odbory to neuter - zneutralizovat; vykastrovat fiercely resisted - bouřlivě odmítat the undoing of Tony Blair - přivodit pád Tonyho Blaira