A couple of weeks ago I had a full and frank exchange of views with a Maggie Thatcher worshipper (yes, there are still a few out there)
In response to my witty and incisive analysis this superannuated Toryboy called me rude names and suggested I must be stupid if I did not see he was right but did not actually make a point to back up his assertion that "Maggie did a great job for this country."
Well one of the great things Maggie did was bulldoze through laws dismantling the planning controls that stopped speculative builders putting housing and industrial estates on the flood plains of rivers.
Environmental scientists and civil engineers warned against this, but common sense was never allowed to stand in the way of quick profits and the builders moved in.
With its escape route obstructed, floodwater backs up with devastating consequences after any period of unusually heavy rainfall. We have seen the consequenses this week in Sheffield (my daughter was stranded in the office on Monday night - she said they all got drunk and it was quite fun) and around the country and in recent years in Nottingham, Carlisle, York, the Medway Towns in Kent and along the Severn Valley.
kudos to Maggie though, true to her image she has never admited she was wrong. That's the kind of strong leadership that still blinds so many people to the social and economic disaters her half - wit policies caused.