Andy Beckett’s takedown of the Thatcherite myth is timely (Margaret Thatcher set Britain’s decline in motion – so why can’t politics exorcise her ghost?, 12 April). Most remarkable is Keir Starmer’s admiration for the “entrepreneurialism” she let loose. Starmer is clearly stuck in his New Romantic era and hasn’t done his history.
The biggest burst of entrepreneurship came in the pre-Thatcher 1960s. The young Turks who burst into the music industry through the side door. The fashion revolution in Carnaby Street and Kings Road. The new magazines, including the very first glossy women’s rights publication. And, sneering rightwingers might note, I don’t think there was the proverbial politics of envy. I think we rather admired Terence Conran, whose airy Habitat emporiums offered well-designed homeware at affordable prices. It all made Britain suddenly world famous.
