“Any spat involving the name of my mother, Britain's longestserving Pri...” — Carol Thatcher Quote

Any spat involving the name of my mother, Britain's longestserving Prime Minister of the 20th century, seems to have pulling power.

You need quite good shock absorbers and a sense of humour to be the Prime Minister's child.

Unloved is not the right word... but I never felt I made the grade. Mark was a blond, very attractive little boy, and sporty, so Dad was always teaching him to play cricket on the lawn... I always felt I came second out of two.

I studied law at university and wanted to go on a working holiday in Sydney. I got a job at the Sydney Morning Herald and later on a TV station, and that was that. I stayed there for four years.

As a child of the Commonwealth, I had been brought up to believe Great Britain was the promised land, a culture where the rule of law was observed and decency was embedded in the national fabric.

While there is a great value in things that are old, it seems that the overwhelming challenge in Britain in the late 20th century is to make every effort to see value in the contemporary and in the future.

Britain is one of the world's most open economies. More dependent on trade than any other major country. Our success depends on our competitiveness and our competitiveness depends on raising our productivity, as our competitors are raising theirs.

I get newspapers from Britain and other countries twice a week and read them almost page to page. Sometimes I find I'm reading things I don't even need to read, because my mind is still hungry.