Although I didn’t vote for her (Lady Thatcher), there’s no doubt she changed our world. She had a huge impact. The way in which we still view the world is shaped largely by some of the political ideas that when she came to power were seen as pretty off-beat – certainly not mainstream Conservatism. Now, they’ve become the norm. But almost everywhere you go there are great shops and places to eat, and there are also some great bookshops: like WH Smith and Wells in Southwold – the latter also has a brilliant jazz/classical music section – and others in Halesworth, Beccles, Aldeburgh and elsewhere.

The Climate Emergency Byline Times‘ coverage of the consequences of, and responses to, the climate crisis She added: “This government is rotten to its core. We need to know how wide this goes and how much government business is being conducted in secret.” It's hugely interesting on feminism and women in power and the impossible standards men (and other women) hold women to. Definitely worth a read! Stella Duffy, co-founder Women's Equality Party It will be the former chancellor’s first performance at the dispatch box since he quit in a row with Johnson and Dominic Cummings in February 2020.Caroline cites as evidence the hate mail and messages sent to many females in politics; “and people like Caroline Criado-Perez, who wanted a woman on a new British banknote, got rape and death threats. With Hillary Clinton, there were T-shirts of her as Medusa, with her severed head being held by Trump (as Perseus). So there is still misogyny around”. Lynne Berry has more than 30 years experience in the voluntary, public and not for profit sectors. She has worked in central and local government, been Chief Executive of two national charities (recently WRVS and earlier the Family Welfare Association), Chief Executive of the Equal Opportunities Commission and the General Social Care Council and Executive Director of the Charity Commission. In addition she has been Chair and Trustee of many national charities. However, series four was always going to hold a certain fascination for me personally. Covering the period from 1979 to 1990, it spans the time Margaret Thatcher entered No 10 to the tearful day she left. Argument Honestly held opinions and provocative argument based on current events or our recent reports. People come to our network for a variety of reasons: to gain and share ideas, to pause and reflect, to make new connections and meet people from different sectors, and to work with others to build momentum for wider change.

The Crown, of course, is full of dramatic licence. It was before my time, but I very much doubt, for example, that she did not have the right clothes for Balmoral, as we always took pains to find out what clothes were needed for every trip, and I included the details in every brief. Brandon Lewis, the Northern Ireland secretary, said it is “something we need to get to the bottom of” because a lot of what goes on in government departments is “sensitive and important”. I love the variety: the marshes, the forest, the sea. They’re all on the doorstep. The villages are so unspoilt. We like the pubs; the places to eat; the walks. Of his primary school “I remember two things – one, that the headmaster shot himself (an early instance of the apparent arbitrariness of events); and two, that my writing career nearly came to an abrupt end. We welcome anyone who is attracted by our thinking, people at the frontline of practice as well as thought leaders from across public, private and voluntary spheres.I remember seeing him just before he died. He was very thin and in a dressing gown, but that didn’t stop him drinking champagne and moaning about the Government. People who believe in prevention need to attend not just to the child (and the adult the child later becomes) but also to ‘the villages’ in which we all live. Caroline has over thirty years experience, including working at the highest levels in Government and the wider public and voluntary sectors. It seemed Margaret Thatcher had, whether formally or through the vibes she gave off, created a bar on the promotion of women. As Caroline says, “the word had gone out, at least for a period, that she would not work with a woman”. This is more than just the story – quite familiar in powerful people – of a character who is much nicer in private than in public. It is part of a bigger narrative…. The book makes the reader think about wider questions. Why is it that the three most striking characters in British public life in the past 50 years – Margaret Thatcher, Diana, Princess of Wales and the Queen – have been women? Is it mere rarity value? Or is it because – though each is so different from the others – there is something about being female that touches reality more closely? Charles Moore, Margaret Thatcher’s official biographer, The Telegraph

Lynne is also working with a number of universities including Cass Business School, City University London, where she is a Visiting Professor, and Lucy Cavendish College, University of Cambridge, where she is a Fellow Commoner, to link the corporate and voluntary sectors, support social enterprise and to encourage women’s leadership and professional experiences to be valued in all sectors. More than 30 years ago, I served as a private secretary to Margaret Thatcher and then, briefly, to John Major when they were Prime Ministers. I can testify that both had a strong respect for our democratic institutions, whatever you think of their political record. Thirdly, it’s important to think holistically. Attending to one element without thinking of the others can be counterproductive. For example, strong communities are harder to create without physical places to meet. Good health benefits from recreational facilities and ready access to good food. She is currently the Chair of Breast Cancer Now, created from the merger of Breakthrough Breast Cancer and Breast Cancer Campaign, Deputy Chair of the Canal and River Trust and Chair of Bwrdd Gland?r Cymru (CRT in Wales); founder of Public Benefit; and until recently a non-executive Director of Cambridge University Hospitals Foundation Trust. She also recentlyacted as Chair of the Commission to the Voluntary Sector and Ageing,Caroline believes one of Margaret Thatcher’s biggest problems was that her identity had, during her political rise, been constructed “almost entirely on the advice of men. She changed the way she dressed: it was more power-based; looking a bit more like a man. She abandoned dresses with bows, on the whole, and she adopted this more androgynous profile.” So there are plenty of things you can say to show she wasn’t a feminist, but I think if you look at her as an example of female power, it’s hard to deny her achievement. The new private secretary thus “by chance happened to walk into this extraordinary story – a very human drama of betrayal, anger and determination”. This space is where people and organisations help shape our policies, services, laws and culture. It’s threatened when – as has already happened – peaceful protest is restricted, charities fear to speak up, government makes it harder for its decisions to be reviewed by the courts, standards of behaviour in public office are ignored and politicians foment division.

Caroline began when “you could see these rifts developing on Europe”. The Chancellor and the Foreign Secretary, Nigel Lawson and Geoffrey Howe, were key figures at odds with the PM. The poll tax hadn’t helped, and there was friction over the UK joining the European Exchange Rate Mechanism. Something had to give. Caroline set up Civil Exchange in 2011. She is also a founding member of A Better Way, a network hosted by Civil Exchange which is committed to improving services and strengthening communities. She is a co-convenor of the network. When I had completed my degree I did a bit of labouring in the RAF at Cardington, with the vague sense that I wanted to be a writer, and I got elected as a shop steward. Margaret Thatcher and husband Denis on the steps of Ipswich Town Hall during campaigning for the 1979 election. Picture: archant (Image: Archant) We fell in love on either end of civil service phones, talking about civil service reform. Caroline was in the Cabinet Office and I was at DWP (Department of Work and Pensions). The first time we met in person was at a meeting she had contrived for the two of us with a consultant in Ernst and Young.”

We fell in love talking about civil service reform! (Truly)

In the wider public service and voluntary sector, she was the Chief Executive of the Equal Opportunities Commission between 2002 and 2007, a statutory body which promoted equal opportunities between men and women; and then moved on to become Chief Executive of Refugee and Migrant Justice, a not for profit organisation providing legal advice to asylum seekers, between 2007 and 2010. But this is being eroded. Over the last decade, there has been a quiet reduction in social infrastructure assets either from closure, sales or poor maintenance – playing fields and play areas, children centres and youth services, libraries and arts facilities have all been affected to name but a few. As well as a loss of assets, our collective sense of the value of commonly owned social infrastructure has reduced and public support for the welfare state has declined. It came to a head in 1990, when Mrs Thatcher withdrew from a Conservative Party leadership challenge despite winning the initial ballot. Caroline had a ringside seat that November. She was the only other woman in the Cabinet room when the Prime Minister revealed she was quitting.