Philip Crump: The Strategic Power of Long Range Strikes

Operation Midnight Hammer brings to mind another long-range bombing campaign that demonstrated the power of strategic resolve.

As the uneasy cease-fire between Israel and Iran enters its second day, initial indications about the battle damage assessment are starting to find their way into the media. In particular, a leaked preliminary assessment by the US Defense Intelligence Agency suggests that the American strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities have delayed Tehran’s nuclear programme by months rather than years.

Karl du Fresne: Not an easy woman to like

LIKE a lot of people, I’ve been thinking lately about Margaret Thatcher. My feelings about her are, to use a fashionable term, conflicted. The best way I can explain it is to say that it was possible to respect what she achieved without actually liking her. 

Ron Smith: An Iron Lady

I met Margaret Thatcher sometime in early 1970 and she made an enormous impression on me at that single meeting.  At the time I was employed by the Royal Institute of Chemistry (now the Royal Society of Chemistry) at their offices in Russell Square (London).  She was Conservative spokesperson on education.  The Institute had an issue to do with the recognition of its qualifications and I was engaged in lobbying on the matter. We had lunch at a restaurant in Charlotte Street.  It was arranged by a Conservative member of parliament, who was a chemist and a member of the Institute; Sir Beresford Craddock.  Mrs Thatcher was also a chemist (as well as a barrister), though she was not a member of the Institute.  The crucial thing was that (as noted) she was Party spokesperson and,  just might become Secretary of State for Education, should the Conservatives be successful at the coming election (they were and she did in June of that same year).