Women and property
In light of the moves to foist Tony Blair upon us as the unelected president of the European Union, it is high time to seek refuge in the Belfrey of Bruges. 
It was there on 20 September 1988 that Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher delivered what became known as the "Bruges Speech". Pointing out that "the first book to be printed in the English language was produced here in Bruges by William Caxton," Thatcher then set down, in black and white, her view of the proper relationship between peoples, nations and markets, while subjecting the "European Project", as the ideologues love to call it, to an unusually honest analysis. "Utopia never comes, because we know we should not like it if it did," she said in one of her many brilliant asides. Read it and weep for what now passes as political leadership. Her great jousting partner at the time, Jacques Delors, got it right when, through clenched teeth, he declared her to be "une personalité riche et complexe."
Talking of the Iron Lady, the late critic, author and boulevardier, Sheridan Morley, recalled an occasion around the time of the Bruges Speech when, walking along Piccadilly with Sir John Gielgud, they noticed Mrs Thatcher coming towards them. As they both knew her slightly, they stopped. Gielgud asked where she was now living. "No 10, Downing Street," replied the Prime Minister with some surprise.
"Oh, you women!" exclaimed Gielgud, full of admiration. "Always so clever at buying the right kind of property!"
