FEW readers will go along with Des More’s total exoneration of Margaret Thatcher for the ills of modern Britain (HAS, April 9).

Nor will many agree with his suggestion that, in view of her present frailty, we should not scrutinise too closely her record as Prime Minister – a time when she was far from vulnerable, though many others were.

Put crudely, Mrs Thatcher’s overall contribution to British life was monetarism – the idea that everything has a price, but nothing has value, and that the only realistic considerations are financial ones, all others being ultimately illusory.

It’s a cynical, incredibly pernicious and ultimately futile and self-destructive outlook.

Mrs Thatcher may not have been its origin, but she gave it more unqualified and explicit promotion than any of her predecessors had the nerve to do.

That’s why she bears more responsibility for our present plight than any other individual.

Tony Kelly, Crook, Co Durham.

I WAS interested to read Simon Tranter’s criticism of past Conservative policies (HAS, April 8).

It is seldom mentioned nowadays, but in the early part of Margaret Thatcher’s first administration interest rates were at 17 per cent for a year.

There was a recession in place, but – unlike today – not the slightest suggestion of spending our way out of it.

LD Wilson, Guisborough, East Cleveland.