"Can Jim not have any relationship of friendship & mutual respect with a member of the opposite sex without the 'dropping of knickers' "
A political metaphor Mike and you know it.
Thatcher hailed Pinochet as a champion of democracy after he had overthrown a legally elected government and massacred those who opposed him in their thousands.
He ruled Chile and a fascist dictator for 17 years with her support and she was largely responsible for his escaping trial as a mass murderer.
She implicated Britain in fascism by using her Party as a supporter for his 'democracy' - I have little doubt that she would have loved to take his inspiration far further than British democracy allowed her to, had she been able.
Your response, I seem to remember, was "she did time good things for Britain" - making the trains run on time, maybe, as did Mussolini for Italy?
Jim Carroll