By Tony Hudson

It all started with Maggie.

Before the Iron Lady, Britain's prime minister and the American president seemed to be operating in completely different political systems.

While the US president is often referred to as 'the most powerful man in the world', it may be more accurate to say the president is 'the most influential man in the world' as his actual power – within the US at least – is very limited by the strict institutional rules created by the US constitution.

In the UK, the prime minister was a man operating from a position of potential weakness: everything about his ability to govern depended on the size of his majority in the Commons.

Then came Thatcher. She was the first prime minister to really make the UK premiership 'presidential'. Tony Blair followed in her footsteps, going even further and blurring the boundaries between the two roles at the summit of the US-UK special relationship.

Dr James Boys, a senior visiting research fellow at King's College, London,

By Dr Matt Ashton

As an academic I'm genuinely worried by the revelations that journalist John Sweeney went undercover with a group of students to North Korea.

Journalistic freedom is of course vital, but it has to be balanced against the safety of others - and also in this case academic freedom. While undercover work is an important tool of the journalist's trade it should never be undertaken lightly, especially when others are involved. The pros and cons have to be carefully weighed up. In some cases the relative importance of the story has to be balanced against the risks for those who may be affected by it.

When I want to do research that involves other people I have to fill out numerous ethics forms to make sure that I'm not taking advantage of them. They have to clearly understand the details of my work, what it's being used for, and how it will be presented. Normally the people involved are kept as anonymous as possible. Obviously not all of these rules can apply to journalism,

Margaret Thatcher's enemies were always going to be fed up by the respect afforded to the former prime minister in her funeral. But following the release of the order of service, the true extent to which right-wing politics pervades the words and music which will feature is now becoming clear. Here's a pick of the five most egregious examples which will have the Ding Dong parade screaming at their television on Wednesday.

I Vow To Thee My Country: 'Echoing Nazism'

Inbetween the anthem and the commendation comes one of the Anglican Church's most nationalistic hymns. I Vow To Thee My Country is so jingoistic one bishop called for it to be banned outright because of its "heretical" approach to the country.

I vow to thee my country all earthly things above / Entire and whole and perfect, the service of my love: / The love that asks no question, the love that stands the test, / That lays upon the altar the dearest and the best; / The love that never falters, the love that pays the price, /

By Mike Freer MP

It is with great sadness that I learned my predecessor as member of parliament for Finchley passed away at the age of 87.

As one of Margaret Thatcher's successors in the constituency of Finchley, I see a unique side of her legacy that perhaps few others are able to see. Her constituency, throughout her career and her premiership, was her touchstone to reality. The place she would 'hear it straight' from local residents and the local Conservative party members.

When she was prime minister, the relationship between her No 10 mandarins and the constituency association staff was an interesting one. Several different staff in Finchley recount almost exactly the same tale told many times from different periods of her premiership. Mrs Thatcher, after a weekend in Finchley meeting with local residents, had returned to Downing Street demanding to know the intimate details of a relatively minor policy from one of the less interesting government departments. When her staffers

"She was the salvation of the nation," one Tory MP gushed during today's tribute-a-thon to Margaret Thatcher. What she did, one Labour MP said, caused "immense pain and suffering to ordinary people".

This was a day for the grizzled old veterans, the wrinklies of the Commons, to come out and deliver their verdicts on the politician who dominated their prime period in public life. Thatcher was as divisive a politician as they come. But in the coalition politics of the 21st century it sometimes feels like any kind of actual disagreement - the visceral, uncompromising kind which pervaded British society in the 1980s - is simply unacceptable. How were MPs going to cope?

The Conservatives responded with that old staple: the anecdote. From David Cameron downwards, those who knew the Iron Lady best sought to present her human side with story after story. It says something about the nature of the woman that even these little tales revealed her to be a striding titan of a woman. We were

The political left responded to the news of Margaret Thatcher's death yesterday in a mostly subdued manner, although there were some isolated incidences of celebration.

Some delegates at the National Union of Teachers (NUT) cheered the news, although they were told to desist by organisers.

Respect MP George Galloway tweeted the Elvis Costello song title 'Tramp the Dirt Down', for which he was attacked by fellow Twitter users.

He later wrote: "Thatcher described Nelson Mandela as a 'terrorist'. I was there. I saw her lips move. May she burn in the hellfires."

High street wine merchant Oddbins in Crouch End tweeted: "If for any reason anyone feels like celebrating anything we have Tattinger available at £10 less than usual at 329. Just saying."

A spokesperson for the company later said: "The tweet in question was made by a member of branch staff without the approval or knowledge of the company's management. The tweet was completely inappropriate and in the worst possible taste.

"We would

It was, by any measure, the most remarkable career of any woman operating in British politics in the 20th century. That she was the first female prime minister is enough to guarantee her a place in history. But she went far further, and will be remembered as a prime minister whose astonishingly bold reforms fundamentally changed British society. Like it or not, we are all living in her shadow.

That includes the current generation of politicians which followed Thatcher into Westminster. The tributes are flooding in this afternoon. From her allies they are overwhelmingly partisan in their loyalty. From her enemies the studied politeness is excruciating. Ed Miliband and Nick Clegg have praised her radicalism and the boldness with which she remade Britain. There is a lot of attention paid to these tributes because everyone is watching carefully to see if any signs of inappropriate glee emerge. The strength of feeling against her means, whether politically acceptable or not, many will be

By David Meacock

Having been a passionate Conservative since school-days, I have not taken the decision to join Ukip lightly. In fact I have been searching my conscience for some months.  Locally, I have wanted to fight HS2 much harder from within the Conservative party but have not had the support of any other Conservative councillors to do so.

The forthcoming Bucks county council elections have really focused my thoughts.  I have come to realise that if you are against HS2, against so-called gay marriage and in favour of the Bucks selective education most of us realise are in the best interests of all youngsters, then the Conservative party has moved away from you – and you are a natural Ukip supporter.

I am privileged to be able to offer the people of Chalfont St Peter the opportunity of expressing that by voting for me, as the Ukip candidate.

Local councillors up and down the whole length of the Birmingham to London part of the line have been trying to persuade from within for