Since taking up the presenter role for The New Statesman program for 2RPH, I have begun to renew my  interest in British current affairs. It's not that it actually went anywhere - rather, I had a lot more on my plate and reading up on the UK took a backseat. But it is very good to be back into it.

As part of my re-education I have been watching documentaries about the Sixties and Seventies, some from the time, others about the time. My hard memories form this period really start with the demise of the Labour Government in 1979 and the concurrent rise of Mrs Thatcher.

But the period of the Wilson/Heath Governments is very interesting and perhaps rather overlooked, though as for that, I don't suppose we talk much about the Attlee, Churchill or MacMillan administrations that followed WW2. In truth, only Clement Attlee's remarkable government, which ushered in the 'welfare state', is worthy of deeper reflection.

Harold Wilson is more of an enigma. Much of what I have read about him tends to diminish his governments(s) achievements, but there is a lot to like both in his style and capacity for modest reform. That, and holding the fractious Labour Party together, winning four general elections and building 400,000 council houses each year, suggest an assessment in in order.

His nemesis, Edward Heath, suffered a similar fate with his critics on the right. His central legacy of taking Britain into Europe has been effectively destroyed by Brexit. It's probably best that neither of these men got to see what the UK has become in 2023.