Military officials in Pakistan say at least 30 soldiers and almost 100 militants have been killed in several days of fierce fighting in the Tirah Valley in north-western Pakistan. The officials said the army had taken control of large parts of the region from the Pakistani Taliban and their allies since it began a ground offensive last Friday.
For more now on our main news-- the death of Margaret Thatcher. With a look at the economic aspects of her legacy, here’s Andrew Walker.
Baroness Thatcher’s time as prime minister marked a dramatic change in strategy. She wanted a central role for the
private
sector in the market economy and wanted to reduce the role of the state by cutting public spending. Her government began a programme of privatising state-owned businesses, selling them off sometimes to the stock market in an effort to promote wider share-ownership. There was
legislation
to reduce the power of trade unions and controlling inflation was given a central role. Under her leadership, restrictions on the financial sector were swept away, a reform known as Big Bang. In some respects, the economic legacy is controversial. The reduction in inflation arguably came at the cost of a period of high unemployment and critics say the liberalisation of finance sowed the seeds for the recent crisis. But there are aspects of Baroness Thatcher’s reforms that endure, notably the privatisations and the importance attached to keeping inflation under control. Several elements of the