Do get it right!

The two greatest misunderstandings of modern times of remarks made by politicians begin with "Patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel" and end with Margaret Thatcher's "There is no such thing as society."

The first has already been dealt with on this Blog. (15/4/10)

For the second the Iron Lady herself pointed out that:

“.... they never quoted the rest. I went on to say: There are individual men and women, and there are families. And no government can do anything except through people, and people must look to themselves first. It’s our duty to look after ourselves and then to look after our neighbour. My meaning, clear at the time but subsequently distorted beyond recognition, was that society was not an abstraction, separate from the men and women who composed it, but a living structure of individuals, families, neighbours and voluntary associations."