Thanks a bundle, Captain Astiz.

I never was a fan of Thatcherism. I can't draw any pride from coming from the same town as Baroness Thatch. The only thing her roots are useful is a form of idiot test: "comes from Grantham, must be a conservative" is a surefire fast-track to losing my respect.

I've been thinking a lot this week about the Falklands War 25 years ago, and how everything seemed to change from that moment on. It was the beginning, really, of my politicisation - up until that point I was fairly apolitical: a few woolly liberal views instilled by my mother that contributed towards a kind of middle-of-the-road sensibility. Sure, never right wing, but kind of nice. I remember being appalled by the human cost of mass unemployment in the UK - we'd finally crossed the barrier of 3 million unemployed - and I was pretty sure that it would mean the end of Margaret Thatcher as PM. Certainly the heat was on her on this issue - surely it was only a matter of time before she would have to go to the country to seek re-election. Then the game would be up.

Then everything changed, thanks to Naval Captain Alfredo Astiz (see picture, right) - known in some quarters as the "Blond Angel of Death." He invaded the island of South Georgia on 19th March 1982, and triggered the whole bloody mess.

As an aside, I remember a turning point in my world-view happening around this time. The BBC had sent a three-man crew down with the Falklands Task Force. Most people remember it for the stellar reporting of Brian "I counted them all out..." Hanrahan, but there was a slightly more personal side for me. The sound recordist for the team was a Lincolnshire man: John Jockel, who recently died at the age of 68. His son attended the same school as me.

John had taken the opportunity to snap some film down in the Falklands, and one of his photographs sticks with me to this day. I wish I could find a copy, but it doesn't seem to be anywhere on the web - as far as I know, its only publication was in the Grantham Journal. It was of a crate of 35mm anti-aircraft ammunition abandoned at Goose Green by the surrendering Argentine forces; clearly marked as manufactured in Grantham. We'd been making ammunition, so it could be fired at our own airmen.

The rest is history - Thatcher rode the Falklands to victory in the 1983 elections and... well, Simon Jenkins tells the story better than me.