Britain: Election Fever

Waiting for Maggie to decide

All the classic symptoms were in evidence. The political Establishment had polished up its manifestoes, printed new campaign posters and raised partisan invective to libelous levels. Labor Party Leader Michael Foot had had his shaggy locks trimmed. Conservative Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher had had her teeth capped. The country was, in short, coming down with ballot-box fever. Nearly everyone expected Thatcher to call a general election for next month, al most a year before her five-year term runs out. Thatcher was mum on the subject, so the nation looked for omens, above all in...