Despite Jeremy Moon's assertions we do not claim that there was no significant change in policy content or outcomes during the Thatcher period; or that the entire post-war period is marked by seamless continuity. We recognise that substantial change occurred. We examine Moon's sins of omission and commission before arguing that in order to establish the extent of and reasons for change in the Thatcher period, we need to undertake detailed, theoretically-informed empirical analysis rather than dealing, like Moon, in assertion.
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