If only...

As Energy Secretary, Tony Benn might have closed so many pits that there were not enough left at the end for his record ever to equalled (Margaret Thatcher, as Education Secretary, had done the same thing to the grammar schools), but he also wanted to ringfence the North Sea oil money for future economic regeneration, necessarily outside the then-EEC. This was successfully done in Norway, now the richest country in the world as a result. However, all hope of it ended here with the 1979 Election that brought Thatcher to power, soon after which her Energy Secretary, Nigel Lawson, boasted that Britain's energy policy was that of not having one (so why was he drawing a Cabinet Minister's salary?).

Today, Benn is the only hope of beating Thatcher to be crowned the nation's political hero: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/politics_show/6161847.stm. Voting closes on Thursday. You know what you have to do. This could have been the richest country in the world.