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This book is an analysis of the political thought of the Conservative Party. Academic discussions of the Conservative Party have tended to neglect ideology, focusing instead on the 'pragmatic' nature of the Party and its electoral and governmental record. The book traces the ideology of the Conservative Party through its most prominent thinkers. These are Harold Macmillan; R. A. Butler; Quintin Hogg (Lord Hailsham); Enoch Powell; Angus Maude; Keith Joseph; the traditionalists; the 'wets' (most notably Ian Gilmour); John Redwood; and David Willetts. These are the individuals considered by the authors to have made the most important contributions to the political thought of the Conservative Party. Some of them did so through the publication of a major book or even in some cases a series of books. The book provokes two theoretical issues and it is the purpose of the introduction to deal with these head-on. The first relates to the nature of the Conservative Party, which many commentators argue is not an ideological entity. The most widely cited academic perspective of this sort is the 'statecraft' thesis first outlined by James Bulpitt, who argued that the Conservative Party is in fact a pragmatic movement committed above all to winning elections and maintaining power. The second issue raised here is that of why and how the authors have selected the individual thinkers and overlooked others with plausible claims to influence.

When Robert Butler was studying to be an internist at Columbia University Medical School (New York, USA) in the early 1950s, old people were often referred to as \"crocks\". Butler, who later helped create the US National Institute on Ageing (NIA) and served as its first director, was \"outraged\" at this stereotyping. Raised by grandparents who were active and vigorous, he balked at the characterisation, which implied that old people were obnoxious complainers. Adding insult to injury, \"problematic\" older people-those who had a stroke or were in any way discomforting to the system-were sent from the university to the city hospital \"as quickly as they could get rid of them\", recalls Butler, who is also founder and head of the International Longevity Center (ILC), a nonprofit policy and research organisation with centres in the USA, UK, Japan, France, and the Dominican Republic.

\"This change had been made to take account of technical developments since the bank rate was last raised and to ensure that the rate did not get out of touch with market rates,\" he said. \"It was a further step towards freedom and flexibility in interest rates. \"Although our position was better than when money rates were raised at the end of 1951 and in March 1952, today''s adjustment did not imply that we were yet out of rough water or that we could relax our efforts.\"

\"We hit the jackpot here,\" said Guillem Anglada-Escude, an astrophysicist at the Queen Mary University of London and lead author of a study on the discovery in the journal Nature. He said the planet is \"more or less what we have on Earth.\" Even when that comes, and it may be a decade or two away, it will only be a single dot: \"You're not going to see espresso bars at the beach. You're not going to see aliens waving at us.\" \"It is inspiring to find a potentially habitable world on our cosmic doorsteps, around our next star,\" said exoplanet expert Lisa Kaltenegger, director of Cornell University's Carl Sagan Institute. \"It is significant because if we needed inspiration to try to reach the next star, now we have it.\"

\"We hit the jackpot here,\" said Guillem Anglada-Escude, an astrophysicist at the Queen Mary University of London and lead author of a study on the discovery in the journal Nature. He said the planet is \"more or less what we have on Earth.\" Outside experts praised the finding as rock-solid and thrilling. \"It is inspiring to find a potentially habitable world on our cosmic doorsteps, around our next star,\" said exoplanet expert Lisa Kaltenegger, director of Cornell University's Carl Sagan Institute. \"It is significant because if we needed inspiration to try to reach the next star, now we have it.\" Harvard astronomer Avi Loeb, who isn't part of the discovery team but is advisory board chairman for Breakthrough Starshot, said Proxima might someday prove vital to humanity's future. \"A habitable rocky planet around Proxima would be the most natural location to where our civilization could aspire to move after the sun will die 5 billion years from now,\" he said in an email.

During the debates on the 1944 Education Bill, wise minister of that time, R A Butler, was being harangued on all sides to tell schools what to do. A Mr Wakefield MP wanted compulsory rifle practice. Winston Churchill asked him to make children more patriotic. \"Tell them Wolfe won Quebec,\" he pleaded. Sensibly, Butler resisted them all, even the prime minister. Over 20 years ago, I wrote an article entitled \"State-approved knowledge: 10 steps down the slippery slope\". It described how an interventionist government could, step by step, impose its will on education. It was meant to be a stark warning, a doom-laden depiction of inconceivable horrors, moving from the benign laissez-faire system endorsed by Butler to a state- driven nightmare. At the time, we only had step one, broad general objectives, the innocuous \"foster all-round development\", \"nurture the whole person\" pap of public documents, as threatening as a wren's feather. The next nine steps marched through the laying down of subject matter, specific objectives, time allocations, forms of testing, league tables, the prescription of teaching materials, strategies, remediation, and eventually, the dismissal of teachers who refused to follow the government's prescriptions.

He was largely responsible for the creation of an ill-conceived tripartite system in education, giving scant attention to the cost of implementing the Newman Report, particularly with regard to the provision of new school building works.

  Butler, Martha Lee (Parrotte), 85 passed away October 25, 2012 in Deerfield Beach, FL. She was born to Rev. A.C. Parrotte and Ruth Little Parrotte of Nashville, TN. She was preceded in death by her sister, Dorothy Ann. On August 17, 1947 she married Robert D. Butler - they just recently celebrated their 65 Wedding Anniversary. She spent many years dedicated to making the family business, Butler farms a success. In 1947, life in the sleepy town of Deerfield revolved around church and the agricultural community. Her most significant achievement, however, was her unique dedication to being a loving and devoted wife and mother. In recent days the family spent time and special occasions in the home in Mt. Dora, FL and in the summer house in the mountains of North Carolina. Mrs. Butler was very active in her church and in the community, having recently been named a Broward \"Pioneer\" by the Broward County Historical Commission. The ceremony took place on October 20, 2012 and was attended on her behalf by her son R. David Butler at the Oakland Park Elementary School - oldest elementary school in the county. She is survived by her husband, Robert D. Butler, her son R. David Butler and her sister Beverly Sue Metz. Funeral arrangements are being handled by Kraeer/Becker Funeral Home located at 217 E. Hillsboro Boulevard in Deerfield Beach. Visitation will be Tuesday, October 30, from 2-4 p.m. and from 6-8 p.m.