Do you mean, she was a radical socialist alternative to the business-friendly policies of Callaghan's Labour government? ;¬) Exactly which 'politics which had swung too far' are you talking about?

Other that that, I entirely agree with you, especially about the Diana hysteria, which is distasteful in the extreme. And I don't see why holding back out of a misplaced 'respect for the dead' is right or good. The dead themselves can't be harmed, and their friends and families are not responsible for their actions, so they aren't the targets.