Twenty years ago - 3 December 1984 - the UK government sold 50.2% of the state telephone company, British Telecom, the first of the many large-scale privatizations of the Thatcher era.

It was the largest stockmarket floatation in history. The first to use mass-market TV advertising. The first with public incentives - like phone-bill discounts, bonus shares, and requiring buyers to pay only a third of the share price upfront.

It marked a revolution in ownership. Before, just a rich few owned shares. But 2.4 million people applied for a stake in BT. They weren't disappointed: the 50p part-paid shares shot up to 95p right away. And the success gave Mrs Thatcher the encouragement to privatize gas, electricity, water, and more.

The privatization also introduced new competition, setting up Mercury to put competitive pressure on BT. And it brought new approaches to regulation: OFTEL was charged with increasing competition, and with keeping the pressure on through a simple price formula - RPI-X, meaning that prices had to keep falling in real terms.

Could we ever go back to having a phone monopoly, a three-month wait to get a line installed, a choice of just three handsets (black, ivory, or grey), faults remaining unfixed for weeks? I hardly think so. Today's super-competitive phone market is a world away. Indeed, perhaps it's time to work some of the same magic on our state health and education systems?