[Mickey_T_Fish]

I do think that there is a reason to link Britain's problems with the USA, for one simple reason.

I didn't agree with the Bush policies on Iraq, but that shouldn't have affected me. Instead, what we have is a leader (and most of those previous to him that I remember were exactly the same) who is incapable of independent thought. When George Dubya whistles, Blair comes scampering. Getting involved in the mess that is Iraq (and will continue to be a mess for years to come, costing us untold amounts of money) was a shameless vote-catching decision for Blair (in retrospect maybe it won't turn out to be the great idea he thought it was), and the money could have been spent on education, medicine, homelessness, sports, reducing taxes, etc. etc. etc.

This isn't a dig at America (despite the way it sounds!) - what America does is it's own business (for the most part). Iit's a moan about the fact that every British prime minister since Maggie at least (I was far too young to know much about politics before that!) blindly allies themselves with every single decision the USA makes, no matter what the consequence.

And who do we replace him with? What do you call a man with a condom on his face? F**k Nose!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Perhaps we should take a leaf out of Germany's book and let economists run the country.