Re: Tony Is Off Soon
 

I'm with you on that one, Granny C.

Re: Tony Is Off Soon
 

Yep , and his final words to Cherie on leaving #10 , "Get thee to a nunnery" :D :D

Re: Tony Is Off Soon
 

Thanks Garinda i thought i would be slaughtered for saying that, but i think he had a lot to put up with...;)

Re: Tony Is Off Soon
 

well i was a socialist all me life granny, until mr blair destroyed what it stood for. now i,m past caring, to me hes been as bad for labour as maggie was for the tories. Can't stand the arrogant sod.

Re: Tony Is Off Soon
 

Oooh please dont put him on a par with Maggie...eeeek

Re: Tony Is Off Soon
 

I was thinking about this today, on the tenth anniversary of Labour forming the government in 1997. We have low unemployment, one of the strongest economies in the world, people have more material goods than we've ever had before, if that is a good judge of prosperity, we've nearly got rid of the hereditary peers in the House of Lords, plus loads of other antiquated, unjust and discriminatory laws, what's to complain about, when you compare the country today with the Britain of the '80's under Thatcher?

I'll refrain from saying 'we've never had it so good' though.:D

Re: Tony Is Off Soon
 

dont really understand how anyone can determine the employment figures, the way they have been changed/doctored etc to include parttime work and other things.:rolleyes:

Re: Tony Is Off Soon
 

They've always been doctored. Under the Tories we had those YOP schemes, but they still couldn't hide the three million offical unemployed. That's something we don't have today, the jobs are out there, if people want them.

Re: Tony Is Off Soon
 

Blair was certainly true to himself...as a deceitful, two-faced, manipulator.

He has taken the country into a disastrous and totally unnecessary war which is set to go on indefinitely. British lads, and Iraqis are dying because he meekly trotted along behind Bush in his quest for oil.

He has taken billions of pounds from us ordinary tax payers to "improve the NHS". Instead, much of it has been wasted on bureacracy and ill-conceived new technology projects - the prime example is the mind-boggling £12.4 billion wasted on an IT project that isn't wanted and doesn't work. This money could have paid for 26,000 doctors for ten years or 65,000 nurses for ten years or every hospital built since 1997 three times over or 200 years of currently "too expensive" Alzheimer's drugs. But no, it's been spent on "Tony's project".

He has supinely given away a large part of our EU rebate without securing anything in return - like the much needed reform of the ruinously costly Common Agricultural Policy, for instance.

In 1997 he promised to be "tough on crime, tough on the causes of crime". Despite the frequent attempts by his spin doctors to massage the figures, does anyone really feel safer?

...but apart from all that, yes, he's not bad. :D

Re: Tony Is Off Soon
 

Totally with you on the war in Iraq, and the increase in the amount of needless pen pushers brought in, to supposedly run the NHS.

Re: Tony Is Off Soon
 

I'm another one, I liked the guy too. I'll be sad to see him go. He certainly had balls ....

Re: Tony Is Off Soon
 

I'll definitely be sad to see him go.
Just a quick glance at the people in line to take over post-Blair/post-Labour is a scary sight.
As much as I am against the war in Iraq, I can't say that if I was in Mr Blair's shoes I would have done anything differently.
Can you?

Re: Tony Is Off Soon
 

Yes. I wouldn't have committed the UK to its own Vietnam in Iraq, I would have spent the extra money I raised for the NHS more wisely - ie on frontline services, I would have demanded more in return from the EU for giving up our budget rebate, I wouldn't have introduced tuition fees, I would have plugged tax loopholes for multi-millionaires...and plenty, plenty more. Your assertion that there's no other way apart from Blair's is highly reminiscent of Thatcher's There Is No Alternative philosophy!

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My point was specific to the Iraq war, WH; in that if I had been in Mr Blair's shoes at the time with the information that he had then I can't say I would've done anything differently and I doubt many others could do so without hindsight taking over.

Of course Blair has made mistakes & I can't speak for anyone else but in my opinion he's done a very good job over the past 10 years.

Re: Tony Is Off Soon
 

Strange isn't it then, that so many other countries managed to take the decision not to commit their troops to Iraq...but, then again, they weren't trotting along poodle-like behind Bush.