I admire Tony Blair

[jonogulls]

Yes, I know it's a shocking conclusion but I really believe it. I think Blair (and Labour in general) has done a fantastic job in these 2 terms. After years of a Tory regime that would struggle to organise a prayer meeting in the Vatical Blair has come in and done a great job.

Domestic Issues - minimum wage, Northern Ireland peace treaty, huge investment in the NHS, massively reduced class sizes, the most buoyant economy in the world. Improvements in public transport, massive reduction in unemployment, I could go on.

Foreign Policy - OK, the war on Iraq is an ahem..slight blemish on the record book (I was against the war because of the lies about WMD but if Blair had said that we were simply going in to get rid of the despot that was Saddam I would have supported it). But all this rubbish about him being Bush's poodle is wrong because Blair really does believe that he was right in going to war. Whatever our own views on the matter, Blair has chosen a path that he belives is fundamentally right and who am I to argue against the millions of Iraqis set free? It's a pity the Americans are trying their best to f*** it up by applying a hard line approach towards anyone who looks at them in a funny way.

We may have lost trust in Blair but without doubt this country is 10 times better than when Labour came into power. The Tories are a bunch of ageing right wing loonies who have to move ever more to the right because of Labour's success. It does make me laugh to hear Howard talk about reducing immigration when it was our fair and just immigration policy that saved his life. All of the Tory policies are crap. Trust me if they got their way we would see a massively ageing population (you may not like to admit it but it is immigration that is stopping a falling natural increase - difference between birth and death rates). There would be privatised healthcare, education etc meaning that the poorest in society wouldn't have a chance. You would have idiots like Michael Howard and Nicholas Soames in power as well as twats like Liam Fox and David Davis.

I'll be voting for the first time in the next election and I'll be striking a big cross in the Labour box. I may even decide to become a member of the Labour Party.........

 

[Kev the Ape]

what the f*** are you on about

 

[Brighton Breezy]

Blair is a great PM.

 

[Kev the Ape]

are you joking

 

[jonogulls]

Come on then Kev.

Let's hear your pearls of wisdom. Are you seriously saying any other party could have achieved the success of the last 7 years?

 

[bigc]

its very true. there has been notable successes..but do they make media headlines? no...its accentuate the negative, to go with the opposite of the old song.

War with Iraq huge mistake...but behind the scenes, Dubya may have had tony over a barrel for it, e.g: support it or we make your life alot more difficult(trade and stuff). I know its wrong, but i dont think its as simple as people make out

Blair,whether you like him or not, you have to credit for getting the labour party in power then winning 2001, and holding it together. look at the tories infighting, it seems to never stop

 

[Beach Hut]

Blair,whether you like him or not, you have to credit for getting the labour party in power then winning 2001, and holding it together. look at the tories infighting, it seems to never stop

Credit for turning round Labour lies truly with Mandleson - he changed the image of the party and made them electable.

 

[jonogulls]

Credit for turning round Labour lies truly with Mandleson - he changed the image of the party and made them electable.

Mandleson was successful in his job as Director of Communications but surely he can't a lot of the credit. He'd actually been in the job from the early 80s so it wasn't until Blair came in in the early 90s that we saw real change. Blair and Brown created the policies; Mandy came up with the spin. It would be pretty sad if the Labour Party owed a lot to that smug cretin.

They still managed to f*** up the 92 (?) election though didn't they?

 

[Terrace Dandy]

Yes, I know it's a shocking conclusion but I really believe it. I think Blair (and Labour in general) has done a fantastic job in these 2 terms

Read that bit and thought, total plum and edited the rest without reading it because you are a wanker.

Good night f*** wit.

 

[Brighton Breezy]

The War on Iraq is a stain on his record but he is far from Bush' lapdog.

Blair actually kept some checks on Bush in Iraq, insisting that sites withing certain distance from hospitals, mosques etc could not be targeted.

Bush needed Blair's support and so Blair was able to 'calm down' some of Bush's more extreme tactics.

I can see why anti war people are upset with the handling of the war.

BUT

Blair is the most presidential leader we have ever had, he would not have risked everything on a whim. He did it because he thought it was for the best.

In this country life is getting better under New Labour and his two terms have left his country in a far better position to which he found it.

 

[Beach Hut]

They still managed to f*** up the 92 (?) election though didn't they?

That was Kinnock - no one would ever have voted in a Welsh Leader with a wife with greater ambition.

 

[Lush]

its very true. there has been notable successes..but do they make media headlines? no...its accentuate the negative, to go with the opposite of the old song.

War with Iraq huge mistake...but behind the scenes, Dubya may have had tony over a barrel for it, e.g: support it or we make your life alot more difficult(trade and stuff). I know its wrong, but i dont think its as simple as people make out

Blair,whether you like him or not, you have to credit for getting the labour party in power then winning 2001, and holding it together. look at the tories infighting, it seems to never stop

Unfashionable I know, but I agree.

Invading Iraq was a shitty decision based on Gee Dubya's love of oil, but every time I read about the way Saddam's evil sons treated Iraq citizens (read the reports about what happened to the football team if they lost - they had to kick concrete balls until their feet broke) - well something HAD to be done. There ain't no easy resolutions except in Disney cartoons. The world is messy. I think Blair made a tough decision. It hasn't worked out brilliantly - but let he who hasn't ever made a messy decision cast the first stone.

If you look at what's being done in less newsworthy areas - well I think the country is a better place.

 

[jonogulls]

Re: Re: I admire Tony Blair

Read that bit and thought, total plum and edited the rest without reading it because you are a wanker.

Good night f*** wit.

A question young man. Who achieved more:

1) The Tories in 20 years?
2) Labour in 7 years?

Seriously if you were on an average wage (let's say £16,000 p/a) then who are you better off with. Not just in terms of taxes but public services and life in general.

Labour.

 

[jonogulls]

It does beg the question though when many of us (including myself) claim to be far left socialists. Indeed I often tell people that I am a Marxist!

Yet here I am passionately defending the policies of a Labour government, made up of middle class people, who have adopted a predominately centrist policy so as to appeal to the middle classes. And I'm always proud to tell people of my working class background (dad's a builder, mum's a nurse).

Perhaps I'm not an extremist left winger as I previously thought.

 

[Brighton Breezy]

Blair is the most socialist leader Labour has ever had.

He made the party abandon their left wing ideals because he knew they were unlectable and could help nobody.

Therefore he set aside his own views and the views of the party in order to move more toward and electable position in the centre from where he could at least help some people.

I dont actually think Labour has ever been properly socialist apart from the early 80s where Benn et al were allowed to draw up the manifesto because everyone knew they would lose. By allowed the far left to draw it up, the election was still lost...but on the terms of the far left which pretty much spelt the end for the far left in mainstream politics.

 

[jonogulls]

One thing I've always wanted to know.

What exactly would the policies of a far left Labour government entail?

 

[timseagull]

Don't think I really need to add anything to the Iraq war debate.

But what I want to throw into the ring so to speak is council tax....Discuss!

 

[Brighton Breezy]

Far left Labour government or a proper far left government because Labour has never been proper far left.

 

[Albion Dan]

Do you admire Blair for the 20000 innocent iraqi civillians who are now DEAD becasue of his BULLSHIT?

Do you admire Blair for the '000s of orphaned children because of his BULLSHIT?

Do you admire Blair for the '000s of parents who have kost their children because of his BULLSHIT?

Do you admire Blair for the 100000 who are SERIOUSLY Injured and MAIMED because of his BULLSHIT?

Do you admire Blair because of the rabble of a country that is now IRAQ controlled by TERRORISTS because of his BULLSHIT?

All I can say is What a C*NT!

 

[Sorrel]

I think Tony Blair is a good PM, and man of integrity.

It's interesting to see how Labour now are viewed by some in the same way that the Tories were in the late 1980s. I'd rather have Labour then them.