Tony Blair? Yeah, right from the leadership contest (what contest?) Blair showed himself to have all the qualities that would make him a leader, a good leader for Britain. After 9/11 when the US was poised to go into Iraq, a lot of British people (myself included) were keen to see the Iraqi people liberated from the dictatorship of Saddam Hussain, after all we had known for years the Kurds and others were being oppressed. But after the troops went in, after a time, due partly to the lack of evidence for the WMD and mainly because things were going dramatically pearshaped, that initial support U-turned on Blair and he is now largely mistrusted even down to grass roots supporters. (A few days ago I noticed a handmade sign locally, put up adjacent to some unkempt weeds growing on a verge, it said; 'Think Your Council Tax is Well Spent? Bollocks to Blair.' Now, although it is grossly unfair to the man for blaming him for local council negligence, but it reflects a certain 'attitude'. Personally, I wonder the logic of going into other countries and trying to sort out their problems (even though it is very tempting & at times seems unavoidable), but it assumes that one knows how people in those countries think, that they MUST think similarly to ourselves. In reality, there appear to be many aspects of 'foreign' cultures we just miss entirely. India is a prime example, where apparently someone can be elected into government merely on the strength their surname. Really, the policy of racial integretation at home seems by the safest way to contribute to world peace.
And Blair, what will posterity make of him? I wouldn't be at all surprised if he turns out to have been the most honest leader this country has had in living memory. --- In [email protected], "uns_tressor" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > --- In [email protected], new.morning <no_reply@> > wrote: > > > > Paul, Uns, and other Brits, and those > >frequenting the UK, how you view > > Blair as a leader, speaker, thinker. > >Not so much his policies, but the > > man himself -- if you are able to separate > >the two. > > > > I am watching the weekly Q&A with the > >House of Commons -- and have for > > years. To me, Blair is quite articulate, > >sharp, quick on his feet, graceful, smooth and > >sincere (appearing). He is such a contrast to > > Bush who comes off as sophmoric, crude, stiff, > >doltish, uninformed, scripted, shallow, ill-at-ease > >and quite out of his league at his press conferences. > > > > Do I have a 6000 mile haze hiding some Blair > >shortcomings? I understand that he is low in the > >polls in the UK, and out of favor. A > > lot, I gather, stemming from support of Bush in > >Iraq -- clearly a gapping hole in Blair's record. > >But looking at the man, how do you and your peers > >view Blair -- the person? > > > > Wanna trade? :) > > > I reckon what you say is largely dead right. Labour > supporters resent the fact that he made Labour electable > by turning it into a Conservative party. Conservatives > resent the fact that he nicked the centre ground and > made their policies work. Certainly, things for Blair > unravelled with the Iraq War. I personally find what he > did so strange that there must be more to it than we > know. When the Cabinet papers are released in 30 (maybe > 100) years, I reckon that there will be a bombshell. For > instance, MI5 may have discovered payment for one of the > 36 Soviet suitcase nukes that have gone missing on a Baghdad > branch of a bank. > Uns. > ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Check out the new improvements in Yahoo! Groups email. http://us.click.yahoo.com/6pRQfA/fOaOAA/yQLSAA/UlWolB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> To subscribe, send a message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Or go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ and click 'Join This Group!' Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
