OK, Tony Blair Is A Rather Unpleasant Fellow, Isn't He? [Archive]

BlairH

09-26-2006, 10:12 AM

To use the current hot-potato terminoligy popularised by his Labour cronies, he is a "control freak". I'm not a big fan of Tony Blair by any means.

Oh, and lesbians...and stuff.

Motormouse

09-26-2006, 10:17 AM

To use the current hot-potato terminoligy popularised by his Labour cronies, he is a "control freak". I'm not a big fan of Tony Blair by any means.

Oh, and lesbians...and stuff.

Lesbians!!! What's wrong with lesbians? (aside from the fact that they won't let you play?):eek:

Rhydaman

09-26-2006, 10:45 AM

Under Tony Blair, Parliament has passed laws: (i) repealing the Tory ban on teachers mentioning homosexuality in school, (ii) giving legal recognition to same sex partnership, giving them effectively the same rights as married couples, (iii) prohibiting discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation, and (iv) allowing same sex couples to adopt, among other stuff.

As lebian-friendly politicians go, he's probably been OK.

SoulOnIce

09-26-2006, 12:59 PM

Wanna trade? Bush for Blair?

I'll throw in a Harper.

Corrina

09-26-2006, 01:11 PM

when will lebians get equal time???

For SHAME!!!

Gaz

09-26-2006, 01:13 PM

Exactly. He may be pretty OK as far as gay rights go, but when will he table a lebian rights bill?

NickThompson

09-26-2006, 02:04 PM

I think he's better than most :)

Magneto_X

09-26-2006, 02:30 PM

He's a frickin saint compared to Bush Jr. over here.

Remember when the subway got bombed? He was a wreck.

Bush Jr. just stayed glues to his seat for to 11 minutes then it was back to business as usual for that turd. Hell, he *ignored* Katrina for a week or more.

InigoMontoya

09-26-2006, 02:36 PM

The problem with TB is that:

a. The war in Irac, CIA secret camps, Lebanon etc
b. The authoritarian things that he has done e.g. id cards, 90 days with out detention etc
b. Businesses and religions running schools
c. Cash for honours..

But in fairness he has done some good things like gay rights, minimum wage, public service investments etc.

Charles RB

09-26-2006, 02:41 PM

He's a frickin saint compared to Bush Jr. over here.

Not really, seeing how he seemingly always goes along with what Bush Jr wants to do - "let's invade Iraq, it'll be good for a laugh!".

NickThompson

09-26-2006, 03:01 PM

Not really, seeing how he seemingly always goes along with what Bush Jr wants to do - "let's invade Iraq, it'll be good for a laugh!".
He went into Iraq before Bush ;)

I think Blair is an idealist. He wants to go around stopping the bad people* and helping the people who need it. Wether he is right or wrong, that is for us to debate.

* = I know what you're going to say, don't :)

Will be interesting to see how Labour fare without him.

Magneto_X

09-26-2006, 03:03 PM

Not really, seeing how he seemingly always goes along with what Bush Jr wants to do - "let's invade Iraq, it'll be good for a laugh!".

I said *compared to* not "is".

If Bush Jr. wasn't a Bush he'd be a serial killer IMHO. Can you say the same for Blair?

Cam63

09-26-2006, 05:28 PM

tangentman

09-26-2006, 05:47 PM

Soooo...has anyone been watching the newest Nip/Tuck episodes? I saw a sneak preview photo of the episode w/Thad Luckinbill and--Whoa! :D

David Bedlam

09-27-2006, 02:16 AM

Don't derail the topic tangent, this is a politic thread I can participate in!

Now I'm a true blue Tory boy, so I have a dislike of Labour imprinted in my genes, but Tony isn't a Labour Prime Minister, he's a Tory!

Look at his record: Getting close to big buisness, an agressive foreign policy, an absolute refusal to let go of power - all done by Thatcher and Major over a decade ago.

He's just got a really slick PR machine backing him up. This is the machine that issued a memo to each department saying that each week should have at least one eye catching initative that Tony can be associated with, and whoes first thought on seeing the WTC attacks was "This is a good day to bury bad news".

BlairH

09-27-2006, 02:28 AM

Remember when the subway got bombed? He was a wreck.
Bush was listening to schoolchildren when he learned of the news. He wasn't exactly going to start freaking out in front of the kids.

Bush Jr. just stayed glues to his seat for to 11 minutes then it was back to business as usual for that turd. Hell, he *ignored* Katrina for a week or more.
In what way was it "business as usual"? Prior to 9/11 the Bush administration didn't really *do* much of anything in the way of counter-terrorism. Now, fighting terrorism is practically the main focus of his Government.

thehod

09-27-2006, 02:43 AM

Bush was listening to schoolchildren when he learned of the news. He wasn't exactly going to start freaking out in front of the kids.

No, but stopping what he was doing, and getting on with the frigging job in hand may have been a start.

But I suppose staring into space for minutes on end runs that a close second.

the4thpip

09-27-2006, 02:47 AM

No, but stopping what he was doing, and getting on with the frigging job in hand may have been a start.

But I suppose staring into space for minutes on end runs that a close second.
Well, if he had told the kids "President of the United States is an important job, and something very important has come up for me so unfortunately I won't find out what happens to the pet goat. But that doesn't mean I don't care about you, this is just what my job is right" - I think the poor kids would have been traumatized for life.

thehod

09-27-2006, 02:50 AM

Well, if he had told the kids "President of the United States is an important job, and something very important has come up for me so unfortunately I won't find out what happens to the pet goat. But that doesn't mean I don't care about you, this is just what my job is right" - I think the poor kids would have been traumatized for life.

I think meeting Bush in the flesh had pretty much done that job for them already.

geordiesteve

09-27-2006, 04:34 AM

I think he is a reasonable man trying to do the most difficult job in the world, and after ten years it has aged him about 30 years. He is tired and I think he should step down only because I think the position has sapped his energy and new blood is needed to get things moving again.

Compared to Bush he's fucking amazing.

Charles RB

09-27-2006, 04:40 AM

I think he is a reasonable man trying to do the most difficult job in the world

When did Blair ever appear to be reasonable? Did I blink and miss it?

new blood is needed to get things moving again.

Unfortunately, we're not likely to get new blood running Labour, we could end up with John sodding Reid or Gordon Brown. I'm not sure which of these is the lesser evil.

Rhydaman

09-27-2006, 05:09 AM

Now I'm a true blue Tory boy, so I have a dislike of Labour imprinted in my genes, but Tony isn't a Labour Prime Minister, he's a Tory!

Look at his record: Getting close to big buisness, an agressive foreign policy, an absolute refusal to let go of power - all done by Thatcher and Major over a decade ago.
Minimum wage, equal rights, massive NHS & education funding, devolution, not having recessions every couple of years: that's hardly Thatcher & Major.

geordiesteve

09-27-2006, 06:36 AM

When did Blair ever appear to be reasonable? Did I blink and miss it?

Unfortunately, we're not likely to get new blood running Labour, we could end up with John sodding Reid or Gordon Brown. I'm not sure which of these is the lesser evil.

I stand by my original statement, that he is a decent man doing a difficult job and has made several reasonable policy decisions over the last ten years, some of which he mentioned in his final speech. See Rhydaman's post for other examples.

I think a charge of party would be more....problematic for the country, but of those two mentioned I think Brown would be a better choice.

Charles RB

09-27-2006, 10:14 AM

massive NHS & education funding

Which seems to have vanished before reaching the general public. Then there's the quotas dumped on hospitals, the city academies idea, the high rising costs of higher education, and PFI contracts...

I stand by my original statement, that he is a decent man doing a difficult job

And again - when did he appear to be a decent man rather than just a man with some good initial PR and party whips behind him?

Rhydaman

09-27-2006, 10:52 AM

Which seems to have vanished before reaching the general public. Then there's the quotas dumped on hospitals, the city academies idea, the high rising costs of higher education, and PFI contracts...
"seems" is a pretty important word there. Are you basing it on the reported results (exam scores, hospital waiting lists) or newspaper editorials? Not sure what is bad about city academies or PFI per se, either. Getting people from outside the state to contribute towards the running or funding of state facilities? Not necessarily a bad thing, in my view.

I wonder if the Americans here think that £3,000 per year is a high contribution towards a degree.

The record of Blair's government is better than the PR he gets from the national press.

Charles RB

09-27-2006, 01:03 PM

Are you basing it on the reported results (hospital waiting lists)

Hospital waiting lists for people being seen their first time, yeah, those are allegedly down. Thing is, last I heard they were brought down by the hospitals delaying the follow-up treatments, which weren't counted on the lists, to squeeze those appointments in.

Not sure what is bad about city academies or PFI per se, either.

What's wrong with PFI is that it's not working very well and extremely shoddy companies are being given the contracts repeatedly, and yet it's still being pushed forward onto the public sector. As for city academies, it's private interests running a school who haven't had educational experience and may have an ulterior motive & agenda to push that's outside the national curriculem - I distrust this on general principle.

The record of Blair's government is better than the PR he gets from the national press.

Yes, how dare the press report when the government repeatedly cocks up.