Poverty Target Will Be Missed

According to a report recently published by Barnado's, the government is on track to fail to fulfill its own targets to halve child poverty by 2010.

Eight years ago, Tony Blair pledged to drastically reduce child poverty. While the number of children living in poverty steadily fell during the late '90s, the progress that had been made has now stalled and estimates suggest that the government need to earmark an extra £3.8billion to meet the targets that it set itself -- less than half of the cost of hosting the 2010 Olympics.

The report also claims that children in poverty suffer more health problems than their counterparts from more affluent families, attain worse examination results and are more likely grow into an adult life consisting of unemployment and debt. Since the NHS is currently facing an unparralleled budget crisis, which is only going to grow worse with out current population growth rates, surely it would make sense to invest the money and nip future problems in the bud?

See: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6682029.stm

Tony: Then & Now

There's an interesting article on the Telegraph's website detailing the differences between the Tony before power and the Blair that we know today.

As an example:

On Oct 30, 1994, Mr Blair said:


"I support the Prime Minister's establishment of the Nolan inquiry into standards of conduct in public life, but its remit is narrow.

In at least one crucial respect it is seriously flawed, as the funding of political parties is excluded from investigation. Yet this issue best symbolises the decline in standards in political life. This is not a partisan point. There is legitimate concern from all sections of the population that the governing party is being funded from undeclared sources of private and corporate wealth, much from overseas. The Conservatives' unwillingness to declare the names behind large donations is hard to justify. We would ensure that all donations above £5,000 had to be declared, and that corporate donations were subject to shareholders' approval. Of course, trades unions give money to the Labour Party and sponsor MPs. We must nail the lie that this is remotely equivalent. Money is given openly and declared in our accounts."

Now

Labour is embroiled in the so-called "loans for peerages" scandal, with Scotland Yard investigating whether the party sold honours or other favours, such as lucrative government contracts, in return for money. Tony Blair has admitted exploiting a loophole in the party funding rules he introduced after coming to power in 1997 to secure £14 million in "secret" loans to fund Labour's general election campaign last year. He then nominated for peerages four of the businessmen who made loans - but did not inform the independent House of Lords Appointments Commission of their financial link to the Labour Party.

(see: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml;jsessionid=TFKD0Y131IEHJQFIQMGCFF4AVCBQUIV0?xml=/news/2006/03/31/nblair131.xml&page=2 for the rest of the article)

Iraq: A Legacy Of Failure

At least six of the ten years of Tony has been spent at war. Apart from our usual presence in hotspots needing UN intervention, most of our fighting has been done to support America and cement our special relationship with them.
Blair had visions of Britain being the bridge between America and Europe: we're tied to the EU but remain America's largest foriegn investor. We're physically closer to Paris than Pennsylvania, but we're culturally nearer to New York than Nuremberg. It made sense for Britain to bridge the gap between the two powers and help negotiate treaties between the two that ensured commonality in purpose.

Unfortunately, the Iraq war happened. Taking sides with America alienated us from our two biggest rivals in the EU, as France and Germany's concerns at the UN were swept aside and ignored. To make things worse, Tony displayed no control over the US -- Bush was going to war despite lack of evidence of any involvement in terror and lack of public support from both sides of the Atlantic, and he was taking us with him.

Rather than help build a bridge between Europe and the US, Blair helped enlarge the divide. And he did so by capitulating to Bush so cravenly that he lost respect amongst his voters, respect from our EU allies. From that momoent, we no longer had a truly special relationship with the States, we were simply at their beck and call.

As Professor Victor Bulmer-Thomas, Head of the Chatham House think tank, has stated "The post 9/11 decision to invade Iraq was a terrible mistake and the current debacle will have policy repercussions for many years to come," he said. "Tony Blair's successor will not be able to offer unconditional support for US initiatives in foreign policy and a rebalancing of the UK's foreign policy between the US and Europe will have to take place." (see: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml;jsessionid=C2NMURAQ3TVQFQFIQMGCFF4AVCBQUIV0?xml=/news/2006/12/19/wpal119.xml

Judges "May Be Forced Into Lighter Sentences"

As the Home Office has now been split into two seperate entities, their are fears that the new Ministry of Justice will lead to shorter prison sentances being passed on convicted criminals.

Because of the way that the split has occured, the Prison Service and the Courts Service are now included in the same budget, meaning that the ministry will have to chose between cutting staff levels within the Courts system or setting shorter custodial sentances.

Lord Phillips, the Lord Chief Justice, has some concerns quoted in the Tlegraph article available at the following link: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/05/08/njudges08.xml.

One interesting aspect that is revealed within the article, and something that is indicative o fLabour policy ni general is the fact that due to prison overcrowding the Government has already been attemptting to persuade judges to pass shirter sentances, but these moves have been largely ignored because recent legislation has also required them to pass indefinate sentances on a wider variety of offenses. It's almost like the Government doesn't really know what its doing and is someone else can make sense of their conflicting decisions....

Brown Admits Mistakes

Even Gordon Brown admits that the Blair years have been full of mistakes. Embarking on his own leadership campaign (surely, the most one-sided race since Roadrunner last led Wile E. Coyote through Acme Canyon), Brown has hinted at a review of ID cards, admitted that mistakes have been made in Iraq and vowed to end the cult of celebrity.

The Telegraph reported on the launch of Brown's leadership campaign (see: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/05/12/nbrown12.xml) where he distanced himself from the spin and image obsession of Blair's New Labour and said that he "had never believed that politics was about celebrity."

Of course he didn't.

You might be churlish enough to think that the reason Brown wants to end the cult of personality is because the man lacks one of his own, that it has been Blair's persona that has carried the Labour Party through the last couple of General Elections and that the party is going to struggle to win a fourth successive election with Gordon Brown at the helm. But, as shadow Chancellor George Osbourne pointed out on a recent edition of The Politics Show (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/politics_show/6640417.stm) Brown has not been adverse to using spin himself.

For example, announcing the last Budget as being a tax cutting exercise when figures reveal that the drop in income tax was more than matched by rises in a hundred other taxable items. Or his announcement that his government would build 100,000 environmentally friendly homes when the same announcement was made a year ago by housing minister, Yvette Cooper.

The problem Brown is going to face is a simple one. I don't know about you, but I can't help but think of Dad's Army when I think of the Labour Party. Tony Blair is Private Joe Walker, the black-marketeer. He's a likeable enough bloke, but you wouldn't trust him with your rations (or your sister) for fear that he'd sell them off. Brown, on the other hand, is Private James Frazer - the wild-eyed, tight-fisted Scot who makes regular pronouncements of doom. One you might not trust but you'd vote for him believing that his dealing might be dodgy but he'd get things done (even if experience would suggest otherwise). The other? You wouldn't even sit next to him in the pub, let alone let him make your decisions for you.

The Telegraph also highlights an interesting issue about the Brown/Blair relationship. According to an updated biography about Blair due for re-release soon, Brown spent last Summer fearing that Blair had reneged on his deal to stand down and allow Brown take over the reins and consequentially indulged in “sulks, tantrums and rages.”

Blair might have had his faults, but at least he didn't act like a toddler when he didn't get his own way. Is Brown really the man we want representing the UK on the World Stage?

Things Can Only Get Better...?

On the 13th of May, 2007, The Politics Show revealed the results of a survey it had commissioned. Over 4,000 UK wide residents responded and were asked their opinions on a variety of topics regarding life under Blair. The results can be seen at the show's website, (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/politics_show/6640411.stm) and included:

Education and Schools: 70% thought it was worse under Blair

Public Services: 36% thought public service was worse under Blair, despite massive increases in government spending.

Better Off: Although Blair and Brown keep claiming that we are a more propserous nation after a decade of Labour rule, only 40% of people in Scotland and only 34% of English residents agreed.

Crime: 56% of all UK resisdents agreeed it is worse since Blair came to power.

Rural Post Offices: 1,000's have closed during the Blair era. Couple this with the closure of local schools and you get a growing picture of countryside life being destroyed.

Rural Schools: 1,000's closed down under the Blair era. More have had their playing fields sold off. So much for the concept of "healthy in mind and body" for our young population. No wonder we have the most obese children in Europe.

Tony & George: Endless Love