YesBut that was the last week of June

People get problems thinking what to blog about. Writers block shouldn’t occur to the British – there’s always the weather to talk about! April was the warmest on record. In some parts of the country June has been the wettest. Last week was particularly bad with flash floods.

Last weekend was the annual mud bath, known as Glastonbury Music Festival. One of the surprise hits at this year’s festival was the geriatric Dame Shirley Bassey (She of the Gold Finger). The TV National News on Monday reported her helicopter taking here home from the gig had to make an emergency landing due to bad weather. And what’s more, wait for it Dame Shirley, asked a nearby householder if she could use their toilet. Wars all over the world, the Middle East in chaos and all British TV News can report is a sing peed!!

If Glastonbury attracts mud, then the All England Tennis Championship at Wimbledon attracts rain. This year the British were pinning their hopes on Andy Murray but he had to pull out before the tournament started with a bad wrist. Big gloom descended over the country – and I’m not only refereeing to the rain clouds. Then a miracle occurred, the written off former British No.1, Tim Henman managed to win a match. You should have heard the crowds “Come on Tim”, “We love you Tim2 – you would have thought he had won the Championship.

So he (I’m determined not to mention his name again) has finally departed and is no longer Prime Minister of Great Britain. At this point I’ll call for three cheers hip hip, hip hip, hip hip.

His last overseas act was to go and see the Pope. There are rumours that he (the former PM, not the Pope) is thinking of converting to be a Catholic. I assume he thinks being a catholic will give him a better chance of becoming a Saint. To become a saint you have had to have done one miracle. He missed out on his miracle in not finding WMDs in Iraq. If he does become a saint he will be known as Saint Anthony the Bringer of Death.

It is interesting to note that even at the start of the 21st century, its thought to be inappropriate to be a Catholic and British Prime Minister!

One advantage of his departure was, we also got rid of the "Fatman" on the right. He was the Deputy Prime Minister. He had two peaks in his political career. The first, during a general election campaign, when he landed a punch on the chin of a protester who had thrown an egg at him. The second, when he raised to the occasion, and was caught screwing his Appointment Secretary on his Ministerial office desk.

This is the last week when you can smoke in English pubs. A new law will come in force tomorrow banning smoking in enclosed areas and work places. I knew I should have invested in the company who makes nicotine patches. England is the last, Ireland & Scotland went smoke free last year and Wales in April.

Don’t forget go to YesBut’s Images to vote for the caption of the week

YesBut who’s in charge?

No there hasn’t been a problem in downloading the photo on the left. It is a framed photo of the person who is governing Great Britain.

Tony Blair, who still collects a salary for being Prime Minister, has stopped taking an active part in government - he is far too busy touring the world trying to burnish his image. If he tried sand-blasting it, it would still remain tarnished. As much as he wants to convey the impression that he is leaving a dynamic legacy, in reality the “Blair legacy” is Iraq.

Ah you might think, Gordon Brown has unofficially taken control - nope. The last couple of weeks, being rudderless the Government Ministers have dropped a couple of clangers. Gordon doesn’t want to be associated with these, so he is maintaining a very very low profile, so low nobody knows where he is - even Gordon himself isn‘t too sure.

What a state of affairs. We will remain leaderless for another month, and then we will get a Prime Minister who will be there by default. How is it possible, in a so called democracy, can we be lumbered with a Prime Minister who has not been voted into office by: parliament, his own party or the general public.

It would never have happened in the USA! If the President has to stand down during his (sorry Hilary - and perhaps her) term of office the Vice President takes over. At least at the election the President and Vice President stood as a team and the electorate know who would take over if anything happen to the President.

I was incorrect in stating it wouldn’t happen in the US. It has once - any idea when?

In 1973 the Vice President Spiro Agnew was forced to resign when he was accused of tax evasion and bribery. Richard Milhous Nixon the 37th President appointed Gerald Ford, the Republican Minority leader in the House of Representatives, as his Vice President. An interesting choice - poor old Gerald had difficulty in walking and whistling at the same time. Did Nixon think: “if it comes down to impeaching me and having Ford as President, or letting me serve out my term, they’ll choose the later?”.

On August 9th 1974, Nixon became the first President to resign. Gerald Ford became the 38th President and he chose Nelson Rockefeller to be his Vice President - the first and only time the president and vice-president held office to which neither were elected.

If we get through the next month without an active Prime Minister - it proves we don’t need one, and Brown should be told to stay in his little bolthole!

Click here to see YesBut’s Image of the day, and leave a suggested caption.

YesBut I blog on in hope

I was nearly on the point of deciding to put this blog on ice, switch off my radio and TV and go on silent retreat in a Trappist monastery for seven weeks. Anything to get away from seeing Gordon Brown trying to convince the British populace he is going to be a touchy feely empathetic Prime Minister. Of course he’ll never achieve it, he looks too sinister.

Tragically as a child he lost an eye in a rugby football accident. Also he has the habit of pushing out his jaw as if he is trying to dislodge a piece of gristle stuck between his teeth after eating a small baby. Using the good Scottish word he is “dour”. He literally is and looks to be the child of the manse - someone who is suffering, having sat through too many hell and damnation sermons. He is a suit and tie man, not for him casual wear.

In the mean time the lying slimy toerag Blair is going to spend the next seven weeks flying around the world. He will be trying to improve the image of the “Blair Legacy”. He wants to be seen as a bringer of peace and understanding. The only thing his trips will achieve is to increase global warming. Even if in the next seven weeks he manages to walk on water and change water into wine; he and Bush will always be remembered for being responsible for one the biggest foreigner policy blunders of all time, and being the architect of suffering, death and destruction in Iraq.

Click here to see even the London sky feels depressed about the thought of the next seven weeks.

YesBut blog on blog on with hope in your heart and you’ll never blog alone.

Tony Blair is going

No he hasn’t resigned yet, today was yet another announcement of his intention to resign as Prime Minister.

All I want to say is THREE CHEERS, can’t wait for the 27th June to arrive, when we finally getting rid of the lying slimy toerag.

In the 1st May blog, I predicted the devious, deceitful Government would use the toerag’s announcement to sneak out bad news. True to form, the Home Office slithered out a statement that the estimated cost of the project to introduce compulsory identity cards in the UK has risen by £400 million ($793 million), from 4.9 billion pounds to 5.3 billion pounds.

I wonder what other bad news they’ve managed to hide?

YseBut what’s the real news

Yesterday I wrote about the immanent departure of Tony Blair - firstly as leader of the Labour Party, and subsequently as soon as a new party leader is elected as Prime Minister.

Blair’s resignation announcement will become the main news story on the television and newspapers. But that will not truly be the main news story! After all it will not even be news - we have known it has been coming for over a year. What will be the true news? Well, answering that question is going to be the challenge.

It is anticipated that the Government will use the coverage of Blair’s resignation to sneak out bad news and announcements. The press are well aware of this, and the Government are well aware that the press are well aware. So it’s going to be a challenge for the Government to hide/camouflage the most embarrassing announcement, and for the press to identify it.

I anticipate the Government will try to hide the wood in the trees. On the day every Government Department will flood the news services with a combination of trivial announcements and hidden in the middle bad news.

Blair could make his announcement next Saturday, in order to dilute the undoubted disastrous news for the Government of the trouncing it will get at Thursday’s Local Elections and more importantly the Scottish Parliament and Welsh Assembly elections.

It’s going to be interesting times for British politics watchers. YesBut I’ll be too busy celebrating Blair’s departure to care.


Click here to see today’s image - more wood and trees

YesBut time is nearly up.

On 2nd May, Tony Blair will celebrate being British Prime Minister for ten years. I guess he will be in a very small minority, the vast majority of the populace are just waiting for him to resign - its been a long time coming.

Blair will resign as Leader of the Labour Party later this week, or possibly as late as next. As soon as Labour elects a new Leader - which will take about five weeks - Blair will offer his resignation as Prime Minister to the Queen. She will then - though she doesn’t have to - invite the new Leader of the Labour Party to form a Government.

What will Blair do after he moves out of Downing Street? Undoubtedly write his memoirs - to remind everyone how great a Prime Minister he was. He will make a heap of money on the speaking circuit in the USA - justifying the invasion of Iraq. Then what?

A man with an ego the size of Blair’s will want to remain in the public eye. A career as a TV pundit is out of the question - it would guarantee the turn off of every TV in the UK. With a bit of luck, he’ll see his future lies across the water in the USA, and we will get rid of him - but I can’t see Cherie Blair giving up her carrier to live in the USA.

Its popular for ex US Presidents to set up their own Private Foundation. And let’s face it Blair has always thought of himself more as a President than Prime Minister. How ironic if the Prime Minister who has taken this country into more wars than any previous Prime Minister, establishes a Foundation for World Peace. Yes that could be the kind of thing he would do in keeping with his self-image of being a saint. No he will want to remain on the “World Stage”.

Lets think, working for the European Union? No way the French would veto that. The United Nations? The man who ignored the UN when with Bush he invaded Iraq. Nope

I don‘t care what he does, as long as we never hear or see him again.

YesBut click here to see today's YesBut's image

YesBut anyone but Brown

When John Smith suddenly died in May 1994, Gordon Brown wanted to succeed him as leader of the Labour Party. But his good friend Tony Blair persuaded him that the Labour Party would have more chance of beating the Conservative Party if Blair became the leader. Brown claims a deal was struck, which in return for Brown's support Blair would resign as Prime Minister during a Labour Governments (one rumour says first while another rumour says second) term of office. Ever since the Labour Party won the 1997 General Election Gordon Brown has been brooding and seething wanting Blair to resign and allow himself to fulfil his destiny of becoming Prime Minister.

As we approach the tenth anniversary of Labours victory on 1st May, Blair is finally on the point of resigning. At last Brown could drop his sullen look and start to relax. But will at the last minute, the prize he has been waiting for be snatched from his grasp?

For the truth is Brown is not a winner. More importantly Labour Members of Parliament know he is not a winner- and to hold on to their own jobs at the next General Election, they need a Leader who can defeat David Cameron and the Conservative Party.

For months the Blairite faction of the Labour Party has been looking for an ABG (anyone but Gordon) candidate. But there isn’t an obvious strong candidate. So they were having to content themselves with Brown taking over from Blair during the summer. But, and there are lots of buts in this story, questions are now being asked over Browns competency as Chancellor of the Exchequer – is he responsible for the shortfall in funds in pension schemes? did he sell off half of the UK Gold Reserves cheaply? The image of the sound prudent “Iron Chancellor” is starting to crumble. And Labour Party MPs are starting to panic.

Is the young David Miliband, Secretary of State for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs the answer to their prays? Each night Labour MPs pray "please God anyone but Gordon".


My prediction:

• Gordon Brown will become leader of the Labour Party and Prime Minister.
• Due to the British “First past the Post” voting system and the anomalies in the way constituency boundaries are drawn up, the Conservative Party require far more than Labour of the popular vote to win a majority of seats. Consequently Labour will win the largest number of seats at the next General Election, but they might not get an overall majority. The Conservative Party will then win following General Election.
  
  

East of Suez

Yesterday Tony Blair gave a speech on the role of the UK’s Armed Forces in the 21st century.
Our Nation’s Future - Defence

http://www.number-10.gov.uk/output/Page10735.asp

I quote one paragraph:

The frontiers of our security no longer stop at the Channel. What happens in the Middle East affects us. What happens in Pakistan; or Indonesia; or in the attenuated struggles for territory and supremacy in Africa for example, in Sudan or Somalia. The new frontiers for our security are global. Our Armed Forces will be deployed in the lands of other nations far from home, with no immediate threat to our territory, in environments and in ways unfamiliar to them.

Great Britain ceased being a true World Power 1941 when it required USA assistance to defeat Germany.

It emerged from World War 2 still thinking and trying to act as a World Power.

It took another ten years, and the failed attempt in 1956 to regain control of the Suez Canal and to topple Nasser, for the World to know Great Britain was no longer a World Power..

It took a further ten years, and the Labour Government of 1966 to drop the pretence of being a World Power. And the policy was put in place to by 1971 withdraw troops from East of Suez.

Subsequent Governments still tried to act, if not as a World Power, but certainly as a Country with influence on the World Stage. This pretence was supported by two props: the permanent seat and veto at the UN Security Council, and being a nuclear power.

For the next twenty years, irrespective of the public posturing, Governments knew their limitations and acted accordingly. There was a series of Defence Reviews, each resulting in the downsizing of the Armed Forces.

In 1997 New Labour won the General election, within a year Tony Blair had taken the Country into the first of five Wars.

At the start of 2007 Great Britain has troops on operational deployment in: Iraq, Afghanistan, Bosnia & Kosovo, Northern Ireland together with various UN missions. Blair is determined Britain should remain a nuclear power. But his latest speech is an attempt to roll back the years, and once again put on “The Emperors Cloths” of a World Power. We will once again try to influence events East of Suez. And to achieve this with a poorly paid, inadequately equipped, abysmally housed armed forces.

Blair, as one last desperate attempt to salvage his image and leave some heritage, has called for a great debate on Britain’s foreign policy. The big question is not Britain’s foreign policy but Blair’s powers of judgement?

Toys for Big Boys

I hear the odd mutter coming from my wife’s direction, to the effect I’m spending too much time on the computer. But if you have a new toy, you must play with it. Since the Broadband was connected yesterday, I’ve had great fun looking up web pages that previously took, what it seemed, an age to download. Photos would emerge jerkily, line by line. Now they pop onto the screen instantly - great.

Thought I would be in trouble and my wife would pull the plug on the computer, then my son-in-law came to my rescue. Previously playing with my new toy, I had created a web page for my granddaughter and had emailed the link to her parents. After seeing the page, they decided to call us on Windows Messenger. As soon as my wife saw my granddaughter she became an instant fan of Broadband - so its big toys for girls and boys. Glad something had a happy ending.

A group that’s not feeling so happy is the English Cricket team which was not so much beaten but trounced by Australia 5 tests to 0. The first Whitewash since 1920 -21. Two years ago everybody wanted to be seen with the England team when it won back the Ashes. I wonder whether the Prime Minister will invite the players to 10 Downing Street when they return home? I think not. He’s desparately looking for one success before he resigns as Prime Minister. You never know next year we might see Tony on Celebrity Big Brother.

Happy New Year

2007 has the potential of being a significant year in history.

It doesn’t take a crystal ball to see, during the year the UK will get a new Prime Minister. Tony Blair will probably resign between May and July. And unless a totally unforeseen event occurs Gordon Brown will take over. Although he is seen as the natural successor, he has a number of challenges that might find him wanting.

Brown will have to establish himself as the Leader of New Labour. The Blairits are not going to welcome him with open arms. And to date he has shown himself to be not a team player. His normal, nay his only tactic is bullying, and if that fails sulking. Unless he can become a leader, his tenure will be short lived.

He will also have to establish a connection with the Electorate. Opinion polls indicate the British public see Brown as a dour grumpy Scotsman. Like Ted Heath before him, he is incapable of creating a sense of warmth and understanding. He might be able to win the minds of the electorate but fail to win their hearts.

All eyes will be on the Gordon Brown / David Cameron duel. It is there for Brown to win and Cameron to loose. By that I mean David Cameron has the advantage, as long as he doesn’t do anything stupid, he will be seen to be a charismatic leader, in contrast to Brown's coldness.

The Government will have two objectives to pass laws: to extending to 90 days the period the police can detain a suspect without charging them; and the compulsory carrying of Identification Cards. To achieve the latter, will require a shift in public opinion. This will be achieved by the explotation of fear. Muslims will continue to be demonised as a group to be feared. There will be high profile anti-terrorist exercises, possibly involving the closing or disruption of airports. And they will say:

“If we have ID cards, we would be so much safer, and there wouldn’t be these disruptions”.

If by the end of the year, opinion polls show a consistent swing towards the Conservative Party, New Labour might panic and call an early election - its better to win with a much reduced majority, than wait and loose power.

2007 will be seen as the key year for the Middle East. Either as the year a start was made to establish peace between Israel and its neighbours, or tragically as the year of missed opportunities when the region fell into a deeper state of chaos and aggression. The Civil War in Iraq will get bloodier with no sense of hope. Unfortunately Bush neither has the intellect nor the leadership qualities to influence events. The challenge for him will be either to find a way of withdrawing US troops, or diverting US public attention from the US troops death toll. To divert attention, US could increase the pressure on Iran.

Unfortunately in the USA efforts will not be directed at getting Bush to take leadership, rather politicians will be positioning themselves in preparation to the 2008 Presidential Elections.

In Europe, Russia will continue to flex its “power” muscles. It will use the threat of cutting off gas supplies to blackmail other Countries either to comply with its will or to turn a blind eye to its continued abuse of human rights.

In Asia, China and India will continue, at an accelerated rate, to expand their industrial and technical might. Tension will also increase between the two countries as the competition for energy resources intensifies.

On the sporting front. There will be two World Cups competitions. In September & October the Rugby World Cup will be held in France, which will be won by New Zealand, with Australia or South Africa as the loosing finalists. The ICC Cricket World Cup will be held in the West Indies in March / April. While Australia is the undisputed Champions of the 5 day Test Match game; it is not so dominant in the one day format. Chance plays its part in influencing the results of one day matches, so predicting the ultimate winner of the Cup is not easy. One thing is certain; England will not participate in the final.

Final prediction, it will be a long hot summer.
It will rain in London on Saturday 21st July and Sunday 12th August.

Prime Minister's Question Time

Wednesday morning and I feel a grump coming on.

People get Monday morning feeling, I get Wednesday lunchtime feeling.

I must have a strong stomach, because I can eat my lunch and watch Prime Minister’s Question Time at the same time.

Do you watch Prime Minister’s Question time?

I do not know which is worse, Tony Blair or the toadies who sit behind him. Have you heard the questions they ask? “Would the Prime Minister agree that he is a wonderful inspirational leader, that New Labour is the best thing since sliced bread that the government is the best government ever, while those members opposite (scoff) are devoid of any ideas?” And the answer, “(stand gloat, yes I am wonderful), I agree with everything my Friend has said, since 1997 we have ….,….,……, and yes the party opposite is a shower”. Cheers, howls.

Blair never answers opposition questions. Irrespective of the question, his answer is too real out a list of all New Labour’s “achievements”, then to ask a question of the Opposition Leader. Why doesn’t the Speaker pull him up and tell him its PM Question time, not Opposition Leader Question time.

Then there’s the front row, with the exception of Gordon Brown (who looks as if he is pressing his buttocks together to suppress a fart), they are all nodding in unison like dogs on the back shelf of an old Morris Minor car. Perhaps you notice John Reid because of his nodding bald head. Without implying anything untoward, but would you buy a second hand car from this man? And the previous Home Secretaries, from what I have heard of his tapes, David Blunkett was and still is emotionally damaged.

Enough, enough!!!