Tony Blair

No niggly, you said it was in the report and later confirmed by Martin Mcguiness , in the report it does say one soldier giving evidence lied. It was an atrocity and after it the numbers joining the IRA greatly increased . Anyway they are long dead and still no arrests , those who ordered the shooting have got away with it .

I'm only quoting what Martin Mcguiness later said and this is on record, but who knows, I always keep an open mind over these things as even in those days film could be doctored, not saying it was, but it would have been possible.

It was filmed niggly , there was no gunfire from the marchers, read the enquiry results

It was admitted by the IRA in the Saville report and later confirmed by Martin Mcguiness that troops were initially fired on during this protest which in turn led to the crowd being fired on, but its a long time ago, and I don't want to argue about the rights and wrongs of his awful episode.

Absolutely, annie. I remember it and was horrified at the time. As more details emerged over time, I was even more horrified.

I grew up thinking that it would never end and that both sides were to blame. Mo Mowlam was a star, but Tony Blair authorised what she did and there would have been no peace without a PM willing to negotiate.

Niggly, this isn't the thread for this topic but I would like to say the victims of Bloody Sunday were British citizens on a peace march shot by British soldiers

But haven't Gill57 and many more on here been asking for exactly the same thing for months and months? Meanwhile, the Brexit wheels grind on and on...

Well... I'm yet another poster who isn't a fan of Blair, my dislike being based on the war in Iraq. I was pleased when he was elected and I believe his government did some good stuff, much more than either Cameron or May's have to date. I don't trust him and do feel he has a narcissistic personality.

I haven't enjoyed listening or watching the interviews with him on the Brexit issue. However, I think GillT57 is right in her post at 18.18 when she concludes we (as a country) need an open discussion about how Brexit is to happen.

Tell it to Mrs McConville's family ab, there were lots of victims.

Puts on Hard Hat and says:

Irrespective of who is saying it, I agree with a great deal of what TB has said. I am sick of being told, that as a remainer, I need to shut up and put up with it because 'the people have spoken'and I am very frightened by this irresponsible and completely irrational rush to get out of Europe while we have absolutely no idea what lies ahead. I am sick of the lies, and misinformation being peddled by the right wing press ( another point that TB made). I am aware that TB made many, many mistakes, but so did David Cameron who got us into this mess in the first place and then walked off leaving us all to get on with it. We should not let the fact that these things are being said by TB stop us from analysing what he has said, and in my case, agreeing with a lot of it. I hope that he ahs now opened up debate a bit more, those of us who voted to remain need to be listened to also, and at the very least, we need discussion about how it is all going to happen.

Tell thst to the victims of Bloody Sunday niggly

Sorry to be ageist and I like Paddy, but he's even older than me .....

They have voted to support Labour in Stoke.

There is one, Jalima. I think Paddy Ashdown has something to do with it.

www.moreunited.uk/

No, he's got his eye on a position in the EU. Us leaving will prevent that, hence the action stations!!!

I was going to suggest a new-style Social Democratic party could arise from the disillusioned in the Labour party, any disillusioned Tories and the uninspiring Liberals Democrats.

Some dynamism is needed but I would not want to give TB an ideas.

dj is right about Blair's millions. No way did he do the Middle East job for zilch, he did it to increase his personal wealth one way or another. I do wonder if he is back in the limelight as the start of an attempt to replace Jeremy Corbyn. He may be yesterday's man to many of us but he's not too old to become Leader again, is he? I reckon he's missing the power and the prestige and this is his attempt at a second coming. Could it really happen?

nigglynellie the deaths concerned were originally investigated by the RUC a body which at the time was notorious for its anti-Catholic views reinforced by its policy of only recruiting Protestants. It seems quite fair that this should be looked at to ensure there was no miscarriage of justice. If the shooting of unarmed civilians is part of what we expect soldiers to do then I suppose your views are justified. Personally I would prefer to see an army which was able to operate without the need to do this. I do think that perhaps it should not just be the soldiers who did the individual shootings on tria,l but also the officers who gave them orders and trained them

I'm sure loyalists did, but the Army didn't!

Jalima That's exactly why I wish he'd retire to a Pacific Island (or somewhere), but it doesn't mean that he's wrong IMO.

The loyalists did have an amnesty. That's why s**ts like Dowson are still at large.

niggly Would you rather they were still at it, killing each other? Many totally innocent people were killed.

Incidentally, one of the leading lights in the NI Loyalist movement, Jim Dowson, was a member of BNP, Britain First, Knights Templar International (a far right group), was involved with Hungarian right wing groups and his latest role has been to run the 'Patriot News Agency' to help get Trump elected. Amongst the fake news stories it ran were some alleging that Hillary Clinton was involved with paedophilia, Satanism and murder.

Dowson glorified another loyalist called Michael Stone, who was given a life sentence for murdering three people. A number of random Catholics were murdered by Loyalists. Many of them had links with Combat 18, the National Front and British neo-Nazis.

None of them were nice people and Blair did well to get them to reach an agreement.

It's not that people don't like Tony Blair I think it is that some people don't trust him (me included).

So are we saying that just because people do not like Tony Blair we should totally ignore what he says? That is as bad as the dismissal of all the experts by the liars of the Leave campaign! And there were enough of those. Those in the Cabinet know that Brexit is the worst thing possible for the majority of the population who will gradually see that they are suffering from a fall in living standards. It will not bother them as many have an independent income or a spouse to provide for them.