Has Blair finally lost it?

but he did instigate a ban on smoking in public places

He lied to the Cabinet and the House of Commons. If he's willing to lie to that extent can anything he ever says be trusted?

The answer to that has to be "No"? vq

Jalima I can never forgive him for not being able to smoke my cheroot on the bus!

You smoke cheroots lemon?

This is probably the longest post I'll ever make, but we've got a lot to be grateful to Tony Blair's government for and it looks like a reminder is needed.

Below are 50 achievements that happened when Tony Blair was our PM.

1. Longest period of sustained low inflation since the 60s.
2. Low mortgage rates.
3. Introduced the National Minimum Wage and raised it to £5.52.
4. Over 14,000 more police in England and Wales.
5. Cut overall crime by 32 per cent.
6. Record levels of literacy and numeracy in schools.
7. Young people achieving some of the best ever results at 14, 16, and 18.
8. Funding for every pupil in England has doubled.
9. Employment is at its highest level ever.
10. Written off up to 100 per cent of debt owed by poorest countries.
11. 85,000 more nurses.
12. 32,000 more doctors.
13. Brought back matrons to hospital wards.
14. Devolved power to the Scottish Parliament.
15. Devolved power to the Welsh Assembly.
16. Dads now get paternity leave of 2 weeks for the first time.
17. NHS Direct offering free convenient patient advice.
18. Gift aid was worth £828 million to charities last year.
19. Restored city-wide government to London.
20. Record number of students in higher education.
21. Child benefit up 26 per cent since 1997.
22. Delivered 2,200 Sure Start Children’s Centres.
23. Introduced the Equality and Human Rights Commission.
24. £200 winter fuel payment to pensioners & up to £300 for over-80s.
25. On course to exceed our Kyoto target for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
26. Restored devolved government to Northern Ireland.
27. Over 36,000 more teachers in England and 274,000 more support staff and teaching assistants.
28. All full time workers now have a right to 24 days paid holiday.
29. A million pensioners lifted out of poverty.
30. 600,000 children lifted out of relative poverty.
31. Introduced child tax credit giving more money to parents.
32. Scrapped Section 28 and introduced Civil Partnerships.
33. Brought over 1 million social homes up to standard.
34. Inpatient waiting lists down by over half a million since 1997.
35. Banned fox hunting.
36. Cleanest rivers, beaches, drinking water and air since before the industrial revolution.
37. Free TV licences for over-75s.
38. Banned fur farming and the testing of cosmetics on animals.
39. Free breast cancer screening for all women aged between 50-70.
40. Free off peak local bus travel for over-60s.
41. New Deal – helped over 1.8 million people into work.
42. Over 3 million child trust funds have been started.
43. Free eye test for over 60s.
44. More than doubled the number of apprenticeships.
45. Free entry to national museums and galleries.
46. Overseas aid budget more than doubled.
47. Heart disease deaths down by 150,000 and cancer deaths down by 50,000.
48. Cut long-term youth unemployment by 75 per cent.
49. Free nursery places for every three and four-year-olds.
50. Free fruit for most four to six-year-olds at school.

And to those of you who also slate Gordon Brown, he was far from perfect, but he was the right man for the the job at the time. Things would have been much worse if he wasn't in charge during the financial crisis in 2008. Even the distinguished Nobel Economics Laureate Paul Krugman thought Brown was unfairly blamed for the financial crisis. He publicly stated Brown was more impressive than any US politicians and defined the character of the worldwide financial rescue effort. When the 2010 election came along he said Cameron "... had little to offer other than to raise the red flag of fiscal panic." It takes an outsider to see the truth.

Blair was in office for a long time Wilma of course he and his cabinet got some things right.
They also let the banks get away with murder as long as they were making big bucks.
Brown probably did get it in the neck after the collapse, but in many peoples eyes not unfairly, he hadn’t been long in the job of PM but had a very long time as Chancellor of the Exchequer.The financial crisis wasn’t ‘caused’ by him personally but he had a big hand in it and it left us with little money.Yes, many countries were doing the same at the time
Including the US.The banks were having a high old time gambling away with no let or hindrence.
However, IMHO Blair has never been able to live with the
Consequences of the fall out from the Iraq war and needs recognition and acceptance, which drive him to try and recover some of his lost status.

wilma it would be interesting now to look at all those progressive achievements and how many have either been reversed or no longer pursued by this reactionary government

Very fair post Wilma

lemon I take it that you have some understanding of the US housing crises and the subprime mortgage market?

So how does that implicate Brown?

Oh dear. There really is a group of "we think we are Tories" who play very playground games. I was watching a very right-wing commentator on the news yesterday who said that, although he does not agree with Tony Blair, he is still a very able orator and puts things over in a very convincing way. I thought so too. Whether you agree with what he has to say or not he i s still a very intelligent and capable man. Now I wonder about those throwing the DM style stones. What do they come over as?

Good post Wilma. Unfortunately we live in a political time when you only have to make one slip - major or minor - and you are forever condemned.

wilma. Good post. I was very happy with that Labour government and especially rated Gordon Brown. Unfortunately they did leave us with a huge debt that this current gov't can only struggle with.

I thought much of the banking ills were global not just UK.

One report in US showed how a big player,still operating in today’s global market, was in fact ultimately responsible for the collapse of a rival. It was questionable and underhand tactics they managed to get away with.

TB was not totally responsible for the war - he just took most of the flak. I dare say if asked many Iraqi people were glad to see the back of SHussain.

Thanks Wilma; I baffles me that people dismiss whatever Blair says [and he talks a lot of sense] because of Iraq [ditto Nick Clegg and tuition fees] and yet are prepared to hang onto every word that utters forth from the despicable mouth of a failed politician who is happy to take his EU wages and pension whilst trying to break up the EU [when he's not trying to get a job with Trump or attending rallies with far right campaigners in Europe that is] ..

hear hear Tegan - Blair does not look demented at all, but very worried and passionate about the fate of the UK. He knows more than most what is at stake.

And agreed Jane10 - huge respect for Gordon Brown too.
He comes from a solid Protestant ethic background - and he actually believed that bankers would do what they were supposed to do - make a lot of money, for themselves and their shareholders AND PAY DUE TAXES ACCORDINGLY to help with the NHS, schools, social services and those less fortunate. They didn't. We could say it was 'naïve' of him to believe they would contribute fairly ...

Personally, I see absolutely nothing wrong at all with people striving ahead, and building businesses of every kind that provide jobs for many, and tax money into the coffers to sustain above- nothing wrong at all- as long as ...

I take it that you have some understanding of the US housing crises and the subprime mortgage market?

I do ww - am very happy to explain how Brown totally understood UK banks exposure to financial derivatives, the regulation, the counterparty risk, CDO's, CDO squared and other SPVs, the limitations of pooled liability and all the rest of the rubbish that happened then.

It will be very boring though!

Unfortunately they did leave us with a huge debt that this current gov't can only struggle with.

Mmm. I seem to remember a global financial crisis. I do think this next Labour Government will have to spend because investment has been starved over the Conservative governments. They will be taking over a house that seems to have been lived in by an elderly person with no longer any idea how to sustain the building or the infrastructure to provide the services.

That doesn't mean the spending can't be done in a way to increase our GDP and therefore pay down the deficit. Debt, in itself is not necessarily a bad thing, but the deficit needs to be controlled and that can often be done by earning more rather than paying less.

We don't consider the debt of our mortgage intrinsically bad - we would consider not earning enough to repay it very bad. We also look at how owning our own home can save us money and make us more secure in the future. Investment in physical or mental capital, done carefully, is usually a good thing.

Good god are feeling allright??

Unfortunately they did leave us with a huge debt that this current gov't can only struggle with.

Oh really?

So that's why the national debt has risen and risen since 2010, despite tory 'austerity' policies?

Lots of nice pictures of it here:

www.google.co.uk/search?q=UK+debt+over+time&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjo5Irf7sDYAhVmDcAKHcQkCwYQsAQIdg&biw=1366&bih=637#imgrc=OiVKUY68DbnycM:

Time people stopped quoting tory propaganda and looked at the the reality of what has happened since 2010

Do explain, Primrose. I'm sure some of us would be fascinated. Perhaps start a new thread.

Then perhaps you could explain how the national debt under the tories is threatening to hit the stratosphere.

Does anyone know when Blair had his ' Road to Damascus' moment Re the eu.
In his 1983 election manifesto he said:
"We'll negotiate a withdrawal from the EEC which has drained our natural resources and destroyed jobs"

Blair is very unpopular now, but I think we will look back on the years of the Labour Government as a golden age for the UK when we were wealthier, healthier, with better education opportunities, more open-minded and more respected than ever.

Perhaps he just got older and wiser, petra. It's perfectly normal and acceptable to change one's mind in the light of what one learns as one gets older. In fact, some Gnetters seem to pride themselves on it...