Another totally unhelpful intervention from Blair. The only centre left wins of late have been from leaders distancing themselves from Trump. He would guarantee the Greens overtake Labour.
Sad. Blair has lost the plot. Maybe he's just become another boomer radicalized by the internet.
I've read his piece. So should you.
It's very good.
No one will be surprised you think it's very good - it's basically a Tory manifesto. And fair enough, those are things you support and want to see.
But it just shows the Blair is now a voice on the right - he offers nothing to Labour now. Burnham will get a boost from not being endorsed by Blair.
Alongside the absurdity of some of the ideas (cozying up to Trump, for example), it is verbose almost to the point of unreadability. And its prescriptions are vague generalities rather than serious policy proposal.
Another totally unhelpful intervention from Blair. The only centre left wins of late have been from leaders distancing themselves from Trump. He would guarantee the Greens overtake Labour.
Sad. Blair has lost the plot. Maybe he's just become another boomer radicalized by the internet.
I've read his piece. So should you.
It's very good.
It has some truths in it (yes, Labour is a party that retreats too easily into its comfort zone, and yes, it puts far too little thought into how its policies affect business competitiveness) but for a piece on Labour’s delusions it is quite delusional in its own way. Exhibit one is the idea of supporting the US war in the middle east - I have spoken to former *very* senior people in the US security hierarchy who think this war is utterly insane, why would we want to be anywhere near it? Exhibit two is the idea of reneging on net zero, but what do you expect from a piece that seems to deny the very existence of climate change (when it's 35 degrees outside, in May)? I have long been a fan of Blair (I got a selfie with him a few years back when i bumped into him on the Eurostar) but I think he is becoming an irrelevant figure in British politics as he has bought into US tech bro nihilistic fantasies and become fanatically pro-Israel.
He only mixes with multi-millionaires nowadays, so it’s hardly surprising he is out of touch.
Violent men are very often violent in a domestic setting.
Joan Smith has written a whole book - Home Grown - about how so many terrorists, US gun killers and the like have a history of domestic violence and often embark on violence against the women closest to them before embarking on their more public sprees of violence. It's not though something which can only be laid at the door of those of any particular political persuasion, as you seem to imply. It applies to Islamist terrorists, left-wing terrorists, right-wing ones, mass murderers etc. The common factor is men and domestic violence against women, which is overlooked and not dealt with.
Indeed.
A simple truth - scumbags are never angels who suddenly went bad. It’s never their first crime. They serve a scumbag apprenticeship. They practise.
I was once at a talk by an anti-terrorism policeman. He said they hardly every arrested anyone on anti-terrorism charges as theya re hard to prove. They would just keep an eye on the until they could catch them in the act of something else (e.g. firearms possession) and send them away for a stretch. Nearly all active terrorists are scumbags anyway, apparently.
You must read A Big Boy Did it And Ran Away, which contains the following wisdom:
All terrorists are wankers. Whatever flags they wrapped themselves in, whatever religions, histories or myths they attached to their crusades, they were, to a man, just wankers. They told themselves and anyone bored enough to listen that they were in it for the glory of their cause or the welfare of their ‘people’ (few of whom were ever consulted about this), but the truth was that they were in it because they liked killing people. Every last fucking one of them.
They're rare, but some people enjoy violence, and are good at it
"I’ve fought in three campaigns,” he began. “In seven pitched battles. In countless raids and skirmishes and desperate defences, and bloody actions of every kind. I’ve fought in the driving snow, the blasting wind, the middle of the night. I’ve been fighting all my life, one enemy or another, one friend or another. I’ve known little else. I’ve seen men killed for a word, for a look, for nothing at all. A woman tried to stab me once for killing her husband, and I threw her down a well. And that’s far from the worst of it. Life used to be cheap as dirt to me. Cheaper.
“I’ve fought ten single combats and I won them all, but I fought on the wrong side and for all the wrong reasons. I’ve been ruthless, and brutal, and a coward. I’ve stabbed men in the back, burned them, drowned them, crushed them with rocks, killed them asleep, unarmed, or running away. I’ve run away myself more than once. I’ve pissed myself with fear. I’ve begged for my life. I’ve been wounded, often, and badly, and screamed and cried like a baby whose mother took her tit away. I’ve no doubt the world would be a better place if I’d been killed years ago, but I haven’t been, and I don’t know why.”
He looked down at his hands, pink and clean on the stone. “There are few men with more blood on their hands than me. None, that I know of. The Bloody-Nine they call me, my enemies, and there’s a lot of ’em. Always more enemies, and fewer friends. Blood gets you nothing but more blood. It follows me now, always, like my shadow, and like my shadow I can never be free of it. I should never be free of it. I’ve earned it. I’ve deserved it. I’ve sought it out. Such is my punishment.” ― Joe Abercrombie, The Blade Itself
Another totally unhelpful intervention from Blair. The only centre left wins of late have been from leaders distancing themselves from Trump. He would guarantee the Greens overtake Labour.
Sad. Blair has lost the plot. Maybe he's just become another boomer radicalized by the internet.
I've read his piece. So should you.
It's very good.
If it appeals to someone with your politics then it clearly isn't going to appeal to any remaining Labour voters. Apart from abandoning any vestiges of leftwing policy, he appears to be suggesting unquestioning support for Trump which is clear lunacy and likely to damage our relations with other countries. It's clearly just a case of clinging on for dear life, hoping to survive the rest of his term and the lack of support limits the damage he can wreak.
With 14% of votes in, the Republican Party in Texas has decided it wants a competitive race in November. It's 59.4% for Paxton against 40.6% for Cornyn.
Paxton's lead is extending.
It looks like we have a real contest in November.
It's an absolute rout: Paxton is on almost 63% with more than 50% counted. Paxton is the nominee.
Game over, man! Game OVER!
Excellent news for the Democrats. 2.1 on Betfair to win the Texas Senate seat. 48% chance.
The Republicans look increasingly unhinged.
Even allowing for their fanatical devotion to Trump, why on earth would they pick a criminal with such an appalling track record of incompetence as their candidate?
It’s not as though Cornyn was exactly a liberal either.
If they lose the Senate over this they have only themselves to blame (assuming Greg Abbott would certify a Dem victory, of course).
The Republicans could be close to having 60 seats in the Senate. But, time and again, over the past 16 years, they have thrown Senate seats away by choosing lunatics and/or crooks.
Scrap net zero, don't rejoin EU, befriend Trump, do whatever it takes to stop small boats.
Blair sounds like he will vote reform.
Some of the stuff is worth its place in the squad but on other things he's lost the plot. He seems a bit stuck in the past. Which is fine and indeed expected as the years stack up - but of course most 'used to be's' wouldn't have such a big platform to share their views or the burning desire to do so. Thanks anyway though. We'll get back to the office now.
I bought a place in Scotland in the vain hope it might give me refuge from the hateful Right, and yes there's a hateful Left, but I think my residence there may be a brief one. This country is not a place in which I find resonance anymore.
The UK seems such a desperately unhappy and hate-filled country now.
It's fine if you stay in London and don't go online.
But that means living in London, which is an overpriced dump.
*grabs tinfoil hat*
London is an earthly paradise if you can afford to live there. Eg Sunday we went to a festival with friends after pre-drinks at the local pub, danced to fantastic music for seven hours among crowds of loved up people then walked the twenty minutes home. It's hard to think of a better way of spending the bank holiday weekend.
Another totally unhelpful intervention from Blair. The only centre left wins of late have been from leaders distancing themselves from Trump. He would guarantee the Greens overtake Labour.
Sad. Blair has lost the plot. Maybe he's just become another boomer radicalized by the internet.
I've read his piece. So should you.
It's very good.
If it appeals to someone with your politics then it clearly isn't going to appeal to any remaining Labour voters. Apart from abandoning any vestiges of leftwing policy, he appears to be suggesting unquestioning support for Trump which is clear lunacy and likely to damage our relations with other countries. It's clearly just a case of clinging on for dear life, hoping to survive the rest of his term and the lack of support limits the damage he can wreak.
And that's the problem: you're playing the man, not the ball.
I'm no Blairite, still less a Europhile, but I still think the piece is excellent and a must read.
Together with the call to change building regulations blocking air conditioning linked earlier, this might show us how the Conservatives are repositioning themselves for the next general election.
I bought a place in Scotland in the vain hope it might give me refuge from the hateful Right, and yes there's a hateful Left, but I think my residence there may be a brief one. This country is not a place in which I find resonance anymore.
The UK seems such a desperately unhappy and hate-filled country now.
Part of our flit to Scotland more than 5 years ago was in search of a better life. And we have found it. Perfect? No. Better? Yes.
Another totally unhelpful intervention from Blair. The only centre left wins of late have been from leaders distancing themselves from Trump. He would guarantee the Greens overtake Labour.
Another totally unhelpful intervention from Blair. The only centre left wins of late have been from leaders distancing themselves from Trump. He would guarantee the Greens overtake Labour.
Sad. Blair has lost the plot. Maybe he's just become another boomer radicalized by the internet.
I've read his piece. So should you.
It's very good.
It has some truths in it (yes, Labour is a party that retreats too easily into its comfort zone, and yes, it puts far too little thought into how its policies affect business competitiveness) but for a piece on Labour’s delusions it is quite delusional in its own way. Exhibit one is the idea of supporting the US war in the middle east - I have spoken to former *very* senior people in the US security hierarchy who think this war is utterly insane, why would we want to be anywhere near it? Exhibit two is the idea of reneging on net zero, but what do you expect from a piece that seems to deny the very existence of climate change (when it's 35 degrees outside, in May)? I have long been a fan of Blair (I got a selfie with him a few years back when i bumped into him on the Eurostar) but I think he is becoming an irrelevant figure in British politics as he has bought into US tech bro nihilistic fantasies and become fanatically pro-Israel.
I bought a place in Scotland in the vain hope it might give me refuge from the hateful Right, and yes there's a hateful Left, but I think my residence there may be a brief one. This country is not a place in which I find resonance anymore.
The UK seems such a desperately unhappy and hate-filled country now.
It's fine if you stay in London and don't go online.
But that means living in London, which is an overpriced dump.
*grabs tinfoil hat*
London is an earthly paradise if you can afford to live there. Eg Sunday we went to a festival with friends after pre-drinks at the local pub, danced to fantastic music for seven hours among crowds of loved up people then walked the twenty minutes home. It's hard to think of a better way of spending the bank holiday weekend.
If you have the money, I can't think of a better very big city to live in.
Another totally unhelpful intervention from Blair. The only centre left wins of late have been from leaders distancing themselves from Trump. He would guarantee the Greens overtake Labour.
Sad. Blair has lost the plot. Maybe he's just become another boomer radicalized by the internet.
I've read his piece. So should you.
It's very good.
It has some truths in it (yes, Labour is a party that retreats too easily into its comfort zone, and yes, it puts far too little thought into how its policies affect business competitiveness) but for a piece on Labour’s delusions it is quite delusional in its own way. Exhibit one is the idea of supporting the US war in the middle east - I have spoken to former *very* senior people in the US security hierarchy who think this war is utterly insane, why would we want to be anywhere near it? Exhibit two is the idea of reneging on net zero, but what do you expect from a piece that seems to deny the very existence of climate change (when it's 35 degrees outside, in May)? I have long been a fan of Blair (I got a selfie with him a few years back when i bumped into him on the Eurostar) but I think he is becoming an irrelevant figure in British politics as he has bought into US tech bro nihilistic fantasies and become fanatically pro-Israel.
And it doesn't say that.
You haven't read it.
No I haven't. I read the lead piece in the Guardian that quoted from it extensively.
Another totally unhelpful intervention from Blair. The only centre left wins of late have been from leaders distancing themselves from Trump. He would guarantee the Greens overtake Labour.
Sad. Blair has lost the plot. Maybe he's just become another boomer radicalized by the internet.
I've read his piece. So should you.
It's very good.
It has some truths in it (yes, Labour is a party that retreats too easily into its comfort zone, and yes, it puts far too little thought into how its policies affect business competitiveness) but for a piece on Labour’s delusions it is quite delusional in its own way. Exhibit one is the idea of supporting the US war in the middle east - I have spoken to former *very* senior people in the US security hierarchy who think this war is utterly insane, why would we want to be anywhere near it? Exhibit two is the idea of reneging on net zero, but what do you expect from a piece that seems to deny the very existence of climate change (when it's 35 degrees outside, in May)? I have long been a fan of Blair (I got a selfie with him a few years back when i bumped into him on the Eurostar) but I think he is becoming an irrelevant figure in British politics as he has bought into US tech bro nihilistic fantasies and become fanatically pro-Israel.
And it doesn't say that.
You haven't read it.
No I haven't. I read the lead piece in the Guardian that quoted from it extensively.
Another totally unhelpful intervention from Blair. The only centre left wins of late have been from leaders distancing themselves from Trump. He would guarantee the Greens overtake Labour.
Sad. Blair has lost the plot. Maybe he's just become another boomer radicalized by the internet.
I've read his piece. So should you.
It's very good.
It has some truths in it (yes, Labour is a party that retreats too easily into its comfort zone, and yes, it puts far too little thought into how its policies affect business competitiveness) but for a piece on Labour’s delusions it is quite delusional in its own way. Exhibit one is the idea of supporting the US war in the middle east - I have spoken to former *very* senior people in the US security hierarchy who think this war is utterly insane, why would we want to be anywhere near it? Exhibit two is the idea of reneging on net zero, but what do you expect from a piece that seems to deny the very existence of climate change (when it's 35 degrees outside, in May)? I have long been a fan of Blair (I got a selfie with him a few years back when i bumped into him on the Eurostar) but I think he is becoming an irrelevant figure in British politics as he has bought into US tech bro nihilistic fantasies and become fanatically pro-Israel.
And it doesn't say that.
You haven't read it.
No I haven't. I read the lead piece in the Guardian that quoted from it extensively.
So read it then, or shut up.
I read about half of it and skimmed the rest, and I agree with OLB!
Another totally unhelpful intervention from Blair. The only centre left wins of late have been from leaders distancing themselves from Trump. He would guarantee the Greens overtake Labour.
Sad. Blair has lost the plot. Maybe he's just become another boomer radicalized by the internet.
I've read his piece. So should you.
It's very good.
It has some truths in it (yes, Labour is a party that retreats too easily into its comfort zone, and yes, it puts far too little thought into how its policies affect business competitiveness) but for a piece on Labour’s delusions it is quite delusional in its own way. Exhibit one is the idea of supporting the US war in the middle east - I have spoken to former *very* senior people in the US security hierarchy who think this war is utterly insane, why would we want to be anywhere near it? Exhibit two is the idea of reneging on net zero, but what do you expect from a piece that seems to deny the very existence of climate change (when it's 35 degrees outside, in May)? I have long been a fan of Blair (I got a selfie with him a few years back when i bumped into him on the Eurostar) but I think he is becoming an irrelevant figure in British politics as he has bought into US tech bro nihilistic fantasies and become fanatically pro-Israel.
And it doesn't say that.
You haven't read it.
No I haven't. I read the lead piece in the Guardian that quoted from it extensively.
So read it then, or shut up.
I read about half of it and skimmed the rest, and I agree with OLB!
I've read all of it (Tony needs an editor) and I think the Guardian piece was a fair summary, shorn of the spin and self serving rhetoric. As I said before, it has some truths in it.
Another totally unhelpful intervention from Blair. The only centre left wins of late have been from leaders distancing themselves from Trump. He would guarantee the Greens overtake Labour.
Sad. Blair has lost the plot. Maybe he's just become another boomer radicalized by the internet.
I've read his piece. So should you.
It's very good.
It has some truths in it (yes, Labour is a party that retreats too easily into its comfort zone, and yes, it puts far too little thought into how its policies affect business competitiveness) but for a piece on Labour’s delusions it is quite delusional in its own way. Exhibit one is the idea of supporting the US war in the middle east - I have spoken to former *very* senior people in the US security hierarchy who think this war is utterly insane, why would we want to be anywhere near it? Exhibit two is the idea of reneging on net zero, but what do you expect from a piece that seems to deny the very existence of climate change (when it's 35 degrees outside, in May)? I have long been a fan of Blair (I got a selfie with him a few years back when i bumped into him on the Eurostar) but I think he is becoming an irrelevant figure in British politics as he has bought into US tech bro nihilistic fantasies and become fanatically pro-Israel.
And it doesn't say that.
You haven't read it.
No I haven't. I read the lead piece in the Guardian that quoted from it extensively.
I've read it. Your take is largely mine. Some of it is on the money. Some of it is nuts. The intellectual energy is still there. So is the messiah complex and the clear effect of who funds him and the techno evangelists he hangs around with. There's no sense now of being on the left at all. You can see clearly why he was such an impressive politician and even more clearly why he lost his lustre - that monomaniacal attachment to the US and Israel and the ego fuelled notion that his ideas transcend politics.
Blair’s piece is a fairly shallow and obvious appreciation of the situation.
What is needed is a policy program and some actual implementation.
Policies come and go. The main issue is implementation as a) we don't spend enough time on thinking through the steps and b) we don't commit the cash and expertise to it. We fail to plan, and plan to fail could be our national motto. Look at the progress of the Chinese whose model is built on rapid incremental improvement (nicked from the Japanese)
OT - You mean the Con rump and their leader aren't the perfect match? Badenoch is going to learn that having Reform people approve of you but not wanting to vote for you is far from a winning strategy.
If the Cons are not to be the new Liberal Party (1918-64) then they need to move on this and first priority is a new leader who isn't totally deluded about political reality
Comments
And its prescriptions are vague generalities rather than serious policy proposal.
Apart from that...
What is needed is a policy program and some actual implementation.
"I’ve fought in three campaigns,” he began. “In seven pitched battles. In countless raids and skirmishes and desperate defences, and bloody actions of every kind. I’ve fought in the driving snow, the blasting wind, the middle of the night. I’ve been fighting all my life, one enemy or another, one friend or another. I’ve known little else. I’ve seen men killed for a word, for a look, for nothing at all. A woman tried to stab me once for killing her husband, and I threw her down a well. And that’s far from the worst of it. Life used to be cheap as dirt to me. Cheaper.
“I’ve fought ten single combats and I won them all, but I fought on the wrong side and for all the wrong reasons. I’ve been ruthless, and brutal, and a coward. I’ve stabbed men in the back, burned them, drowned them, crushed them with rocks, killed them asleep, unarmed, or running away. I’ve run away myself more than once. I’ve pissed myself with fear. I’ve begged for my life. I’ve been wounded, often, and badly, and screamed and cried like a baby whose mother took her tit away. I’ve no doubt the world would be a better place if I’d been killed years ago, but I haven’t been, and I don’t know why.”
He looked down at his hands, pink and clean on the stone. “There are few men with more blood on their hands than me. None, that I know of. The Bloody-Nine they call me, my enemies, and there’s a lot of ’em. Always more enemies, and fewer friends. Blood gets you nothing but more blood. It follows me now, always, like my shadow, and like my shadow I can never be free of it. I should never be free of it. I’ve earned it. I’ve deserved it. I’ve sought it out. Such is my punishment.”
― Joe Abercrombie, The Blade Itself
Apart from abandoning any vestiges of leftwing policy, he appears to be suggesting unquestioning support for Trump which is clear lunacy and likely to damage our relations with other countries. It's clearly just a case of clinging on for dear life, hoping to survive the rest of his term and the lack of support limits the damage he can wreak.
I'm no Blairite, still less a Europhile, but I still think the piece is excellent and a must read.
Government analysis suggests a third of funding to be directed to households that can afford upgrades
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2026/05/27/ministers-under-fire-for-wasting-800m-heat-pump-subsidies/ (£££)
Together with the call to change building regulations blocking air conditioning linked earlier, this might show us how the Conservatives are repositioning themselves for the next general election.
NEW THREAD
You haven't read it.
But, he has a first class analytical brain and good political and economic antennae.
People are letting the first get in the way of the second.
If the Cons are not to be the new Liberal Party (1918-64) then they need to move on this and first priority is a new leader who isn't totally deluded about political reality