Blair Steps Down

(image from BBC News)

Ok, so it's hardly an exclusive but Blair has just announced his resignation.

It was shaping up as the best speech of his career, starting with a nice tribute to his agent. As an agent who never got thanked I thought it was a particularly nice touch. Then a comment about the best way to avoid the pitfalls of power was to step away - a very insightful statement.

Then he got all political. Oh dear. It all went downhill from there.

He asked when we last heard of pensioners freezing to death because they couldn't afford to pay their bills. Last winter. Fuel Poverty kills up to 25000 pensioners every single year and 4 million people are believed to suffer from fuel poverty.

He boasted about better results in the NHS and Education. Only if you accept that the targets these results refer to are a good thing. The major point is that spending on the NHS has doubled since Blair took over yet benefits are not doubled. There are waiting lists to get onto waiting lists, the MTAS system is in total disarray, MRSA deaths are on the increase, I could go on and on....

He took credit for intervening in the Kosovo crisis which is fine - but what's happening today in Darfur?

I didn't hear any mention of the NI peace progress as Radio 2 came and went from his LONG speech however I doubt there was tribute paid to John Major.

The speech, like all of his Premiership, sounded bloody good - but once you start thinking about it it just doesn't seem so impreesive.