[Archived] Tony Blair - A Journey

[tashor]

Waterstones are reporting that Tony Blair's book is the fastest selling tome they have ever had. I wonder why it has caught the public's imagination ? Perhaps it is because Tony Blair set up a new political party, New Labour, that transformed British politics; perhaps it is because he dominated Westminster for more than a decade, smashing the Tories in 3 successive elections; perhaps it is because he was a breath of fresh air after 19 years of Tory mis-rule; perhaps it is because he led the radical rebuilding of Britain destroyed by the ravages of Thatcherism; and perhaps it was because, even now, despite vilification in the right-wing press, he is genuninely liked by the British public who see a man of conviction and style, Britain's greatest prime minister of the past 100 years.

D'oh....................

[broadsword]

Hook all baited up now with the most ridiculous and inflammatory statement you can think up.... all you have to do now Thrush mk2 is simply wait for someone to bite.

Thrush is bleeding right!

What an out-and-out tool.

[jumpin']

Went into the Knutsford branch of Waterstones, and moved one or two copies ( maybe more!) over to the true crime section. Childish? maybe, but it made me giggle.

[thenodrog]

I've not heard Brown replying to all this hoo hah. The cynic in me suggests that we wont do either and that we will just have to buy Browns book if he's doing one to get his side of the story.

What a set of snakes in the grass these books have turned our glorious leaders into.... http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1309314/Cherie-v-Mandy-Blairs-wife-takes-legal-action-book-reveals-private-letters.html?ITO=1490

All that New Lab public cameraderie licking ice creams and the like but behind the scenes it seems they ###### well hated the very sight of each other! As I've said before voting only encourages em and 50% of the population who do vote are dumb for doing it!

btw Despite massive amounts paid for the rights by the publishers I've just seen figures that suggest Blunketts book only sold 4000 copies and Mandelssons 13000! Obviously I've no way of knowing how many they actually bought themsleves but I can see politicians autobiographies becoming rather less lucrative in the future.

[tmap]

I've not heard Brown replying to all this hoo hah. The cynic in me suggests that we wont do either and that we will just have to buy Browns book if he's doing one to get his side of the story.

What a set of snakes in the grass these books have turned our glorious leaders into.... http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1309314/Cherie-v-Mandy-Blairs-wife-takes-legal-action-book-reveals-private-letters.html?ITO=1490

All that New Lab public cameraderie licking ice creams and the like but behind the scenes it seems they ###### well hated the very sight of each other! As I've said before voting only encourages em and 50% of the population who do vote are dumb for doing it!

btw Despite massive amounts paid for the rights by the publishers I've just seen figures that suggest Blunketts book only sold 4000 copies and Mandelssons 13000! Obviously I've no way of knowing how many they actually bought themsleves but I can see politicians autobiographies becoming rather less lucrative in the future.

Well, they're ambitious colleagues, right? I don't particularly like any of my colleagues at work, give or take one or two, and these guys are politicians under permanent media scrutiny. I'm quite struck in the book by how close he was to his inner circle (Irvine, Campbell, Anji whatsername etc); the rivalries don't really surprise me at all.

Interesting to see the numbers of sales. I feel I already have a pretty good understanding of Mandelson's book just from reading the reviews and press coverage.

Reading on a bit, I like his account of the pre-97 election build-up and the fight over Clause 4, and he makes a very good point that the simplicity of his message at the time was a result of years of careful debate and thinking, in contrast to Cameron's election. Hard to see them cooking up something like the Big Society with three weeks to go to election time.

[tmap]

Is it possible Tony Blair was unloved as a child?

— "Tony wants everyone to know he has feelings.

“Do they really suppose I don’t care, don’t feel, don’t regret with every fibre of my being the loss of those who died?” he asks of his critics."

"Blair writes that he thought he was right and that he and W. rid the world of a tyrant. But he winds up with a bitter anecdote: “I still keep in my desk a letter from an Iraqi woman who came to see me before the war began. She told me of the appalling torture and death her family had experienced having fallen foul of Saddam’s son. She begged me to act. After the fall of Saddam she returned to Iraq. She was murdered by sectarians a few months later. What would she say to me now?”

There is no apology, but Blair sounds like a man with a guilty conscience."

I've only read bits on here but all this unecessary pulling of heart strings and hand wringing suggests to me that Tony Blair was never proper Prime Minister material? imo he seems to want history to show him as a nice kinda guy rather than a strong leader. This book might have plonked Blair right into Neville Chamberlain's pigeon hole.

I think you do need to read it rather than the commentators (especially Maureen Dowd). Even the quote above is quite different when you read it in the context of the rest of the chapter on the Iraq aftermath. This is something that's important on anything to do with Iraq, in fact; it's interesting to read the actual Hutton and Butler reports, for instance, compared to what the Independent, Daily Mail, BBC et al said about them and continue to say about them.

[thenodrog]

I think you do need to read it rather than the commentators (especially Maureen Dowd). Even the quote above is quite different when you read it in the context of the rest of the chapter on the Iraq aftermath. This is something that's important on anything to do with Iraq, in fact; it's interesting to read the actual Hutton and Butler reports, for instance, compared to what the Independent, Daily Mail, BBC et al said about them and continue to say about them.

A very thoughful and considered response....... are you Tony Blairs agent tmap?

[Flopsy]

It's the greatest criminal assualt on the English Language since txt spk became common

[koi]

Went into the Knutsford branch of Waterstones, and moved one or two copies ( maybe more!) over to the true crime section. Childish? maybe, but it made me giggle.

I'm stuck with the whole Iraq bit now and struggling to get through more than a few pages at a time. It was an enjoyable, easy read for the first 10 chapters or so but from there the writing is poor and lacks cohesion. I'm also p!ssed off with Hans Blix as everytime his name is mentioned (and it's quite a lot obviously) this is in my head:

[tmap]

A very thoughful and considered response....... are you Tony Blairs agent tmap?

heh heh - sadly not.

It's interesting to see different responses here too. I thought the chapters on Iraq were much clearer and more coherent than those on domestic policy, so I guess it depends on the extent to which you sympathise with his points. There was a lot to say and lots of different arguments, meetings and points of view to get across in a pretty short space and I think he did it briskly well.

One thing I found is that although he's amusingly dismissive of some people (William Hague, the Lib Dems, even the Queen) he actually pulls quite a lot of his real punches (although obviously Gordon Brown must disagree). I'd be interested once he really has retired for good and no longer needs to worry about upsetting anyone what he really thinks of the UN, Chirac, other middle eastern governments, and the oil-for-food scandal.

I'm with you on the Hans Blix thing though. I'd almost started thinking it really is spelt "Hans Brix" and I picture him floating in a shark tank.

[Seggie]

Now I just want to know what he thinks of Matt Daaamon!

[tmap]

Now I just want to know what he thinks of Matt Daaamon!

I actually met Alastair Campbell yesterday and chatted about this (once we'd got over footballing enmities, obviously). Very interesting indeed - he agreed that Blair pulls some of his punches a bit, although he thinks this is because Blair genuinely does tend to see positives in people rather than harbouring grudges.

He, like Blair, is especially interesting on the Northern Ireland process and the genuine bravery on both sides that it took to reach a settlement.

However, I forgot to ask him about Maaaatt Daaaamon....

[yoda]

Waterstones are reporting that Tony Blair's book is the fastest selling tome they have ever had. I wonder why it has caught the public's imagination ? Perhaps it is because Tony Blair set up a new political party, New Labour, that transformed British politics; perhaps it is because he dominated Westminster for more than a decade, smashing the Tories in 3 successive elections; perhaps it is because he was a breath of fresh air after 19 years of Tory mis-rule; perhaps it is because he led the radical rebuilding of Britain destroyed by the ravages of Thatcherism; and perhaps it was because, even now, despite vilification in the right-wing press, he is genuninely liked by the British public who see a man of conviction and style, Britain's greatest prime minister of the past 100 years.

Perhaps because he was/is a Tory

[Jock]

is a war criminal.

R.I.P. Dr Kelly