The Jackal Rants » politics

Ding, dong, the Bliar’s gone!

robchurch — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 09:32:23 +0000

As of around 2:00 PM (BST) today, the Queen will formally offer the position of Prime Minister to Gordon Brown.

I can’t really say I’m sorry to see Tony Blair go, but at the same time, I wonder if Brown’s really the most effective Labour leader for the present situation. He’s got about as much charisma as a damp sponge, although I do pity the difficult situation he now has; the appalling state of the NHS, the Iraq war, a fairly splintered political canvas, problems in the Middle East, difficult relations with Iran and Russia…

We can’t leave now…

robchurch — Thu, 21 Jun 2007 21:46:26 +0000

With Gordon Brown’s imminent coronation as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, a lot of people are demanding that he promise to withdraw our troops from Iraq.

The problem is, he can’t, and neither could another leader, in good conscience, do that. Iraq (and Afghanistan) has an unstable and vulnerable government, and we’re going to be stuck in there with the Americans for quite some time sorting out our mess.

We had a choice about going in, and our leaders took the wrong one. We have a moral choice about leaving, but let’s hope our leaders do the right thing for a change. The US and UK have made beds for themselves, and now we must lie in them.

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it’s a chlorofluorocarbon!

robchurch — Thu, 31 May 2007 21:28:58 +0000

So, the United States has joined the rest of the world in dealing with climate change. I suppose there’ll be a lot of sniping and accusations of hypocrisy and so forth over the next few weeks.

Why bother? The fact is that, now the US recognises that, whether or not we caused it – and while we might not have caused all of it, we certainly haven’t been helping the situation – climate change is going to affect us in an adverse fashion…now we have another collaborator that’s going to help us work towards a sensible resolution that benefits the ecosystem we all live in.

Roll on the 27th

robchurch — Thu, 10 May 2007 16:41:07 +0000

That is, the 27th of June; for that is the date upon which Tony Blair will stand down as Labour leader, and with it, relinquish the position of Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. Unfortunately, with a lack of any significant opposition candidates, now that John Reid has announced he’ll be stepping down from the Home Office, this means Gordon Brown will basically ascend to the throne in a glorified coronation.