I see that I've had a week off from the wonderful world of the Blog. Why? No particular reason. Just ordinary life getting in the way.
So, what's been occuring? The Iraq enquiry rumbles on with Tony Blair and Claire Short both giving evidence. Blair's performance was a masterpiece of self-justification and a demonstration of why people voted for him so many times. A great pity, therefore, that very few people believed what he had to say! Claire Short, on the other hand, was rather shrill and her 'evidence' was equally self-serving. She has the advantage, however, of being very believable. I found myself wondering what Blair would have had to say to get people to believe him. Probably only a full confession along the lines of "I got it all wrong and lied, lied, lied" would have sufficed. There was no prospect of getting that or anything that approached contrition. Were we witness to his final performance at this level? Will his credibility in the UK ever recover?
The next phase of the Haitian disaster is in full swing. Rescue is over and we are now into recovery. It's still a big, big mess and on a scale that is totally beyond my comprehension. Sadly, it is now slipping down the news schedules and, I predict, this time next week it will be barely mentioned.P
2 comments:
Do you not feel that in a world full of nuance, uncertainty, greyness, British political life, and in particular the discussion surrounding it, is simply too polarised. The truth about Blair, or Clare Short, or any of it or them, lies in some opaque muddle. For me the polarisation is a product of the emotionally unstable, irrational, and increasingly infantilising borderline personality disorder which is now the characteristic feature of British public life in every aspect from the treatment of villains to dog walking.
I agree with your sentiments. We live in a world that seems to celebrate the mundane, lionise the ordinary and devalue true debate. I'm not sure when I last heard a debate in the true sense of the word. Too often, an exchange of polarised views seems to be a substitute for debate.
Post a Comment