Looking at the positive changes his administration has brought in, we finally have the hope of lasting peace in Northern Ireland and we also have a minimum wage... on the surface at least, Britain seems to be enjoying a period of economic prosperity. We have even cast off the shadow of World War 2 debt.
Dig below the surface however... and we see all the negative changes. Prisons full to bursting and judges actually releasing convicted criminals early onto the streets, a health service that under a Labour government has found itself floundering and tied up in red tape... genuine people suffering whilst the cheats and benefits fraudsters (people who have the brains to work their way around a form... but who don't put their assets to use in work or the community), prosper more and more. Civil liberties have been attacked and depleted in the name of counter terrorism. We now live in an age of politics where substance bows and gives way to style... the soundbite reigns supreme.
Then of course we have the repercussions of Blair's foreign policies, most notably in Iraq. Britain's reputation for international fair play has been badly bruised and tarnished. Oh yes we knocked off a couple of dictators... but what have we left in their place? A wake of carnage and destruction where the blood of innocent Iraqis and Afghans is spilled and mixed with that of our own troops on a daily basis.
All this... all this and more. I argue that Blair's true legacy is like Ridley Scott's alien. We thought it was bad when he was stuck to us like a limpet... we might be forgiven for thinking we have been released from the effects of his political decisions. However, something dark and deadly gestates within this country now... it may take 20-30 years but there is a dark cloud on the horizon. It may be avoided, but the danger is real.
Blair has exacerbated the natural tribalism in the collective subconscious. His policies have polarised different groups against one another he has helped to fundamentally raise tensions between:
- The old and the young.
- Islam and Christianity.
- Theists and secularists.
- The home nations, especially Scotland and England.
- The indigenous and migrant communities.
You watch, in the first instance it'll start to go wrong when the baby boom generation (who are reaching pensionable age now), become infirm and in need of increased medical care. They are the largest age group... closely followed by the mass of children in the past 10-15 years who have been born in need of benefits (for whatever reasons). In the middle of that is my age group... the smallest age group. We are going to have to pay out on two very large fronts in about 20 years. I don't really need to go into detail between the troubles of radicalized Islam and how Christianity is currently perceived, thanks to US & UK foreign policy and the fact that Blair and Bush wear their own flavour of "Christianity" firmly on their lapels . As a direct consequence of those tensions, secularists are hopping up and down preaching the abolition of public religion, which of course is a moronic and intellectually bankrupt gesture... not to mention extremely hypocritical!
I don't really need to go on with the other issues. I think I've made my point.
We may as well have had Harold Saxon elected as Prime Minister!
Indeed what this country really does need right now IS a Doctor!
In my next blog I'll look at what my thoughts are on the Brown Government as it takes it's first steps out of the crib.
In the meantime (and trying my best to avoid being a fundamentalist Christian), I'll conclude in the words of W.B. Yeats with my concern over Blair's new role as Peace Envoy to the Middle East:
The darkness drops again; but now I know
That twenty centuries of stony sleep
were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?
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