Tony Blair

[dummkopf]

Am I the only one to think that Tony Blair is a good PM ? Is the only reason he is being ousted , Iraq ?
Well I'd like to ask, when he took us into Iraq/Afghanistan, which incidentally was AFTER 9/11 !!!! If Gordon Brown had been PM or even if Ian Ducan Smith had been PM or whoever......would things have been different ?

[cucuhullan]

Dom Tuk
The furthest I've travelled is to the island of Jersey so no I havent traversed the world .Have you ?
Thanks to television and the www anybody can make a reasonable appraisal of what life is like in other parts of the world.It is because of this that I firmly believe that Great Britain is the most civilised country on Earth.
How do you know that 1 in 4 britons are illiterate.Is this outrageous statement backed up by any scientific data.And if it is which scientists made the study.

[johnizere]

1 in 4 britons are illiterate?......just an aside, did you know 86% of statistics are made up on the spot, I repeat, 73%of statistics are made up on the spot.
I'd like to see the news this evening declaring Phoney Bliar has left number 10 and has gone to live in New York. Apparently they love him over there!

[Dom Tuk]

I filled in a questionnaire before taking part in a diversity workshop last week. One of the questions was 1 in 4 adults in the UK is functionally illiterate, like you i ticked the false box. i was wrong. Its a government initiative so probably the questionnaire was based on some survey. This is my source for the info.

[admarlow]

diversity workshop, we everything they say in those things is total rubbish anyway. I don't know 1 person who is iliterate (over 5 years old) and acording to that statistic I should know tonnes, absolute rubbish.

[starrs]

For all his faults I'd rather have Blair as PM instead of William Hague, Iain Duncan-Smith or god forbid Dave Cameron.

[cucuhullan]

Dom Tuk
You filled in a "questionaire" . Is that really the basis of your statement that 25% of the people in Great Britain are Illiterate.Pull the other one.!!!!!

[admarlow]

England

Literacy levels among 16 to 65-year-olds


Level % number
Entry level 1 or below 3% 1.1m
Entry level 2 2 % 0.6m
Entry level 3 11 % 3.5m
(All entry level or below) 16% 5.2m
Level 1 40% 12.6m
Level 2 or above 44% 14.1m

[admarlow]

Level Literacy (reading)
An adult classified at this level... Equivalent to...
Entry level 1 - Understands short texts with repeated language patterns on familiar topics
- Can obtain information from commons signs and symbols National curriculum level 1
Entry level 2 - Understands short straightforward texts on familiar topics
- Can obtain informaton from short documents, familiar sources and signs and symbols Level expected of a seven-year-old (national curriculum level 2)
Entry level 3 - Understands short straightforward texts on familiar topics accurately and independently
- Can obtain information from everyday sources Level expected of an 11-year-old (national curriculum levels 3-4)
Level 1 - Understands short straightforward texts of varying length on a variety of topics accurately and independently
- Can obtain information from different sources GCSE grades D-G (national curriculum level 5)
Level 2 - Understands a range of texts of varying complexity accurately and independently
- Can obtain information of varying length and detail from different sources GCSE grades A-C (national curriculum levels 6-8)

[matt66]

cucuhullan

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/811832.stm

viola

it was 20 % in 2000, could well be 25% now

[keyvan]

Tony Blair will be remembered for taking this country consciously into an illegal war with Iraq.
He is weak and has long lost his credibility as a prime minister.
I have always argued that we do not elect a new government in this country. They are elected on the basis of previous governmente falling out of touch with the general public/ or if there is no credible opposition party to vote for.

[whiffey]

I have the greatest respect and admiration for Tony Blair; to compound that delightful rarity I also feel the same for George Bush. The Bush-Blair partnership has been as effective in the cause of good as the Thatcher-Reagan one.

I admire Tony Blair's integrity, I think he is a good man in the best sense of that word.

The 'illegal war' fallacy always makes me laugh - like who is going to put Bush and Blair into which dock ?

What I am so looking forward to is all the ranting anti-Blairites walking into the booths at the next General Election and voting......er.....Tory ? lol

[matt66]

whiffey...if you find rants that the war is illegal as funny...then boy are you going to laugh for a very long time. You have to sort out some remedy for the aching sides that you will soon acquire!!!

Maybe you could like to collect some pictures of mutilated Iraqi bodies to jolt you back into some reality after your mirth induced stupor.

some mothers really do ave them.

[whiffey]

Indeed matt - Kurds.

[cucuhullan]

Matt66
I refer you to the answer given by Johnizere earlier today.

[keyvan]

If someone asked me what is the essence of being Tony Blair I will certainly I will certainly not associate it with intergrity but rather his government's sleeze time and time again on policies that are important. Whether it's the education reforms, immigration, NHS and indeed his foreign policies on Iraq. As for his relationship with Bush what relationship is there exactly between the two? Is this the one where he is like the poodle to Bush?
The illegal war by invading Iraq is not a "fallacy" is a fact and only time will tell the crimes this government has committed against humanity by misleading us with bogus reports and taking this country into an "illegal war."

[jump79]

Whiffey, since you have so much faith in Blair, can you explain the "WMD"s" that were supposed to be in Iraq and what exactly happened to them??

Sorry to burst your happy little bubble, but things aren't so great in the real world, and it's because of the Bush-Blair partnership. Together, they have devastated the economies of their own countries and when they were bored of that, they went abroad to wreak havoc in other parts of the world that they 'invaded'. Illegally.

[whiffey]

My bubble is nowhere near burst. I just hold a contrary view to yours, and gladly too.

Do any people on here think the devastation from the air of Dresden, Hamburg - were war crimes ?

[Le Chat]

The attraction about Blair, is that he has a few things going for him. He is fairly good looking for a MP, he has a young family and my God, he talks a good job! He is fantastic at making speeches and sounding sympathetic and yet strong. You cannot look at him and really despise him. This gives him an edge. It leads you onto hoping that what he is spouting out is true!!!!
Back to the original question - I remember watching a Q & A between all parties and the public, just before the last general election. Both opposing parties said that they WOULD have invaded Iraq, so things may have been the same whatever...
It would have been a great chance for the opposition to get into power by saying that they wouldn't have invaded Iraq, as the deed was already done.

[admarlow]

ok, Matt66, Keyvan etc why did Blair want to invade Iraq if it wasn't for the security of our nation?

[jump79]

admarlow, and how was the nation threatened before the Iraq invasion? oh yes, those scary WMD's, don't we all feel safe now that they have vainshed into thin air?

Whiffey, before we travel back in time to WW2, a different story btw, I don't mind a difference in opinions, as long as you can back them up but you still haven't answered my Q about WMD's? And why you think Blair is a decent man, a man of 'integrity' (lol..)?