tony blair

[748rhydhir]

for what will our esteemed prime minister be best remembered for after 10 years or so in office ?
no clues or honours given.

[buildersmate]

He will be remembered for his first 7 successful years, after which he completely fouled it up.

[vehelpfulguy]

7 successful years, I must have missed that.

He will be remembered by me as someone who was all talk and no action.

He and his government found it very easy to make promises and very difficult to actually bother to sit down and make them happen.

The classic one was "crime and the causes of crime"

Things are so much better now aren't they.

I also think his lack of control over our borders has allowed hundreds of thousands of people (maybe even millions) to come hare and take advantage of this country without giving anything back.

Fake Asylum seekers, illegal immigrants, convicted criminals and rapists, criminal gangs from eastern Europe and Yardies from the West indies.

All found it easy to get here, and we found it very difficult to remove them.

He has ruined this country for ever.

[anotheoldgit]

Agree with everyone of your points vehelpfulguy. May I add a few?
Took us into an illegal war, on dodgy intelligence.
First serving Prime Minister to be questioned by the Police.
Instrumental in the break up of the UK.
Introducing universary fees.
Altering the old Labour party beyond all recognition.
A master of spin.
Ruining our once great NHS (the envy of the world)
Commiting our troops to the danger spots of Afghanistan.
while most of NATO sit on the fence.
He can't go too soon.

[jenstar]

ID cards. It's amazing how much this has been treated as a non-issue so far, but just wait until people start having to attend biometric centres and what's more, PAY for the things. You think Tony Blair is unpopular now? That's nothing to how unpopular he's going to become retrospectively.

[sp1814]

He will always be remembered for 'immigration' and Iraq.

People will forget the following:

1. Longest period of sustained low inflation since the 60s
2. Low mortgage rates
3. Introduced the National Minimum Wage and raised it to �5.35
4. Record police numbers in England, Scotland and Wales
5. Cut overall crime by 35 per cent
6. Record levels of literacy and numeracy in schools
7. Best-ever primary school results
8. Funding for every pupil in England to double by 2008
9. Employment is at its highest level ever
10. Written off up to 100 per cent of debt owed by poorest countries
11. 85,000 more nurses
12. 32,000 more doctors
13. Brought back matrons to hospital wards
14. Devolved power to the Scottish Parliament
15. Devolved power to Welsh Assembly
16. Dads now get paternity leave of 2 weeks for the first time
17. NHS Direct offering free convenient patient advice
18. Gift aid was worth �625 million to charities last year
19. Restored city-wide government to London
20. Record number of students in higher education
21. Child benefit up 25 per cent since 1997
22. Created Sure Start to help children from low income households
23. Introduced the Disability Rights Commission
24. �200 winter fuel payment to pensioners & extra �100 for over-80s
25. On course to exceed the Kyoto target to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 2010

[sp1814]

...and ermmm...

26. Negotiated the historic Good Friday Agreement in Northern Ireland
27. Over 30,000 more teachers in England schools
28. All workers now have a right to 4 weeks� paid holiday
29. A million pensioners lifted out of relative poverty
30. 800,000 children lifted out of relative poverty
31. Introduced child tax credit giving more money to parents
32. Scrapped Section 28 and introduced Civil Partnerships
33. Brought over 1 million social homes up to standard
34. Free school milk for five, six and seven-year-olds in Wales
35. Banned fox hunting
36. Cleanest rivers, beaches, drinking water and air since the industrial revolution
37. Free TV licences for over-75s
38. Banned fur farming and the testing of cosmetics on animals
39. Waiting times for operations halved
40. Free local bus travel for over-60s
41. New Deal - helped over a million people into work
42. Over 1.5 million child trust funds have been started
43. Free eye test for over 60s
44. Five, six and seven year olds in class sizes of 30 or less
45. Free entry to national museums and galleries
46. Overseas aid budget more than doubled
47. Cancer death rates down by 12 per cent, saving 43,000 lives
48. Cut long-term youth unemployment by 75 per cent
49. Free nursery places for three and four-year-olds in England, Scotland and Wales
50. Free fruit for all four to six-year-olds at school

[sp1814]

All pasted from:

http://www.labour.org.uk/top50achievements

So they would say that wouldn't they...but then again, I doubt whether all fifty achievements are complete lies. I'd have to check on the Tory, Liberal and <cough> BNP sites for balance.

...but who can be bothered with balance?

Certainly not me.

[748rhydhir]

how many of the listed items are labour led or had to implemented by order of the european parliament ?
who actually runs this country on the more important issues ?

[NJOK]

He'll be remembered for:

BAD
1. Iraq
2. 'Spin'
3. Staying too long.

GOOD
1. An incredibly strong and stable economy
2. The Good Friday Agreement in Northern Ireland
3. Tackling poverty (people in the UK living below the poverty line down by a third, writing off of Third World debt.)

[sp1814]

748rhydhir

I wouldn't like to hazard a guess...I just think that the good news of the past decade will always (and some could argue quite rightly) be overshadowed by the bad.

Still, at least with Tony, you know he won't turn up to cabinet meetings stoned out of his head.

Heh heh heh...

[funkyrich]

To be able to lie,by reflex action, to the country.

[hubblebubble]

We are better off than we were 10 years ago.