The British & Chums take over the €U

by - Mon Jul 11, 2005 18:38

Was not as president of an EU which has just seen luxembourg narrowly pass a ratification referendum on the draft constitution.
Nor was it as the triumphant victor the olympics games 2012 selection in Singapore.
Nor was it as the host of the G8 africa and climate change conference in Scotland which saw 8 very powerful states meet with the EU and leaders of the UN, China, India and other "developing countries". Nor was it as the victorious candidate in the general elections of the 5/5 who saw his warnings of an imminent bombing "come true". But somehow one feels that the bulk of the speech was prepared long before.

For Mr Blair's address to the commons of the 11th of July was as the prime minister of a government which has one week since assuming the presidency of the EU seen its capital city bombed an event which has immediately been linked in the popular mind to the illegal invasion of Iraq by a coalition which numbers several other European states of the Union and accesary assistance from yet more.

Thus his words were not just for a domestic audience.
They were meant and ought to have been meant to set the scene for the future of both the UK's and Europe's response to terrorist attacks.

We do not measure terrorist attacks in the number of dead or wounded, we measure them in the extent of the mass-psychological suffering and harm they cause. We don measure them in domestic or international policy applications or changes.

So It is significant the space Blair afforded to his commons speech to the need for Londoners those who use public transport, those who cherish a life of relative peace and near unmatched diversity on this continent, those who already are subject to the most far-reaching and intrustive security methods.

His government rejected the inquiry which so many europeans would feel an obligatory and neccsary step to address the questions arising from the atrocities and maintain the transparency of the government give voice to the victims and preserve the trust of all their citizens.

Rather his government has chosen to respond in a way which surely shall set precedent throughout the european union by setting all responsibility and response to the atrocities with the un-named and faceless COBRA comittee. That londoners now be told that the attack on them, might best be treated upon by the "secret powers" complete with information shutdown, means quite effectively that the terrorist atrocity has "changed the way of life" of the British capital.

There is still the possibility that the London Assembly institute an inquiry one which is public, open, and transparent.

******************************************************

Mr Blair's speech in full:-
The prime minister's first Commons statement after the bomb attacks in London

Monday July 11, 2005

With your permission, Mr Speaker, I would like to make a statement on last Thursday's terrorist attacks in London. The number of confirmed dead currently stands at 52; the number still in hospital 56, some severely injured.

The whole house, I know, will want to state our feelings strongly. We express our revulsion at this murderous carnage of the innocent. We send our deep and abiding sympathy and prayers to the victims and their families. We are united in our determination that our country will not be defeated by such terror but will defeat it and emerge from this horror with our values, our way of life, our tolerance and respect for others, undiminished.

Article continues
I would also like us to record our heartfelt thanks and admiration for our emergency services. Police, those working on our underground, buses and trains, paramedics, doctors and nurses, ambulance staff, firefighters and the disaster recover teams, all of them can be truly proud of the part they played in coming to the aid of London last Thursday and the part they continue to play. They are magnificent.

As for Londoners themselves, their stoicism, resilience, and sheer undaunted spirit were an inspiration and an example. At the moment of terror striking, when the eyes of the world were upon them, they responded and continue to respond with a defiance and a strength that are universally admired.

I will now try to give the house as much information as I can. Some of it is already well-known. There were four explosions. Three took place on underground trains - one between Aldgate East and Liverpool Street; one between Russell Square and Kings Cross; one in a train at Edgware Road station. All of these took place within 50 seconds of each other at 8.50am.

The other explosion was on the No 30 bus at Upper Woburn Place at 9.47am.

The timing of the tube explosions was designed to be at the peak of the rush hour and thus to cause maximum death and injury.

It seems probable that the attack was carried out by Islamist extremist terrorists, of the kind who over recent years have been responsible for so many innocent deaths in Madrid, Bali, Saudi Arabia, Russia, Kenya, Tanzania, Pakistan, Yemen, Turkey, Egypt and Morocco, of course in New York on September 11, but in many other countries too.

I cannot obviously give details of the police investigation now underway. I can say it is among the most vigorous and intensive this country has seen. We will pursue those responsible not just the perpetrators but the planners of this outrage, wherever they are and we will not rest until they are identified, and as far as is humanly possible, brought to justice.

I would also like to say this about our police and intelligence services. I know of no intelligence specific enough to have allowed them to prevent last Thursday's attacks. By their very nature, people callous enough to kill completely innocent civilians in this way, are hard to stop. But our services and police do a heroic job for our country day in day out and I can say that over the past years, as this particular type of new and awful terrorist threat has grown, they have done their utmost to keep this country and its people safe. As I saw again from the meeting of COBR this morning, their determination to get those responsible is total.

Besides the obvious imperative of tracking down those who carried out these acts of terrorism, our principal concern is the bereaved, the families of the victims. It is the most extraordinarily distressing time for them and all of us feel profoundly for them. Let me explain what we are trying to do.

The majority, though I stress not all, of the victims' families now have a very clear idea that they have lost their loved ones. For many, patterns of life and behaviour are well enough established that the numbers of potential victims can now be brought within reasonable range of the actual victims. Some 74 families now have police family liaison officers with them. In addition, we have established, with Westminster City council, the police and others the Family Assistance Centre. This is presently at The Queen Mother Sports Centre. Tomorrow it will move to a more suitable site at the Royal Horticultural Halls in Westminster. I would like to thank the many organisations involved including the Salvation Army, the Women's Royal Voluntary Service, the Red Cross, Westminster City Council and all those counsellors who are helping to staff the centre.

In this way we are doing our level best to look after the families. My right honourable friend - the culture secretary - has taken charge of this aspect as she has done before.

More difficult is then the process of formal identification. The police are proceeding here with some caution. In previous terrorist attacks of a similar kind in other countries, mistakes have been made which are incredibly distressing. The effect of a bomb is to make identification sometimes very, very hard and harrowing. There is now a process in place, involving a group chaired by the coroner which will, in each case, make a definitive pronouncement once the right procedures are gone through. I wish it could be quicker but I think the only wise course is to follow precisely the advice of coroner and police and that is what we will do.

At some time and in consultation with the families, we will be ready to join in arrangements for a memorial service for the victims. HM the Queen has said she will attend. Two minutes silence will be held at noon on Thursday. This will be an opportunity for the nation to unite in remembrance.

There is then the issue of further anti-terrorist legislation. During the passage of the Prevention of Terrorism Act earlier this year we pledged to introduce a further counter-terrorism bill later in this session. That remains our intention. It will give us an opportunity, in close consultation with the police and the agencies, to see whether there are additional powers which they might need to prevent further attacks.

As to timing, my right honourable friend, the home secretary, pledged to publish the bill for pre-legislative scrutiny in the autumn with introduction in spring 2006, so that parliament had time to digest the report on the operation of control orders produced by the independent reviewer, Lord Carlile. I do not currently see any reason to depart from that timetable.

However, that is subject to an important caveat. If, as the fuller picture about these incidents emerges and the investigation proceeds, it becomes clear that there are powers which the police and intelligence agencies need immediately to combat terrorism, it is plainly sensible to reserve the right to return to Parliament with an accelerated timetable.

Finally, I would like to record our deep appreciation of the huge outpouring of international support for London and for Britain over these past days. The G8 leaders demonstrated complete solidarity and also commented with an awe that gave me a lot of pride in Britain, on the courage of our capital city and its people.

The UN security council passed a unanimous resolution of condemnation of the terrorists and support for Britain.

The International Olympic Committee kindly sent a resolution of support.

Messages have been received worldwide. There have been immediate offers of help from all the world's main intelligence agencies. An emergency meeting of the EU justice and home affairs council will take place later this week.

Mr Speaker, the July 7 will always be remembered as a day of terrible sadness for our country and for London. Yet it is true that just four days later, London's buses, trains and as much of its underground as is possible, are back on normal schedules; its businesses, shops and schools are open; its millions of people are coming to work with a steely determination that is genuinely remarkable.

Yesterday we celebrated the heroism of world war two including the civilian heroes of London's blitz. Today what a different city London is - a city of many cultures, faiths and races, hardly recognisable from the London of 1945. So different and yet, in the face of this attack, there is something wonderfully familiar in the confident spirit which moves through the city, enabling it to take the blow but still not flinch from re-asserting its will to triumph over adversity. Britain may be different today but the coming together is the same.

And I say to our Muslim community. People know full well that the overwhelming majority of Muslims stand four square with every other community in Britain. We were proud of your contribution to Britain before last Thursday. We remain proud of it today. Fanaticism is not a state of religion but a state of mind. We will work with you to make the moderate and true voice of Islam heard as it should be.

Together, we will ensure that though terrorists can kill, they will never destroy the way of life we share and which we value, and which we will defend with the strength of belief and conviction so that it is to us and not to the terrorists, that victory will belong.


His complete speech-

by an t-uasal aye aye iosaf ipsiphi Wed Jul 13, 2005 14:53

In a proposal issued on Monday (11th July), the UK calls for the drafting of "common standards for national identity cards taking into account the achievements in relation to the EU passport and in the ICAO framework."

The proposed biometric standard is fingerprints.
Look at your handies, at the tip there are little whorls and swirls in the skin which in the Victorian age were found to be unique and would assist identification processes. This led to a popularity for wicked types to wear gloves, something they still do.

If you don't have hands - careful of those tentacles!
sure we're all getting on famously.

Most member states of the Shengen area already have fingerprinting, for residents cards, and many young people first get fingerprinted for smoking hashish or trying to shoplift a can of lager.

IN future, if these proposals (which are for the majority of the EU states very mild) are approved, Both Britons and Irish people will be expected to give their fingerprints.

Relax, this will not involve messing around with depilatory gels and getting a cast together, this is not madame tussaud's, you will rather be required to get your prints done in the eyes of a police officer at the local parish office most probably.

The information will then be held on a European wide database, which shall require digitilisation, and no-one has suggested yet which state will look after that data. The more concerned amongst you will ask does this mean unscrupolous hackers might get hold of your whorls and swirls and make a madame tussaud's cast and steal works of high art from fortress like art galleries.
Well, yes, the more concerned amongst you are like that, creative minds pushing the boundaries of worry and mixing them with fiction and perhaps have seen to many movies. The more criminal amongst you will be wondering does this mean stealing a can of lager will require the wearing of latex gloves or other general haberdashery, and the answer would be yes, the same general guidelines that applied to your great great great grandfathers still sort of apply. Use your noodle.
Of course the hightech amongst you will be pushing for the application of retina scans for all vertebrates who felt the competitive need to evolve them. The even higher-tech amongst you will be glad that at long last we have found a sure way of identifiying the clones amongst us.

As the backbone of the Civil Rights Lobby
It is our duty to bring public attention to these plans.

That's what we do.

the source is EU doc no: 11092/05 (pdf)

"identifying the clones amongst us"

by cleanfingers Wed Jul 13, 2005 15:04

I don't see how they can enforce the mass fingerprinting of the population, particularly if there is any organised opposition.
Think about the logistics of it. Even the guards will hardly be delighted at the prospect.

by iosaf Thu Jul 14, 2005 16:33

published today, it was going to be published on the 8/7 but was postponed till today, its by the ex-president of Catalonia. Jordi Pujol, who ruled the place for 23 years. Till the tripartite beat him.
It is entitled "blair is fashionable again", and is critical look at Blairism against the global stage and geo-political posturing. It is written by a centre right nationalist regionalist and capitalist who's been on that old spanish round table scene since the constitution. I think it will make interesting reading material for anyone interested in the "who are the spanish or catalans?" question.

Coz wiley old Jordi, our ex-pressie thinks Blair is a "leader". For Britian, for Europe, for Families (!) for the world. A Leader who is needed nay for whom the moment is coming. A Leader who will give us the long promised social Europe of equality!
Mr Pujol looks a bit like yoda. we could stick him in the photo at the top of the page with Geldof as one of the "british chums".

Mr Pujol thinks this leader however is seriously compromised by his +Iraq War* thingy.
Indeed Iraq is Mr Blair's problem.

& thats perhaps why he wants us to know the article is being published now, "on time" and not before.

Indeed we many now all move to proper and dignified discussion on the Iraq War and current UK and EU foreign policy in that [errr] direction.

I believe most have an opinion.

by iosaf Wed Jul 20, 2005 14:27

They have agreed under the General Affairs and External Relations Council meeting, in Brussels, on the 18th July 2005 to send a comissioner to Afghanistan.

"The EU remains committed to long-term support for the Government and people of Afghanistan to achieve security, stability and sustainable reconstruction. The EU stands ready to continue its support to efforts at establishing a sustainable democratic system and to the promotion of human rights including gender equality in Afghanistan for the lasting security of the Afghan people. It stresses in this context the importance of Afghan ownership of this process.

The EU reaffirms its aim to increase commitments in support of Afghanistan's institution building, including efforts aimed at strengthening the rule of law, public administration, the police and the judicial system. In this context, it particularly supports the 2005 Counter-Narcotics Implementation Plan and National Drugs Control Strategy, especially measures to promote alternative livelihoods.

The Council invites the High Representative and the Commission, with the support of EUSR Vendrell, to bring forward proposals for a comprehensive framework for the EU-Afghanistan relationship following the September 2005 elections."

******************************************jolly good stuff***********************

And not just wondering about far away places they held the same day a meeting to discuss "Improving the European Civil Protection Capabilities" must have been fun.

They were very busy the GAERC. very busy.

here's more from them several days earlier in Vienna :-
OSCE supplementary Human Dimension meeting on Human Rights and the Fight Against Terrorism - EU Closing Statement:-

(extract)

"We call on participating States to ensure that their national measures to combat terrorism comply fully with their international human rights obligations, and co-operate fully with OSCE, CoE and UN bodies and to make all efforts to join and implement relevant international conventions.

Fair trial standards should be upheld in all circumstances, including in cases of alleged terrorism, and the role of defence lawyers should be respected.

Participating States should grant unconditional and unhindered access to independent monitors, such as the ICRC as well as OSCE and UN mechanisms, to places of detention.

The EU also recommends that participating States sign and ratify the Optional Protocol to the UN Convention Against Torture at the earliest opportunity, and invites all states’ parties that have not yet done so to make the declaration provided for in Articles 21 and 22 of the Convention.

The EU urges participating States not to expel, return (refouler), extradite or in any other way transfer a person to another state where there are substantial grounds for believing that the person would be in danger of being subjected to torture.

**************************************
jolly jolly good stuff, keep the home fires burning******************************

And a HUMAN INTEREST STORY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The third Homeless World Cup is being currently held in Scotland!

The the teams celebrated their arrival but are determined to let everyone know their disgust at the British government's refusal to allow FIVE Africe nations entry to the UK.

The nations are-
Burundi, Cameroon, Zambia, Nigeria, and Kenya.
Accordingly there is also a "african homeless world cup" in africa, where poverty is historic and there is very little terrorism all things considered.

by your attention please Mon Jul 25, 2005 17:20

and the Turkish PM will meet Mr Blair. These accords are being seen as preliminary to the accession talks for Turkey to join the EU which are scheduled for October.

Turkey is sort of in the news. Its birthday was yesterday, it has been 82 years since the Treaty of Lausanne was signed in switzerland on the 24th of July 1923 establishing the Turkish state. Yesterday the Swiss held for questioning, Mr Doğu Perinçek, who is leader of Turkey’s Workers’ Party. He was questioned for breaching the Swiss hate laws. Perinçek has twice denied the Armenian genocide, claiming its an imperialist lie.

The Turkish foreign minister Abdullah Gül was quoted in the turk daily "Hürriyet" newspaper as saying ""It is not possible for us to accept these things to be done to the leader of a political party in Turkey" and the questioning as ,"unacceptable" and "absolutely contrary to the principle of free speech".

About 300 Kurds, who also marked the anniversary, demonstrated in front of the Palais de Rumine where the treaty was signed. Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari warned on Sunday against Turkish military incursions to pursue Kurdistan Workers Party rebels using northern Iraq as a base, saying this could destabilise Iraq.
Last week in domestic reaction to two Kurdish bombs on Turkish tourism interests (in which a young Irish girl and british tourist was killed) General Ilker Basbug of the Turkish General Staff said last week the United States had given orders for the capture of PKK rebels in Iraq, adding that Turkey had a right to enter Iraqi territory to attack them if no action was taken.

Both the USA and UK rely on the Kurds to support the draft constitution of Iraq.

Kurdish speakers at the Lausanne commemoration criticised the treaty, which had "made a mockery of the hope for freedom" of Turkish minorities.

Armenians say 1.5 million of their people were killed as the Ottoman Empire forced them from eastern Turkey between 1915 and 1923. They argue that this was a deliberate campaign of genocide by Turkey’s rulers at that time.

The recognition of northern Cyprus though not the recogntion of armenian genocide or kurdistan is the meat of the events on wednesday.

Cyprus was partitioned after a turkish invasion in response to a greek military junta in 1974, a bad year by many accounts, which saw one of the worst US presidents mired in scandal, bombs in both Ireland and UK, ineffective investigations, economic recession, and innocents locked up.

The customs union to Cyprus, whose government Turkey does not recognise, will be signed by ambassadors in Brussels on the same day that Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan meets Prime Minister Tony Blair, holder of the EU presidency, in London.

A pan-European opinion survey published by the European Commission last week indicated 52 percent of EU citizens oppose Turkish accession and only 35 percent support it.

The poll suggested 80 percent of Austrians, 74 percent of Germans and 70 percent of French were against admitting the poor, sprawling, mainly Muslim nation of 70 million citizens straddling Europe and the Middle East.

Britain has championed Turkey's bid, highlighting the strategic value of embracing a large Muslim democracy and NATO ally and was thought to link Turkish attitudes on the occupation of Iraq to support for that country to join the EU.


how northern cyprus voted and not voted:-
http://www.indymedia.ie/newswire.php?story_id=69439
turkish facing hate laws in switzerland
http://www.swissinfo.org/sen/swissinfo.html?siteSect=106&sid=5965542&cKey=1122291853000
turkish threaten to cross iraqi frontier
http://kurdmedia.com/news.asp?id=7318
the treaty of lausanne
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Lausanne
the countdown to Turkey in the eu
http://www.swissinfo.org/sen/swissinfo.html?siteSect=143&sid=5965884&cKey=1122303925000

by ;-) Fri Jul 29, 2005 00:44

& thus this week's EU speech ought be the joint statement by Ahern & Blair on the IRA thingy.
Oh well they're delighted. Peace is very popular.
Bertie slipped in an 11, coz he knows that goes down well with the public, and Blair gurggled about history but managed to catch himself before he used the keyphrase "miracle breakthrough".
Now if this isn't the €U what do you want?
****************

Joint statement from the British and Irish leaders
{Tony the blair Blair, and Bertie the bart Ahern}

We welcome today's developments concerning the IRA.

The end of the IRA as a paramilitary organisation is the outcome the governments have been working towards since the cessation of military activity in 1994.

We acknowledge the significance of the IRA statement. Both governments are hopeful that the practical elements of this statement will be implemented in the terms set out.

If the IRA's words are borne out by actions, it will be a momentous and historic development.

Article continues
We also acknowledge that trust has been damaged and will take time to rebuild.

Independent verification will be vitally important to enable trust and confidence to be restored.

Vital roles in the verification process will be played by the Independent International Commission on Decommissioning and the Independent Monitoring Commission. We have asked the IMC to produce an additional report in January 2006, three months after their next regular report.

Their reports will help the governments to assess whether all paramilitary and criminal activity on the part of the IRA has come to a decisive end and whether decommissioning has been fully completed.

Verified acts of completion will provide a context in which we will expect all parties to work towards the full operation of the political institutions, including the Northern Ireland assembly and executive, and the nNorth-south structures, at the earliest practicable date.

We also expect all parties and community leaders to use their influence to bring loyalist paramilitary and criminal activity to an end, including the full decommissioning of weapons.

The normalisation of society in Northern Ireland also requires that all parts of the community support and enjoy the protection of the police. It is more important than ever that progress is made in extending support across all sections of the community for the new policing arrangements throughout Northern Ireland.

There has been great progress in recent years. The benefits of the Good Friday agreement for the people of Ireland have been immense. The two governments are committed to its full implementation. It is our intention to work closely in partnership to grasp this opportunity to inject renewed momentum into the process.

We urge all political leaders, and everyone with a genuine interest in bringing peace and stability to Northern Ireland, to join with us in our determination to ensure continued and rapid progress.

Tony Blair's individual statement

I welcome the statement of the IRA that ends its campaign. I welcome its clarity.

I welcome the recognition that the only route to political change lies exclusively in peaceful and democratic means.

This is a step of unparalleled magnitude in the recent history of Northern Ireland.

The Unionist community in particular and all of us throughout Ireland and the United Kingdom will want to see this clear statement of principle kept to in practice.

The instruction of the IRA statement that volunteers must not engage in any other activity whatsoever will be taken as a forthright denunciation of any activity, paramilitary or criminal.

The independent monitoring commission is in place to ensure that what is said is what is done.

Decommissioning must be completed, as the statement says, as soon as possible.

The commission on decommissioning will verify that.

But the statement is of a different order to anything before.

It is what we have striven for and worked for throughout the eight years since the Good Friday agreement.

It creates the circumstances in which the institutions can be revived.

Unionism will want to know that these circumstances are permanent and verified.

But if in time they are, then proper, devolved democratic government should be restored to Northern Ireland.

Of course, there will continue to be fundamental differences about the past.

The IRA believe that their means were justified. The rest of us do not and we will remember today the many thousands of victims of their campaign.

But the best way to serve the memory of those victims is to make the future brighter and there is, at least, some hope today that the future will indeed be such as to banish the ghastly and futile violence from Northern Ireland forever.

Bertie Ahern's individual statement

Today's developments can herald a new era for all of the people on the island of Ireland.

I welcome the commitment by the IRA to end its armed campaign, to complete the process of decommissioning and to use exclusively peaceful means.

The end of the IRA as a paramilitary organisation is the outcome the governments have been working towards since the cessation of military activities in 1994. If the IRA's words are borne out by verified actions, it will be a momentous and historic development.

Our focus now is on the completing the implementation of the Good Friday agreement, which has brought such immense benefits to this country. This is a proud and confident, modern country.

I believe we can look forward to future of peace and prosperity, based on mutual trust and reconciliation, and a final end to violence.

by NVDA cynic Fri Jul 29, 2005 01:12

"I believe we can look forward to future of peace and prosperity, based on mutual trust and reconciliation, and a final end to violence."

A 'Brit-Irish Isles of Equals brought to you by the Isles leading socialists (in their own egos) Tone, Bertie and Gerrry.
Dream on!!!

by iosaf Mon Dec 19, 2005 12:10

& didn't they do particularly badly?
Its been the most ineffectual presidency yet.
The 460,000,000 citizens may not be said to be happier, more prosperous or in any sense "more integrated and european". Not even the 25 states could warm to the British, only Malta supported their reform of the finance deals. & when one considers that at present forecasts on sea level change that Malta has less than a century of dryland existance, what a triumph ¿eh?

* Migration saw thousands of "sub-saharan" africans try and enter the EU and we remember they were then dumped in the desert.
* Climate change saw tornados hit Brimingham and Barcelona and 3 tropical storms hit the EU islands of Canarias and Azores.
* Unsafe transport saw an illegal single hull vessel dump its toxic load on the Azores.
* Strike action by the trade unions of Europe saw the most protests, work stoppages and "days lost" in the last ten years, as the workers of the continent continued to say NO!/NON! to the EU of capital, but the British just did their best to forget an ignore the discontent.
* Unhealthy monopolies nad conflicts of interests in several key sectors including media continue to taint the democratic nature of many EU states most notably Italy.
* Child poverty is at its worst ever in the UK, Ireland, Italy and many other EU states.
* Transport infrastructure projects are still delayed and unfinished, including high speed rail links, motorways and airports.
* Essential service reforms in utility sectors are being protested in many states for cost cutting and environmentally unsafe practise. Notably the provision of pipelines and electricity.
* European productive industrties have not competed with either NAFTA or the emergent Asian markets.
* The Germans voted for neither a CDU or SPD government but got both.
* The sovreignty issues of the EU 25 was raised not by the EU under the UK but notably by the Swiss acting through the Council of Europe when it emerged that the US and CIA had operated a policy of "extra-ordinary rendition".
* Mr Geldof (the chum in the photo above) walked thousands of youngsters and naive up the garden path and released an album of "his solo years".
* The youth of france showed everyone that prosperity and european values are exemplary.
* The EU mediterranean conference failed to agree a declaration on terrorism and self determination.

The EU at end only sucessfully closed one piece of business

- they got the right to monitor your electronic communication. Thank you Mr Blair and chums.
you truly are crap.

Oh well, its Silvio Berlusconi next.

by iosaf Wed Dec 28, 2005 12:59

to introduce Bob Geldof's article of review on 2005 "the year to make poverty historic" in which he praises both Blair and Brown and even sort of admits the role he played in bringing Pink Floyd back to the top ten.
- apparantly it was all worth it.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/hearafrica05/story/0,15756,1674289,00.html