Well said, Ash.

I am a Labour Party member [very left-wing] - although I wouldn't be surprised to find myself expelled before too long!

My main grouse has been in foreign affairs.

I suspect the main problem he has faced is that the natural Labour support is unhappy about warmongering while the right is all for giving johnny foreigner a good seeing to and annoyed that it wasn't one of their own doing it.

Listened to a female with farming interests last night who claimed the govt had deserted them over F&M and would never be trusted - as if farmers ever would have! Funny, I seem to recall the miners and steelworkers in my area being not just deserted but deliberately put out of jobs by that bl**** woman.

[This message has been edited by Fellwanderer (edited 11 May 2007).]

I agree with Nimrod,good riddance to Blair.

I think he should be put on trial in Iraq for war crimes and hanged if found guilty.The man has blood on his hands and should be called to account.

I think the biggest tragedy in British politics over the last twenty years was the untimely death of John Smith,whom I sure would have been a better Prime Minister. I might not have agreed with his politics,but I respected him and would have trusted him more than the vainglory Blair. If Blair was good at anything,he was a brilliant orator,but then again so was Neil Kinnock and it did him no good.
Blair rightly triumphed over the Tories in the 1997 election,but in the next two he only won because of the lack of opposition,which was no good not only for choices,but it weakened Parliament.
The only member of the parliamentary Labour I have any time for is Frank Field - and I am not a Labour memberor supporter.
Nimrod

This is a walking forum. Let us concentrate on what unites us all. Leave the divisive stuff for somewhere else. Well that’s my annual serious bit for this year. Back to the wind ups soon.

Landryrk.

Thank you for your words about our Queen. She is the one stable thing in our country and is above all politics.

I have noted that our politicians are always seen in a better light abroad than they are at home. Mrs Thatcher could do no wrong in the eyes of the world, but like the Blair government she went on too long, and the people that cheered them both into power have short memories of the good that they both did initially.

After the showbiz razzmatazz of the Blair era Gordon Brown is a totally unknown coin. He is a proven good financial tactician, but comes across as totally uncharismatic on the media.

Although I am a life long Tory I expect that Gordon Brown will be a quiet, but very adept leader during his coming short term in office.

The rock that he must bare on his back is the legacy of political mistrust that has built up after UK went from the legitimate invasion of Afghanistan, to the confidence trick that was played on the public leading up to the invasion of Iraq.

I think Prime Ministers of any party should only serve two terms,just like the US President. We also need a radical reform of the House of Commons - why do we need nearly 700 MPs for this little island?
Nimrod

I was search around trying to find the reason for so many MP's and came across the following paragraph....

London consists of 33 small cities, each with their own governments, schools, areas of wealth and poverty and sense of individual identity. Each borough has national government representation and a local council that collects taxes and provides essential services.

...and that is just London. Think of Birmingham, Manchester, etc., each city within a city wanting to have their say in government on how they are run. You can very quickly come up with the figure of 700.

Scottish Breakaway (Coronation Coronach)

Chorus:
Nae Liz the Twa, nae Lilibet the One
Nae Liz will ever dae
We'll mak' oor land Republican
In a Scottish breakaway

Noo Scotland hasnae got a King
And she hasnae got a Queen
How can ye hae the Second Liz
When the First yin's never been

Her man he's cried the Duke o' Edinburgh
He's wan o' the kiltie Greeks
Och dinnae blaw ma kilt awa'
For it's Lizzie wears the breeks

He's a handsome man and he looks like Don Juan
He's beloved by the weaker sex
But it disnae really matter at a'
'Cause it's Lizzie that signs the cheques

Noo her sister Meg's got a bonny pair o' legs
But she didnae want a German or a Greek
Poor aul' Peter was her choice but he didnae suit the boys
So they sellt him up the creek

But Meg was fly an' she beat them by an' by
Wi' Tony hyphenated Armstrong
Behind the pomp and play the question o' the day
Wis, Who did Suzie Wong

Sae here's tae the lion, the bonnie rampant lion,
An' a lang streitch tae his paw
Gie a Hampdon roar an' it's oot the door
Ta-ta tae Chairlie's maw

(as sung by Alex Campbell)

Tune: The Sash My Father Wore



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[This message has been edited by flying scot (edited 12 May 2007).]

I know what you mean Flying Scot - but it reminded me of archetypical scotchmen bellowing lustfully around a fire (full of "Heavy") oblivious to the huge subsidies that Scotland receives from within the UK - The absence of which would cause many a scotch tear.

Stop it or we'll send the army up there (as usual)

Alas we have a bigger bunch of useless numpties sitting in Edinburgh than Westminster ever saw.

As R Burns said..
Fareweel to a' our Scottish fame,
Fareweel our ancient glory!
Fareweel ev'n to the Scottish name,
Sae famed in martial story!
Now Sark rins over Solway sands,
An Tweed rins to the ocean,
To mark where England's province stands ---
Such a parcel of rogues in a nation!

What force or guile could not subdue
Thro many warlike ages
Is wrought now by a coward few
For hireling traitor's wages.
The English steel we could disdain,
Secure in valour's station;
But English gold has been our bane ---
Such a parcel of rogues in a nation!

O, would, or I had seen the day
That Treason thus could sell us,
My auld grey head had lien in clay,
Wi Bruce and loyal Wallace!
But pith and power, till my last hour,
I'll mak this declaration:-
`We're bought and sold for English gold' ---
Such a parcel of rogues in a nation!