Tony Bliar and his perverted vision of the 60's

[sweetheart]

He really pissed me off with his quip about the 60's being a period
we have to now recover from by being right wing pricks. What kind
of a tory has he become... geez, give him another term and he'll be
right of margaret thatcher.

Tony, binge drinking and "yob" culture comes from disempowerment,
from repressive patriarchy, from a culture that deliberately destroys
and eats its own children by criminalizing drugs experimentation
and like unprotected sex, leaving the kids to discover pregnancy
whilst legislating abstinance.

Instead of learning something from them 60's, bLIAR has moved towards
michael howard and stolen the tory thunder. Perhaps the lesson a
wise blair could use the most would be to decriminalize drugs taking
so that the inner city rot could be dealt with above board.

Britain needs the wisdom of the 60's in this time of tony's madness.
Some love, tolerance and goodwill towards one another... come one
tony. Smoke a joint and chill out.

Tony, you are the yob, you war monger.

[muriel_volestrangler]

1. It was a call for conformity, obedience and intolerance

Roy Hattersley had a good comment in The Guardian yesterday:

The process is most tragically demonstrated in the progress of policy towards asylum seekers. During our last conversation - now almost two years ago - the prime minister told me that the topic dominated conversation in his constituency. When I asked how many would-be refugees had made their home in Sedgefield, he told me "none at all". That illustrates the message which the government should have spread throughout the land. For most people, asylum policy should not be an issue. Instead of saying so, ministers have spoken in the language of national crisis. Then, having heightened the apprehension, they took draconian steps to restore tranquillity.

The leader of a radical party - even if he can do no better than locate himself on the centre left - has a duty to promote a progressive consensus. Tony Blair plays leapfrog with his own party, and each leap moves Labour further to the right of the political spectrum. That technique, like so much in his campaign to rebuild Labour in his own image, is a brilliant stratagem. It is being passively accepted by members of parliament who think of nothing other than retaining their own seats. I hear them rejoice at the thought of the prime minister outflanking Michael Howard. Do they not care that, at the same time, he is side-tracking socialism.

Amazing to think that Hattersley used to be thought of as the right wing of Labour.

[Hand]

2. Say, was that a typo...

...or was "Bliar" deliberate? Nice either way!

:yourock:

:hi: from the former dominion of Canada! And may we soon be a republic!

[T_i_B]

3. What do you make of this then sweetheart?

http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/crime/story.jsp?story=544439

A radical scheme to vaccinate children against future drug addiction is being considered by ministers, The Independent on Sunday can reveal.

Under the plans, doctors would immunise children at risk of becoming smokers or drug users with an injection. The scheme could operate in a similar way to the current nationwide measles, mumps and rubella vaccination programme.

Childhood immunisation would provide adults with protection from the euphoria that is experienced by users, making drugs such as heroin and cocaine pointless to take. Such vaccinations are being developed by pharmaceutical companies and are due to hit the market within two years.

The Department of Trade and Industry has set up a special project to investigate ways of using new scientific breakthroughs to combat drug and nicotine addiction.

[LeftishBrit]

4. I was a small child in the SIxties but...

From what I can gather, the Sixties were one of the few times when we had a certain spirit of hope in this country; when things were actually improving in education and health, for example.

He does seem to be trying to move to the right of Thatcher!

[Capt_Nemo]

5. He already IS to the right of Thatcher

Last that I knew Thatcher's body count of innocent civillians didn't
reach the tens of thousands...

[sweetheart]

6. The tory's may be first

The tory's could "move left" to counter blair and accept cannabis
legalization and total decriminalization of all drugs.

It is well known that the amount of love a child recieves before
the age of 6, hugs, unconditional encouragement (real time with mum),
and such.... that such children are radically less inclined to be
involved with drugs, depression, etc... in later life.

Strategically ending the drugs problem is to end prohibition and
to end child-poverty as well, as the latter and the unloved seem
too often in bed together.

Injection my foot. ;-)

[Fish08]

7. Criticism of the 60's seems to spawn from a

religious stance in most cases, and I think with Blair this is also partially true. It is frowned on by some as being an unwholesome age for many reasons (even though the early 70's could be seen as an even more "liberal" age). Politician's who take this viewpoint are not to be trusted in my view. This says a lot about their personality: chances are they believe in conformity of the masses from the 1950's- or the "all about me" 1980's+, not to mention being very right-wing. To the normal person I can imagine the 60's bringing to mind an age of personal liberty and, at least an attempt at, real freedom. For those who try to cast this age in a negative light I can't help but think the worst of what their true ideals may be.

When I think of Mr Blair's repeated statement, usually after meetings with the Bush, that (he) "we share their values and we share their view that the best security we ultimately have is the spread of freedom and democracy and justice throughout the world." I can't help but shiver. With Mr Blair does he state "their" as being the people of the US, or "their" as being the Neo-Cons of the current administration? Not because I don't believe Britain shares many worthwhile values with America, but because I can't help but wonder what his personal values may be. Can you say "imperialist tendencies"?

[LeftishBrit]

8. Imperialist tendencies indeed

Yes. I can and do say 'imperialist tendencies'. I do think that Blair really believes in the right and duty of Britain to save other countries from themselves, if necessary by bombing the hell out of them. In some ways, he should have been living 100 years ago.

And I do have some respect, as well as anger, for many of the imperial administrators of the past. Many of them were brave, self-sacrificing, honourable - and oh-so-dangerously WRONG. What is amazing is that Blair, with all the lessons of history available to him, seems bent on repeating the old mistakes.