Anyone else think Tony Blair is talking sense?

[Bleachedjeans]

And I have read his full essay online (twice)not just the cherry picked headlines in the papers. and I watched the interview on Radio 4 today.
I doubt Keir Starmer could have performed as well in an interview.
He makes a lot of good points, especially the one that this government doesn’t have clear policies for improvement.

Can the man who led us all in the ‘weapons of mass destruction’ debacle be trusted?
I am very interested in hearing other people’s opinions.

Yes a lot of what he says makes sense.

It is a feature of our politicians/leaders that they all know exactly what to do when they leave office, but never seem to do it when they are in office. BOE governers are a prime example of this.

There's a reason why that is. Because talking about doing something hard is much easier than actually doing it.

Still, I think he is mostly correct.

Tories and Reform "Labour need to cut the benefits bill!"
Labour "OK We'll means test the Winter Fuel Allowance and remove the Triple Lock..."
Tories and Reform "Not those benefits!"

Can you guess how wealthy and comfortable Tony Blair will be while you and I are waving our luxury beliefs away?

When he was in power I always thought he was out of touch and had no idea about how most people live . But was happy to accept free holidays from Cliff Richard in secluded islands.

Today’s speech confirms my view .

and I never liked him going to war just to cozy up to the US president. Thank his he isn’t PM now .

But our economy is debt based. If we "lived within our means" the country would grind to a halt. Without debt, we have a flat economy.

To counter the negative narrative, IMO, TB was the most successful PM of the last 30 years. I could level charges, but I won't because I am certain that the badly advised PFI deals on hospital building were needed to meet the demographically driven health care needs. The schools built were essential, but now they are hitting 30 years old, so becoming tired too.

For my money, a part of the answer would be to have local politicians spend more government money on local priorities, but you don't have to be as cynical as me to point out 97 ways that could go wrong. More control over how local taxes are spent on local INVESTMENT would be good. Not just endlessly spending council tax receipts on threadbare geriatric facilities. For full disclosure, I live in the rural SW where everyone seems to dream of coming to see out their sunset years, without having family and friends nearby to help out.

This, and I say that as a Blairite only of the time.
You cannot cosy up to fascism and total irrationalaty. Trump is Bush x 10 in terms of wreaking worldwide horror.
They are wildly different presidents in wildly different political and economic landscape.

Just finished watching some news clips and I was thinking exactly the same OPz

he’s right on our long term lack of response to technological advances too.

He’s sticking his oar in because he’s highly respected in the Labour Party so can come in a bit like dad telling the teenagers off. It’s tactical.

Yes I do think he talks sense. More sense than Burnham and the hard left on Labour.

Yes I think he’s talking sense. I don’t think the left leaning MPs in the Labour Party will be interested though.

the Tories might struggle with their older voters, however (as one myself) I’d rather see investment for my children then myself

We have a flatlining economy @ThePeppyOpalScroller . The burning question, that no politician can or will answer, is how we make it improve. There will be a cost to doing so, don't doubt that. But who will bear the brunt of it? If we continue to rack up debt it will be like the 2012 Greek debt crisis on steroids when the IMF arrive. There will be families on the street.

Unfortunately for Labour, there really aren't enough "rich" people to tax harder, because they will just board a plane. Nice fantasy.

Or we can force politicians on the left of politics to swallow their distaste for capitalism and profits, and encourage people with ideas to start businesses, and give them some easy early low tax years as long as they hire and train people and grow.

Meanwhile we should scale back the triple lock on pensions to RPI or CPI only.

I do, I’m afraid.

TB is clever, and I don't think he's a fascist or irrational. I don't always agree with his ideas, but I do believe that he thinks he is making proposals that would help the majority.

I agree about the government having a lack of vision, that's about all.

TB's intended audience is not anyone in the Labour Party. If he wanted to catch their ears he could do that privately.

But who he does think his intended audience is I'd be interested to know
Xi Jinping?
Donald Trump?
UK or global business interests? Tech bros?
UK centrist voters eg right wing Labour plus one nation Tories?
The Board of Trustees of the World Economic Forum?

Blair is absolutely right about welfare & the pension triple lock.

His proposals for replacing the current pension system are lunacy. They are really complex and for one thing people would have to make major decisions about their financial future, which for many people is difficult and risky. We make our own decisions for private pensions at the moment but at least the state pension is straightforward and guaranteed - if you get enough credits throughout your life, you get the full state pension.

Webb said the current system is relatively simple and said it would be a “huge backward step” to replace it with something “fiendishly complex and highly intrusive”.

Under the proposed lifespan fund, people would be able to draw on it during working life for defined purposes, rebuild it once back in employment, and convert it into a guaranteed pension at retirement.

Former pensions minister and LCP partner, Steve Webb, called the idea of linking state pension payments to individual health records and individual life expectancy “deeply troubling”.

Financial Times

I meant Trump when I say fascist and irrational.

He’s 💯 and I say that as someone who never voted for him but no one will listen and we’ll be reform in 2029 and green in 2034 and uk will be uninvestible and all the rich people will have left but ya know, you were told!:

Some of what he said is right, but he took us into an unjust war, encouraged immigration, sold off hospital beds, created PFI and made us all think we were partying. The rot set in then so I don’t want him back on the scene now.

I don’t care what he did 18 years ago, it’s history and he left the country in a better state than he found it. He doesn’t seem to be able to accept that it’s over though and I want him just to go away. The fact that the Tories love him now shows how far right he’s moved, maybe he should write their next manifesto, he’s made a good start.

Pains me to say it but yes I agree with him

Given the Iraq war, I’m surprised anyone gives him the time of day.

Can you guess how wealthy and comfortable Tony Blair will be while you and I are waving our luxury beliefs away?

Could that be because Blair is more educated, more hard working and more successful than you perhaps? Just a thought!

Successful? If killing people is a success?