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.

What did he say?

He Didn’t think or understand the culture, just as he didn’t understand a lot of things.

In my opinion wisdom comes with age...Blair was not my favourite PM back in the day .....but sometimes as the saying goes 'two heads are better than one".....Starmer needs wiser advisors around him.

Tony Blair isn’t wise, but I think they are trying to counter the view of the Labour Party as led by callow stodge and create a Voice of An Elder, because that’s what Rupert Lowe is becoming.

We are spending a fortune on interest because our creditors think our economy is unsustainable. Cuts have got to be made to bring spending back under some sort of control. At the same time defence spending has got to rise. Benefits cannot continue as they are

I welcome TB as much as a badger would. I can't begin to imagine the scale of the arrogance and hubris that would mean that you somehow managed to get away with what he did, but then instead of thanking your lucky stars and lying low, insisting on sticking around like an obnoxious stench and telling everybody that they should listen to your advice.

The man looks utterly haunted, every time he appears on screen. He may bear a striking physical resemblance to Tim Curry, but I think even TC in full makeup on a horror film set would struggle to look as evil and haunted as Blair does. Even on that infamous Christmas card from all of those years ago, he couldn't hold back his inner self and at least try to look neutral. If he correctly told me what my own name is, I'd still assume he was lying and/or personally on the make.

Ah the mythical billionaire tax. Squeeze the billionaires and we'll have our utopia.

Specifically, how would you structure this? A tax on investment values? (Bearing in mind we already tax gains and income) a tax on income - in addition to the 45% rate? A tax on cash? Dividends? Land? Buildings?

Billionaires are highly mobile and will clear of in an instant.

His wealth is unsurprising, given that his wife was even selling his signature on eBay during his premiership. Joe cheap and grasping can you get? We absolutely should not be admiring that.

I'll never forget that time when they were in Australia and Cherie and the kids went into a sports shop. The owner suggested that they might like to choose a few items for themselves (one would surely assume that would mean maybe one each) and take them with their compliments... and she pretty much emptied the entire shop.

Tony Blair has a BA degree. I have a BA degree, two diplomas, a research masters and a professional registration (now expired through retirement). I had a full-on portfolio career including shiftwork, lower management, directorships and my own business, and I started two successful third sector organisations. Ironically my main professional focus was giving voice to disabled service users who had been traditionally excluded, meaning that my own, higher profile was deliberately understated. I have been an extremely successful investor, and managed rental property as a brief sideline. I was, for a long time, to my amusement, the first result on any internet search of my name, before dozens of others less prominent. And I avoid putting people down online. Just a thought!

Because I can guarantee that a lot of posters on here who are moaning about Blair being untrustworthy, are planning on voting for David Paulden to be our next PM come the next GE.

I personally won’t be voting for Zac Polanski’s party but I’m certainly not going to stoop low enough to mis name him.

Utterly useless, but a better communicator than Starmer then? Sounds like great PM material!

He’s totally right about the welfare reform bill and Triple Lock. Its insane that we could be spending more on welfare than defence. Utterly indefensible. Labour’s myopia about welfare spending is what will ultimately sink it and hand a victory to Reform. I am glad he’s weighed in on this.

He’s right that it’s ridiculous to think electing yet another leader will fix the problem.

He’s also right about us not being anywhere near ready for AI. Our economy and industrial infrastructure are nowhere near ready for this.

He’s woefully wrong about blind support for the US and embarrassing that he can’t be more self reflective given his past.

What does strike me about him though is he suddenly, after a career of sound bite driven on message blurgh, actually sounds like a conviction politician.

If Starmer had had a bit more of this two years ago we probably wouldn’t be in this fine mess.

He isn’t right about pretty much anything. He’s a cosseted public school boy with good communication skills.Thats it. I don’t know why people are even talking about him.

When someone officially changes their name by deed poll, their new name is their name. It is rude and pathetic to use the old name by way of personal attack. Honestly, there are plenty of reasoned arguments against Polanski. No need to stoop to this.

He lied to the country about the reasons for going to war. No he doesn't talk sense. I won't ever listen to his opinion on anything.

Never has, never will. Drove this country into the ground then handed the reins over to Gordon Brown to take the final hit.

And also - no to the OP.

You could argue that Blair gave us Brexit. If he hadn't failed to use the pause option in allowing full access to the accession countries to the EU, the UK would look very different. And he did that because he was in the pocket of big business who wanted the cheap labour.

He was also so far up Dubya's ass you could only see a pair of feet, and is now repeating that move with Trump.

I'm sure the man who thought nothing of lying to the public to curry favour with a right wing warmonger with daddy issues, and who has accepted hundreds of millions of pounds in donations from a right wing tech billionaire, definitely has the average persons best interest at heart when he speaks 🙄

I think that statement was naive. The intervening years should have taught the Western democrats that Talibs do not welcome any challenges to their theocratic views on the "proper" order for society. Iran is just proving it all over again. Women want more and better input into the mechanisms that govern their countries. It seems completely irrational from a 21st century western female perspective. But the lengths to which those regimes will go to suppress women's rights to self-determination tell me everything I need to know to object to them. And by extension, I also assume that every Islamic male thinks they should exert power over every woman. I quite often visit a UK town with a large Muslim population and I don't like the men.

Blair is just desperate to remain relevant although I did nearly fall off my chair seeing a Jacob Rees Mog video on YouTube where he described Blair's points as being closer to "conservative" ideology than the current Conservative party.

If that doesn't show you we're in upside down world I don't know what will...

Like it or not @SillydizzyGirl , Blair has his finger on the pulse of majority opinion. His extended essay this week chimed with me. I'd vote for Blair if my MP stood down. But frankly, I'd vote for any rational candidate; there just haven't been many to elect.

Blair is a paid shill of Trump’s handlers. Wouldn’t trust him to tell me the time of day.

That's what concerns me though. Is he saying those things because he believes them or is he saying it for the reasons you pointed out to do exactly that?