cynicalbastard

Godz that’s a banal headline.

Sir Ian ‘where’s the nearest camera? I must make a statement’ Blair is giving a speech tonight where he’s saying some quite extraordinary things. The word that springs to mind is chutzpah. He’s telling us, for instance, that the Police have moved from being ‘a very silent organization’ to one at the heart of controversy without ‘an intervening period of public debate.’ And using this to suggest now is the time for that debate.

“there is little dispassionate, thought-through public examination of just what it is we are here to do in the 21st century - to fight crime or to fight its causes, to help build stronger communities or to undertake zero tolerance”

Hmm, well, the question is how to encourage this debate. Perhaps, first, one kills unarmed civilians because they look a bit different. Then one leaks stories about them being very suspicious, or here illegally or, well, just damned dodgy.

Perhaps one could follow this by a series of interviews where the facts were continually disputed. And then another series where the ‘other’ Blair agenda–fear, more fear , oh and panic too–is backed to the hilt. And then by putting serious pressure on MPs to change the law and take away any level of protection suspected ‘terrorists’ might have.

And, now, after this series of interventions in debates about the future security of the country, Sir Blair wants to talk. Which is not to say that the debate shouldn’t be held (and, indeed, has anyway actually been going on since before 1829–perhaps Sir Ian just doesn’t mix in the right circles), just that Sir Ian is far from the right person to propose it.