Comments for lost horizons

Comment on How to worship by Bec

Bec — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 17:32:44 +0000

Thanks for the laugh, Simon! That made my day!

Comment on Remembering Kosova by Nev

Nev — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 15:58:22 +0000

No doubt there were issues, as there will always be with any government new or old, but I really don’t think in these early days that there was general disillusionment, except those who were defiantly anti-Labour/Blair from the offset anyway. Even from the Scottish perspective, Scotland being a Labour stronghold, the public were delighted that many years of Tory rule had finally ended. And we even got some devolution into the bargain.

The British public, not being an oppressed people, are never going to embrace a government with adoring relish, but the relief of these early Blair years were tangible, and though clearly diminishing over the years until the sharp downturn following the Iraq war, in 1999 I don’t believe the general view could possibly be called “disillusioned”.

Comment on Remembering Kosova by Simon Varwell

Simon Varwell — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 09:50:51 +0000

I’d kind of disagree in turn. A number of reasons for disillusionment in those early years spring to mind.

By then, tuition fees had been introduced and there seemed no end to the problem of student finance (something cogent at the time); Blair’s attitude towards devolution (“sovereignty still resides with me as an English MP”) set the stall out for his views towards Scotland; and there was already a loss to the “good ethics” sheen with Ecclestone’s donation to Labour giving F1 an exemption to the tobacco ad ban.

They were matters of discontent with me, although I’d admit I was never content with him even before the election, and while these criticisms were widespread they were perhaps not universal.

However, it was not too early in the Blair years for many people to realise there were serious problems with the Labour administration. Most people in the UK would have had nowhere near the level of satisfaction or adoration felt by the Kosovan Albanians.

Comment on Universal Pub Converter by Nev

Nev — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 09:26:31 +0000

Phil, I’ll buy it off you for a tenner.

Comment on Remembering Kosova by Nev

Nev — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 09:24:32 +0000

Hmm, kind of disagree with that third last paragraph, Varwell, which sits uneasily with an otherwise balanced blog entry. No matter your own view of the Blair years, I don’t think any serious discontent set in with “us” (to which I presume to read the general public rather than your regular readers) until the Iraq war got underway.

Comment on How to Strip the Willow, by the Jiggers by maddjock

maddjock — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 08:32:46 +0000

hmmm… spin 8 or 16… never usually in a fit state after the first 2 spins to think clearly…

lol

Comment on Movie narrative charts by Claire

Claire — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 21:57:42 +0000

I haven’t checked xkcd for a good long while – thanks for jogging my memory!

Cxx

Comment on Universal Pub Converter by Phil

Phil — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 16:44:08 +0000

Done!

(I don’t know what to do with it.)

Comment on Universal Pub Converter by Simon Varwell

Simon Varwell — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 16:39:26 +0000

To who? How? I’ll sell it to you, Phil, for a fiver.

Comment on Universal Pub Converter by Phil

Phil — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 15:42:30 +0000

Sell the idea, Simon!