Saturday, November 29, 2003

Bush In Baghdad Reconsidered Posted here Saturday, November 29, 2003 at 11:32:03 AM     This is a new light.. It also seems that the President might have done what he did for fear of being overshadowed by Hillary. The planning for his trip started well after Hillary's office notified the White House of her intention to spend Thanksgiving with the troops. Pathetic I tell you. Pathetic and disappointing. ********

Blair on middle class in the Guardian Posted here Saturday, November 29, 2003 at 10:23:38 AM     In this Blair hints at the pressures on the middle class to divide into  an upper slice that can afford the future and a lower slice, much larger, that cannot. Blair's saying the future belongs to meeting the remaining middle class and letting go of those -increasingly more - below the line. This seems to me an ultimately losing approach, in terms of civil society. Tony Blair yesterday set the tone for his "big conversation" about Labour's third term with a neo-puritan appeal to voters to face up to the social irresponsibility which underpins poor parenting, unhealthy diet and anti-social behaviour towards neighbours. Mr Blair cited social ills from drunkenness in city centres to smoking in public places, poor diet and alcoholism as generating huge costs to the NHS and police as well as to society at large. Such problems must be addressed, he suggested. To rub home the need for urgent and sometimes unpopular decisions, Mr Blair also used a Guardian-sponsored debate to warn that the middle classes will abandon key public services - threatening to drive down standards in schools and hospitals - unless Labour persists with radical reforms of the way they function.     ********