The Legacy of Blair

You can’t blame bloke for trying, I suppose, but the soon-not-to-be Prime Minister of Britain’s self-congratulatory eulogy on his achievements that he produced recently must have stuck in the throat of almost every citizen of that benighted realm.
Had I been eligible, I’m sure that I would have voted for him in his early days. He said and promised all the right things – what was not realised was that they were merely the sugared and considered words of his profession – that of a barrister.
Barristers are professionally required to lie on behalf of their clients and clearly this is a habit that is hard to break once out of the courtroom. Also, their only command experience is likely to be the occasional attention of a judge, advocate or possibly a supermarket trolley, in which case they will undoubtedly be supervised by their spouse. If she also happens to be a barrister, Heaven help us!
The London Daily Telegraph published the main points of his “hymn to him” along with a point-for-specious-point rebuttal.
In the spirit of fair play, they then allowed him to write an article defending himself, but I suppose this was to fill in some blank columns that day.
It is hard for anyone to believe that the average Briton, other than the traders in the city with their obscenely inflated bonuses, can consider themselves better off after ten years of New Labour. Certainly, on my forays to the UK, I have not found a single one. I’m sure the evidence of the CCTV cameras will back me up in this.
Apart from the serious attack of myopia evident in his outlook, it rather appears that he considers the British people, whom he was supposed to serve, to be foolish dupes. Well, he got it a bit wrong over Iraq, he admits, but not all that wrong. And yes, he was a bit adrift on the crime issue, but it’s all better now.
And on the health issue, if you’ll just let him finish (Thank you Patricia), all that money was well spent, or so he’s been told, although he hasn’t had to visit a hospital recently himself.
And it wasn’t his fault that the arts had to cough up something for the Olympic Stadium. He’s a patron, after all, having taken his family to see “The Sound of Music.”
And as for honours, well, that just shows how much he appreciates the arts and Elton John has a knighthood to prove it. Can David Beckham be far behind?
The former great leaders of labour, the Attlees, Bevins et al, men of probity and ideals, must be shaking their heavenly heads
So, as he rides of into what most of us hope is the oblivion of his house in Connaught Square, (how many million?????), just what will his legacy be?
The epitaph on Sir Christopher Wren’s tombstone seems apposite.
Lector, si monumentum requiris, circumspice ("Reader, if you seek his monument, look around you").
It’s not a pretty sight.