Tony Blah, Prime Minister

What can one say of a Prime Minister who has led his people into war, his socialist party (New ‘Labour’) to drown in private sector mores and lately suggested that individuals could not be held responsible for their carbon footprints? (forget his gruesome u turn). What is the explanation for this apparent disregard for self evident truth? The pervasive one is that he suffers from a middling messianic pathology and thus counters the discontent with his leadership, as any messiah does, by intoning to himself, “Only I can see the true path…” With it goes an unshakable assumption that eventually he will be proven right in his decisions.

I prefer to see him in a different light. He is the ultimate public figure of our time. He works hard. He is confident in his prowess. He seeks adulation. He is a product of celebrity culture. He is ambitious. In the superficial world of quick-wittedness, thinking on your feet and smooth articulation of an appealing populism, he is a Master; a true alter ego for the vast anonymous, passive masses. But deep thinker he is not. Cultured, no. Self-aware, in the meaningful sense, certainly not. Perfect for a society that dislikes intellectuals, he is the ultimate water boatman, flashing importantly over the surface of British life, ignoring any complexities that lie beneath. Like Mrs Thatcher before him, his solipsistic tendencies deny the mass in favour of the individual. Individuals can be addressed. Connected with. Embraced. Blamed. Extolled.

Its personal.

So what of his comments about air flights? He is seeking approbation from us as individuals. “I am like you,” he is saying. “We need our holidays. We need to consume. It is our way. The scientists will clean up our mess.”

Sorry, Mr Blair, but we individuals must act upon moral conscience in all matters; and challenge all forms of inhumanity, whether they be the indefensible invasion of other countries or the environmental legacies we leave our children.

Labels: Blair's pollution