Wednesday, 15 November, 2006
- 15 Nov 06, 05:26 PM
Whose is it anyway? Martha Kearney has been at Westminster picking over the legislative programme to try and figure out whether it reflects Blair, Brown or Reid.
Justin '' Rowlatt examines the proposed Climate Change BIll while David Grossman pores over Blair's legislative legacy.
Join Jeremy at 2230GMT live on the and on ±«Óãtv Two in the UK and leave your comments on below.
Comments Post your comment
Prog talked about light Queen's Speech and a tired government. Totally agree. Anyone see the 'Queen's Speech Broadcast' tonight by NewLiarbour? Tantamount to saying 'We have no clue what we're doing anymore, give us your ideas 'cos we haven't got any of our own and need our cushty salaries and pensions as we wouldn't get these out in the real world. Help us do our jobs'. I thought they were paid to come up with the ideas and actually LEAD the country. These idiots couldn't run a bath.
Complain about this post
ID cards and live car tracking, Blair's Legacy policies, the creation of a Police State.
The ±«Óãtv news is doing an experiment over road pricing, they blithely say looking at a screen we can track where the car is every moment of the day. Without mentioning the real power and control reason behind the smoke screen of pricing. Just like the multitudinous excuses, every one a lie, trying to justify the ID national database and card.
Freedom in England died with Bliar, the worst silver tongued deceiving monster ever to rule the land. In the short term Bliar will thought bad for the Iraq war, but as time goes by we will realise that too was a distraction, hiding the rotten real agenda.
Complain about this post
So behind all this is to be another attempt to give the police 90 days detention without charge. That will prove almost impossible while T Blair, J Straw, J Ried and importantly Ian Blair are still in office. The last effort failed largely because no one in the house trusted them when they started scaremongering and waving dodgy dossiers. Brown MIGHT get it through, but he is tarnished by supporting it last time too.
Complain about this post
It took a few years of the Bush Administration for people to realise how good Clinton was. I think much the same thing is happening with Blair. The difference between Blair and Bush on Iraq is clear. Mr Blair came on TV and said that he was doing what he genuinely thought was best for the UK, and that was to remain the US's closest ally. Unluckily for Blair, Bush came to power and has been the worst US president in history.
The Iraq war was going to happen with or without UK support, so Blair is not to blame alone. UK troops account for a small proportion of the total, so they cannot be blamed for failures on the ground in Iraq.
Blair might be blamed for turning Big Government into Big Brother, but Tories have just as lamentable a record, remember the poll tax?
Brown's biggest test will be how he responds to an EU judgement that may well allow UK citizens to buy fags and booze from the cheapest sources in the UK. Which taxpayer group will be targeted to effectively finance smoking and boozing if the UK duty regime is abolished?
Complain about this post
I have just watched Mr Paxman interviewing some 2nd tier MPs about the Queens Speech. All reasonably dull until Mr Paxman launched a sustained and very aggressive finger jabbing attack on the Conservative whilst asking a pretty uncontentious question. Now we all know the whole Newsnight team is vehermently anti-Conservative, but, at least for the sake of your professional standards, I would have excected Mr Paxman to have exercised little effort to disguise his personal feelings. Its not as if he isn't paid enough. Maybe he is now so overpaid that he no longer feels any obligation to abide by the ±«Óãtv impartiality guidelines.
Or maybe I am being a bit over-sensitive. I will watch the rerun of the program on the web tomorrow to see if there was comparable finger jabbing at the other parties' MPs before lodging a formal complaint.
ps I my first attempt to post this seems to have hit some form of automatic blog censorship firewall. Can you not even accept criticism any more?
Complain about this post
Dear Newsnight
Many people watching or listening to the farmyard noises that passes as debate from our Mother of Parliament will be repulsed by it. This does need to change and we need a wider range of the type of people in Parliament than we currently have.
re the Queens speech, it does seem that space if being left for something quite major to be brought it but is currently being discussed, just a guess.
Any thoughts on what that might be?
best wishes
Bob Goodall
Complain about this post
I noticed on the headlines at the end of Newsnight that a racist attack in Glasgow by some white youths was reported which involved someone's hair being cut. In my local Bradford paper tonight I read that a gang of 13 Asian men beat up a white youth bruising him badly and knocking his teeth out.
This seemed a far more harrowing experience but obviously not deemed sufficiently newsworthy for Newsnight.
This sort of attack is a regular occurance in this part of the world but never gets the sort of attention that ±«Óãtv News would provide for white men beating up Asians.
Complain about this post
Re No6 - " Something quite major to be brought in....Any thoughts on what that might be?"
Your reading between the lines obviously didn't take sufficient account of the word Europe!
Forget the much talked about money-spinning lecture tours in the U.S. To Blair, whose thirst for continued access to positions of power can never be quenched, they would be merely chicken feed.
Not once during the whole of the past decade have Blair and his equally power-obsessed cabal let their greedy little eyes stray from the indescribably lucrative EU gravy train; and they're not going to miss out now.
The covert, sinister agenda, drawn up in accordance with the dictates of the key fanatics acting out the nightmare known as the European Dream, is in its final stages of completion.
Every sinew will now be strained to achieve the total eradication of National Identity and total subsumption into a federal Europe.
History will have no option but to describe the Blair years as the "Decade of Deceit"
Complain about this post
THE SAME OLD QUEEN’S SPEECH
Like many other members of the electorate, my first feeling is of something approaching boredom; so many tiny details and so little passion.
Yet we must remember this is ten years into New Labour. If it had yet to start its revolutionary moves we would, justifiably, feel it had failed in its purpose. Instead it is consolidating the new society it has created with ever smaller pieces of infill.
Indeed, its main purpose now is to hold onto power so that its work is not reversed. Thus the speech should be seen in the context of an election in 2009; two more Queen’s speeches away. The pre-election speech in 2008 is where we will see the real manifesto. In this way all the current posturing about law and order may be about putting in place a backstop in order to undermine the Tories’ traditional strength in this area.
Looking to the future, then, what can we expect to see in later years. Well, the environment will almost inevitably grow in importance; especially where David Cameron will then have to live up to some of his wilder promises. But the two main themes will surely be those where Labour traditionally has scored; Health and Education. Both are being kept low key while, in the case of the NHS, Patricia Hewitt’s reforms – locally painful in the short term but nationally beneficial in the longer term – work through. In the case of education the reforms, started with infants ten years ago, should at long last deliver the goods for Labour at O and A level. In both cases, therefore, the next few years should deliver ever better results – especially when compared with this year (and, of course, the pre-1997 Tory years!). Even foreign policy may be muted, as it is sub-contracted to Tony Blair in his new role as Global Good Guy (G3) sorting out the problems in the Middle-East and/or with global warming.
On the opposite benches, however, David Cameron will have to start putting strategic flesh – and potentially unpopular figures – on his current spin-friendly aspirations.
Elections are now usually to be lost not won. Labour will have difficulty in meeting the desire of the electorate for change to an even better life. On present evidence, though, the Tories – matched promise for promise by Labour - may find it impossible to make the grade!
Complain about this post
BORING, BOORISH BROWN
In the context of criticism of the Queen's speech, some commentators - ignoring the Chancellor's absence fron the public debate - seem to have dropped back into the comfortable belief that, as Gordon Brown will inevitably be the next Prime Minister, he need do nothing to justify that coronation. The only change is that some of them are starting to wish that Tony Blair, the consummate electoral magician, was to continue instead. In the process, however they are ever more effectively casting Brown as Brutus who has stabbed his friend in the back – and deprived us of one of the best Prime Ministers we have ever had; and even Iraq is, astonishingly, starting to be forgiven.
The problem is that, as this Queen's Speech showed, Gordon Brown will have no wonderful new strategies to charm us with; New Labour was a great step forward, but that act is old hat – and, as announced by him elsewhere, Gordon seemingly wants to retrench from even that. So he has to rely on charisma. Need I say more! The decade long battle he fought to remove Tony Blair may have succeeded, but the biggest casualty of that war may be his own electoral chances; where he was never a sympathetic figure in the first place.
The big advantage he should have is that he will have two full years as Prime Minister to establish himself. That should be a honeymoon period enough for anyone new to fully establish themselves. But, of course, Brown isn’t new. His current image, which is proving to be electorally unpopular, has been built on ten years of public exposure – and of political scheming. That will not be rectified in as many months, so he starts with a major disadvantage against any newcomer; even spin-light David Cameron.
The question is will the Labour Party realize this and choose a young pretender, such as David Milliband, who does not have all this negative baggage but can realistically be groomed for the part. Don’t expect Gordon to do the decent thing and save the party and the nation from a basically unchanged Tory Party. Someone needs to do to him what he did to Tony Blair!
Complain about this post
I was rather amazed at the hesitation shown by 3 guests when they where asked, "What do you understand by the term Blairism". If the straight answer had been, deception, deceit, lies, lies and more lies, I think the majority of viewers would not have any argument with this answer. Maybe failure not being mentioned could be a criticism.
Complain about this post
I agree with David Mercer, previous post, on the incomparable political qualities of Tony Blair. Ditto too to his final sentence regarding Brown getting his just desserts.
Tony Blair was at his best against the Tory leader yesterday in PMQs, and really should have made people question WHY exactly he is going. Well, we know the moves came from within his own party. Maybe another "known unknown" as to exactly who and why. But we can make an educated guess.
Blair did NOT actually endorse Brown, though it has been interpreted as such. He knew it would be, and that sort of political nous is evidently instinctive to the PM. I sometimes worry that he has TOO much of that quality.
Yates's Letter
Right now the news from Yates of the Yard has just broken implying that there are "known unknowns" ... "signifant and valuable material has been obtained" ... and it's not all in the public domain. The mystery deepens. So those of us who don't see the PM as "public enemy number one" can presumably expect the worst and the PM will be interviewed soon, probably under caution, the first time ever for a sitting prime minister, I understand.
I just hope that this inquiry hasn't developed a life of its own, heading only one way.
And now Yates's letter puts the PM under an even brighter spotlight, but of course Tony Blair can't defend himself yet, because he doesn't know about the known unknowns. And Yates is free to defend his inquiry whilst insisting he doesn't spin! I know I am probably in the minority but I am MOST unhappy about all of this.
We should be very wary of arresting, trying and criminally convicting this country's prime minister for doing only what his predecessors have always done. The phrase "hoist by his own petard" comes to mind, and there are plenty out there with their own agendas who can hardly contain their excitement at the prospect.
So if it turns out that the loans inquiry is more destructive than Iraq for the PM what are we to make of British justice? Is the "get him on anything, at any price" thinking still alive and well? We Brits are, almost uniquely in Europe, determined to be seen to do the right thing, even if it brings disgrace and disrepute on our prime minister and his post. Even if he (and others) were only trying to work the system to manage the finances for an election campaign (as has always been done!), and not putting the cash in their own back pockets. The end result may well be that WE put our hands in our pockets to pay for future political campaigning. Thank you Yates, oh, and Salmond.
Alex Salmond should be ashamed of himself and his party. But the Scottish voters will likely be persuaded to take some pride in "getting the PM" if it turns out the way Yates is obviously heading.
Complain about this post
In terms of whether a clean desk represents a clean mins, may I draw you to a quote from the young ones which by analogy suggests quites the opposite:..."Dirty Pants, Clean Botty"
Regards
Complain about this post
BlairSupporter and others seem to forget that Tony Blair was so unpopular before the last election that he went everywhere with Gordon Brown, and that New Labour played up Brown's successful economic policies and downplayed Blair's unpopular Iraq policy etc.
Complain about this post
I couldn't believe how the guest in the discussion could ask "why doesn't Blair stay on? He's in his fifties" etc.
Well.... how about, now this is a radical notion, the people are sick of him.
Complain about this post
What a bizarre ending to the programme.About as interesting as watching paint dry.
Complain about this post
This programme was sponsored by Evian.Product placement rules.
Complain about this post