I'm still wondering why Blair went anywhere near this whole can of worms at all. He's normally politically very astute, and won't do or say anything** unless it is popular with the country, or whatever section of his party he needs to placate today.

He must have known that for anyone who actually likes what he said would be greatly outnumbered by those wishing he'd said more, whose wanting him to do something in the here and now, and those just wishing for him to shut up and go to Tuscany for good. I'm leaving out the considerable portion of people who's opinion of him could only get worse if he married George Bush.


** Except Iraq....