Blair has always been a devotee of the cult of celebrity, he pretends to espouse populism, but is in reality an elitist, as Richard rightly states ....obsessed by his "legacy".

Blair would like to be remembered as a radical who changed the world.
A man who put in place policies which defined the way forward, but unfortunately for him, most people will associate his craven support for Bush and his denial of the horrific consequences of his Iraq policy as a more valid measure of the man.

I have thought for some time that Blair has lost touch with reality.
Surely he must have known the dangers of invasion...but these dangers to our troops, our civilian population and the effect of strengthening the cause of Islamic Fundamentalism, always came second to his dream of glory as the "warrior prince".

This week we have seen Blunkett falling on his sword over relatively minor misdemeanours while we retain in office a prime minister who dragged us into an unjust and illegal war, through "delusions of grandure".
He is now attempting to deprive us of our civil liberties ..(the Wolfgang affair is an example of the world our leader would like to see), introduce ID cards, which would oblige us to pay for the priviledge of being spied on, and create a two tier society, with quality of health care and education based on ability....too pay!!

I believe that Blair is indeed mad, and knows that pushing these policies will tear the Labour party apart and leave a weakened vehicle for Brown
Alastair Campbell once tagged Brown as "psychologically flawed", but the flaw seems to run right to the top...Ake