Child Labour and Education International
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A re-work of an earlier image.
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John Clare
The Fallen Elm
Een nature's dwellings far away from men,
The common heath, became the spoiler's prey;
The rabbit had not where to make his den
And labour's only cow was drove away.
William Shakespeare
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Tantrum Jennifer Sandals @Tres Chic Event Sept 17 - Oct 10, 2022
Pic Taken at Verdigris Vintage Village
💋Drumknott
“But love, first learnèd in a lady's eyes,
Lives not alone immurèd in the brain,
But, with the motion of all elements,
Courses as swift as thought in every power,
And gives to every power a double power,
Above their functions and their offices.
It adds a precious seeing to the eye;
A lover's eyes will gaze an eagle blind;
A lover's ears will hear the lowest sound,
When the suspicious head of theft is stopped:
Love's feeling is more soft and sensible
They are the tender horns of cockled snails:
Love's tongue proves dainty Baccus gross in taste.
For valor, is not love a Hercules,
Still, climbing trees in the Hesperides?
Subtle as Sphinx; as sweet and musical
As bright Apollo's lute, strung with his hair;
And when Love speaks, the voice of all the gods
Makes heaven drowsy with the harmony.
Never durst poet touch a pen to write
Until his ink were tempered with Love's sighs.”
― William Shakespeare, Love's Labour's Lost
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John Clare
Rural Morning
While oer the distant fields more faintly creep
The murmuring bleatings of unfolding sheep,
And ploughman's callings that more hoarse proceed
Where industry still urges labour's speed,
font: Sandscript
John Clare
The fields are all alive with sultry noise
Of labour’s sounds, and insects’ busy joys.
See more in my Bees set Bees
www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-vmxVr8XOs&feature=PlayList&...
Love,s labour,s lost ... Death By Chocolate ... De Phazz
De phazz is my mood music of choice
They have a signature sound
But no 2 songs are similar
I try to photograph like that
Throw in the unexpected
I hope not to be predictable
Nice intricate simplicity !
Bonsoir
g
To "take care about the garden", to buy some candies for the children, to arrange that drawer, to sleep a little more...anyway, forget about the work, only for now and reserve some time for you.
Can you guys from different countries over the world tell me: is it Labour's day also for you all?
Cuidar do jardim, comprar alguns doces pras crianças, arrumar aquela gaveta, dormir um pouco mais...não importa, reserve algum tempo para você, pelo menos hoje.
Nelly Furtado, "Party". Very nice and short video from Nelly's good times.
Bom feriado!!!
Hugs to my friends!!!
=)
The Calliphoridae (commonly known as blow flies, blow-flies, carrion flies, bluebottles, or greenbottles) are a family of insects in the order Diptera, with almost 1,900 known species. The maggot larvae, often used as fishing bait, are known as gentles. The family is known to be polyphyletic, but much remains disputed regarding proper treatment of the constituent taxa, some of which are occasionally accorded family status (e.g., Bengaliidae and Helicoboscidae).
The name blowfly comes from an older English term for meat that had eggs laid on it, which was said to be flyblown. The first known association of the term "blow" with flies appears in the plays of William Shakespeare: Love's Labour's Lost, The Tempest, and Antony and Cleopatra.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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John Clare
The Fallen Elm
Een nature's dwellings far away from men,
The common heath, became the spoiler's prey;
The rabbit had not where to make his den
And labour's only cow was drove away.
Shakespeare at Delaware Park. The 2nd longest running Shakespeare troupe in the United States, has been running every summer for 44 years. This year's plays were The Tempest and Love's Labour's Lost. They do one drama and one comedy every year. Always a wonderful relaxing evening.
________________________________________________
© 2023 Helmuth Boeger - All rights reserved.
.
"Let's be no stoics nor no stocks, I pray;
Or so devote to Aristotle's checks
As Ovid be an outcast quite abjured:
Balk logic with acquaintance that you have,
And practise rhetoric in your common talk;
Music and poesy use to quicken you;
The mathematics and the metaphysics,
Fall to them as you find your stomach serves you;
No profit grows where is no pleasure ta'en:
In brief, sir, study what you most affect."
(William Shakespeare: Love's Labour's Lost, Act 1, Scene 1)
Labour's Zionist, genocide supporters who sympathise with the racist Israeli regime... "Even as this genocide has been ongoing and as the bodies of small children have mounted up, leading figures in Labour, Friends of Israel, Margaret Hodge, Louise Elman and Ruth Smeeth, now Baroness Anderson, have continued to visit Israel and to be photographed with President Herzog, a man who has said there is no such thing as innocent civilians in Gaza."
youtu.be/IETxE7VErPA?si=hTVJN3_CzNenDr28 socialistworker.co.uk/news/it-s-margaret-hodge-who-has-pe... 16/07/25: "Gaza’s children and elderly are bearing the brunt of the devastation inflicted by Israel’s war on the enclave, as the United Nations warns of a sharp rise in amputations, long-term disabilities and severe hunger.
More than 40,000 children have been injured since the conflict began, and nearly 90 percent of Gaza’s population has been displaced, often multiple times."
If houses here are green, I’ll step inside a house.
If bridges here are sound, I’ll walk on solid ground.
If love’s labour’s lost in every age, I’ll gladly lose it here.
If it’s not me, it’s one who is as good as me.
If a word here borders on me, I’ll let it border.
If Bohemia still lies by the sea, I’ll believe in the sea again.
And believing in the sea, thus I can hope for land.
If it’s me, then it’s anyone, for he’s as worthy as me.
I want nothing more for myself. I want to go under.
Under – that means the sea, there I’ll find Bohemia again.
From my grave, I wake in peace.
From deep down I know now, and I’m not lost.
Come here, all you Bohemians, seafarers, dock whores, and ships
unanchored. Don’t you want to be Bohemians, all you Illyrians,
Veronese and Venetians. Play the comedies that make us laugh until we cry.
And err a hundred times,
as I erred and never withstood the trials,
though I did withstand them time after time.
As Bohemia withstood them and one fine day
was released to the sea and now lies by water.
I still border on a word and on another land,
I border, like little else, on everything more and more,
a Bohemian, a wandering minstrel, who has nothing, who
is held by nothing, gifted only at seeing, by a doubtful sea,
the land of my choice.
Ingeborg Bachmann
I have managed to find this Tawny Owl a couple of times when I have looked hard, and both times I have spotted its mate perched nearby, but I have not managed to spot any youngsters so I'm worried this pair may have failed to breed successfully. Curiously this bird that usually perches most openly is a grey phase bird, while its mate that is usually more concealed is a rufous phase. But I don't know which is which as males and females are indistinguishable on plumage but they make very different calls. Males make the drawn out "hooo-ooo-oo" while females respond with a sharp disyllabic "kew-ick". William Shakespeare wrote in Love's Labour's Lost "....Then nightly sings the staring owl, Tu-whit; Tu-who, a merry note". So Shakespeare seems to have been describing a pair of duetting Tawny Owls, as no Owl actually sings Tu-whit, Tu-who.
I've mentioned it before but it's worth mentioning again that in John Ray's Ornithology published in 1678, he thought that rufous and grey phase Twany Owls were different species. Moreover, he thought that the female's "kew-ick" and the male's "hoo-hoo-oo" were thought to be calls from the two species.
Ragged, contradictory, lacking honesty, full of holes. This is my opinion of the Federal Government and it's attempt to develop a Climate, Emissions and Technology policy. The very worst of Green Wash which will leave us in the hands of the denying National Party MP's and coal carrying Liberals. These are the people that have had 8 years to develop something credible after dismantling Labour's comprehensive, market-based suite of programs. After all they debased ARENA ( Australian Renewable Energy Authority} this year to accept fossil fuel projects! They have no credibility like the Murdoch Press' breath-taking hypocritical "Green and Gold "headlines recently.
I am waiting for the rest of the world to move on and punish us for our stupidity. Apologies for the rant but...
arena.gov.au/about/strategic-priorities/
\https://www.abc.net.au/mediawatch/episodes/climate/13591490
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This is the hare I told you about Jan, it did get away!
John Clare
Till peeping suns dry up the rain,
Then off they start to toil again.
Anon the fields are getting clear,
And glad sounds hum in labour’s ear;
press L
www.youtube.com/watch?v=OUkNM9HNFpc
Youtube Hoping love will last Steve Hackett Randy Crawford
There are many friends
that I once knew
Who felt the same
special thing that I share with you
They've grown apart
in different ways
I wonder if
someone hears as I start to say
I'm hoping love will last
Yes I'm hoping love will last
On and on, on and on
Why do I dream
love's labour's lost
I'm just a face
with a name that you soon forgot
But when I'm scared the most,
the nightmare ends
Then safe and sound
I awake in your arms again
I'm hoping love will last
Yes I'm hoping love will last
On and on, on and on
How can I
go on alone
when your love,
when your love is all I've known
Sometimes we stay
many miles away
You know you're here
every minute throughout the day
Within my thoughts,
Within my thoughts so take good care
I only wait
for the moments we both can share
Hoping love will last
Yes I'm hoping, hoping love will last
On and on, on and on
p.s. mi accorgo che il pezzo di Steve Hackett, cantato
da Randy Crawford, dai telefoni non si "carica" ...
è un peccato ... se vi va provate da un pc con you tube
... ne vale la pena ...
This was a tough week for me, not because of the theme itself, but due to the fact I'm still in a lot of pain following my car accident the other week. I'm still very good friends with the pink fairy elephants with the sparkly wings.
The idea for this came during a drug addled dream\doze and fortunately the weather played ball with the clouds and the tide was out far enough to let me stand here without getting soaked.
Not your traditional valentine's or love shot, but then I have never been one for traditions.
Week 7 - Love
HSS!
Like many Canadian artists of the day – such as Yvonne McKague Housser, whose works are on view in this exhibition – Harris was influenced by Precisionism, the American movement that emphasized urban and industrial scenes in clear light and geometric forms. Here, she gives her evocation of an Ontario town a warmer inflection, with a single shirt hanging on a clothesline hinting at daily life being lived. Pink-tinged skies suggest the pleasures of evening and labour’s end on the quiet street.
The Gothic-Romanesque style is evident in the main entrance door to the Temple Church.
Fans of the Da Vinci Code (the movie and Dan Brown's book) may remember Temple Church as one of the London locations Robert Langston visited while attempting to solve the riddle:
" In London lies a knight a Pope interred.
His labour’s fruit a Holy wrath incurred.
You seek the orb that ought be on his tomb.
It speaks of Rosy flesh and seeded womb. "
Its why I went but, sadly, it was closed when I visited.
London; July 2005.
Tawny Owl is by far the most numerous breeding owl in Britain but I probably see them less often than the other four (Long-eared, Short-eared, Little and Barn Owl). Despite having around 50,000 breeding pairs throughout Britain, they have a knack of staying well-hidden until it is too dark to see them. I hear them very frequently calling at night, but I only actually see a handful each year. I remember one keen birdwatcher who had been actively birdwatching for about 5 years and he still hadn't clapped eyes on one. Yesterday I was on my exercise walk and I heard frantic alarm calls from a Blackbird coming from a thicket. I peered inside and there, to my delight, was a Tawny Owl staring right back at me with huge dark eyes. On the rare occasions I do find one during the day they usually keep their eyes shut. No matter how hard I tried, I could only get part of the owl through tiny windows in the foliage, but I thought it was worth uploading anyway. Male and female Tawny Owls are indistinguishable on plumage but they make very different calls. Males make the drawn out "hooo-ooo-oo" while females respond with a sharp disyllabic "kew-ick". William Shakespeare wrote in Love's Labour's Lost "....Then nightly sings the staring owl, Tu-whit; Tu-who, a merry note". So Shakespeare seems to have been describing a pair of duetting Tawny Owls, as no Owl actually sings Tu-whit, Tu-who. This is the female's kew-ick immediately followed by the male's hoo-ooo-oo.
Labour's Andy Burnham, Mayor of Greater Manchester, on the campaign trail in Bury, UK
Andy Burnham, politicien travailliste de Manchester, Angleterre
Angela Rayner just cannot seem to shake the whiff of scandal over her tax affairs.
Labour’s deputy leader has repeatedly insisted that she did everything by the book when she sold her ex-council house back in 2015.
But there are many, many unanswered questions – and the answers can only be bad for Labour.
It appears that Ms Rayner did not pay any capital gains on the £48,500 profit she made on the sale of her Vicarage Road home in Stockport because she nominated it as her main residence to HMRC.
Yet she married her then-husband in 2010 and registered the birth of her two children at his address a mile down the road. Ms Rayner has also had to deny claims from Vicarage Road neighbours that it was her brother who lived in the house instead.
She’s been backed by Sir Keir Starmer and shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves, but at the time of writing, Ms Rayner has so far refused to publish her own tax return or the advice that she received over the property sale.
HMRC rules on private residence relief have long been bent, tax experts tell me. It is a common misconception that you can simply live in the property at any stage in order to claim it as your principal residence.
How long Ms Rayner lived in the property is crucial as capital gains tax relief is applied on a scale, so the longer you haven’t lived there, the more tax you owe.
What’s more, if you are married, you can only have one principal residence for tax purposes between the two of you. Even if your individual names are on separate deeds, you cannot be considered to have one property each.
I’m told Ms Rayner may also have been entitled to “lettings relief” of up to £40,000, which would have spared her a bill. Although she’d have had to have charged her brother rent and this would have to be declared on her tax return.
The tax advice Ms Rayner received at the time could shed some light on the matter, but equally it might still clear nothing up.
What it will certainly expose is that Labour’s working class poster girl has far from simple finances.
This story won’t go away anytime soon because it represents a fundamental problem for Labour and its brand. And if Ms Rayner does bow to pressure and publish her tax returns, it will open a nasty can of worms for the party. The Daily Telegraph 11.4.24
Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn launches Labour’s Youth Manifesto at a rally at Loughborough University Student Union
Sir Gaerhirfryn/ Lancashire --- "LABOUR MPS HAVE ACCEPTED OVER £280,000 FROM ISRAEL LOBBY - Twenty percent of Labour’s sitting MPs have been funded by pro-Israel groups or individuals – including 15 who have been directly funded by the Israeli state." - www.declassifieduk.org/labour-mps-have-accepted-over-2800...
London, UK. 4th March 2017. National #ourNHS demonstration. Marchers rallied at Tavistock Square to march through the streets of London to Parliament Square. They were calling for no NHS cuts, no closures, no privatisation. The march was organised by Health Campaigns Together and The Peoples Assembly. Estimates of the number marching varied between 200,000 and 250,000. Here in Whitehall amongst others at the front of the march are British soap star Kacey Ainsworth, Labour’s Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell and Len McCluskey.
I have been trying for years to find a Tawny Owl during the daytime that wasn't near-totally obscured by foliage. Then I was out for a walk at the weekend and spotted this one sitting bold as brass in a budding Rowan. You can see it is shedding a flight feather on the left side.
Tawny Owls come in two colour phases, but neither of them are actually tawny (ie orange or yellowish brown). This brown form is known as the rufous phase, and there is a much rarer grey phase, though there is probably a range of intermediates too. Males and females are indistinguishable on plumage but they make very different calls. Males make the drawn out "hooo-ooo-oo" while females respond with a sharp disyllabic "kew-ick". William Shakespeare wrote in Love's Labour's Lost "....Then nightly sings the staring owl, Tu-whit; Tu-who, a merry note". So Shakespeare seems to have been describing a pair of duetting Tawny Owls, as no Owl actually sings Tu-whit, Tu-who.
Mostly Hating Tories
What shall I do on this fine day?
There’s so much on my list
A mix of work and rest and play
I’m sure you get my gist
And maybe I’ll compose a rhyme –
But my unwritten law is
That every day I’ll spend my time
Mostly hating Tories.
I’ll go to work, some bills I’ll pay
That’s if I’m feeling rash,
To see her through to payment day
I’ll lend my friend some cash,
I’ll probably make my kids some tea
And read them bedtime stories
Of homeless piggies one, two, three
And why they hate the Tories.
I’ll hate them for the bedroom tax
I’ll hate them for the cuts,
For living off the workers’ backs
I’ll hate their very guts,
Look, see the depths to which they’ll sink,
They don’t know where the floor is,
That’s why I’ll spend my day, I think,
Mostly hating Tories.
What’s that you say? That hate’s not nice?
Please love thine enemy?
Well yeah, I tried that once or twice
It doesn’t work for me,
And if you think that’s not fair play
Remember this, you must:
The Tories, they will spend their day
Mostly hating us.
A history of evil done
Will justify my hate,
I still detest the Tory scum
For Section Twenty Eight,
Nye Bevan built the NHS
So he knows what the score is:
And he said vermin come out best
Compared with bloody Tories.
I’m sure I’ll find time to revile
That UKIP and its drivel
And I’ll locate a little while
To loathe a lonesome Liberal,
I’ll maybe pause to show regret
For Labour’s missing glories
But save the fiercest fury yet
For mostly hating Tories.
For generations and hereon
Our class and those before us
Grew up to know which side we’re on:
The side that’s not the Tories,
So when I die, do this for me –
Inscribe and sing in chorus
Here lies Janine, her life spent she
Mostly hating Tories.
by Janine Booth
Here: bit.ly/3BZ0Mah
Conservative Party HQ Lunchtime Menu
Deprived shrimps
Money-glazed smirked ham
Scorn fritters
*
Battered electorate,
with a basket of crushed hopes
and slow-cooked fatigue
Half-baked notions,
idling on a soft bed of privilege,
served with a thick faux pas sauce
Kids in blankets,
deep-famished, with a deprivation of vegetables
and a relish reduction
Toads in the hole,
with golden hand-outs in a thick rich gravy
(self-serving only)
*
Eton Mess
Fudge (ten different flavours)
By Bill Bilston
Here: bit.ly/3zWAm6t
Artwork ©jackiecrossley
© All rights reserved. This image may not be copied, reproduced, distributed, republished, displayed, posted or transmitted in any form or by any means, including electronic, mechanical, photocopying & recording without my written permission. This image is not authorised for use on your blogs, pinboards, websites or use in any other way. You may not download this image without written permission from me. Thank you.
The day is done, the winter sun
Is setting in its sullen sky;
And drear the course that has been run,
And dim the hearts that slowly die.
No star will light my coming night;
No morn of hope for me will shine;
I mourn not heaven would blast my sight,
And I ne'er longed for joys divine.
Through life's hard task I did not ask
Celestial aid, celestial cheer;
I saw my fate without its mask,
And met it too without a tear.
The grief that pressed my aching breast
Was heavier far than earth can be;
And who would dread eternal rest
When labour's hour was agony?
Dark falls the fear of this despair
On spirits born of happiness;
But I was bred the mate of care,
The foster-child of sore distress.
No sighs for me, no sympathy,
No wish to keep my soul below;
The heart is dead in infancy,
Unwept for let the body go.
Poetry: Emily Jane Brontë
Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn launches Labour’s Youth Manifesto at a rally at Loughborough University Student Union
The town of Ross was established in the 1860s, during the West Coast Gold Rush, where it became an important centre for miners. At its largest, the town had around 4,000 inhabitants, but the population declined after local goldfields were depleted in the early 1870s.
Current population is around 300.
On Aylmer Street in Ross, the Historic Empire Hotel is famous for being what it’s always been - a gold miner's pub.
The mustard-yellow wooden hotel (standing since at least the early 1900s) has an atmosphere you just can't buy. Inside is like a hoarder's goldmine of badges, photos, knick-knacks and memorabilia. The ceiling is covered in bank notes from around the world, and a framed photograph of Labour's first prime minister, Michael Savage, looks down over the bar.
Past the pool table is the women's toilet with a sign that warns of a weight limit of 250kg and "no goats": oddly, the men's toilet has unrestricted access!
Today, June 17, 2017, I joined a ‘Protest Against Theresa May’ outside Downing Street that was called by the journalist Owen Jones and the writer Sara Hanna-Black, where there was no shortage of witty and angry placards aimed at Theresa May, especially after her disastrously poor response to the terrible fire that engulfed Grenfell Tower in west London on Wednesday.
What a difference two months can make in politics. When Theresa May called a snap election at the start of April, she was 20 points ahead of Labour in the polls, and presumed that she would win a landslide victory. Then, on the campaign trail, she was wooden, aloof and unsympathetic, and her manifesto was a disaster, containing a provision for care funding for older people that was instantly dubbed the “dementia tax”, and was vilified by many of her own supporters, and even by the media that generally supported her unconditionally.
In the end, she lost her majority, requiring her to woo the religiously fundamentalist Northern Irish Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) to stay in power, and fatally eroded her credibility, while Jeremy Corbyn, Labour’s leader, found an enthusiastic welcome for his anti-austerity message. May, meanwhile, clinging onto power, failed to provide leadership after the Grenfell fire, visiting the site and meeting the emergency services, but failing to meet any of the survivors, in complete contrast to Jeremy Corbyn, who, as usual, showed the common touch - and evident empathy - that led to him increasing Labour’s share of the vote in the General Election by the largest margin since Clement Attlee after World War II.
How long, I have to ask, can Theresa May last - and, just as importantly, how can we make sure that a disaster like Grenfell can never happen again, given the corruption and profiteering of so many of the parties involved in providing social housing to poorer people in the UK?
For my article about the Grenfell disaster, see: www.andyworthington.co.uk/2017/06/16/deaths-foretold-at-g...
For my article about the General Election, see: www.andyworthington.co.uk/2017/06/09/corbyn-rises-theresa...
For a 38 Degrees petition calling for action from the government, see: speakout.38degrees.org.uk/campaigns/grenfell_tower
Also check out the video of my band The Four Fathers playing 'Stand Down Theresa’, a rough but passionate (and updated) cover of The Beat’s protest classic, 'Stand Down Margaret’: www.youtube.com/watch?v=mpVb06VXkOM
For my most interesting photos, see: www.flickriver.com/photos/andyworthington/popular-interes...
Jorge G. Castañeda appeared on Fareed Zacharia’s show ‘Global Public Square’ today. It was quite fascinating.
He also interviewed Tony Blair, the former Prime Minister of England. These are brilliant people discussing things I care about.
_____________________________________________
Jorge Castañeda Gutman: (See Wikipedia.)
In Spanish naming customs: the first or paternal family name is Castañeda and the second or maternal family name is Gutman.
______________________
Jorge Castañeda
Jorge G. Castañeda - World Economic Forum on Latin America 2011.jpg
Castañeda at the World Economic Forum on Latin America in 2011
Secretary of Foreign Affairs
In office
December 1, 2000 – January 10, 2003
PresidentVicente Fox
Preceded by Rosario Green
Succeeded by Luis Ernesto Derbez
Personal details
Born
Jorge Castañeda Gutman
May 24, 1953 (age 67)
Mexico City
Political party: Independent
Alma mater: Princeton University
Profession: Professor, Politician
Jorge Castañeda Gutman (born May 24, 1953) is a Mexican politician and academic who served as Secretary of Foreign Affairs (2000–2003).
He also authored more than a dozen books, including a biography of Che Guevara, and he regularly contributes to newspapers such as Reforma (Mexico), El País (Spain), Los Angeles Times (USA), and Newsweek magazine.
__________________________________________
Tony Blair in Wikipedia:
Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. After his resignation, he was appointed Special Envoy of the Quartet on the Middle East, an office which he held until 2015. He currently serves as the Executive Chairman of the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change.
Blair was born in Edinburgh; his father, Leo, was a barrister and academic. After attending the independent school Fettes College, he studied law at St John's College, Oxford and became a barrister. He became involved in Labour politics and was elected Member of Parliament for Sedgefield in 1983. He supported moving the party to the centre of British politics in an attempt to help it win power (it had been out of government since 1979). He was appointed to the party's frontbench in 1988 and became Shadow Home Secretary in 1992. He became Leader of the Opposition on his election as Labour Party leader in 1994, following the sudden death of his predecessor, John Smith. Under Blair, the party used the phrase "New Labour" to distance itself from previous Labour politics and the traditional idea of socialism. He declared support for the Third Way—politics that recognized individuals as socially interdependent, advocating social justice, cohesion, the equal worth of each citizen, and equal opportunity. Despite opposition from Labour's left-wing, he removed the party's formal commitment to the nationalization of the economy, weakened trade union influence in the party, and committed to the free market and the European Union. In 1997, the Labour Party won its largest landslide general election victory in its history. Blair became the country's youngest leader since 1812 and remains the party's longest-serving occupant of the office. Labour won two more general elections under his leadership—in 2001, in which it won another landslide victory (albeit with the lowest turnout since 1918), and in 2005, with a greatly reduced majority. He resigned as Prime Minister and Leader of the Labour Party in 2007 and was succeeded by Gordon Brown, who had been his Chancellor of the Exchequer since 1997.
Blair's governments enacted constitutional reforms, removing most hereditary peers from the House of Lords, while also establishing the UK's Supreme Court and reforming the office of Lord Chancellor (thereby separating judicial powers from the legislative and executive branches). His government held referendums in which Scottish and Welsh electorates voted in favour of devolved administration, paving the way for the establishment of the Scottish Parliament and Welsh Parliament (both in 1999). He was also involved in negotiating the Good Friday Agreement. His time in office occurred during a period of continued economic growth, but this became increasingly dependent on mounting debt. In 1997, his government gave the Bank of England powers to set interest rates autonomously and he later oversaw a large increase in public spending, especially in healthcare and education. He championed multiculturalism and, between 1997 and 2007, immigration rose considerably, especially after his government welcomed immigration from the new EU member states in 2004. This provided a cheap and flexible labour supply but also fuelled Euroscepticism, especially among some of his party's core voters. His other social policies were generally progressive; he introduced the National Minimum Wage Act 1998, the Human Rights Act 1998 and the Freedom of Information Act 2000, and in 2004 allowed gay couples to enter into civil partnerships. However, he declared himself "tough on crime, tough on the causes of crime" and oversaw increasing incarceration rates and new anti-social behaviour legislation, despite contradictory evidence about the change in crime rates.
Blair oversaw British interventions in Kosovo (1999) and Sierra Leone (2000) which were generally perceived as successful. During the War on Terror, he supported the foreign policy of the George W. Bush administration and ensured that the British Armed Forces participated in the War in Afghanistan from 2001 and, more controversially, the 2003 invasion of Iraq. The latter became increasingly unpopular among the British public, and he was criticized by opponents and (in 2016) the Iraq Inquiry for waging an unjustified and unnecessary invasion. He was in office when the 7/7 bombings took place (2005) and introduced a range of anti-terror legislation. His legacy remains controversial, not least because of his interventions in the Afghanistan and Iraq wars. Despite his electoral successes and reforms, he has also been criticised for his relationship with the media, centralisation of executive powers, and aspects of his social and economic policies.
Tits up.
That, this morning, is a reasonable state of the nation report on the Welsh network.
Apparently, TfW 'didn't expect these level of issues.' Indeed. And I expect King Canute didn't expect the tide to keep on rolling in either.
Today, there are 74 planned cancellations, 52 planned partial cancellations and whatever else happens on top. Bugger all west of Carmarthen most of the day. The Conwy Valley has seen about 8 days of service this month, today is not one of those 8. The Wrexham to Bidston rail users group will be travelling to their AGM tonight on a rail replacement bus because not a single train will grace their route today.
King Carwyn of Cardiff was questioned about the new franchise this week in the Senedd, and in typical Carwyn bluster managed to blame pretty much everyone bar him and his Welsh Labour cronies for the current malaise.
Now, I have no political axe to grind, my opinion is that they're all a bunch of self-serving arseholes, no matter their colours. But all this guff polluting the air about blame the Tories 'cos they won't give us more cash seems rather disingenuous to me.
Personally, I'd struggle with the concept of Carwyn Jones being given next door's kid's pocket money, such is Welsh Labour's financial ineptitude. And Carwyn seems to forget that his assembly has been reminded multiple times about the trains needing to comply with the forthcoming PRM regulations since 2013, and has either ignored or passed the buck on those warnings. Multiple times.
And, more importantly, the architect of the Welsh railway being so short of trains is the previous 15-year, no growth franchise. Let by Alastair Darling, secretary of state for transport in the Labour administration led by a Mr. Anthony Charles Lynton Blair.
And stop sniggering at the back Conservatives. Grayling isn't exactly sorting the nation's transportation issues, now is he?
One other thing. Is it any wonder that passengers get confused when the Virgin train on the left looks more like a TfW train than the TfW train on the right? Heck I'm confused. And I know what's going on...
Rhyl, 7 November 2018.