Tony Blair

[mushroom25]

he's back, allegedly
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/tony-blair-returning-to-politics-comeback-jeremy-corbyn-nutter-theresa-may-lightweight-a7427676.html

is there really a need for Mr Blair's services in british politics? does the british electorate want him even if there is?

[gulliver1]

TGM.

[gulliver1]

Well. if as reported he would call for a second referendum, and this time no lies from the likes of Johnson, and Farage, then yes Bring him back, and lets have a fair referendum this time.

[naomi24]

Gulliver, in what way was the first one unfair?

[Orderlimit]

^ the result ?

[naomi24]

Haaa! I expect so.

[mushroom25]

the way it was phrased I guess - ie,

Q: do you wish the UK to remain in the EU.

A1 Yes, I wish the UK to remain in the EU
A2 No, I don't wish the UK to leave the EU.

[ToraToraTora]

ah bless send gulliver a truck load of sour grapes. TCOGB!

[ichkeria]

Pedants' Corner strikes again, but 'sour grapes' means adopting the attitude that 'I never wanted what I didn't get in the first place so there'. It's not simply 'being a bad loser'
The referendum was perfectly fair. It just should never have been held in the first place :-)

[ToraToraTora]

why should it not have been held? In case the answer is one you don't like?

[Orderlimit]

Surely the result shows it should have been held?

[ToraToraTora]

that's what the anti democracy mob are disturbed about orderlimit. The silly people gave the "wrong" answer. Clearly the public cannot be trusted to vote the "correct" way!

[Lunol]

Where are we exactly for trying Tony Blair under breaches regarding war crimes of war and crimes against peace and pillaging under the Geneva and Hague conventions of which Bliar and Jack Straw were pre warned about by the goverments lawyers before the illegal wars?

[agchristie]

@ Lunol

This may help:-

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-36738086

[ichkeria]

It should not have been held because it wasn't a suitable item for a referendum
Millions declared themselves unqualified to say yay or nay.
There was always a risk we'd vote to leave, which of course was the reason many including myself were against it. And the reason we didn't want a vote to leave is because it would cause chaos, damage the economy and divide the country. Of course no one was honest enough to say so.
I doubt if even Cameron really wanted one

[ichkeria]

Tony Blair may be guilty of dishonesty, hubris, even cowardice or simply blind wishful thinking. War crimes no. War crimes involve breaching the 'rules' of war and in any case only the losers in a war ever get done for that.

[ichkeria]

And as regards the 'legality' or otherwise of the war. Good luck with that one.

[weecalf]

Maybe geordie bush could come back too .Lets go back all those years and do it right this time . Nah Tony is dosnt work that way .

[andy-hughes]

ichkeria - // It should not have been held because it wasn't a suitable item for a referendum
Millions declared themselves unqualified to say yay or nay. //

I think you have to be careful of inferring, or even saying, that the electorate are not bright enough to decide their own future.

You could argue, similarly, that every time an election is held, the 'average' voter does not have sufficient grasp of the issues to make a properly informed decision.

But that is not, and never has been a reason to deny the man in the street a vote, that is the essence of democracy.

Otherwise you end up with an imagined elite who judge themselves able to make these decisions, and the rest of us will simply have to go along with what they say, because 'they know best'.

Since there would be no individual in that 'elite' who did not have their own power ambitions to feed, and their own enemies to do down, this is not a sound basis for a system of government, which is why we have the system we use now.

A large number of people fought and died to give me the freedom to have a choice about whether or not I wish to have a say in decisions that directly affect me. I am not about to hand that over to some supercilious suit in Whitehall because they think I voted the 'wrong way'.

[ToraToraTora]

ichk: "It should not have been held because it wasn't a suitable item for a referendum" - It's exactly the sort of thing that referendums are for, our basic determination of sovereignty, if this is not suitable what is?

[ToraToraTora]

Andy, our posts crossed but once again, today, bang on. I just cannot believe there are people like ichkeria who, because they got the "wrong" answer, think that we should not have had the referendum at all. I am not sure what result you wanted from the referendum Andy but I do respect your ability to be objective about it.