Something in the Air

So Labour are at a 19-year low in the opinion polls. I do believe I detect the beginings of a long slow decline into long-term opposition unless something dramatic is done like now. In all fairness, this is only partly Blair's fault. The rest of the Labour Party have not been able to grasp that he's become a serious liability so they've got to take some blame too. And the assortment of sychophantic incompetants he's got as ministers, of course.

"A reshuffle is what's needed" say some of the worst cuplrits. No, I don't think that'll do. What's needed is a change of dealer; a fresh, clean hand on the deck. It wouldn't hurt to get rid of a few marked cards while we're at it but that's really a secondary issue when you've lost confidence in person doing the shuffling. Watching that guy shuffle the pack yet again isn't going to help at all. Hardly anyone trusts him anymore.

It's not so much the awful opinion poll results which make me this this is the start of a potentially terminal slump. This poll, by the way, was taken before Clarke revealed himself to be hopelessly out of his depth yet again and before Big John's little indiscretion. I doubt the latter will have much of an effect to be honest but the former? That's going to hurt very badly indeed. But what really swung it for me was this. Patricia Hewitt being heckled. Again. Do yourself a favour and have a listen if you've not heard it. Ahhhhhh... isn't that beautiful?

This not only raised a smile in a miserable cynic like myself but it also gave me hope. Too often in recent years, audiences have silently listened to the excuses and the half-truths and the spin and all the rest of it from Blair and his seemingly endless supply of incompetant sidekicks. Now, collectively, people are starting to show that they've had enough of it.

I started writing this post earlier today but left it half-finished. Since then, there's been this invitation and this question.

Teflon Tony, as we've learned, should never be underestimated but it does look like he might finally be unable to avoid facing the fact he is now Labour's main problem. Or rather, it looks like the Labour Party as a whole might finally be unable to avoid facing it.

Fingers crossed, eh?

Tags: News, Politics, Tony Blair