Yesterday...

I've been trying to find something to say about yesterday's long awaited (God, were they!) events, but haven't been able to come up with much.

I've never been a fan of Tony Blair's - although I can see what it was about him that "seduced" so many, and have certainly admired some of his performances at Question Time in the House of Commons.

There are those who say that for the past ten years, we've witnessed the triumph of appearance over content, of "spin" over "facts."

Maybe.

But then politics has been about spin for a long time really - it's just that for the first time, we got someone at the helm who knew how to make it work for him most of the time.

I was skimming through stuff on the internet this morning, and came across this, from Boris Johnson. Now, Boris is barking half the time, but...

suddenly I felt a sense of desolation and morosity that we had lost Tony Blair, and I can tell you the exact moment when I caught the bug and joined the national mourning. It was the moment Gordon Brown opened his mouth, and, with every word he uttered, the mercury of my mood started to sink and the clouds rolled in.

... I think he got that pretty much right. The difference in manner, in personality between Blair and Brown is striking, (and I can't speak from personal knowledge of either, I should point out, so I'm just going on what I've seen on the box) and I can see Brown suffering by comparison. Boris goes on to say in that article about how much of Brown's speech yesterday was about "working" - the point being I guess that where Blair was flamboyant, Brown seems to be living up to his image of the "dour Scot." Maybe that's not a bad thing, though. Maybe his "earnestness" will be just what some people need after the diet of "spin" they feel they've had to endure for the past ten years.

Oh - by the way. Does anyone else out there think that sending Tone off to be a Middle East Envoy is like standing at the top of a sand-dune, waving our arms and saying "here's the blue touch-paper guys?"

Or should we just pin a sign to his back with a little arrow on that says "Kick Me."?

And people are worrying now that Blair might become a Catholic? Yeah, because we've all got so little else to worry about. Never mind that fact that kids are leaving school unable to read, write and add up, or that buying a normal-sized house in this country is something which is already waaaaay out of the financial reach of many people on average incomes.

I'd better stop there.

Best part of yesterday though was Mr Caz channelling Toby - "It's not right, surely, that Brown is Prime Minister and no-one's elected him."

He does surprise me sometimes! :)

ETA - Oh God. As if things weren't bad enough already...