Tony Blair has become an incredible disappointment to many of his countrymen and a good portion of the planet, but perhaps never so than during the recent G8 summit. George Bush gave Blair's concerns about Lebanon and climate change less thought than he recently gave a roast pig and generally treated the prime minister with a casual familiarity verging on contempt...and Blair, well, he just sort of took it. The land of Churchill cringes, and rightly so.
For all that, however, the G8 represented the opportune moment for Blair to regain his self-possession and the respect that should be his due. He could have done much worse than to take a cue from his cinematic doppleganger in Love, Actually, and to quote Hugh Grant's pointed remarks on the "special relationship" between the UK and the US:
I love that word "relationship". Covers all manner of sins, doesn't it?I fear that this has become a bad relationship.
A relationship based on the President taking what he wants and casually ignoring all those things that really matter to, erm...
Britain.
We may be a small country but we're a great one, too.
The country of Shakespeare, Churchill, the Beatles,
... Sean Connery, Harry Potter.
... David Beckham's right foot. David Beckham's left foot, come to that.
And a friend who bullies us is no longer a friend.
And since bullies only respond to strength, from now onward, I will be prepared to be much stronger.
And the President should be prepared for that.
But face it - if "Yo, Blair!" didn't prompt the prime minister to speak for England, nothing will.
(Cross-posted!)
Shakesville is run as a safe space. First-time commenters: Please read Shakesville's Commenting Policy and Feminism 101 Section before commenting. We also do lots of in-thread moderation, so we ask that everyone read the entirety of any thread before commenting, to ensure compliance with any in-thread moderation. Thank you.
blog comments powered by Disqus