Every Picture Tells a Story...

...Although that story is not always the one the storytellers who have a vested interest in the Tories winning the election want to tell properly.

Take this picture for example. It's a photograph that is certainly doing the rounds now that The S*n and various other Tory papers want to push the idea that Jeremy Corbyn sympathised with and supported the IRA. 

Now, seeing that photo alongside the words 'Corbyn' and 'IRA' does seem pretty damning doesn't it?

But let's look at the facts here. Because, if you are to damn Corbyn for this, then you must damn the people in the following pictures too

Because that Corbyn and Adams photograph was taken, just like the photos of Adams with Blair and with Prince Charles, AFTER the ceasefire.

You see, what The S*n etc do is very clever; they source a photo of both men looking quite young and implicitly use that to suggest to their readers the picture is damning evidence that it must have been taken during The Troubles. It wasn't; it was taken in 1995, after the ceasefire and the Downing Street declaration. Hell, it was taken in the House of Commons!

Are these facts reported? No.

I'm not disputing that Corbyn met with Adams whilst The Troubles were ongoing either. Corbyn has always said that to achieve peace you must negotiate and enter into a dialogue with the other side, and it is through that relationship that Corbyn played a special part in achieving peace, having worked alongside Mo Mowlam in the run up to the Good Friday agreement.

But The S*n are now claiming that Jeremy Corbyn did no such thing. Indeed, they've even spoken with terrorists who claim never to have seen him involved in any such talk or perform any such work. One of these is Sean O'Callaghan. But what The S*n refuse to report is that O'Callaghan was a double agent for the British security services who was paid handsomely to report on the activities of the IRA. It's clear he's being paid handsomely now too, to discredit Jeremy Corbyn for the establishment with his lies.

Let's use the old prosecution lawyer argument here, are we really supposed to take the word of a self confessed liar and criminal over the word of a respectable man who has held the honourable position of a Member of Parliament for over thirty years?

It's also worth remembering that Gerry Adams has always maintained he was never a member of the IRA, and has never conclusively been proven otherwise. He is a member of Sinn Fein, and there is a difference - so that's another lie in the message of Corbyn and the IRA.

Lastly, this photo doesn't do the rounds much these days does it?

Strange that.

Separated at Birth

Tony Blair and He-Man's nemesis Skeletor, as seen on the Money Supermarket adverts.

Tony Blair...You're So Money Supermarket.

And by that I mean you're a war mongering, arrogant, Red Tory who should be in prison.

Fighting Back: Petition to Expel Blair from the Labour Party

Tony Blair is now in breach of the rules of Labour membership because he publically asked voters to support Conservative or Liberal Democrat candidates in the forthcoming election.

The rules clearly state that expulsion from the party will occur if a member is found to be 'supporting or endorsing a candidate or party standing against the Labour Party or one of its candidates' and that is exactly what this arrogant, stupid, war mongering Yesterday's Man of a Red Tory has done on his Brexit soapbox.

Please sign this petition to get him kicked out of the Party he ruined - the party he is continuing to destroy and undermine at every turn.

Help For Ignorant Blairites: The Red Flag Lyrics

Yes, attention Red Tories! You don't want to end up miming like John Redwood and becoming a clip to be laughed at on Have I Got News For You do you?

Of course you don't!

So here's your chance to learn the lyrics to The Labour Party Anthem...

If you intend to stay in the party you hijacked back in the '90s, dragging it into the middle ground (where people get run over, as Nye Bevan once said. What do you mean, 'Nye who?', Aw bless your ignorant prawn sandwich munching middle class souls) I suggest you learn this now, and learn it well.

Written by Irish political activist Jim Connell in the 1800s, it's the anthem of what you claim to be your party. If you don't know it, then you really have to question yourself. Especially in light of your bleating and snobbish slights that the current support Jeremy Corbyn has inspired is not Labour at heart.

The People's Flag is deepest red,

It shrouded oft our martyred dead,

And ere their limbs grew stiff and cold,

Their hearts' blood dyed its every fold.

Chorus:

Then raise the scarlet standard high. 

Beneath its shade we'll live and die,

Though cowards flinch and traitors sneer,

We'll keep the red flag flying here.

Look round, the Frenchman loves its blaze,

The sturdy German chants its praise,

In Moscow's vaults its hymns were sung

Chicago swells the surging throng.

(chorus)

It waved above our infant might,

When all ahead seemed dark as night;

It witnessed many a deed and vow,

We must not change its colour now.

(chorus)

It well recalls the triumphs past,

It gives the hope of peace at last;

The banner bright, the symbol plain,

Of human right and human gain.

(chorus)

It suits today the weak and base,

Whose minds are fixed on pelf and place

To cringe before the rich man's frown,

And haul the sacred emblem down.

(chorus)

With head uncovered swear we all

To bear it onward till we fall;

Come dungeons dark or gallows grim,

This song shall be our parting hymn.

(chorus)

Solidarity in the Labour Party

It was High Noon for Jeremy Corbyn on Saturday, but he needn't have been afraid. Jezza triumphed for the second time in a year, increasing his mandate with a bigger margin than that of 2015 and proving, hopefully once and for all, that he is the right man for the job.

But wait, predictably the likes of Hilary Benn and Angela Eagle were out in force yesterday claiming that they must stand together, and 'stay and fight' for what they believe in in the party, with Eagle announcing that she believed people were trying to force them out.

It's funny isn't it how the Blairites (I'm aware that Labour now view that term as abusive - seriously, I'm not making that up - so let me be clear, I'm using it in its traditional meaning; ie those MP's of the New Labour ideal, but was there ever another meaning? No. So get over yourselves and stop trying to claim you're being bullied when people use a term to sum up your ideals and position - you keep calling us trots, after all) saw nothing wrong with pushing out anyone who believed that socialism wasn't a dirty word back in the mid '90s, yet claim they are being victimised now when finding it is them who are currently out of step.

I don't know about you but I'm getting a little sick and tired of this battle from within for the spirit of Labour. I am sick of seeing Blairites take to social media to claim that anyone pro-Corbyn isn't really Labour at heart, and I am sick of this not just because its the kind of sneering snobbish bullying they claim Momentum and the Corbynistas do, but because it is primarily just a stupid notion. Pardon me, but I actually think any member who wishes to reinstate Clause 4 is a damn sight more Labour than anyone who saw no problem with removing it twenty years ago.

So here's the thing; we're all paid up Labour members. We don't agree on everything, but then do we really expect complete universal agreement? We should unite behind the things we are in complete accord over, which should be to oust the Tories from government and to end the austerity measures that is crippling this country. So it's actually really very simple, if you agree with the Tory austerity policies, and if you voted for them, then you are I am sorry to say not a Labour supporter and there ought to be no place for you in the party. There, I've said it. That's the only true way to measure it. The rest of us should band together and stop this detrimental internal snobbery and bickering. Now.

Blair: "Full responsibility for any mistakes, without exception or excuse"

Take your full responsibility in court then Mr Blair; you must pay for the blood on your hands.

Edit to add: Craig Murray's thoughts on Chilcot correspond with my own.

#Blame Corbyn

So we're in the middle of a constitutional crisis and a time of great chaos since Thursday's shock victory for Brexit and what do the right wingers and 'red tories' within the Labour party want to do? They want to add to the confusion and crisis by ousting their leader, Jeremy Corbyn.

Why?

Because the Blairites in the party want to save their own hides. They wanted to move against Corbyn after the local elections, but he proved them wrong by being a success - not that the BBC actually made that overall success at the polls all that well known. So now they've leapt upon Brexit. They argue Corbyn didn't speak to the heartlands, that he simply didn't do enough to convince them to vote Remain. But guess what? Neither did the past Labour PM's who all spoke up for Remain. Miliband didn't, Brown didn't and neither did that man who the 'red tories' still claim spoke to the nation and had his finger on the pulse; Tony Blair! 

Why? 

Because when New Labour and Tony Blair became a thing in the mid '90s it refused to take the ravaged post-Thatcherite industrial heartlands with them. They reshaped the party to no longer include them as their primary concern, indeed they never once considered their concerns, and they refused to open up lines of communication re immigration to allay their fears. In short they refused to represent them, and those concerns and fears found an outlet in UKIP and even the BNP. The rise of UKIP and its popular jingoistic appeal among many pockets of the working classes is all down to the mistakes of New Labour who concentrated solely on the metropolitan areas which did at least keep 'on message' by voting Remain.

That those very same New Labourites are now blaming Corbyn for their mistake speaks volumes. A week's a long time in politics they say, but the mistakes of the past twenty years are even longer and they hope that we can forget them and only concentrate enough on the past year of Corbyn. It's all about them, keeping their positions of power and keeping the blame squarely away from their door now that Chilcot is in the air and Corbyn's proposed denouncement of and apology for the war in Iraq (as Craig Murray's blog points out here)

Why?

Because Hilary Benn, Margaret Hodge, Ann Coffey and many others still loyal to Blair do not want to be tarred with the brush of war crimes, and that's why they want to move against Corbyn now.

My own thoughts on Corbyn's Remain campaign are that yes, he could have done a lot more, but I do find it refreshing he was honest enough to admit throughout that the EU is in no way perfect. Unfortunately, that got people's backs up; people who believe campaigning has to be black and white these days, people who would rather he promised us all rainbows in the bottom of our gardens if we stayed in, and the bogeyman on every street corner if we left. Once again, it was refreshing to see a leader who actually remained more or less on message with comments he had made in the past regarding a subject, as opposed to performing a complete 360 and opting for the politician's mainstays - lies, hypocrisy and short term memory.

You can blame Labour to a certain extent for the Leave vote, but you can't just blame the current incumbent.  

Reg (2016)

Tony Blair is a lying, cheating cunt of a war criminal with blood on his hands.

I marched against the Iraq War and I left the Labour Party because of it. Like Hillsborough and Orgreave, I have hoped and prayed that one day the families of those soldiers who gave their lives during that unjust and illegal war receive the justice they deserve. Next month sees the findings of the Chilcot Report (with the families of the deceased expected to shell out £767 for a copy of their report - words literally fail me here) but, given that it took the Hillsborough campaigners 27 years to receive the justice they fought so hard for and that the miners at Orgreave are still fighting 32 years on, I must admit to having misgivings at the notion that a 7 year-long report will truly get to the bottom of things.

But, as we wait for its findings to be published, Jimmy McGovern gave us this hard-hitting timely reminder of Blair's true colours. Reg tells the true story of Reg Keys, a former paramedic and ambulance driver, whose son Tom was one of six severely under equipped military policemen killed by a heavily armed mob at an Iraqi police station in 2003. Wracked with a grief that ultimately turns to anger when he learns that Blair took the country to war on the WMD lie, Reg decides to fight the PM at his own game, and stand against him in his own constituency of Sedgefield in the general election.

This was an effortless and understated film from McGovern. It may be fuelled by rage and anger at injustice, but he avoided the polemical to instead simply present the facts to the viewer in a clear, reasoned and skillful manner. At its heart lay an honest and strong central performance from Tim Roth as Reg Keys, nailing the man's unassuming nature, impeccable manners and quiet dignity to give us the essence of a genuine person, rather than a TV character; an ordinary man who happens to be capable of the extraordinary, thanks to his principles. Granted a single purpose - the dogged pursuit of the truth - Reg becomes David to Blair's Goliath and, in turn, an old fashioned, idealistic hero who immediately gains our empathy and support. He's ably matched by Anna Maxwell Martin as his wife Sally whose decline following her bereavement is deeply affecting and as quietly brilliant as we have come to expect from her.

Reg Keys has his say and a squirming Tony Blair faces the music

Reg is full of excellent scenes, from the heartbreaking and unflinching moment that Reg views his son's body in the coffin, examining the fatal wounds with unnerving flashbacks that show them being inflicted, the vignettes of Reg and Ralph Brown as his campaign manager canvassing Sedgefield (these scenes were filmed in Prescot, just up the road from me) illicit both for and against views on the situation (the one where an elderly woman announces that she feels responsible for all the deaths in Iraq because she voted for Blair is especially striking) but perhaps best of all is the finale scene which splices Roth into the real life footage from the Sedgefield counting office once the results have been given. The real reactions of Tony Blair as he had to stand there and listen to Reg, the man he had until then avoided at every turn, shows how much Reg Keys had him on the ropes and as a viewer there's great satisfaction in seeing the great discomfort on the then PM's face.

The real Reg Keys posing with Tim Roth

 in a Prescot pub I used to drink in!

Reg reminds us once more what an actor Blair was, it's really telling that they chose to introduce him with footage of him speaking to the Washington senate, one of the most hokiest, fawning and ingratiating pieces of acting Blair ever did. Blair wasn't a politician, he was a performer, and the ultimate leader for the style over substance generation. He spun lies that tarnished our nation and led to deaths and grieving families and even now, as he prepares his defence ahead of the report next month, he continues to spin his lies and pull the media's strings, claiming the present democratically elected Labour leader, the man I voted for and rejoined the party for, is 'a dangerous experiment' to be discredited at every turn.

Fighting Back : Petitions to Sign : Expel Blair

Former PM and war criminal Tony Blair recently called Jeremy Corbyn's Labour leadership 'a dangerous experiment' on BBC television. It is nothing of the sort; it is an example of a democratically elected leader voted in with the largest majority by the party as a direct reaction to the failures of the Tory government and the hideous legacy of New Labour.

Tony Blair, like all his media spinning Blairite minions, are deliberately working against the party and Corbyn from within, and as such they should be expelled from the Labour Party - just like the members who, in the run up to the last leadership election, were barred from casting their vote and/or removed from the party. 

It is clear these self-serving middle-of-the-roaders will not do the decent thing and resign from the party themselves, like so many of us (including myself) did when we disagreed with New Labour and its own, far more 'dangerous experiment' of waging phoney wars to maintain a vain man's legacy and reputation in the US. So in that case we must remove them from the party ourselves.

If you agree, please sign this petition

So Are You An Anti-Semite, a Misogynist or Just Someone Who Wants The Truth?

Yesterday I spoke about a petition on 38 Degrees which was asking for the sacking of the BBC's first female political editor Laura Kuenssberg on account of political bias, but 38 Degrees removed the petition on account of several offensive and sexist comments being made in relation to Ms. Kuenssberg which they, quite rightly, would not tolerate.  

In the wake of this news, David Cameron took a moment to stop slagging off the governments of other countries at Buck House to condemn the 'sexist bullies' attacking Kuenssberg, whilst it was suggested that the claims of bias were invented by dissatisfied members of the left, Corbynites and members of Momentum, who clearly have worrying misogynistic mindset regarding a female political editor. Claims of misogyny are damaging enough at the best of times, but this really is quite a body blow to the left in the wake of the Livingstone/Shah anti-semite row and the suggestion that such a negative view of Judaism and Israel is rife within the pro-Corbyn camp.

Author, former Ambassador and human rights activist Craig Murray (he of Murder In Samarkand fame) has been following this story in great detail and discusses it on his site, where he has managed to get hold of a data link which shows us all the comments left by those who signed this petition. You can read it all here

Given that no real sewer of misogynistic abuse can be found on the now published data link (other than two instances of her being called a 'witch' and one which suggests she has a thing with Cameron - they're the ones I've spotted anyway) 38 Degrees have claimed (backtracked, rather) that the abuse was done on social media in relation to the petition, rather than on the petition itself. But, as you can see from Murray's excellent site, he has so far found one tweet that is misogynistic towards Laura Kuenssberg, and that tweet comes from someone who is clearly, most emphatically not a Corbynite.

So, what's really going on here?

Well it seems to me that 35,000 good people concerned by the political bias at the heart of a public broadcaster have been grossly and unfairly tarred with the misogynist brush. Just like the anti-semite row, it appears you cannot criticise anything without being labelled something even worse. Why just yesterday I was told anyone wanting to support a petition against the BBC would be doing John Whittingdale's dirty work for him.

But what's more worrying is the fact that 38 Degrees, a not-for-profit political activism organisation for the people, has clearly been told to remove this petition at all costs. They've effectively been spun and in turn are now spinning a blatant lie regarding misogyny, simply because it benefits those who wish to discredit the left and Jeremy Corbyn - the Tories, and those Blairites still within the Labour Party - to keep political bias at the BBC.

Such is democracy eh?

The Key (2003)

The Key is a sweeping and ambitious three-part drama from 2003 that is a paean to 'the Red Clyde', the strong trade union movement and Labour support that existed in Glasgow for decades but which is now a thing of the past since the independence referendum and the 2015 election that saw the SNP become the overwhelming majority party for Scotland.

Written by Donna Franceschild (Takin' Over The Asylum, Donovan Quick) The Key is a very human story which focuses on three generations of one family, taking in events of the twentieth century from World War One and the Bloody Friday strike of 1919 to Blair's Labour landslide victory of 1997. At the heart of the story is the militant Mary Corrigan (played by Dawn Steele as a strong young woman and June Watson in later but no less impassioned years) whose life mirrors the century, and the mystery of the titular key she habitually wears around her neck.

Refreshingly, and perhaps what I like the most about The Key is that the story is told pretty much exclusively through the eyes of its strong female characters. There's not just Mary, there's also her daughter Helen (Anne Louise Ross) who enters the world of work when her husband (Ewan Stewart) is crippled by an accident at the shipyard and rises to the ranks of regional organiser with a public services union, and her granddaughters Jessie and Maggie (Frances Grey and Ronnie Ancona); the latter is a determined and ambitious young woman who is standing for parliament as a Labour candidate, whilst the former is the families dreamer, a wannabe writer, worn down by life and working in a dog-eat-dog call centre.

The other thing I really like about The Key is that, six years into the premiership of Tony Blair, it dared to point out that New Labour wasn't the utopia we had all hoped. Its depiction of the importance it puts into market forces and its betrayal of the old left and the unions is something that was pretty verboten to say at the time - so perhaps it could only be a Scottish drama that had the balls to make such a statement, sowing the seeds for the disillusion we have seen since the referendum. With that in mind, the main message of The Key is that change comes not from politicians, but from honest, hard working people who stand up and say enough is enough, things are unfair and they need to improve. These people are therefore the likes of Mary, Helen and Jessie rather than Maggie, whose decision to become a 'Blair Babe' is based on her having fully embraced the ethos of New Labour simply because she doesn't want to be on what she perceives to be the losing side like her parents or Mary before her. Throughout, The Key remains authentic to the story of people being caught up in the wider power struggle occurring around them, rather than those in positions of power in the first place.

Unfortunately it's not without its flaws. Some of the dialogue and performances veer into spoof territory (it's really difficult to spout political soap box rants without them appearing a little cliched) and overall  it's perhaps too epic a story to be told in just three one hour episodes. The budget doesn't really stretch to illustrating the canvas in full either, with scenes depicting Bloody Friday and The Battle of Orgreave looking a little unrealistic because they can't really match the numbers. It's the kind of story that deserves a cast of thousands, so it naturally suffers a little on a small BBC budget. Nevertheless, it does boast a solid cast and it is good to see the likes of Ken Stott, Kevin McKidd, Katy Murphy, John Sessions and Paul Copley in relatively small parts in the broader brushstrokes of history, whilst Dawn Steele and Frances Grey impress in the stories biggest and somewhat parallel parts.

The Key seems curiously largely forgotten for a programme that only aired thirteen years ago (not all that long ago in TV terms) so it's good to see that it has been released by Simply Media, a DVD company that is doing a great job of releasing some treasures from the BBC archives, with a good many productions from the '80s, '90s, and early '00s finally seeing the light of day. 

Sympathies....

So Nicky Morgan MP has just said that Cameron shouldn't have to apologise for his 'terrorist sympathiser' comment on Question Time, arguing that Jeremy Corbyn and John McDonnell are, in her view, terrorist sympathisers. Why? Because there are photos of them shaking hands with Gerry Adams.

Um, OK. So what does that make Tony Blair then?

Or The Queen?

Or Nelson Mandela?

Then again, Cameron et al believed Mandela to be a terrorist who should be executed in the 1980s, so maybe that last one speaks volumes to the likes of Nicky Morgan?

Terrorists and freedom fighters are both interchangeable terms and times and allegiances change. Let's not forget that America financed and trained most of the terrorists and despots they later had to do battle with.

I'm not denying that the IRA is a terrorist organisation and that their crimes perpetrated in the name of a united Ireland are utterly horrific and inexcusable, but the blinkered, prejudiced mindset of the Tories right now and their combined desire with the media to discredit the Labour party is utterly ridiculous, dangerous and disgusting - doubly so, when one considers the global crisis we are now currently committed in and the destruction of the welfare system, the NHS etc that is occurring at home.

The Creeping Blairite Revival and Some Thoughts on Syria

Look at that image - sickening isn't it?

The only time I want to see Blair sans tie now is shortly after his arrest for war crimes, when a custody sergeant instructs its removal because he fears he'll use it as a makeshift noose in his cell during the long dark night of his poisonous duplicitous soul.

The joker on the left really is a joker too. It's Matt Forde, former Blair office boy, now stand up 'comedian' whose sweaty porcine fart features are currently pissing me off on Question Time as he dismisses the party he worked for, but has now left, as 'the loony left' with ineffectual aims and leadership, despite helping pressurise Osborne into a complete and utter U turn this week.

I hate this creeping revival of the Blair regime which sees media friendly whores getting a free pass at TV airtime to wax wistfully about 'the good old days' of Blair in the hope that he'll descend upon us once more like some Second Coming. 

It's actually insulting to start looking at the Blair years through rose tinted glasses when there is still so much about his dictatorship that remains unresolved and deeply contentious, specifically the fact that we still haven't got a clear verdict on his warmongering.

And war rears its ugly head on Question Time obviously, given the increasingly inevitable step towards air strikes in the vain hope that it may defeat Isil.  

It won't defeat Isil. 

It's an understandable move to do it. But it's a kneejerk reaction. Cameron himself once said that he was not someone who believed that he could "drop democracy out of an airplane at 40,000 feet" yet he's putting us on course for that right now, making the same mistakes that Blair did. And it's a dangerous course, and that's why Corbyn is arguing that there is no clear strategy. Bombing will only be a crap gesture at foreplay ahead of the inevitable call for 'boots on the ground'. Britain does not have the resources to go to war any longer. Thanks to MOD cuts that Cameron has overseen, our army is now the smallest it has been for centuries. 

It will be impossible and fatal to take this path now. You simply don't pick a fight with someone with your hands tied behind your back and that's exactly what this will be.

Worse, we'll inevitably hear that vital funding required for other areas in civilian life, such as the NHS will suffer. It's ridiculous that the NHS is now completely, critically ailing with the finger of blame being pointed at the poor economy when Cameron's government will happily spend 4 billion on the replacement for Trident. The Socialist Labour government of 1945, vowing to never agin endure anything like the war we have just come out of, set up the NHS and it did so when we were a completely bankrupt nation. So what really is Cameron's excuse?

Attlee's government made the commitment to look to our own after the shadow of war. I say that with terror looming over us, we should look to our own once more and focus more on surveillance, policing and prevention within our country.

Murdoch and the media may want a Blairite revival, but they really will be getting the very worst of it if we decide to make the same mistakes that warmonger gleefully led us into. 

Fighting Back : Petitions to Sign

SOS : Save Our Steel Industry

Hold the Chinese president to account over his despicable, poor record on human rights: Release this 16 yr old boy from house arrest

Stop Racism #Youwillbenext

In the middle of extreme hardship and austerity, IDS and Ros Altmann shell out 8.5 million pounds on their campaign featuring 'Workie' How is this right?

Osborne: Explain the  Tax Credit Cuts

Blair: War criminal - time to take him to account. Sign here and here

End Legal Highs

Stop criminalising Liverpool's homeless - STOP PSPO

Stop the Bedroom Tax

Give Homeless People a Home - this last one I have been banging on about for years. There's an abundance of abandoned, derelict houses in this country going to waste. The BBC programme DIY SOS brought this inconvenient truth into the public consciousness last week in a series of programmes that saw them turn a boarded up street back into hospitable living conditions for ex servicemen and women. And yet not once has anyone said why aren't the government paying for this, or why are people homeless in this country if so many houses are going spare? Please sign this petition but also please leave a comment distancing yourself from the petition starter's view that these homes should only be given over to our homeless population and not any Syrian refugees. That kind of xenophobic comment I cannot agree with - there is enough for all in this allegedly 'full up' island if we only force the government into action.

The Ghost (2010)

There's little original in The Ghost - also known in some territories as The Ghost Writer - especially when its big reveal harks back to the work of Frederick Forsyth (specifically the stuff about then leader of the GLC Ken Livingstone in his novel The Fourth Protocol) and the paranoid delusions of Peter 'Spycatcher' Wright - albeit with a 21st Century, Post Cold War twist, but regardless of its familiarity this remains a strong outing for director Roman Polanski in the twilight of his career.

In Robert Harris' novel (which he co-adapted with the director for the big screen), Polanski finds themes much in keeping with his previous work; the intrusion into troubled domestic relationships, the likeable and intelligent innocent being caught in a web of lies and murky mysteries, and the flexible nature of identity. All are present and correct in this story of an unnamed writer (Ewan McGregor, on fine form) who is hired to ghost write the memoirs of Adam Lang, a Blair-like charming yet highly controversial former British PM, played by Pierce Brosnan, after the previous writer has died in mysterious circumstances. Travelling to a wintry, off season Martha's Vineyard, where Lang lives in a forbidding looking bunker like structure in self imposed exile, 'the Ghost'  immediately finds himself in the eye of the storm when the former PM's decision to join the US in the war on terror comes back to bite him on the arse via a warrant for his arrest for war crimes by the International Criminal Court. 

And so the scene is set for a brisk and efficient thriller with a good deal of suspense and logic which sees the Ghost trying to piece together the exact nature of his predecessor's death and exactly how and why Lang rose to power and prominence so swiftly when he appeared anything but a political animal. 

I've never been a great fan of Pierce Brosnan's work but I must admit to finding him more satisfying when he plays slimy little shits - which is why I will always prefer his turn as a spy in John le Carre's Tailor of Panama to his extremely poor depiction of Ian Fleming's James Bond. He's on similar odious form here playing a thinly disguised Tony Blair, but it's worth mentioning that whilst he displays many of Blair's characteristics, the film goes to great pains to make Adam Lang a figure in his own right. As a result he manages to come across as both arrogant and pathetic. 

His Cherie is Ruth Lang played by Olivia Williams, an actress whom I feel never gets enough credit for her work. She's brilliant here, delivering a performance of great complexity, cynicism and danger. Sex and the City's Kim Cattrall also pops up as Lang's aide and (it's alluded) mistress but she fails to make much of an impression, whilst Tom Wilkinson delivers an enjoyable cameo as a secretive American academic.

A recommended watch for fans of intelligent intelligence based thrillers and of Roman Polanski, who invests the piece with some delightful sly humour and that eerie sense of eavesdropping and being spied upon that he excels in. But it is also for those people - such as myself - who could never consider themselves a fan of Tony Blair, destroyer of the Labour Party movement and hypocrite.

Sack Blair as the Middle East 'Peace Envoy'

Friday 27th June will mark the seventh anniversary since former PM Tony Blair became a so called Peace Envoy. It's time to make Ban Ki-Moon realise that his role is nothing more than an insult to the Middle East which makes a farce out of the UN.

Here's 7 reasons, one for each year Blair has had in the role, why he should be removed.

1. His illegal invasion of Iraq destroyed Middle Eastern society.

2. He has a blatant and consistent bias towards Israel

3. He refuses to provide anything meaningful for Palestinian people

4. It's unclear where his envoy work ends and his personal business interests begin

5. His work as a 'peace envoy' has seen him call for more wars, in Syria, Iran and now Iraq again.

6. Families in occupied territories can barely feed their children but envoy Blair enjoys Jerusalem's top hotels, all at the expense of the taxpayer.

7. Blair hires himself out to advise autocrats, tyrants with histories of human rights abuse.

He needs to go.

Sign the petition here to make your feelings known and to make a difference.

The Government Inspector (2005)

Shame on you Tony Blair, Alistair Campbell et al. Blood on your hands.

Now that's out of the way....

The Government Inspector, Peter Kosminsky's 2005 dramatisation of the life and death of Dr David Kelly, the former UN weapons inspector who, in the wake of the WMD fiasco, became something of a weapon himself, deployed by both government and the BBC. It ultimately led, just two days after his appearance at the Foreign Affairs Select Committee, to his death and presumed suicide on Harrowden Hill on the evening of the 17th July 2003.

Kosminsky's film is an absorbing righteous yell of anger that grips like a vice from start to finish. Rightly and respectfully, Kosminsky doesn't dwell on the reasons or indeed the nature of Kelly's death (choosing to ignore the 'conspiracy theories' borne from the "insufficient evidence" many people, including medics feel in regards to the findings of the Hutton Inquiry) instead it depicts a solid account of what we know alongside circumstantial evidence for the viewer to consider. Whatever your view, I would argue the ultimate conclusion is a feeling of disgust, guilt and the certainty that the events were a horrible tragedy.

Mark Rylance as Dr David Kelly

Jonathan Cake on the right as Alistair Campbell, 

with James Larkin as Blair

The two main protagonists are, perhaps rightly, from opposite or opposing sides; David Kelly, of course, played by Mark Rylance and Alistair Campbell, Blair's director of communications and the man it is alleged 'sexed up' a dossier about Iraq's weapons capabilities, played here by Jonathan Cake.  Both very different men, from very different walks of life, they are very different performances; Cake is a swaggering, macho man of often barely contained anger, whereas Rylance's Kelly is a bemused, quiet and methodical individual, a David slowly and surely crucified before the Goliaths of New Labour. It's a fantastic performance and a world away from the last thing I saw him in (Intimacy) Contained, subtle and sublimely still, its genius underplaying and powerfully moving. It quite rightly gained him a BAFTA for Best Actor in 2005, alongside one for Kosminsky for Best Writer and one for Best Single Drama too.

The Trial Of Tony Blair (2007)

Well given that the last time I reviewed a political satire from the pen of Alistair Beaton, A Very Social Secretary, I was asked by one review site to remove all comments regarding the actions of that film's principal character David Blunkett I'm almost hesitant to commence writing this review!

The Trial of Tony Blair saw Beaton turn his attention on AVSS's supporting character. Blair is played once again by Robert Lindsay, with shades of both the left wing idealism and the corruptible self interest his two previous characters shared, Citizen Smith and GBH's Michael Murray, to create a truly fascinating characterisation of Blair. He is shown to be, as Beaton said "a fundamentally decent man who has made a terrible decision".

And oh how that decision has come back to bite him on the bum.

The Trial Of Tony Blair was made in 2007 and set in the then near future of 2010. It's a world where Hillary Clinton is in The White House (remember when we thought that was a foregone conclusion?) and Blair is finally relinquishing the keys of Number 10 for his long waiting understudy Gordon Brown (played here by Peter Mullan; he looks nothing like him, but he portrays the vocal inflections and mannerisms rather well) Ahead of him is a lucrative book deal and a conversion to Catholicism, but there's also something he didn't bank on; The Hague are looking for someone to blame for the atrocities in Iraq. Some collusion from his old friends and party later, and the film posits what would happen if Blair had to face the consequences of going to a war that many of us - and I know I do, I marched at the time - believed to be illegal.

As you can probably surmise from the plot outline, it's a much darker satire than the broad farcical sweep of A Very Social Secretary. Simon Cellan Jones' abrupt jump cuts take in the haunted expression that is almost perpetually registered on Lindsay's face. There are nightmarish visions of suicide bombers and, worse, dead Iraq children. It's all rather deliciously chilling and mordantly funny gallows humour. But there's also some light humour too and much of it stems from Alexander Armstrong's depiction of David Cameron in full 'Hug a Hoodie' mode as, when attempting to meet and greet some London youths of various ethnicity, he announces brightly "Ah you must be the bitches and the ho's, nice to meet you!"

Ultimately, The Trial Of Tony Blair makes for a far more satisfying feature than its predecessor. It may be occasionally close to the bone and uncomfortable to watch but its tone is pitched just right throughout its brief 70 minute running time.

A Very Social Secretary (2005)

The satirical drama that launched the More 4 Channel in 2005, A Very Social Secretary depicts the very public affair between then Home Secretary David Blunkett and Kimberley Quinn, the American socialite and magazine publisher.

Unfortunately Alistair Beaton's script goes for an often all too broad farcical swipe, accompanied by equally heavy handed direction, score and, in some cases, performances - some of the more cruder acting choices seem to be needlessly pitched at ear shattering levels. There's a shrill air to the proceedings that ultimately detracts from the potential of providing the good necessary drama and satirical content. It's not quite Carry On, Home Sec...but it's not far off, and sadly those creative decisions threaten to swamp what is at heart a very good performance from Bernard Hill as Blunkett, which nails the man's mannerisms and vocal inflections perfectly. The script and Hill's depiction goes to some depths to explore the nature of the man; he's presented as disabled but not downbeat, suggesting Blunkett's hard life ensured he made everything a fight, something that made for a degree of bullishness and obnoxiousness as seen in several key scenes. Yet beyond that there's a hapless air to the characterisation of the man, as he firmly believes his love is reciprocated, that one can't help feel a little sorry for him. It proves to be his downfall though as, blinded by love (no pun intended), he is shown to bend the rules to suit his own - and some characters point out as - hypocritical aims and thus loses sight of the promises he and his party made at grass roots level all those years ago.

Bernard Hill and Victoria Hamilton in A Very Social Secretary

And the real life figures they depict; Kimberley Quinn and David Blunkett

That said, the humour is a good enjoyable mix of the daft; Blunkett is shown to struggle with talking dirty to Kimberley during sex, shouting out words like 'Nipples' and 'Buttocks', and the cutting; The Blairs shamelessly enjoying the holiday homes of political and influential figures.

The menagerie of real life characters to lampoon throughout the film is almost limitless but its the supporting players Doon Mackichan and Robert Lindsay who naturally gain our attention playing as they do the Blairs. Mackichan is all gurning jaw and greed as Cherie Blair whilst Lindsay - no doubt cast as a meta joke for those of us old enough or with long memories to recall his breakthrough role as the would be left wing revolutionary Citizen Smith - makes for a somewhat bemused, hopelessly adrift and easily manipulated Tony Blair; a man who could not live without the advice or instruction of his wife, his spin doctor Alistair Campbell (Alex Jennings) or the new age dippy guru Caroline Caplin (Sara Stewart) despite their influence often leading him into hot water.

A Very Social Secretary isn't perfect but, as a satire against the government at the time - something which was surprisingly all too rare - it was an invaluable tonic. Lindsay would reprise the role of Blair for writer Beaton two years later for The Trial of Tony Blair, a drama set in the then future of 2010, depicting the PM on trial for war crimes. Unfortunately this still hasn't happened, yet.

PS: Look out too for a young Andrea Riseborough in a blink and you'll miss her role as Quinn's receptionist at The Spectator.

The Deal (2003)

The Deal was the TV film that gave Michael Sheen his first go at portraying Tony Blair, but for my money it's David Morrissey's astute characterisation of Gordon Brown that deserves the plaudits and indeed it initially did, earning him an RTS award. In a possible case of life imitating art, it was the subsequent loose trilogy  - with the second film from the same creative team, The Queen - which put Sheen's Blair firmly on the map, leaving this original film and Morrissey/Brown somewhat overlooked.

Based in part on James Naughtie's biography The Rivals, The Deal is cracking stuff; a clear and absorbing exploration of Labour's 'Great White Hopes' from their debut as MP's languishing in the Opposition and the bowels of the party in 1983 right up to the dawn of Blair's leadership. It makes no bones about its central characters whom Peter Morgan's script in turn tacitly and explicitly likens to both the Albert Brooks and William Hurt characters from Broadcast News and Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid respectively. Blair appears initially like a puppy boundless with energy and, after being ignored and belittled for being little more than a Tory in disguise is happy and grateful to be accepted by Brown, whom he clearly admires and looks up to. Brown is the natural leader, a man who has intellectual power and a true passion for the cause, but as the years go on Blair's ambitions grow and his character twists and turns to become more ruthless, cunning, manipulative and sinister with a talent for taking the pulse of the country (or at the very least those quarters of the country he knows he needs to and wants to impress and appeal to) It is a characteristic and drive that ultimately left Brown out in the cold despite their previous 'understanding' that it was Brown who would lead the party should the chance arise.

Stephen Frears film is tight and economical as befits its low budget TV movie status but it does not suffer from it, the clear set aims keep our attention and make for an engrossing 75 minutes. Much of this of course is down to the central performers each of whom totally nail the real life characters they are playing. Morrissey gained weight for the role and has Brown's tics and accent down to a tee whilst Sheen's voice coaching to perfect Blair's mannerisms clearly paid dividends and would continue to do so in the following films, The Queen and The Special Relationship. There's also admirable support from Paul Rhys as Peter Mandelson; a suitably lurking presence on the periphery hedging his bets on the rivals, Frank Kelly, unrecognisable from his most famous role as Father Ted's Father Jack, as John Smith - the Obi Wan to Brown, and Dexter Fletcher as the savvy Charlie Whelan.