In Iran…

An Iranian demonstrates his new total sunblock sunglasses…




And sales of  Factor 5,000,000 Sunblock are expected to be brisk……




ANdy

     



Thanks, good one!

Vito, when are you coming for a visit?  We need to buy you some beer for keeping our faith in Europeans alive!

Worryed me.  I thaught for sure a

Funny though.  And true.

Andy,

Now that Bush is safe, whats your feeling on Blair's chances.  He has been a great friend and ally of the US, and George Bush in particular, in the war on terror.  Isn't Blair up for re-election soon?

What's your opinion of Blair's performance on your domestic matters?  And any predictions as to his fate?  I understand there's a lot of resentment in England towards him these days, but thats what I'm hearing through the (biased) media and my contacts there who have never been Blair supporters.

Quoted: Andy, Now that Bush is safe, whats your feeling on Blair's chances.  He has been a great friend and ally of the US, and George Bush in particular, in the war on terror.  Isn't Blair up for re-election soon? What's your opinion of Blair's performance on your domestic matters?  And any predictions as to his fate?  I understand there's a lot of resentment in England towards him these days, but thats what I'm hearing through the (biased) media and my contacts there who have never been Blair supporters.

Blairs performance on domestic matters…

Well, he needs to get a grip on law and order, we have a big problem with that here.  Economy is good, we seem to be getting along quite nicely with a 20% tax rate, sustained growth and effectively zero unemployment. There are problems with some policies like immigration, but nothing likely to cause the public to reject his party.

There is a fair bit of resentment towards him over the war, but nothing savage, certainly not as bad as your Democrats would claim. In reality, the war in Iraq and the troops there is not a huge issue. The British public traditionally complain up till the troops are deployed, then they get behind the guys in the field. The few attempts at protests in the last year only brought out 5-10 thousand protestors. The resentment is purely over the WMD issue, not the war itself. If he had said "we are going to war to kick Sadaams butt because we don't like him", that would have been ok with the public!

On Europe, he is quite keen on us becoming integrated into Europe, but the domestic vote is very much against this. We are promised a referendum in 2006 which is expected to overwhelmingly reject our signing up for the European Constitution. If we do reject this, some EU members (France and Germany) are hinting we could be thrown out of the EU, and that would be just fine by me!

Will he get re-elected… it's a 99.99%  certainty, he has a massive lead in the polls, however he has said he intends to step down after the next term. British politics are funny. We seem to traditionally rail against our leaders during wars! Churchill in 1945 and Thatcher in 1990 are two examples.

Interesting note… As soon as Kerry conceeded defeat, George Bush was on the phone to Tony Blair… this has really annoyed the Europeans who with the exception of Italy, had backed Kerry 100%! They had hoped that if Kerry had won they could isolate Britain from the US… never mind Jacques and Gerhard, back a better horse next time…

Andy

Don't forget those funny little North Koreans.

Andy, I hope these election results show the Brits that we do appreciate your troops and their sacrifices in this war.
We all know what it says to the frogs and the krauts.........

Quoted: Andy, I hope these election results show the Brits that we do appreciate your troops and their sacrifices in this war. We all know what it says to the frogs and the krauts.........

Kerry score a HUGE own goal by referring to our troops contribution as the 'coalition of the bribed' and 'window dressing'.

As for the Germans and French……

Just watched some news reports from Paris and Berlin… oh what bitter tears they cry!

Andy

Quoted: In Iran… An Iranian demonstrates his new total sunblock sunglasses… img.photobucket.com/albums/v133/macandy/iran_3.jpg And sales of  Factor 5,000,000 Sunblock are expected to be brisk…… img.photobucket.com/albums/v133/macandy/SuntanSpecial1.gif ANdy

Is that Obi Wan Kenobi?

GET SOME!

Quoted: Kerry score a HUGE own goal by referring to our troops contribution as the 'coalition of the bribed' and 'window dressing'.

Andy; when I heard him say that I almost threw a chair at my TV.  What gall.  How dare he belittle the contributions of our allies and the deaths they've suffered fighting side by side with us.  Fortunately he won't have much opportunity to express such an assinine opinion as a representative of the US government again.

Its good to hear Blair isn't suffering because of his allegiance with the US in the war.  The way I hear it (and remember its coming from an anti-Blair household) you would think he has no chance or re-election.  My perception (which is admittedly largely based on what I hear through the media) is that he stuck his neck out for the US and took a heavy political risk.

And as far as Bush & Blair pissing off Schroeder and Chirac, well thats just too bad for them, isn't it?  Jaqcques is an ass and should be thankful we didn't let Gerhard's forefathers bugger up their entire country sixty years ago.

Actually I've heard a surprising number of Iranians like Bush & company for destroying the TAliban and Saddam, and for trying to plant the seed of democracy in the Mideast. Not a majority, but more than you would expect.

Quoted: Quoted: Kerry score a HUGE own goal by referring to our troops contribution as the 'coalition of the bribed' and 'window dressing'. Andy; when I heard him say that I almost threw a chair at my TV.  What gall.  How dare he belittle the contributions of our allies and the deaths they've suffered fighting side by side with us.  Fortunately he won't have much opportunity to express such an assinine opinion as a representative of the US government again. Its good to hear Blair isn't suffering because of his allegiance with the US in the war.  The way I hear it (and remember its coming from an anti-Blair household) you would think he has no chance or re-election.  My perception (which is admittedly largely based on what I hear through the media) is that he stuck his neck out for the US and took a heavy political risk

Latest opinion polls are Labour, 35%, Tories at 28%, Liberal Democrats, at 25%. The Liberal Democrats are little more than a 'protest vote' here in Britain that does well in the polls but melts away in an election to the two main parties.

Seats in Parliament……

Labour: 407

Conservative: 163

Liberal Democrat: 55

I don't think our Tony has too much to worry about!

Andy