Wednesday, September 8, 2010

News Item: Tony Blair

Culled from various headlines:
Blair cancels book launch party over protest fears
London, England (CNN) -- Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair canceled a launch party for his new book in London Wednesday because of planned protests, his spokesman said.

Of his second London cancellation this week, the unnamed Spokesman said, Blair
did not want to put guests through the unpleasant consequences of the actions of demonstrators of what should have been an enjoyable evening for friends and family .... The party has been postponed indefinitely, (and) will be held sometime in the future. Guests were informed yesterday evening.
Blair's decision came after police made some arrests Saturday in Dublin, Ireland, where he was due for another signing event for his book. A crowd of people, some of them anti-war demonstrators, had gathered outside the shop to protest Blair's role in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and there were unconfirmed reports of eggs and shoes being thrown at Blair.

Blair said in the statement Monday,

I very much enjoyed meeting my readers in Dublin and was looking forward to doing the same in London. However, I have decided not to go ahead with the signing as I don't want the public to be inconvenienced by the inevitable hassle caused by protesters.
Lindsey German, convener of the Stop The War Coalition, which had planned the protest, said
it was a big victory ..... It shows he is running scared. The people who say we should not protest are denying us the right to persist in asking questions about the war and denying the rights of Iraqis who are still suffering because of Blair's policies.
He will not now attend a function at the Tate Modern gallery in London later, having already pulled out of another book signing in the city.

4 comments:

  1. I wonder if Mr. Blair knows how many people in the world despise him.

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  2. Vigil, did you ever see the movie "The Ghost Writer"? I know something of your distaste for fiction so here is the summary:

    "An unremarkable ghost-writer has landed a lucrative contract to redact the memoirs of Adam Lang, the former UK Prime Minister. After dominating British politics for years, Lang has retired with his wife to the USA. He lives on an island, in luxurious, isolated premises complete with a security detail and a secretarial staff. Soon, Adam Lang gets embroiled in a major scandal with international ramifications that reveals how far he was ready to go in order to nurture UK's "special relationship" with the USA. But before this controversy has started, before even he has closed the deal with the publisher, the ghost-writer gets unmistakable signs that the turgid draft he is tasked to put into shape inexplicably constitutes highly sensitive material."

    In the end the Tony Blair-like former PM is murdered JFK style by a pissed off parent of a dead British soldier.

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  3. Beach, it's science fiction that I have no taste for, not political fiction. On your recommendation, I'm moving Ghost Writer up from 7th place to 1st place on my Netflix Queue!

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  4. "The Ghost Writer"? I slept through it, Beach. But Trophy Wife sat through it. She asked me if I thought it was a good movie. I said 'Yeah'. That's because you recommended it.

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