1997-2007

Plenty of opinion on the out-going Prime Minister today, including my 'paper of choice, The Independent. I don't want this blog to be Political, as my first love is music. I'll leave that to others.

My view of the last 10 years is coloured by my up-bringing in Yorkshire, and seeing the brutal running-down of the mines, the hospitals, the transport system, all for the pursuit of a quick buck. Brutality was the word.

When I first moved Southwards, I made friends, many of whom struggled with mortgage rates of 15% while struggling with negative equity and all the associated stress.

3.5 million unemployed.
Sleaze beyond anything currently being alleged.
Schools and hospitals being run from crumbling buildings and Portakabins.
Two deep recessions, with just a brutal attitude to those affected.
Privatisations which benefitted friends and relations of those responsible and a destruction of any kind of communal, societal empathy.

No, sorry, this is much much better. As for Iraq, although I consider myself a pacifist, I also believe that there is a time for pragmatism. I was balanced towards intervention, and remain so, so don't whine to me about the UN, France and Hans Blix and all the pre-invasion pantomime.

He will be missed.