Mr Blair has foolishly agreed to support the President’s premature display of machismo.The Prime Minister should urgently rethink his unrealistic “Third Way” in international policy, that somehow seeks to place Britain at the heart of Europe and in a special relationship with the United States. The missile attack on Iraq is opposed by other EU countries, as were the previous military interventions. Mr Bush’s “Son of Star Wars” project also fails to command support among Britain’s European partners Yet Mr Blair is poised to co-operate with Mr Bush over it. He is expected to declare his support when he visits Mr Bush in Washington this week. Meanwhile, some of Mr Bush’s colleagues have expressed doubts about the European Rapid Reaction Force, which Mr Blair strongly supports. Mr Blair’s “Third Way” is already forcing him into some embarrassing and unsustainable contortions..

Until the year 2000, it was said that Tony Blair intended to make the anticipated success of the Millennium Dome “line one, paragraph one” of Labour’s next election manifesto Oh dear. It now seems certain that the Dome will indeed feature prominently in election literature – but that the Conservatives will be the ones printing it. Until the year 2000, it was said that Tony Blair intended to make the anticipated success of the Millennium Dome “line one, paragraph one” of Labour’s next election manifesto Oh dear. It now seems certain that the Dome will indeed feature prominently in election literature – but that the Conservatives will be the ones printing it.
Already, the Tories have tried (with wobbly results) to project a slogan on to the Dome’s empty frame. Last week’s decision to withdraw the Legacy Consortium’s position of “preferred bidder” for the Dome, and to open up the auction for the redundant site to other applicants (including the ever-entertaining P-Y Gerbeau) must be welcome to everyone outside Downing Street. Legacy had singularly failed to find enough companies willing to participate in its “business-park-in-a-tent” notion.

The minister with responsibility for this poisoned chalice, Lord Falconer, was always treading a fine line in his dealings with Legacy, since the consortium’s head, Robert Bourne, is a significant donor to the Labour Party.However bad the short-term reaction may be to starting the bidding process afresh, Lord Falconer is to be congratulated for encouraging others to get a look in The Dome was a flop because of its contents. The building itself was an award-winning design and offers huge potential to an imaginative new owner. The Government must choose a consortium that would run the Dome with a creative spirit, in tune with the building’s origins. This is a more important objective than securing a quick deal.Ministers know that the Dome has become in many people’s minds a symbol of government arrogance and incompetence. Whatever the muddle they have got themselves into over the Legacy bid, it is in their long-term interests, too, that the building survives and thrives in Labour’s second term.. The family feud is rarely mentioned as a factor in contemporary politics, perhaps because its tribal character does not fit well into the “rational actor” model favoured by political scientists and pundits.

Yet the American political system, in particular, operates on quasi-tribal lines, to the point where ideological affiliations play an overt role in judicial appointments. Tribalism may soon be the determining factor in White House decision-making, too, for George W Bush and his entourage don’t deal in shades of grey. As far as they’re concerned, the distinctions between good and evil, right and wrong, us and them, are perfectly clear; and within this world of absolutes the family feud is alive and well. After eight long years of waiting, the Bushes have a score to settle with the Husseins. The family feud is rarely mentioned as a factor in contemporary politics, perhaps because its tribal character does not fit well into the “rational actor” model favoured by political scientists and pundits. Yet the American political system, in particular, operates on quasi-tribal lines, to the point where ideological affiliations play an overt role in judicial appointments. Tribalism may soon be the determining factor in White House decision-making, too, for George W Bush and his entourage don’t deal in shades of grey.