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poliphilo ([personal profile] poliphilo) wrote2005-04-29 10:02 am
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The Eyes Of Tony Blair

I wasn't going to watch the big election broadcast last night, but the remote chance of seeing Blair publicly humiliated was too tempting to miss. Of course, in the event, the man's glibness and self-belief carried him through. He saw off questions from the public with bursts of trademark sincerity, and only Dimbleby, the professional interviewer, managed to get under his guard with a question about why he had refused to debate the other party leaders face to face. Obviously Blair hadn't expected that one and for a delicious, lengthened moment he went blank and glared furiously at Dimbleby's crotch with his teeth bared. But then he recovered with a laugh.

Blair used to be good-looking in a boyish sort of a way. Seven years in power have turned him into a goblin. Steve Bell, the Guardian's premier cartoonist, has picked up on something mad and strange about his eyes and gives him a right that's tiny and dull and a left that's the size of a soup plate. Certainly there's a discrepancy. They don't quite seem to work together. It's as if one of them (but which one?) were glass.

He looks tired. The leaking of the attorney general's pre-war advice on Iraq must have been a big blow. It gives us the dots and tittles on how he and his gang finangled the evidence. He wants to talk about the economy and schools and stuff like that but the war is the defining event of his premiership and he can't escape it. Even if he wins the election- and he probably will because the opposition is so god-awful- there's a comfort in knowing he'll go down to history as the Man Who Lied.

[identity profile] jackiejj.livejournal.com 2005-04-29 06:49 am (UTC)(link)
As for the cartoon!

And he does have one eye bigger...

(And has he gained weight? My elf illusion is now totally shattered.)

[identity profile] poliphilo.livejournal.com 2005-04-29 07:44 am (UTC)(link)
I don't think he's gained weight- too much febrile dashing about between photo ops- but he has- somehow- recently acquired a comical tan.

[identity profile] poliphilo.livejournal.com 2005-04-29 07:51 am (UTC)(link)
I really don't know how he's done it. Does he have time to lie about on foreign beaches? I think not. I can only suppose he borrowed Cherie's sun-lamp.

[identity profile] jackiejj.livejournal.com 2005-04-29 09:22 am (UTC)(link)
Perhaps he thinks his startling tan will keep people from looking at his GIANT EYE...

[identity profile] poliphilo.livejournal.com 2005-04-29 01:05 pm (UTC)(link)
It would be best if we didn't have to look at either of them.

[identity profile] jackiejj.livejournal.com 2005-04-29 02:12 pm (UTC)(link)
I've just returned from Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

It was fun! Silly! Just like Adams.

I loved it.

The special effects were thrilling, the photography excellent, the acting very good, and the whole effect was very much Monty Python-ish.

I heartily recommend it!

[identity profile] poliphilo.livejournal.com 2005-04-29 02:41 pm (UTC)(link)
I'm glad.

I'm not a HUGE fan, but I've enjoyed THG in all its various incarnations to date- radio show, TV show, book and I've been wanting the film to be a success.