Bliar will say anything to keep people happy
Discussion
[quote=Today's Torygraph]
[b]Blair: Africa partly brought me into politics[/b]
(Filed: 01/07/2005)
Tony Blair has told a youthful audience of his three-decade passion for Africa ahead of a summit with the leaders of the world's top industrialised nations.
The satellite music station MTV is screening an hour long studio debate with the Prime Minister and 40 young people from around the world.
Blair 'partly entered politics' to change Africa
In the programme, recorded last night, Mr Blair spoke of how his "passion" for Africa had helped to bring him into politics more than 30 years ago.
With Live 8 organiser Sir Bob Geldof sitting alongside him, he spoke of his hopes for a deal at next week's G8 summit at Gleneagles.
He won a strong endorsement from the rock star who said he would continue to back him, even if he failed to win the support of the other G8 leaders for his Africa plan.
"If they refuse I think it is fair that he can walk out and say 'I tried, they refused'. I will back him up because I actually know how hard he has tried," Geldof said.
"The reality is that he has pushed the boat out more than any politician I have known."
Mr Blair said he had decided to make Africa one of his key priorities for Britain's presidency of the G8 group of leading industrialised nations because alone among the world's continents it has gone backwards over the past 30 years.
"Africa has been a passion of mine. Concern about development was, in part, what brought me into politics," he said.
"Thirty years ago, I guess I was the age of most people here. Thirty years later, I am in a position to do something about it."
The Prime Minister acknowledged he had set himself a big task in seeking agreement on a package of aid, debt relief and removing trade barriers for African producers.
"I am hopeful we will get there. It is a big ambition to set but if you don't set big ambitions you don't achieve anything at all," he said.
Geldof said there was no realistic alternative to the plan put forward by the Prime Minister.
"Plan B is that we continue to watch the carnival of death every night on our television screens for ever in full glorious colour and stereophonic sound the better to indulge in the pornography of poverty," he said.
He turned on one French man in the audience who questioned whether the ending of trade subsidies in Europe would hurt people in the developed world.
"There is some difficulty with France being able to give up the common agricultural policy. It is a distorting mechanism. It is the politics of the playground," he said.
"The knock-on effect of the common agricultural policy is that people die eight miles south of Europe."
Mr Blair acknowledged that achieving an agreement on tackling climate change would be difficult in the face of American reluctance to accept the scientific evidence on global warming.
However, he stressed that the world needed to accept that the Kyoto Treaty - which the US refused to sign - was not the answer to the problems as any solution needed America on board.
The Prime Minister was momentarily taken aback when he was asked whether George W Bush, US president, could "just be wrong" on the issue.
"It is possible for any of us to be wrong in positions of power," Mr Blair said hurriedly.
[/quote]
If it was SE Asia with the problems no doubt Bliar would say the same thing about SE Asia.
What a t:censored:t.
[b]Blair: Africa partly brought me into politics[/b]
(Filed: 01/07/2005)
Tony Blair has told a youthful audience of his three-decade passion for Africa ahead of a summit with the leaders of the world's top industrialised nations.
The satellite music station MTV is screening an hour long studio debate with the Prime Minister and 40 young people from around the world.
Blair 'partly entered politics' to change Africa
In the programme, recorded last night, Mr Blair spoke of how his "passion" for Africa had helped to bring him into politics more than 30 years ago.
With Live 8 organiser Sir Bob Geldof sitting alongside him, he spoke of his hopes for a deal at next week's G8 summit at Gleneagles.
He won a strong endorsement from the rock star who said he would continue to back him, even if he failed to win the support of the other G8 leaders for his Africa plan.
"If they refuse I think it is fair that he can walk out and say 'I tried, they refused'. I will back him up because I actually know how hard he has tried," Geldof said.
"The reality is that he has pushed the boat out more than any politician I have known."
Mr Blair said he had decided to make Africa one of his key priorities for Britain's presidency of the G8 group of leading industrialised nations because alone among the world's continents it has gone backwards over the past 30 years.
"Africa has been a passion of mine. Concern about development was, in part, what brought me into politics," he said.
"Thirty years ago, I guess I was the age of most people here. Thirty years later, I am in a position to do something about it."
The Prime Minister acknowledged he had set himself a big task in seeking agreement on a package of aid, debt relief and removing trade barriers for African producers.
"I am hopeful we will get there. It is a big ambition to set but if you don't set big ambitions you don't achieve anything at all," he said.
Geldof said there was no realistic alternative to the plan put forward by the Prime Minister.
"Plan B is that we continue to watch the carnival of death every night on our television screens for ever in full glorious colour and stereophonic sound the better to indulge in the pornography of poverty," he said.
He turned on one French man in the audience who questioned whether the ending of trade subsidies in Europe would hurt people in the developed world.
"There is some difficulty with France being able to give up the common agricultural policy. It is a distorting mechanism. It is the politics of the playground," he said.
"The knock-on effect of the common agricultural policy is that people die eight miles south of Europe."
Mr Blair acknowledged that achieving an agreement on tackling climate change would be difficult in the face of American reluctance to accept the scientific evidence on global warming.
However, he stressed that the world needed to accept that the Kyoto Treaty - which the US refused to sign - was not the answer to the problems as any solution needed America on board.
The Prime Minister was momentarily taken aback when he was asked whether George W Bush, US president, could "just be wrong" on the issue.
"It is possible for any of us to be wrong in positions of power," Mr Blair said hurriedly.
[/quote]
If it was SE Asia with the problems no doubt Bliar would say the same thing about SE Asia.
What a t:censored:t.
He'll never say anything that makes me happy...
Except perhaps, "The Labour Party and myself would like to acknowledge that we are all tw@ts and resign from our position of elected government. Power will be entrusted to the Pistonhead Party who will be carrying out a full scale reversal of everything we have ever done.
We would like to thank the millions of hapless critters for their misguided support over the years and for giving us a huge laugh every four years when we kept getting back in!
If someone could forward all my mail to The Whitehouse I would be most greatful as I'll be President Bush's lapdog from now on.
Goodbye Britain"
Except perhaps, "The Labour Party and myself would like to acknowledge that we are all tw@ts and resign from our position of elected government. Power will be entrusted to the Pistonhead Party who will be carrying out a full scale reversal of everything we have ever done.
We would like to thank the millions of hapless critters for their misguided support over the years and for giving us a huge laugh every four years when we kept getting back in!
If someone could forward all my mail to The Whitehouse I would be most greatful as I'll be President Bush's lapdog from now on.
Goodbye Britain"
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