WHILE no one can pretend that Tony Blair has been an unadulterated success, to suggest that he achieved nothing, as Teresa Rumsey does in her latest diatribe, is just plain silly. How about peace in N. Ireland, uninterrupted economic growth, one of the lowest unemployment rates in the Western world, the minimum wage, civil partnerships, social democracy, the G8 deal for Africa, Bank of England independence, the overthrow of Milosevic, devolution in Scotland and Wales, massive injections of funds into schools and the NHS, 700,000 children taken out of poverty? Are these all irrelevant in Ms Rumsey's highly selective picture of modern Britain? I have been selective as well, of course, and Tony Blair will probably only be remembered for the tragedy of Iraq but it would be churlish, unfair and blinkered to ignore the positive achievements of his years in office.
Nicholas Pritchard, Southampton.
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