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Lobster Issue

[…] a striking example in relation to the decision to invade Iraq in 2003. He asked Alastair Campbell, Tony Blair’s Director of Communications at the time, if Tony Blair could change his mind about the decision to invade. Campbell replied: Think about what it would mean if he admitted he was wrong. It would overshadow […]

The View from the Bridge

Lobster Issue 61 (Summer 2011)

[PDF file]: […] for example 11 Not that this makes a change from NuLab. See James Chapman, ‘Meet Labour’s City cronies: The roll call of bankers rewarded by Brown and Blair’, The Daily Mail 12 February 2009. These are detailed in James Lyons, ‘NHS reform leaves Tory backers with links to private healthcare firms set for bonanza’, […]

Back to the future: the 1970s reconsidered

Lobster Issue 34 (Winter 1997)

[PDF file]: […] Mrs. Thatcher, which led to the progressive collapse of Labour as a radical, reforming party.(2) Mrs. Thatcher claimed legitimacy from the events of the 1970s; and the Blair faction have, in turn, accepted as legitimate much of what was done in her name. The Tory and Labour Thatcherites see the 1970s as a disaster […]

View ffrom Bridge 89

Lobster Issue

[…] service of the British people, rather than dictating to them. Margaret Thatcher sought to drag Britain out of its stupor by setting loose our natural entrepreneurialism. Tony Blair reimagined a stale, outdated Labour Party into one that could seize the optimism of the late 90s. A century ago, Clement Attlee wrote that Labour must […]

View from the Bridge 89

Lobster Issue

[…] service of the British people, rather than dictating to them. Margaret Thatcher sought to drag Britain out of its stupor by setting loose our natural entrepreneurialism. Tony Blair reimagined a stale, outdated Labour Party into one that could seize the optimism of the late 90s. A century ago, Clement Attlee wrote that Labour must […]

View from the Bridge 89

Lobster Issue

[…] service of the British people, rather than dictating to them. Margaret Thatcher sought to drag Britain out of its stupor by setting loose our natural entrepreneurialism. Tony Blair reimagined a stale, outdated Labour Party into one that could seize the optimism of the late 90s. A century ago, Clement Attlee wrote that Labour must […]

The view from the bridge

Lobster Issue 92 (2026)

[PDF file]: […] Walker, Garrick Alder and Nick Must for their work on this issue of Lobster. *new* Saint Tony I didn’t watch the 3 hour TV profile of Tony Blair in mid February. Would it tell me anything new about the man? Probably not. Mr Blair summarised? He and Gordon Brown continued Mrs Thatcher’s destruction of […]

View from Bridge 89

Lobster Issue

[…] service of the British people, rather than dictating to them. Margaret Thatcher sought to drag Britain out of its stupor by setting loose our natural entrepreneurialism. Tony Blair reimagined a stale, outdated Labour Party into one that could seize the optimism of the late 90s. A century ago, Clement Attlee wrote that Labour must […]

The long goodbye? Taking on the consultants

Lobster Issue 90 (2025)

[PDF file]: […] in highly technical areas of public services, such as environmental monitoring, finance and digital technologies. This became apparent in the United Kingdom in the aftermath of the Blair/ Brown years, during the period of the Coalition government’s policy to slash spending on consultants. In one instance, a major rail franchise tender was withdrawn because […]

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