Now, he is weighed down by intangibles such as, "My goodness, he's been prime minister for an awfully long time, hasn't he?" Authority depends on subordinates thinking you have authority. So Blair's authority is ebbing away because journalists say it is ebbing away. It could have been the week which began a united world-wide effort to curb global warming before it runs out of control, condemning today's children to live on a much less hospitable planet. Or it could turn out to be the one which killed off international agreement on cutting the pollution that causes the climate change. In either case, the Prime Minister will be primarily responsible.. The Prime Minister's authority is draining away That is a fact.
Obviously, with something intangible such as authority, it cannot be tested by putting your finger in the stream and deciding whether the flow of blood is a seepage or a haemorrhage (copyright Michael Howard of Transylvania) But much of politics is about intangibles. I therefore have a close interest in what works and what doesn't.. This," predicted Tony Blair last Sunday, "is a potentially crucial week in the fight against climate change." It looks as though he was right - but it could be for good, or for ill. In essence they are an illusion which, as the majority of onlookers realised some time ago, afford no protection. I speak of the package of anti-terror proposals in the Terrorism Bill published this autumn.
For the past 35 years, I have participated in numerous trials involving allegations of terrorism and numerous appeals, become familiar with a succession of anti-terror Acts - at first temporary and now permanent - and even had my car blown up outside the Old Bailey in 1973. It is time for the Prime Minister to recognise that the new legislative clothes he parades before Parliament and the public are no more convincing or effective than the emperor's. But to speak of "civil war" in France, or of a "terrorist threat", packing together radical Islam and this urban violence as the same danger, as some foreign media have been too prompt to do, is to go overboard. It plays along with the fear-mongering rhetoric of the racist far-right, as well as radical Muslims looking to recruit youngsters in the jihad they dream of waging in Europe.. One must start wondering if greater trouble is not already in the making. But any suggestion by Mr Blair that The Independent on Sunday's report last week that Mr Blunkett had broken the Ministerial Code was part of such a "frenzy" is unworthy..