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Recent Google searches: “old man yaoi dossier fic”
Nostalgic social media videos detailing Blair-Brown rivalry elicit cult following among young political fans
Delighted to find out everyone else is infected with my brain rot (dot dot dot it’s BSE lol) x
Most Brat new Labour cabinet member?? Mandy, obviously x
(Many many more important things are happening in the news today BUT I’m laid in bed and have suddenly had the thought…)
Did anyone ever do a follow up on the Child Trust Fund accounts set up by New Labour for children born between 2002-2010?
It’d be fascinating to see what young people spent their £500 (+ in some cases, IIRC low income and disabled families could get more) pocket money from Gordon Brown on…
From today, the first 18-year-olds will be able to access Child Trust Funds (CTFs) set up over a decade ago by Tony Blair’s Labour governmen
This Guardian article got me thinking about the semiotics of politicians having a brew:
“He [Sunak] wasn’t the first politician to mobilise teaware. Tony Blair was regularly pictured with a mug, using his casual appearance sipping from it to semaphore the sort of modernising tendencies upon which New Labour set out its stall. Bush [no, not that one, Stephen] notes that before the Blair years, in pictures of politicians meeting in Downing Street, everyone would be using cups and saucers. The mug, he says, was “part of a visual language of early New Labour … we’re modern and we’re different”.
Photo credits:
1. Press photo of Tony Blair drinking from a ‘Big Conversation’ mug whilst meeting members of the Faculty of Health at the University of Birmingham as part of the 'Big Conversation' programme aimed at creating dialogue between politicians and the general public. David Jones/ Alamy, 23rd February 2004.
2. Press photo of Blair drinking a cup of tea (not sure what the mug is?) before visiting a community project in East Manchester on the way to the 2002 Labour Party Conference in Blackpool. PA photos, 2nd July 2002.
3. Blair drinking from a souvenir mug from the AlienWar virtual reality experience based on the Alien films at the Trocadero, London: looks like the photo was originally on the front cover of the Times but I found it on Reddit courtesy of u/CowperAndrewes https://www.reddit.com/r/LV426/s/nbKny3DLXI date and author unknown.
4. Photo of Blair drinking from a mug emblazoned with the England flag/ St George’s cross whilst being interviewed by Adrian Chiles on BBC Radio Five Live about England’s chances in the World Cup. Jeff Overs/ BBC News/ Getty Images, 19th May 2006.
5. Press photo of Blair in the run up to the 2001 General Election drinking from a Labour Party mug with the slogan "The Work Goes On", during the daily election briefing at Millbank. Toby Melville/ Alamy, 31st May 2001.
6. Press photo of Blair drinking from a Labour branded mug on the campaign train for the 2001 General Election at the Trimdon Labour club in his constituency of Sedgefield, Durham. Owen Humphreys/ Alamy, 13th May 2001.
7. Press photo of Blair outside No.10 with a Dogs Trust mug after announcing that he and Cherie were expecting their 4th child. Neil Munns/ Alamy, 20th November 1999.
8. Press photo of Blair outside No.10, this time announcing the safe arrival of their son Leo (sadly I can’t tell what the mug is in this one either!) Fiona Hanson/ Alamy, 20th May 2000.
Link to the Guardian article by Ellie Violet Bramley, 26th April 2024:
Patriotic teaware was on show from the prime minister this week – the latest round of his mug-based messaging
This weekend marks 30 years since John Smith died. Naturally it’s time to commemorate the best/worst entry to the Bad Sex Award of all time:
“That night she cradled me in her arms and soothed me; told me what I needed to be told; strengthened me. On that night of 12 May 1994, I needed that love Cherie gave me, selfishly. I devoured it to give me strength. I was an animal following my instinct” - Tony Blair, A Journey (2010).
Former prime minister's memoir nominated for prize dedicated to clumsy erotic scenes in fiction
Peter Mandelson: an Easter moodboard
(Credits:
1. ‘British Prime Minister Tony Blair accepts a chocolate from Judy Mallaber MP for Amber Valley during a tea party at No 10 Downing Street’ Alamy/Mirrorpix, 29th July 1999
2. ‘Thorntons Chocolate General Election Lollies’ - Getty/Avalon, 25th April 1997)
“How my therapist looks at me after I say I think I’m hallucinating her as Tony Blair”
Instead of writing me a prescription for Clozapine he just writes this on the prescription form:
https://x.com/desnzenthusiast/status/2039169672013058231?s=46&t=EQjf0STbu875ZFjTm8Cxkw
