This is a good an explanation as any – Wikipedia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/And_did_those_feet_in_ancient_time

“And did those feet in ancient time” is a short poem by William Blake from the preface to his epic Milton: a Poem (1804). Today it is best known as the hymn “Jerusalem”, with music written by C. Hubert H. Parry in 1916.

And did those feet in ancient time,

Walk upon England’s mountains green:

And was the holy Lamb of God,

On England’s pleasant pastures seen!

And did the Countenance Divine,

Shine forth upon our clouded hills?

And was Jerusalem builded here,

Among these dark Satanic Mills?

Bring me my Bow of burning gold;

Bring me my Arrows of desire:

Bring me my Spear: O clouds unfold:

Bring me my Chariot of fire!

I will not cease from Mental Fight,

Nor Shall my sword sleep in my hand:

Till we have built Jerusalem,

In England’s green & pleasant Land.

It’s to do with the idea that Jesus may have come to England.

We could do with him here now!

Yes, we Brits should be very proud of our heritage. Balancing that by highlighting the “failures” serves no-one. We should be proud that our form of democracy has been exported worldwide and above all that the world speaks English. Even the Chinese all learn the language of Shakespeare, Milton and Blair.

Your link through to Tony Blair’s “kaleidoscope has been shaken” clip which he made at the October 2001 conference just after 9/11, is much appreciated. I’ve been looking for this for some time. If I ever get the time to make another video on Blair “words” THIS will be included.

I’ve added your video to my blogroll.

Of course, I think it’s worth noting that the view of British PM Tony Blair after 9/11 that the attacks of 9/11 were a chance to make the world a better place and not just succumb to events helped not just me but many of my fellow Americans cope with 9/11 (and other tragedies).

I’ve been listening to two BBC Radio 4 programmes in the last hour. Radio 4 is excellent on current affairs. So much more balanced than the dreadful printed press we have here.

The first one was about the Northern Ireland settlement – ‘The Price of Peace’. The second was ‘Analysis’ and about our troops, Iraq & Afghanistan, their funding, Britain’s place in the world militarily and Blair’s “liberal interventionism”.

They were both very good programmes. They gave a fair & balanced insight into those conflict zones and, obliquely, into the thinking of the man this site was set up to support (or as the Americans would say, ‘to honor’).

I DO believe that in time this last ten years of Blair’s rule will be positively re-appraised. Perhaps it’s starting now.

If you want to listen to the Northern Ireland BBC programme, go here. Ian Paisley’s bellows of “Never! Never! Never!” shows that in the end anything is possible :

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/priceofpeace/pip/3uvan/

This is the liberal interventionist one, Analysis:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/analysis/

That’s a nice idea of yours to send some bits of the blog to the troops. I don’t know which parts you reckon they’d enjoy. Maybe the Blair Obituary one?!

I might be able to do a whole page on the British troops and the reasons “WHY”. Could do, I suppose, though I am working on a couple of others right now.

As for this site – well, yes, it kind of developed into a bit of an obsession, I freely admit. And much to MY surprise! I didn’t intend it to be, but once I had started and read up so much, I became convinced that so many people were getting Blair wrong through, in the main, press manipulation. I still think that. Not that he is completely blameless or without fault; no-one is. But I learned a lot about the early period I had missed because I wasn’t really into the Labour party to any extent. It was an eye-opener. So I just wrote this page and then that page and suddenly you realise you’ve written the equivalent of a book!

I enjoy writing and politics, so that makes it easy to do. It’s never onerous.

Glad you’ve enjoyed it anyway, Arlene.

Nice to know I have one friend!

Er, yes we are a lot smaller than the US! We just TALK big. I suppose it’s handy that we speak English … more or less.

I’m sure Mr Blair will appreciate your message if he ever sees it here. But he won’t reply, sadly. One of his rules since leaving is not to talk or comment on British politics at all. Previous ex PMs have become a pain in the backside for their successors. Blair knows the job is tough enough without him chipping away. Anyway, like everything else that goes wrong in the world, he’d only get blamed by the British press if he interfered or criticised publicly in any way and Gordon came a cropper. Best to say nothing.

Glad you enjoyed the dream page. Have to keep it light now and again.

Btw, the answer to your question – no.

Let’s just say I know he knows about the blog. Whether he gives a damn is another matter.

;0)

Thanks for the thought on my blog, Arlene, but I have a feeling he already knows about it.

If you want to start a WordPress blog called ‘Keep TB in the USA’ – you can start it right now, while you’re here. There’s a link on my blog somewhere. Warning – it’s time consuming and addictive!

Had a quick click through to the above ‘ugly’ site. It seemed to be all ugly stuff about Americans. Couldn’t see the Blair bit.