Sad but true- the Beeb's slick bias.

Trying something newish here- that is, to comment on the Beeb's anti-Conservative bias, and even their pro-Tony bias. Of course the leftists have typically felt they needed to be at Tony's throat as long as he was chummy with W., and W. was chummy with Rummy, but then they had a wopping majority to reassure them that a mediatorial vote against Tony wasn't a vote against, well, Tony. I suppose that that actually explains why the 'stopper' left were so angry about the war- they thought that 'their' man was in charge, and then they found that he wasn't so much their man as they'd thought. Naturally Blair's independence from the far-left, nominal though it is in philosophical terms, has always been his passport to election to Government in the UK.

But there's a real sense of bygones being bygones in this Beeb blather from Nick Assinder about Tone's new term agenda. It's a hotchpotch of authoritarianism and social tinkering which conceals a continual leftward drift in public policy- in other words business as usual in the 'Third Way' and the sort of thing that Beebies can readily get behind.

So, Blair is 'is out to make this package count' and continuing as, allegedly, he began- 'at full throttle.' . The whiff of bull is unmistakeable. Blair's approach is 'undoubtedly ambitious, controversial and wide-ranging' . He sweeps, he tackles, he reforms, he bans- like some overgrown Harry Potter he leaves those unscrupulous Slytherin' rascals floundering in his wake- 'The Tories have previously been split on the proposal but, if they scent the prime minister's blood, are likely to seize any opportunity to help defeat him.'.

To round off the impression that the Beeb is reconciling itself to Tone again and trying to get behind The Progam, this snippet of sartorial nonsense is a small case in point.

There is only one man, to my mind, who can be said to have pioneered the use of appearance in latter day politics in a most artful way to enhance his reputation, and that man is Tony Blair.

Yet it's the nasty party whose 'naked ambition'- yes, it's a crap opportunist pun- has led to a situation where 'A string of senior Conservatives have been putting their necks out on television talk shows to push their leadership credentials.'

Yes, they're back in line, and if we want some real criticism it'll be DIY from here on, so here's Irwin Stelzer on Blair's inglorious role in the world economy-

'More seriously, the Labour government's stated attempt to find a third way between America's free market capitalism and Europe's corporatism has been abandoned in favor of a lurch towards a high-tax, increasingly regulated economy that is already producing consumer angst, stock market jitters, and depressed businessmen.'

More seriously indeed.