Better

Much better. Well done Charles...

Kennedy seeks Iraq war 'justice'

Every Labour and Conservative candidate should be held to account by voters over the Iraq war, Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy has argued.

Mr Kennedy said Tony Blair had taken the UK into an illegal war and voters could deliver "justice by the ballot box" at the general election.

I've been calling for this for some days now, and I'm glad to see he has grasped the opportunity the Mail on Sunday's article has presented. However, he must remain resolute. Sure, he can't bang on about it for the next week, but a couple of days reminder can't hurt anyone. Labour and the Tories are already trying to gloss over it, as they have both moved onto new issues this morning.

So the Lib Dems must try to keep the agenda focused on them. If they do so, it will mean that as is normal, Labour will present a press conference on something and the journalists will spend all the time after it asking questions on unrelated issues, and hopefully that will include Iraq.

Meanwhile, Labour's top brass has begun to steer the good ship Nuclear into a u-turn. Yes. Those membership cards for CND long buried deep in landfills, Tony Blair has decided it is time to reconsider nuclear power as the option for Saving the Day and meeting carbon dioxide reduction pledges.

A classic. Yet another principle sold down the river. More wavering and flip flopping that the opposition parties must capitalise on. Nuclear power is dangerous, and we still don't know what to do with the mountain of waste it produces. But old Blair doesn't want to rock the boat as he's fed up of local councils chucking all proposals for wind power in the bin. It seems the NIMBYs have won. Or have they? Perhaps they will now be pleased that the plans have turned to having a brand new Sellafield on their doorsteps!

This is yet another reason why the Lib Dems have my vote this time. This further u-turn, and the Lib Dems opposition to nuclear power, is a chance to remind all traditional Labour voters of exactly what Blair has done to their party. They must stop voting out of loyalty. Choose based on what you think is best for society. New Labour has no credibility in the causes of social justice; they are more concerned about fighting illegal wars in Iraq.

There can be no denying that New Labour is not the party it was. New Labour has offered token gestures to the old left, but they are few and far between. New Labour has no right to bear the name "Labour" and it might as well just change its name completely. Another day, another tenet of the party dead and buried.

That's New Labour.