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上个星期四布莱尔宣布退休时，特意选择了他自己的选区英格兰东北德勒姆郡(County Durham)的Sedgefield里当年他宣布参选工党领袖的一家工党俱乐部，从伦敦来到Sedgefield，刚一下车，满面灿烂笑容的布莱尔夫妇就被当地的工党支持者们包围，握手、拥抱、亲吻、笑容、眼泪，其景象竟然与1997年5月2日布莱尔夫妇第一次以首相身份来到唐宁街十号，置身于大批支持者欢乐的海洋中的情景十分相似。于是各家电视台做布莱尔十年的片段剪辑的时候，无一例外地采用的以上两段新闻片段，首尾呼应，“十年过后，我仍然被爱戴”，布莱尔再次展示如何精准地发送信息。
除了新闻和记录片外，电视台最爱用的是两部影片，一个是电影 Love, Actually，一个是 Red Nose Day – Catherine Tate and Tony Blair。前者反映的是英国公众对首相的理想想像；后者是布莱尔亲自上阵，他大概没想到公众会认为他真的不再bovvered。
Guardian’s Simon Hoggart described the crowd who support woman MP Harriet Harman’s contest to be Gordon Brown’s deputy.
She had backing from 61 MPs. Of these, 31 are women. They, with a handful of men, marched into a committee room at the Commons like Japanese tourists who has lost the lady with the flag. They knew it was important, but they weren’t quite clear why they were there.
Joke in expense of Harriet Harman’s gender…or the ladies who support her perhaps?
专栏作家Bernard Levin在1994年布莱尔成为工党领导人之后在《泰晤士报》上的文章，向我们演示知识分子是如何骂人的：
Labour at last has a modern leader ready to sweep to power and end this sorry era.
The longer and more frequently I contemplate Mr Blair, the more I like the cut of his jib. This has nothing to do with the alternative; I long ago concluded that the present Government was worm-eaten, exhausted, dishonest, incompetent, lazy, mendacious, ignorant, rotten, false, disreputable, deceitful, unsavoury, squalid, abominable, soiled, piratical, shifty, discreditable, infamous, improper, obscene, hateful, impure, degraded, dilapidated, shabby, grovelling, discredited, renownless, tarnished, disgraced, shameless, creeping, abject, two-faced, unscrupulous, villainous, treacherous, untrustworthy, prevaricating, sinister, crawling, insincere, fishy, spurious, unclean, felonious, infamous, venal, base, vile, bribable, rancid, disloyal, scheming, unsavoury, sickening, fetid, nauseating, putrid, defaulting, mouldering, evil, vicious, damnable, maleficent, wrong, ineffectual, mean, inferior, contemptible, superficial, irrelevant, expendable, powerless, pathetic, nugatory, impotent, jumped-up, cheap, insalubrious, flea-ridden, unsound, nasty, baneful, foul-tonged, cursed, unwarranted, execrable, damned, abnormal, unreasonable, virtueless, peccant, sinful, unworthy, hopeless, incorrigible, tergiversating, brutalised, nefarious, culpable, scandalous, worthless, flagitious, gross, indefensible and unpardonable to say the least. But Blair, as far as I can see, is to be found on his own feet, not measuring by the scabrous (I missed that one) Lilliputians now arrayed against him.
不过如果你仔细看，他还是重复使用了 infamous 和 insavoury 两次。
布莱尔的十年首相生涯即将结束，将在明天宣布退休，布莱尔在位的这十年，就已经有不少关于他的影视剧。这个时候不妨来回顾一下，如果你想从影视作品中了解布莱尔的崛起和十年内的政治风云，以下的十部作品是个起点。
1. The Deal (2003) 《君子协定》
导演：Stephen Frears 编剧：Peter Morgan 主演：Michael Sheen, David Morrissey
故事跨度从布莱尔进入众议院到成为工党领导人。83年布莱尔当选议员后，很快成为布朗的盟友，布朗在工党影子内阁中地位还在布莱尔之上。1992年工党在大选中失利，布莱尔鼓动布朗竞选党魁，布朗没有同意。1994年工党党魁史密斯心脏病发去世，布朗觉得自己是领导工党的当然人选，但这时布莱尔已经有了自己的班子，觉得时机已经成熟，决定自己参选。最后布莱尔成功地说服布朗他自己是最好的领导人人选，把布朗拉入自己阵营，给予掌管经济的大权，避免了党内一场厮杀。这里的 Deal，就是传说中布莱尔许诺自己担任一任首相后让位给布朗，但双方都不承认这个 Deal 的存在。Channel 4 首播。
2. The Queen (2006) 《英女王》
导演：Stephen Frears 编剧：Peter Morgan 主演：Helen Mirren, Michael Sheen
3年后，《君子协定》的原班人马又拍摄了这部影片，演布莱尔的还是 Michael Sheen，Helen Mirren 加盟演女王。在威尼斯电影节上得到观众起立鼓掌后开始一发不可收拾地获奖。这部电影中其实布莱尔的角色很重要，当时布莱尔刚刚上任4个多月，这里可以看到布莱尔的政府运作理念、对公众情绪的敏感、和对媒体操作的纯熟。
好像是为了告诉我Bank Holiday不是只有我一个人看 BBC Parliament 的 1997 Election Coverage ，今天的《卫报》上刊登了以下社论称赞这个频道：
Tucked away in one of the more obscure corners of digital television and prone to showing such ratings-killers as Pay Modernisation in the NHS Committee and Recorded Coverage of the Town and Country Planning (Amendment) Ten Minute Rule Bill, BBC Parliament will never be able to match the audience share of more glamorous channels. But it has risen to the challenge of an extraordinary political month with a series of programmes showing that there is still life in democracy. Over the last few days the channel has ventured abroad, broadcasting the full French presidential debate with an English translation, and then live coverage of Sunday’s election result from the French channel TF1. This morning it heads to Belfast to record the opening of the Northern Ireland assembly. Yesterday it filled a damp bank holiday Monday with a repeat of the BBC’s 1997 election night coverage. A fresh-faced Tony Blair promised from Sedgefield that he would create “a nation reborn and renewed” as Tory seats fell across the land. It was a nostalgic introduction to the week in which Mr Blair will set the date of his departure and a reminder of why he won. Even the politically obsessed may lack the stamina to watch all of this – although a hard core have delighted in the rebroadcasting of every British general election since 1955. By showing democracy in the raw, free of charge, BBC Parliament has done something to explain why politics matters. It has also proved that it still consists of rather more than soundbites.
5 月 6 日是布莱尔54岁生日，几天前工党在布莱尔领导下执政刚超过十年。但是英国媒体上极少提到，占据报纸头条的是苏格兰议会选举后的不明朗前景，以及布莱尔退休后的工党政治。2007年的 5 月，英国选民对于布莱尔的态度，与 10 年前相比，反差是如此的强烈。彷佛是提醒观众 10 前的布莱尔，今天的 BBC Parliament 频道，全程重播了长达 12 小时的 1997年 5 月 2 日凌晨 BBC 的选举揭晓特别节目。
英国的大选传统上都是在星期四（1997年是 5 月 1 日）举行，投票结束后，点票开始，各个选区的进度不同，结果通常从星期五凌晨开始揭晓。跟踪揭晓过程，好像是看一场多名选手同时上场的拳击赛一样，看着左一拳右一拳，最后得分最高者胜出。而选举揭晓特别节目，就象是电视转播这场拳击赛。不过即使是老牌的主持人 David Dimbleby 也没有见过1997 年这场大选中工党如此全面的胜利，连保守党的内阁成员都在自己的选区一个个地倒下，最后只剩下三分之一。后来甚至出来了工党议员太多，众议院辩论厅里“执政党这边的座位不够了怎么办？”这样的问题。
当然主角还是布莱尔，10 年前的布莱尔，真是年轻（才44岁）潇洒，让人觉得充满理想和活力。他的公众演讲，听着是种享受：“A new dawn has broken”他获胜后在伦敦的Festival Hall 前对工党支持者们说，背后天空渐亮，新的一天刚刚开始－－这些场景如果出现在电影中，你可能会说太煽情－－你可以理解为什么1997年的英国人为什么会在布莱尔魅力光环下如痴如醉了。这个场景，和其它片断一起，都成为了历史性时刻的一部份，以后十年会在媒体上一遍又一遍地播放。
5月3日苏格兰举行苏格兰议会(Scottish Parliament)选举，过后被媒体称为苏格兰政治上“具有历史意义”的一天，因为工党(Labour)在苏格兰独大50年的格局第一次被打破，而且打破这一局面的还是主张苏格兰独立的苏格兰国民党(Scottish National Party, SNP)。不仅苏格兰政局面临新的变化，而且对于工党下一任领导人布朗(Gordon Brown)来说，他的下次全国大选又加入了些不确定因素。
我强调了一下苏格兰议会选举，因为这次选的是MSP (Member of Scottish Parliament)，而不是苏格兰地区的英国议会议员 MP (Member os Parliament)。苏格兰议会是苏格兰“分权”(devolution)的产物，从1999年开始，拥有部份权利，如教育、医疗、社会保障等，但没有其它如国防、全国性税收、外交等权力－－这些权力属于英国议会 (Parliament)。苏格兰地区同时有 MP，但选举 MP 只有在全国大选时才会进行，会选出新的英国首相，普遍估计是2009年。
After the loss of election in England, Scotland and Wales of various degress, the retiring Tony Blair was seen being interviewed in some nondescriptive office, with a mug of tea in hand. The Times’s Ann Treneman wrote:
Mr Blair, who denies he is in denial, denied things were so bad. Then, casually, he dropped his soundbite cluster bomb. “It’s been a dreadful set of results for the Liberal Democrats,” he said chattily. “And the Tories have not broken through, particularly in the northern cities.” Within seconds, this was being flashed up as BREAKING NEWS. The mug had struck again.
Soundbite is a weapon a politican must master.
5月3日是苏格兰议会选举日。苏格兰议会(Scottish Parliament)是英国政治“分权”(devolution)的产物，苏格兰议会议员叫 MSP (Member of Scottish Parliament)，和苏格兰地区的英国众议院议员 MP (Member of Parliament) 是两码事。苏格兰工党 (Scottish Labour)从来都是苏格兰最大的党派，绝无对手。但近两年苏格兰国民党 (SNP, Scottish National Party) 崛起，以苏格兰独立为号召，以苏格兰成为“繁荣小国”－－从欧盟弄更多的钱－－为诱饵，在工党支持率不断下降的状况中，一跃成为苏格兰议会的大党。在这届选举前民意调查一直领先，工党在最后几天赶上，所以选举结果非常引人注目。
点票结果一般是在半夜或者第二天凌晨揭晓，但这次苏格兰第一次用了电子点票机，出了不少故障，同时选票设计不合理，产生近10万张废票，也延迟了选举揭晓。不过这正好给从伦敦赶来的大批电视媒体重点的晚间新闻提供了最新消息，因为苏格兰国民党以一票胜出(SNP 47 : Labour 46)的消息，是到下午5点多才证实的，而重点的晚间新闻，BBC 1 是6点开始，ITV 1 是 6点半开始，Channel 4 News 是 7 点开始。
BBC News 24 是第一个在苏格兰议会建筑 Holyrood Parliament 外直播的电视台，一大早就在议会建筑外的水池前开始报道了，到了晚上，已是站满了各家媒体的重要主持，有 BBC 的 Fiona Bruce， Channel 4 News 的 Jon Snow 等。
