Respect

On the eve of the election the film Ali G In Da House was shown on TV. I rather enjoyed it, despite not being a fan of "gross out" comedies nor being in the target age group. Elected as an MP, Ali G has a lot to say in the House of Commons about 'respect'.
And yesterday, back in the real world, there was Her Majesty talking about respect in the Queen's Speech (in so far as the State Opening of Parliament has anything to do with the real world). Her Grumpiness didn't do that sign with her fingers that Ali G does although Philip was probably itching to do a rather different sign with his fingers as he listened to Blair's programme for his third term.

One has to question whether Blair is the right person to talk about respect and the need to fight violence and thuggery on our streets. Respect is not the first word that springs to mind when one considers the massacre of thousands of men, women and children in Iraq.
'Oh, that's different', many would say. If different=much worse, well yes it is.
'That's different' is the cry of parents and authority figures throughout the ages. Like the father who tells his son to stay off drugs while himself smoking forty a day and getting rat-arsed in the pub several nights a week.

Of course the nation's respect for Blair must have soared when he and Cherie gave an eve of election interview to The Sun in which they boasted about their five times a night sex life, sounding for all the world like a chav and chavette sitting on the wall outside your local corner shop.
Ali G would certainly have been mightily impressed.