29/09/2004 5:40:55 pm
Blair: bold and always a step ahead. The speech yesterday by British Prime Minister Tony Blair at the Labour Annual Conference in Brighton was, as usual, very good. He is indeed a very unusual kind of politician, one with principles that he actually stands for. In the speech he also demonstrated his impressive skills in reshaping his party?s policies. It is not the values that have changed, he argues, but reality:

"Fairness in the future will not be built on the state, structures and services and government of times gone by. ... The relationship between state and citizen has changed. People have grown up. They want to make their own life choices. The 20th century traditional welfare state has to be reshaped as the opportunity society capable of liberation... In an opportunity society, as opposed to the old welfare state, government does not dictate; it empowers. It makes the individual - patient, parent, law-abiding citizen, job-seeker - the driver of the system, not the state. It sets free the huge talent of our public servants and social entrepreneurs whose ability is often thwarted by outdated rules and government bureaucracy."

Bold words about the future. Europe needs more politicians who are such insightful optimists.
Read the speech ->