Blair's History, But We Have A New Model

Just watching Andrew Marr's History of Britain on BBC Two. This week is the turn of the Blair era.

The footage of 1997 now looks so old (and it's making me feel old too). Upon reflection it becomes clear how massive the changes over the last decade have been. Consider just a few of them...

We have devolution, which is now fast evolving and bringing government closer to the people in Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and London - but those in the rest of England with a relative democratic deficit.

The war in Iraq has devastated a nation far from our shores, cost countless lives and increased public cynicism and fear at home.

We have the 'war on terror', which is supposed to make us feel safer. It doesn't. It breeds hatred and more fear.

The concept of 'spin' now itself seems old, as it is so ingrained in our culture of politics - fuelling our mistrust of politicians.

And now we have the new Tony Blair - David Cameron. And it seems like many people are actually falling for his patter. Style over substance. History repeating itself. How depressing.

Thankfully, in Scotland we have a real alternative to Gordon Brown and David Cameron - an SNP Government and the opportunity to move Scotland forwards to independence.