Return of the Saint

Downing Street sources, who are doubtless as reliable as Alastair Campbell ever aspired to be, proclaim that Carrie Johnson's silly blond front-man is becoming less inclined towards the gruff reactionary rah-rah of Mr Churchill and more enamoured of the smarmy right-on sloganeering of the Blessed Anthony Blair. Lord Mandelbrot the Infinitely Recurring, a long-time associate of his reverence, sputtered indignantly that "a vintage Blair project is one that is properly conceived, planned and executed," like ID cards or the war in Iraq; and of course for best results it should also include some sort of recurrence for Lord Mandelbrot himself. It is certainly understandable that people intensely relaxed about the doings of the filthy rich would rather not see the Imitation of Tony undertaken by a mendacious authoritarian with an addiction to empty rhetoric, an inordinate appetite for money, and a mid-life attachment to Mussolini's favourite city-state.