Main Event or Side Show ?

Whilst I prefer not to know about the domestic lives of politicians - how they choose to educate their children, where they go on holiday etc - such insights sometimes throw light on wider and more important matters.

Although, "friends" of the Prime Minister maintain that he is much better appreciated abroad than at home (by which I mean in Britain), this may not be the case. Apparently, he is known in the Italian media as "The Scrounger" as a consequence of his (? former) policy of holidaying at the expence of wealthy political friends.

When questioned about his penchant for transatlantic holidays and air travel, the Prime Minister was yesterday robust in the defence of he and his family's regular right to this (although he is now to "offset" both governmental/business and personal air travel).

Whilst Mr Blair's policy on air travel caused much indignation amongst the environmental and green community, it should certainly have come as no surprise. For both the Prime Minister and the New Labour "Community" have clearly regarded the issues of environmental conservation and sustainability as a side show from the outset of office.

For those of us that regard environmental issues as the main event for the global community just now, the personal and political preferences of Mr Blair and his New Labour colleagues may be a disappointment. However, we should take consolation in the fact that he and his administration (and I include Gordon Brown in this) are fast becoming a side show themselves.