Wanker of the Decade (UK)

Written by Chris Floyd
Friday, 02 March 2007
From the Guardian (and via a ripped-off concept from Atrios), we give you the UK wanker not just of the day, the week, the month or the year, but surely the whole decade. It is, of course, none other than the rear half of the oh-so-Christian Coalition, Tony Blair, captured here in his palmy student days at St John's College, Oxford. The child, as they say, is father to the man.

Gesture Politics: Young Blair Revealed in Full (Guardian)Excerpt: Disconcerting photos from days gone by can often come back to haunt us. But this one, for a long period, remained at most, a mildly interesting snapshot of the prime minister's younger years.From the waist up - that is.

The image of a fresh-faced, gawping Tony Blair from a time at Oxford University in the 1970s when his band Ugly Rumours was his main concern, has been in the public domain for at least 10 years. Last night, the uncropped version was revealed. And while others in the group strike pretentious poses, along with the odd carnation in the top pocket, it is the future world leader who offers the universally understood gesture.

And wouldn't Blair's near-contemporary in those golden college days of yore -- the other half of the OSCC -- have enjoyed Tony's juvenile gesture of yobbish aggression? Why yes, we think he would.

The guiding lights and godly defenders of civilization, ladies and gentlemen.

Chris Floyd

Once a Thug always a Thug