Nick Assinder (Extracted from "Defeat sparks leadership questions", BBC News, 10 November 2005)

"This was worse than Tony Blair must have feared. In a vote on a key piece of legislation he not only lost his large majority but he was roundly and convincingly defeated -- for the first time in eight years."

[Ed: Tony Blair has been defeated on a relatively minor issue concerning terrorism. Considering that he brought about the London bombings of 7 July all by himself by committing the country to the Bush-Cheney invasion of Iraq without consulting his own Cabinet, then last night's vote in the House of Commons must be regarded as the symbolic start to a continuing process of investigation into how Blair set about it. A similar process is now going on in America. Yesterday's bombings in Jordan is yet another reminder that the real tragedy is the Middle East and that it is now in a far worse condition than it ever was. If it wasn't for the fact that the Middle East still contains by far the most of the world's cheap oil and gas then the whole region might have been neglected -- -- like Africa or South America -- by the powers-that-be . As it is, it is going to be a place of warfare and strife for the next half-century until alternative energy technologies are developed.]