I made a point of avoiding Parky’s interview with Tony Blair where, despite the maxim set down by Alistair Campbell, he finally came clean and confirmed what we’ve known all along; that Tony does ‘do god’.

Quite a few others have looked at different aspects of the story - I’d recommend you read Curious Hamster and Justin at Chicken Yoghurt for starters, especially Justin who hits the nail of the head with this:

As much as he should be pelted and mocked for yet another sweaty, weaselly attempt at wriggling from, shall we say, temporal accountability, I do have a nagging sympathy for Blair. A person so steeped in blood and horror would frantically search for even the slimmest shot at forgiveness and redemption or else surely go mad, wouldn’t they? I wonder if, deep down, if he’s truly frightened of what might happen to him when he’s finally gathered unto justice. I hope so.

I’ve never really had time for those who claim that god/history/whatever will judge their actions, mainly because that whole strand of argument always struck me as a rather peculiar form of moral cowardice.

When you think about it, it really is a hell of cop-out isn’t it? ‘God will judge me’ says the believer, who also believes that god will also forgive them if they repent before the end. Take the whole Catholic business of purgatory out of the equation, which even the Catholic Church has now dropped, and its a the equivalent of a ‘get out of jail free’ card in the great game of celestial monopoly:

Oh Lord, I’ve done some shitty things in the past, but now I’m sorry - so open the gates and let me in like a good chap, will you.

While I’m an atheist, I can’t help but think that the only right way for all this to end would go something like this:

Blair (arriving at the pearly gates): Lord, it is I, your humble servant Tony Blair. Please let me in.

God: Oh, its you is it. Right, lets get a few thing straight here. First, its ‘Allah’ to you, mate… now about Iraq…