Blair's Britain

Jeremy Paxman willingly introduces a new series coming to BBC Newsnight...

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By Jeremy Paxman
Presenter, BBC Newsnight

Will you write a piece for the website about our series of films on what Blair has done to Britain? asked producer Richard Danbury.

Poor Richard has succumbed to the malaise afflicting much of the senior management of the BBC that things only have an existence if they have a web presence, a 360 degree profile and on-demand downloadability with a side-order of fries. I think he must have aspirations.

Listening to these middle-aged men rhapsodizing about "new technology" I know how the absurdist dramatist, Eugene Ionesco, felt when, in middle-age, he decided to learn English by reading a book about a Mr and Mrs Smith.

His jaw dropped as he read Mrs Smith informing her husband that they had several children. His astonishment rose as she disclosed that Mr Smith had some sort of job in an office, and that they all lived together near London.

Listening to middle-aged men rhapsodizing about 'new technology' I know how the absurdist dramatist, Eugene Ionesco, felt

Mr Smith's reaction to these statements was not recorded, but they so blew Ionesco's mind that it turned him into the prime exponent of the Theatre of the Absurd.

My favourite absurdist play consists of a group of actors standing around on stage in a state of mounting excitement, waiting for the Emperor to arrive.

At last, he enters stage left, crosses the front of the stage, and exits stage right. It is only after he has gone that one of them finally remarks, "But he hasn't got a head."

The BBC is rather like that.

To the point

So, the long and short of it is this. We're doing a series of films about how Blair has changed Britain.

Inflation - subdued since the Bank of England's independence?

The first one is about the economy. (Well, actually, it's about a little bit of the economy, and in the way of television films, it favours the visual over the important.)

And, because television is so much better at conveying impressions than facts, it doesn't have many facts in it.

If facts are your thing, here are a few which we didn't include:

• Independence of the Bank of England has significantly contributed to long term stability. Inflation seems to have been subdued: 2.6% as opposed to 4.6% under the Tories in the previous nine years. Growth has averaged 2.8% between 1997 and 2005 (cf 2.1% during the Conservative administration 1980-96).
• But manufacturing, the traditional engine of growth, has declined. Not only has it declined, but there are a large amount of regulations that beset it. The British Chamber of Commerce estimates the cumulative bill from new regulations 1998 to 2006 at £50bn.
• Gordon Brown (son of the manse) has presided over an economy in which we all live on tick. Consumer debt is 150% of disposable income (up from 105% in 1997). No-one seems to worry much because house prices keep rising, up 165% since 1997. The IMF say they are 1/3 above sustainable level.
• The rise in income inequality has been stopped, but the rise in wealth inequality has risen under Labour. In 1979, about 68% of wealth was owned by the richest 5% of the population. By 2002 the proportion had risen to around 70%.

That's enough facts. There are some nice pictures - and couple of not bad jokes - in the film.

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This report can be seen on Newsnight on Monday, 19 February, at 10.30pm on BBC TWO.