The eternal return

Ten years have passed since Hamer - then not the whiskey soaked bag-carrier you know today but a bright eyed aspirant determined to change the world - cheered as Tony Blair arrived in Downing Street. Yesterday as t'intern and I watched his final PMQs, "like Niobe, all tears" there was definitely the whiff of history in the air. Not the air in my office, naturally; whilst the chains of office were being exchanged I was writing a briefing on the spacing of pedestrian crossings. O! The glamour of bag carrying.

Still, it's a new dawn, a new day, a new life for us...and I'm feeling good.

The beginning of Brown's premiership ten years after Tony Blair first embarked on his have been marked by lesser eternal recurrances. I am, of course, referring to the reshuffles which grind round with alarming inevitability; as no less a sage than Elton John once sang in the Lion King, it's the "circle of life". Well, political life anyway.

Now not that I'm one to gloat, but frankly if the media are to be believed I think I nearly called it bang-on with my predictions in May but nothing's confirmed as yet. Nearly. I was right about Darling anyway. We'll have to wait and see I suppose.

Thankfully Peter Oborne and his interminable, prolific, and exclusive-to-every-channel "documentaries" about how Brown smells of poo are now off our screens now the succession is complete, and have been replaced by some pretty damn good commentary.

The Times this morning was on top form, particularly this leading article, the witty comparison of Brown's arrival at No10 for the first time with Blair's, and (naturally) Peter Riddell.

Also well worth a listen is yesterday's Today in Parliament on which you can hear Blair's final PMQs again. The south bound Northern line were treated to a distinct eye-misting performance on my part this morning; especially his final words "the end". You can listen again here but I recommend podcasting so you can keep the broadcast to one day bore your grandchildren with it. More entertainingly, when Ann Clwyd yesterday praised Blair's "courage and..." I automatically shouted "INDEFATIGABILITY!" I was pleased to hear that various backbenchers had the same idea although that wasn't how she concluded her assessment of Blair. Thankfully. Nobody wants their political obiturary to hark back to the words of Georgeous George to Saddam Hussein. Well, Georgeous George might I suppose.

To conclude: there has been a lot of talk of school mottos recently. As far as I can remember, the motto of my secondary modern was as follows.

"Shawcross! Do that again and you'll be in detention until the next millennium!"