Bottom of the class

The UN this week delivered a damning verdict on Blair's Britain by putting the UK at the bottom of the list of the best places to bring up children in the industrialised world. As someone who has always been rather proud of their country, this is rather hard to bear. But as someone who has seen first hand what a bloody shambles this country has become under Blair, I also find it impossible to contest the validity of these findings.

To see this country through the eyes of my Japanese wife and stepdaughter is to become acutely aware of just how far we've slipped; not just on our own eyes, but in the eyes of the world. All the things that we used to be proud of - the NHS, our education, our justice system - have all been eroded beyond recognition by a combination of laziness, hand-wringing political correctness and downright useless management. Not to mention the lies, cover-ups and routine blunderings of an administration focused solely on protecting its own interests.

But the thing that really makes me sad is that nobody seems to care anymore. Of all the things we've lost in this country, the Bulldog spirit - our most treasured national characteristic - is perhaps the most tragic of all