I urge you to read this fantastic post from Robin Grant at perfect.co.uk and follow all the links - all much worth a read.

Well, we’ve had the avalanche of emotional blackmail from New Labour and its supporters to bring us back into the fold. When that didn’t work, David Aaronovitch - so Labour he’s about to take the Murdoch shilling - and Peter Hain decided insults and smears might be a better tactic. Again, no joy.

So now, as Robin points out, us anti-war, would-be dissenters, deserters and betrayers are to be offered a wide-ranging smorgasbord of humanitarian pledges to get us back on the New Labour bus. Some might be swayed and fair enough but, with this coming from the government that enthusiastically embraced the nomination and appointment of Paul Wolfowitz as president of the World Bank, I’ll wait to see the fine print if you don’t mind.

Also, do you really think we’d be seeing this if the New Labour high commmand weren’t, in the words of John Harris, “bricking it” after Peter Hain reported bad news from the marginals? You’ll have to forgive me for my cynicism but this is a crew that’s set its sail in any direction in contempt of the deeply held beliefs of the people who gave them their jobs. Now they’re donning their superhero costumes and offering (to heal) the world. Can they raise the dead as well?

“Labour officials admit that Iraq ‘comes up regularly’ on the doorstep,” says the above Guardian piece. Really? That’s not what John Reid’s been saying when he’s wheeled out to smear humanitarians. Or Jack Straw. So which is it? It can’t be both. Ah, silly me. This is New Labour we’re taking about. Of course it can be both. A fish rots from the head down and the stench of Tony Blair’s bifurcated mind hangs over all.

It’s too little too late and with trust in Blair resembling downtown Fallujah, how do we know we’d even see any of these goodies? And then, at the next election, we’re still pissed off and the whole perverse circus starts again - the blackmail, the insults and the promises.

Something’s got to give. Tactical voters, here are your orders.