Skipper

Blair's new mission is one which we can understand he'll relish. Michael Cockerell's valedictory biography last February gave us testimony from enough people for us to realise he's always going to be a 'mission' person, who seeks to 'make a difference'. And while solving Northern Ireland was a biggie, how much more so is Israel-Palestine, the possible crucible, as we are often told, for the third world war? If he pulls it off the next time he visits the Pope will be to receive his canonisation while still alive... that would be a first too.

But maybe he's bitten off too much this time?

a) his charm may not travel as well as he would wish- he failed, recall, to assemble that UN resolution which would have made Iraq legal, despite hundreds od thousands of air miles.

b) his role in Iraq makes him a bogey figure, along with Bush in the Middle East.

c) If Clinton couldn't do it, can Blair expect to do better?

d) With the Palestinians already split between the West Bank and Gaza, he is faced with an even more complex problem than hitherto.

I'd be interested to see what odds Mike Smithson of Political Betting would offer on a successful outcome, but I'd only offer way outsider odds. And, here's another thing, I've always had a strange premonition that this brilliant, glamorous shooting star of a politician will meet a tragic end: the Middle East, as Alan Johnson and a few million others can attest, is a very dangerous place.