IT IS current popular opinion that Tony Blair has been so damaged by the Iraq war and its aftermath that he is toppling. The most likely replacement is Gordon Brown, which does not make sense at all.

He stood shoulder to shoulder with Blair over Iraq, so if it is this issue which demands Blair's replacement, Brown is similarly tarred.

The thought of this change brings to mind thoughts about frying pans and fires. This is because Brown embodies, as no other politician does, the real motivation of the Labour movement - tax and spend till the country goes crazy.

At times I have this picture of Gordon Brown as a dour, inscrutable, merciless Japanese 'cormorant' fisherman: these fisherman send out hungry cormorants on leashes, with rings round their necks preventing them swallowing, to fish. When the bird gets a catch it is taken from it and the operation is repeated.

At the end the bird is rewarded with just enough to keep active but the fisherman keeps the majority of the catch himself.

Dr J Findlater, Silverdale.