The wounded poodle limps towards the setting sun.

If Tony Blair really was a dog he would be put down to save him additional pain. This week Blair has been mauled by the courts over nuclear energy consultation ( about which I have posted) and today he and his assumed successor Gordon Brown have been savaged by the Appeal Court over collapsed pension schemes. They had already been accused of maladministration by the Pensions Ombudsman (in fact a woman, Ann Abraham) and today the Appeals Court confirmed her judgment saying that the Government had no right to reject her findings outright and that the Government was liable for the millions of pounds lost by pensioners when their pensions schemes collapsed. The Court ruled that the Treasury's poor and misleading advice had severely exacerbated the problem.

So the former Teflon Tony, reeling from 2 blows already, then hears that his personal assistant, Ruth Turner, has been interviewed under caution by the police for the second time in the 'cash for honours' corruption enquiry. The noose is getting ever closer to 10 Downing Street and some bookmakers are taking bets on whether Blair will be arrested before he leaves office.

On top of all this Blair had to stand up in the House of Commons at lunchtime and announce the withdrawal of 1600 British troops from Iraq. He must have hoped , back in 2003 when this war crime was initiated, that British troops would return in triumph - a job completed and a fully stable and democratic Iraq in place, allowing everyone to forget the means by which it came about.

Sadly for him this is not the case. The killings have increased, the insurgents are more firmly entrenched than ever and the troops are facing an impossible situation amid hostility and distrust. Sure 5000 are left to assist the Iraqi government 'maintain stability' - well that's a hoot for start!!

It puts the final seal on a Premiership which started with so much glitz and glamour and is staggering to its ultimate painful end amid sleaze and failure on every front.

It is to be hoped that Bush's poodle soon takes that long road to the retirement kennels. He won't be missed!!