Tony Blair to headline Class Day
Former British PM will speak Sunday, May 25 amid heightened Old Campus security
Shame! Hopefully there'll be a sizeable boycott.
He hardly compares to my class day speaker, B.B. King (with his guitar, Lucille). Hard to believe King was younger then (1977) than Blair is today.
so wait...why so much secrecy for an ex-PM who will definitely not be THAT controversial at an American college campus?? The way the SCC and Yale administration had spoken about it, I was totally expecting somebody from the Middle East or China or the Bush administration. Is Tony Blair going to demand "airport-style" security when he teaches at Yale in the fall? That said, it'll be interesting to see how (if he even bothers to bring this up) he addresses his moronic decision to back Bush up in Iraq. Even better, he can explain the logic behind the decision to make him a Mid East envoy.
Hi Mr. Blair!
j/k. I agree. Prime Minister Blair is an excellent choice
Are tickets required to attend this event? It seems like Class Day is for the Yale College graduates, but I'm graduating from the law school and would like to see Mr. Blair speak.
The thrill is gone, Tony. The thrill is gone away.
Is there a valid reason for using the same stupid picture of Blair pointing at himself in every single YDN article about him?
#8, reason is, it's a great pic. And it has been used in what, two articles?
to my knowledge, all graduating yale students are invited.
You know, it really takes amazing chutzpah to say " in an announcement confirming one of Yale's worst-kept secrets in recent memory" when YDN staff and editorial members have been ACTIVELY spreading this information for at least a week now....
This picture is hilarious. "What's giving a Class Day speech and has two forefingers? This guy!"
Will he pontificate the virtues of big government and the wondrous centralized authority of the unelected EU bureaucrats?
Will he address the lack of free speech in the UK over the big elephant in the room over there: Islamic migration and the effect on Anglo-Saxon culture?
get a life
There's a reason they chose that photo: Tony Blair is a pimp -- and his side job is "rap-master B" or simply "Tonee."
My disappointment is not with Blair's photo but rather that there was all this fuss over who would be the graduation speaker in the first place. After all the anticipation, I was expecting God to make an appearance...
Isn't class day speaker decided like a whiiile back? Before he got the fellowship?
#15: It is doubtful that God would ever be invited; He would be far too controversial a speaker for the Yale Women's Center, especially given His position on abortion.
The picture is fine.
#11,
I don't think it takes much chutzpah at all to call it a poorly-kept secret. It's not YDN's job to keep the secret; it's their job to report. Apparently the people in charge of arranging the Class Day speaker can't keep a secret, since YDN was able to get the news earlier than the announcement. They're just calling it as it is.
As far as I know, Recent Alum, God doesn't have anything to say about abortion--and He doesn't need you to speak for Him, you self-righteous prick.
and here's the guy who suggested to the City (via yale )
immigrant ID cards
now we have aliens with 3id cards apiece
i guess the City made a couple of dollars
well actualy i doubt very much that any money reached the coiffers.
"now kids ,id money into left pocket"
"yale's contribution into right pocket"
This is a great choice and, for once, we have a speaker who should be appealing for people of all political persuasions. As Prime Minister Blair is a former leader of the left-wing Labour Party who shares very liberal positions on most social and economic issues, he is a great choice for all of the liberals on campus. But as someone who supported the United States during the Iraq War at a time when anti-Americanism is strong in Europe, he also has earned the respect of American conservatives, even if he does not agree with them on most issues of domestic policies.
Of course, the luckier students are still those who are not graduating and who will have the chance to learn from Blair next year, not those who just have him as commencement speaker...