According to Tony Blair writing in yesterday’s Observer he doesn’t destroy liberties, he protects them. The whole article is riddled with half-truths and reinterpretations of history. Luckily enough Blairwatch have produced a point by point deconstruction of what Blair wrote.
That point-by-point deconstruction is very, very weak. It doesn’t even address Blair’s points most of the time, and when it does there is no attempt to use the principle of charity (which is fundamental to critical reasoning), but rather points are given less plausible interpretations and are then knocked down. The piece then appears to generate into a colloquial rant.
I think this was a massively wasted opportunity. If people are going to criticise the prime minister and hold his discourse up to scrutiny, which is a fair thing to do, then they should at least do it using sound arguments.For those interested in making better arguments I can highly recommend a book called Critical Thinking, by Hughes and Lavery, 4th ed, Broadview Press Ltd, 2004.