Well it was a brave move, and he still looks like a genius when he stands next to George Bush, but few of the anti-war kids in the audience at the MTV war debate yesterday seemed convinced when Tony Blair said "I oppose war unless its the last resort." The hour long debate, fronted by Trevor Nelson, was filmed in a secret location in Wembley – press were bussed there from a central London meeting point after MTV bosses feared some sort of security violation if they publicised the exact place the high profile debate was being filmed.
An audience of forty 16-24-year-olds from across Europe, the Middle East and Iraq questioned the prime minister who covered familiar ground: "War is not the answer, not in the first place. Human rights have to be top of the agenda. I oppose war unless it's the last resort. But Saddam's record of abuse against his own people and the possibility of him passing weapons onto to terrorists means he has to be removed". It remains to be seen how the public respond when the debate is screened on MTV tonight – but Imran Saithna of Young Muslims UK was typical of those in the audience: "I don't think this will make a blind bit of difference to people. I think it might help raise awareness, but that's it. I came in with the opinion that war is not justified even with a second UN resolution and to be honest, I left with exactly the same opinion."
Elsewhere in the world of anti-war, George Michael will perform his rendition of the Don McLean anti-war song 'The Grave' on Top of the Pops tonight. Michael performed the song for MTV earlier this week, and, although he is not planning on releasing the track as a single, he says he hopes to include it on a forthcoming anti-war album containing tracks from various artists. Tonight's performance will be his first TOTP appearance since his Wham days back in 1986. The latest word is that, despite booking Michael for an anti-war performance, BBC bosses complained when he and his band showed up wearing t-shirts with anti-war statements!