Battle of Hastings

It hasn't been Tony Blair's best year. Foot-and-mouth disease devastating the countryside and tourism. Record flooding. Trains crashing owing to a decrepit rail network. A tax protest that turned off the gasoline last summer and might do so again. Teachers complaining they're overworked and health workers saying they're underpaid. The endless saga of the Dome. And yet just a few weeks away from the June 7 election he just announced, Blair's Labour Party is beating the Conservatives by 20 points in opinion polls.

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