Jon Bright (London, OK): Was toying with an Anthony the Great metaphor ("And when Tony looked at the breadth of his domain, he wept, for there were no more high profile international jobs to apply for") but have gone with Flash Blair instead ("I love you Tony - but we've only got 14 hours left to save the Earth!") for the latest installment in TB's post-PM attempts to achieve omnipresence.
After accepting a job as Middle East peace negotiator, a million dollar contract at JP Morgan, a high level role as a Rwanda advisor, a position on the Africa Progress Panel, an advisory position at Swiss insurer Zurich, a heavy-breathing flirtation with the idea of the EU presidency and an interfaith teaching position at Yale (which will be linked to the upcoming Tony Blair Faith Foundation), Blair has today announced he will be leading an international team of global superheroes to produce a new global deal on climate change (if you're wondering how I know so much about him, you probably don't know about the Tony Blair RSS feed).
Thankfully, we've more than 14 hours - but not too much more. Blair says we have less than two years to save the world from climate change becoming catastrophic. It is not clear whether that's the world's deadline or if he has an appointment with saving another part of the galaxy. Either way he wants an agreement on a 50% cut in emissions by 2050, and has had to drag himself away to Japan to start hammering out a deal.
Who am I to sneer if Blair can secure a new global deal while simultaneously bringing peace to the Middle East and Rwanda (and progress to Africa), making a fair old mint at JP Morgan and Zurich and holding a professorship in faith and globalisation at Yale? He might even learn to distinguish between truth and sincerity on the way. But I do have a worry: with so many other balls in the air, when is he going to find time to run the Tony Blair Sports Foundation? And now especially, at exactly the time when it has just launched the Tony Blair Tennis Challenge, a tournament where budding tennis stars in the North East of England compete ruthlessly for the coveted Tony Blair Challenge Cup. Even Flash would be struggling.
Update: Everyone deserves a second chance, though, don't they?
Update 2: Sunny Hundal is running a caption competition to coincide with the news.
