Do you remember the end of the Star Wars trilogy, where the Dark Side is finally vanquished? Today feels a bit like that, albeit without the risible dancing teddy bears.

Darth Blair’s effort to introduce 90 days of internment—you know, the policy that worked so well in Northern Ireland—for suspected terrorists (which, one assumes, includes French technology journalists) was resoundingly defeated 322 to 291 in Parliament. (Being defeated by 31 votes is quite significant when his party’s majority is 67.) Have they been lacing the House of Commons’ tapwater with testosterone? There must be some explanation for this unprecedented epidemic of cojone-growing.

Not only is it nice to see Blair finally taken down a peg, it’s a damn good cause as well. Civil liberties have, at least in part, been defended against Blair’s ever-more-illiberal tendencies. Perhaps he’ll have the good grace to bugger off soon, before he manages to make even more of a mess of the world in general and the UK in particular.

You might, incidentally, recall Blair’s unconvincing protestations that his disastrous support of his master’s Iraqi misadventure was not responsible for increasing the terrorism risk in the UK. I expressed my opinion of this at the time, and therefore feel vindicated to see that no less than the former UK ambassador to the US holds the same opinion:

There is plenty of evidence around at the moment that home-grown terrorism was partly radicalised and fuelled by what is going on in Iraq. There is no way we can credibly get up and say it has nothing to do with it. Don’t tell me that being in Iraq has got nothing to do with it. Of course it does.

Vindicated. Not glad, though. I wish that we hadn’t needed to go through all this killing and maiming to get closer to the truth.

On the other side of the Atlantic, Blair’s master, George II, has also been seeing his kleptocracy assailed by the forces of light. On one hand, his lieutenants are under suspicion from the Fitzgerald investigation. On the other, his ratings with the American people are at an all-time low. To add to that, Republican fortunes are down in this week’s local polls.

I’m feeling positive about the world this evening.