IF EFFORT alone could solve the current international crisis, Tony Blair would have it cracked within a day.

As well as his whistle-stop trip to the US yesterday to counsel the President of the United States of America, Mr Blair has already met the Chancellor of Germany and the President of France within the last 48 hours, plus a number of African leaders at Chequers.

He took time out to meet the Irish Taoiseach Bertie Ahern to push forward the Irish peace process, and then, midair between Paris and New York, he made an extraordinary satellite phone call to the President of Iran, Mohammed Khatami.

Afterwards, Mr Blair himself seemed surprised. Surprised that President Khatami had given his support to the international coalition, and surprised that he, the MP for Sedgefield, had been talking to the Iranian president at all. ''It was a conversation I could not have imagined having some weeks ago," he said.

More than just making the effort and shaking the hands, Mr Blair is making the right noises. "There's a very strong sense in which the world of Islam is wanting to join with us in common cause because it recognises that people of all faiths are victims of terrorism,'' he said yesterday.

This must surely be the line that will sell this coalition to nations like Iran. This is not a war against Islam but against terrorism. Countries like Iran don't want to be painted as extremist, they don't want to be associated with terrorists. Nor do the many thousands of Muslims living in Britain - in fact, their lives will become endangered by racists if the war against terrorism is allowed to be portrayed as a war against Islam.

So Mr Blair is doing his best to strike the right notes. So far, he is succeeding. And he is showing that Britain, as a nation, is again one of the very biggest players in the world.

It is very, very easy for us, the general public, to become cynical about our politicians, believing that they are all in it for themselves and that they will sell out their principles the moment they get a sniff of power.

Mr Blair, rightly, has his critics - The Northern Echo is, at times, numbered among them.

But, for the moment, people of all political parties should give praise where it is due, and they should hope that Mr Blair gets a little luck that will ensure that his efforts go a very long way towards solving the most difficult and dangerous crisis that his generation of politicians will have to face.