Blob's Blog

Giving the Government a Kicking

2010-02-20T08:25:00.000-08:00

Having voted for them in elections past, I came to the conclusion some time ago that I would be doing something to help get Labour removed from office at the next election. Voting for the party that came second in the seat where I live is one thing, but I've decided to take things a step further and seek to discourage others from voting for the party that put this proud country in such a horrible mess.

A year or so ago, there was a big fuss about lots of regional Post Offices closing. Many MPs put themselves in the glare of the media, insisting that they would campaign to stop the closures. My local Labour MP was one of them, and got herself on the front page of the local papers, photographed with demonstrators who were holding placards. She made it pretty clear in her comments in the accompanying article that she would fight for the Post Offices to remain open. So it came as a surprise when I checked http://www.theyworkforyou.com/, and found that she had gone back to Westminster and voted to close them. So, I duly wrote to the local paper, and informed its readership of her treachery. I shall be reminding readers of various local publications of her actions at various point over the coming weeks. It could well end up costing her votes.

Not all MPs have abused their expenses, so this is another way to use a Labour MP's incumbency against them at the election. I would urge anyone who wants to see the back of an MP to consider doing something similar. You don't even have to put pen to paper, many newspapers have websites, and allow you to submit letters electronically. It only takes a few minutes, and every letter is a nail in the coffin of Gordon Brown.

Targetting the Middle Classes

2010-01-16T10:49:00.000-08:00

I read elsewhere that in their quest for votes, Labour are now targetting the middle classes.

They've been doing that for years. Actually, victimising is more like it.

Dishonesty

2009-12-08T10:04:00.000-08:00

The Iraq enquiry is underway.

Regardless of whatever conclusions will eventually be reached, one thing is already clear: we were lied to by our government. Regrettably, you cannot take any of their claims seriously any longer. After they lied to us about Iraq and got away with it, they realised they could do so again and again. They're addicted to it, as if it will solve all their problems. They're still lying whenever it suits them, most recently insisting that Spain is a member of the G20 when it clearly isn't. I know it's embarrassing having to admit that the UK is the last G20 nation left in recession, but is it honestly worth telling such blatant whoppers and taking a hit to your (already battered) reputation for honesty?

What happened to the honest and decent Labour party of old? When did it lose its way, and where did it all start to go wrong? That the likes of Mandelson are welcomed says much about the party's descent into the political sewers. Labour was once an honourable party of which members could be proud. These days it is not a cause for which it is worth getting out of bed.

A Marriage of Inconvenience

2009-07-05T09:19:00.000-07:00

Miliband is saying that Labour should listen more to trades unions. In reality, I don't think they have much choice any more.

In order to save the Labour Party, it was all but married to Unite last year. Yes, that's right. We heard a lot about building societies being bailed out by Nationwide, and banks being taken over by others because of their debts. All marriages of convenience, of course. What we heard less about was Labour almost going under with their crippling debts. Unite stepped in and promised to honour Labour's debts. For ever.

So, no pay freezes in the public sector in the (extremely unlikely) event of a Labour election victory. Forget the efficiency savings, and necessary cost cutting. It would be full steam ahead and spend, spend, spend - and let the private sector take all the pain.

Another marriage made in hell. I hate to think what they are already discussing in their pillow talk:

"A word in your ear, Darling"
"Yes, sweetie?"
"Let's have massive tax rises right across the board - how about a basic rate of 40%?"
"But the voters will never swallow that, dearest"
"Oh, who cares? We've got a whole parliament ahead of us, and remember who holds the purse strings. Let's have an 80% top rate too."
"Oh, okay, then. Er, isn't that a bit much also?"
"No, it's too lenient if anything. Perhaps we should go for 90% instead."
"You know best, dear."

Well, maybe not. But there is much talk of dishonesty about public spending at the moment. We have no choice, cuts need to be made, and I have little doubt that the Tories will make them. Probably by more than 10% too. Actually, so will Labour. So maybe Brown's talk of Tory cuts and his pretence that these cuts won't happen under him is just to appease Labour's new bedfellows?

Expect more lies, damned lies and statistics from all sides all the way up to the election.

The Superiority Complex

2009-06-26T12:27:00.000-07:00

Politicians, on the whole, are an arrogant bunch.

They lie. They cheat. They make promises in their manifestos which they never intend to keep - stand up Nick Clegg and Gordon Brown - then when the time comes to deliver, they turn around and tell us that because they know better than us their manifestos no longer apply and they won't be fulfilling those commitments. It's not just Labour and the Lib Dems, I have little doubt that Cameron too will break promises once he is elected.

They claim for ridiculous items on expenses in order to increase their income, because they think they are worth more than the sixty-odd grand they are paid per year, when most of us would dearly love to earn half their salaries. Then they force us taxpayers to subsidise their drinks in the houses of parliament, while the rest of us plebs have to pay ever bigger duties on alcohol. No wonder our pubs are dying. Still, as long as the bars in the Commons are still going, who cares about the great unwashed?

Politicians have a superiority complex. They think they are better than us.

Mad Pig Disease

2009-06-02T11:01:00.000-07:00

We’ve already had mad cow disease - Bovin Spongiform Encephalopathy - now it’s Porcine Spongersform Expensesapathy. Yes, that's right, mad Westminster porkers running around higgledy piggledy in a state of panic at the impending election, wondering if anybody is going to vote for them. Unfortunately for them, they’re really sty-mied this time as there's a hog roast this weekend.

The best solution, of course, is to remove the brain and spinal column of the infected porker. Regrettably, it has been painfully apparent these last few years that very few of these piggies are in possession of a brain, and even fewer a backbone. These are clearly hopeless cases.

Now all that is required for history to come full circle is for the John Selwyn Gummer moment, where some unfortunate cabinet minister is trotter-ed out before the cameras (remember, Brown doesn’t DO bad news) to feed shredded expenses forms to their offspring while insisting everything is perfectly safe. Yum-yum! Ham on the bone? Just feed it to the dog, then claim for the dog’s bowl on expenses.

Piggin' 'ell!

The Poisoned Chalice

2009-06-01T09:00:00.000-07:00

Pointless speculation is everywhere. Will Brown face a leadership challenge following the local and European election results? Who are the frontrunners to take over? Frankly, who cares?

Nobody can save Labour now, they are doomed to defeat. Backbenchers may continue to drop hints to hacks as ever more ridiculous names are paraded in the media in the hope that the public will find one that is acceptable, but it is a forlorn and desperate hope. These selfish lobby fodder continue to plot in order to save their own hides when the day of reckoning comes, oblivious to the fact that the country no longer cares who leads the Labour party. All we want is a general election, as soon as possible.

Who would drink from the poisoned chalice now? The young pretenders suggested so far have many years front-line politics ahead of them if they wait until after the election. There seems little point in going over the top early, when the election could be over within a matter of months. Let's face it, somebody has to call time on this rotten parliament soon. Waiting until 2010 will only increase the scale of the defeat, as the calls for an immediate general election grow louder.

Doing the Honourable Thing

2009-04-25T11:27:00.000-07:00

A quote from Kelvin MacKenzie:

“Gordon should take a bottle of brandy and a gun, go to a quiet room, have a drink, then blow his brains out. “

Admirable sentiments, but I fear Kelvin hasn’t thought that one through properly. Such is Gordon Brown’s competence that if tried to shoot himself, he would miss. In truth, Gordon is a local politician with delusions of adequacy who has been promoted way above his station. I fear much the same applies to the rest of the current cabinet. In Gordon’s favour, he has had a couple of years in the job, and that experience alone lifts him above those in his own party who plot to succeed him - though there is still very little between the hopeless and inept array of nonentities and numpties that make up the current government.

A change of governing party or parties is long overdue.

World owes US a debt - Gordon Brown

2009-04-15T12:12:00.001-07:00

It's funny how Gordon Brown is trying to distance himself from the credit crunch. Apparently, it all started in America, or so he claims. The fact that other countries blame Britain just as much is something to be glossed over.

Brown was not always so keen to distance himself from Bush's policies. Not that very long ago he was going around telling everybody who would listen that the whole world owes the US a debt. That was, of course, back in the days when people were still listening to Gordon. In fact, I've just chanced upon an old BBC article along those lines:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/6920877.stm

So you see, the world used to owe the US a debt. Now the US and the UK owe the rest of the world, and here in the UK it will take decades to pay that off.

Smeargate

2009-04-12T07:07:00.000-07:00

There is something very rotten in the heart of Gordon Brown's Downing Street. The more I see of the man, the more I believe it is Gordon Brown himself who has the rotten heart. More obsessed with spin than Blair's government was, he is reportedly most upset that cartoonists portray him as overweight. His first thought at all times is not "how can I best run the country", or even "how can I best portray my party in a positive light", but "what can I do to put one over on the Tories today". Brown looks - to my mind at least - to have condoned this sort of approach. It is nasty stuff, and a government should be above all of this. Even Michael Howard did not stoop to such tactics in his frequently unpleasant 2005 election campaign.

Politics is a brutal game at times, but playing the man rather than the ball is not acceptable. Gordon has built up a spite-ridden regime reliant on smears, lies and instant rapid rebuttals. This isn't about running the country, but about trying to kick the Tories. It is immature student politics. Gordon MUST come out of hiding and make a statement. No ifs, no buts, he is accountable this time and risks further damage to his already battered reputation with every hour he delays.

Where are you, Gordon?

Are You Running Out of Ideas?

2009-03-23T12:05:00.000-07:00

Are you a world leader who has failed on the domestic stage? Have your regulatory regimes failed, your policies been exposed and your record been ridiculed? Are you running out of other people's money, or ideas about what to do next about your failing economy? Then why not try hosting a new and improved G20 Meeting!

Yes, that's right! You too can mince around the world stage, where you haven't yet fluffed your lines, and your trousers have yet to fall down. You too can look important, and talk about how awful things are, and give the appearance that you know what you are doing (even if you don't), along with the ministers of up to 19 other countries. Yes, this once-in-a-strifetime opportunity allows you to sit at a big table with foreign bigwigs, and talk cobblers and argue the toss until the chavs are thoroughly convinced you are doing something. You can even pretend to your own national media that you are leading the world, even though foreign newspapers won't waste a single line on you. Yes, all this and much, much more!

Try new formula G20 today. A great substitute for not knowing what else to do.

Is Brown Bonkers?

2009-03-18T11:14:00.000-07:00

It looks like I was ahead of public opinion, then. Since my last post about Brown needing to apologise, the narrative has moved on from Bankers, and people have been calling for Brown to apologise himself. Ministers first hinted at regrets, then Brown finally came out with a non-apology, while making it clear he had nothing to apologise for.

The trouble is, even if he were to apologise, and he hasn't come anywhere near, he still needs to admit to himself and to the rest of us that he bears some of the responsibility for this mess. I don't think he will ever do that now, because with every interview or public appearance his statements and proclamations get more ludicrous, more detached from reality, and more deluded. He even seems to believe he is entirely innocent for the bubble in the UK.

Has Brown lost all sense of reality? I realise that Guido Fawkes has been suggesting this for some time, but it is becoming rather obvious nowadays that Gordon Brown is increasingly detached from events. Does he honestly believe he's some sort of Churchillian figure, striding around the world stage, solving a problem the Americans caused and that only he can put right? Or is this just Gordon's inept attempt at spin?

Brown Should Apologise Too

2009-02-14T06:22:00.000-08:00

Of late, much has been made in the media of apologies by bankers who were partly responsible for this crisis. While the bankers, and the FSA were largely culpable for this whole mess, it seems that the politicians who encouraged it all are still trying to pretend it was nothing to do with them. Rather than apologise, the former chancellor is still trying to pin the blame on others, and especially American bankers.

Part of the process of recovery from this mess involves admitting that mistakes were made, recognising what those were, and promising not to repeat them. So far, we have heard nothing from the government on that front. I for one am not prepared to give the cretins who instructed the BoE to ignore house price inflation another chance, because clearly they haven't learned from their mistakes. What's more, their efforts during this financial crisis seem only to be targetted at making the situation worse, ie encouraging people to blow their savings or take out more unaffordable debt. That is not an option for most of us as we increasingly fear for our jobs, and in some cases - targetting savers - government policy appears little more than nasty and spiteful.

Consequently, I've now stopped listening to anything the government has to say. I don't necessarily believe the Tories or Lib Dems will be great, but they'll be better than the vindictive pension thieves and savings wreckers who are presently determined to drive us all into the ground. A simple apology from Brown, recognising his part in encouraging the massive unsustainable debt bubble in this country, and assurances that he will do all in his power to encourage the savings culture, would go some way towards opening my mind again. Sadly, I cannot see the present pig-headed and narcissistic Labour party going down that road.

Lib Dems' Odd Literature

2009-01-17T09:36:00.000-08:00

The Lib Dems are distributing some very odd leaflets in Geoff Hoon's Constituency. Their literature displays a large bar graph showing the following election results for Ashfield:

Lab 16,735
Lib Dem 12,773
Con 5,406

All over the leaflets are plastered phrases like "The Conservatives can't win in Ashfield", "The Tories cannot win here!", and "Everyone knows the Conservatives cannot win in a constituency like Ashfield". They seem to be implying that only the Lib Dems can unseat Geoff Hoon.

Funny, that. Here are the last election results for Geoff Hoon's seat in 2005:

Lab 20,433
Con 10,220
Lib Dem 5,829

The Lib Dems' bar graphs are actually showing local election votes from a number of council seats across the area which were contested in 2007, yet at no point on the leaflet do they mention this. They always come a very distant third in the parliamentary election for Ashfield.

Of course, if the Tories "Cannot win here", what chance do the Lib Dems have, given that they barely scrape half as many votes? Perhaps most importantly, they might split the anti-Hoon vote if enough people take their misleading literature at face value, just as Geoff Hoon's own vote is collapsing...

Labour List

2009-01-15T11:39:00.000-08:00

The LabourList site has been set up as a response to the dearth of good the left-leaning blogs. Good Luck to them.

Unfortunately, it requires an email address to register, presumably so that one might receive a daily email from the site's sponsors. While most sane citizens will decline, no doubt preferring to watch BBC1 for government propaganda, I have briefly turned my thoughts to the subject matter that may be contained within these regular briefings. As such, I wonder if the following text, or a variation thereof, might be considered:

"Dear Sir,

I write on behalf of my ailing client, a Mr. P. L. Party. Mr. Party is due to come into some money, donated to him by his unwitting patron, Mr. U. K. Taxee. However, in order to receive these funds, my client requires a 4th period in office to facilitate the transfer of the money. We urgently require your savings account details to complete the process of paying off our debts and securing another term in office, when we can arrange the transfer. In return, we will subsequently transfer to your savings account a sum of money to revive the economy. Alternatively, we can arrange for wheelbarrows of freshly-printed money to arrive in due course once the process of "quantitative easing" begins and the real money runs out.

Please indicate you are able to assist in this matter at the earliest opportunity.

Sincerely Sincere,

J. Brown A.Rse (Hons)"

Well, it's just a suggestion...

Selling Gordon Brown

2009-01-07T11:23:00.000-08:00

Gordon Brow's tour of the constituencies which stand a chance of voting Labour at the election (ie those with Labour majorities of 5,000 and over) began today. I've just witnessed some dreadful footage on East Midlands Today.

Meeting the public, my foot. Nothing more than another piece of advertising, trying to sell us more unsaleable crap. New Labour Pedigree Chump, specially selected chunks of Labour-voting boneless jelly, in combination with mechanically-recovered Scottish corned beef. Tripe. Dog food, way past its sell-by-date. Brown mush, unfit for human consumption, relabelled by Alistair Campbell's Condensed and souped up for teatime. Best eaten with a wooden spoon.

Brown on Tour

2009-01-05T10:42:00.000-08:00

I see the pensions thief is off on a three day tour of England and Wales to see the effects of the recession for himself. I wonder which constituencies and businesses he will be visiting?

This puts me in mind of a Spitting Image sketch many years ago, where, worried that his opinions might be out-of-touch, Prince Charles sent a flunky out into the street to find a "typical" member of the public. The flunky returned hours later, with a pearly king, remarking that it had been difficult to find someone who was really "typical" that day. On quizzing this most atypical subject, the Prince came to the conclusion that his views still echoed public opinion.

I'm guessing it could well take Gordon's planners the whole three days to find a "typical" business...

The Madness of King Gordon

2008-12-27T11:24:00.000-08:00

And so the sales start in earnest. Thousands of shoppers jostling each other around, in search of discounts on cheap, yet overpriced tat they don't actually need, on credit they cannot afford, with no thought about how the debts are ever going to be repaid when their jobs have disappeared into the ether.

The government, too, is keen to promote this lemming-like behaviour, the same behaviour that led us into this debt crisis, inspired by the government that set off the whole sorry chain reaction. Let us recall the terrible decisions taken by Brown that led us into this trap; The creation of a regulatory regime too cumbersome to do its job, the removal of house price inflation from interest rate decisions, the raid on pensions, the discouragement of savings, and the encouragement of debt, led by none other than the arch debtor and irresponsible borrower himself: Gordon Brown. Let us not forget, the Prime Minister led by example, running up big government debts during the boom when he should have been saving for a rainy day. Yet Brown's stealth tax on savings clearly demonstrates he has no concept of saving for a rainy day.

Now Brown pins his hopes on a pseudo-recovery, a false and temporary blip in consumer confidence underpinned by a pretty ineffectual and short-term cut in VAT, which will be reversed long before the pain has subsided and the real recovery begins. His chancellor, Darling, trots out over-optimistic forecasts of recovery in the second half of 2009, criticised, derided and even ridiculed by economists and commentators. Their vain hope is to engineer some kind of temporary blip, no matter that it will make the long-term situtation even more grave than it already is. If Brown and company can somehow engineer enough false hope, however brief, it will give them a small window of opportunity to call an election in which they might not do as badly as some have suggested. If enough gullible voters can be persuaded that there is light at the end of the tunnel, perhaps they can even engineer an hung parliament. The rest of us will already have identified the light at the end of the tunnel as an oncoming train - the British economy, driven by Gordon Brown, and picking up speed as it heads straight towards us, completely out of control. The brakes were removed years ago, allowing Brown to boast of the lowest rates for a generation.

The madness of King Gordon must go on, at least until the election is called. Spend, spend, spend! Borrow, borrow borrow! The piper must be paid, but why worry about next year? After all, you could get knocked down by a train tomorrow.

How to Avoid Taxes on Booze

2008-12-17T09:25:00.000-08:00

The government makes a fortune on alcohol taxes. For 1 litre of vodka 40% ABV the duty is around 8 quid.

We don't have to put up with this, it takes no more than 20 minutes to knock up a gallon of very nice white wine (plus a few weeks to ferment). That's about half a dozen bottles. The cost is about £1.30.

I like to have a few drinks maybe 3 or 4 nights a week, and by brewing my own I save hundreds of pounds every year in duty alone. Money that used to go to Gordon is now earning interest for me in building society accounts. On top of that, there's no VAT or expensive brand-name advertising to pay for, so I'm saving a good 4-figure sum in total, every single year.

All you do is dissolve a 1 kilo bag of sugar in water, then let it cool and pour into a sterilised demi-john. Add a 1 litre carton of cheap orange juice, a teaspoon of yeast and a teaspoon of pectolase from Wilko. Top up with cold tap water and leave for a couple of months.

Believe me, it's as good as anything you'll buy in the supermarket and you're paying 20p per bottle instead of £2.99. Best of all, the chancellor isn't getting his hands on your hard-earned money.

German Finance Minister Rubbishes Brown

2008-12-11T12:07:00.000-08:00

Herr Steinbrueck is correct. Having inherited a golden economic legacy handed to him a little over a decade ago, Brown has as good as bankrupted the UK. The savings ratio has collapsed as savers have been discouraged and reckless borrowing positively encouraged. Property prices trebled in a few short years before the bubble burst, and Brown ran up a budget deficit during the boom, claiming he didn’t need to set money aside for unforseen problems as he had abolished the economic cycle. “No more boom and bust” was his oft-heard cry. How hollow that now sounds.

Debt - both public and private - is out of control and Brown has no desire to exercise fiscal discipline while he has a general election to fight, in a little under 18 months or so if, and it’s a big if, he survives that long.

Passing on Cuts to Savers

2008-12-05T08:51:00.001-08:00

While driving home from a Christmas shopping trip this afternoon, I heard a news item on Radio 4 which stated Gordon Brown was going to force banks to pass on rate cuts to customers. Not borrowers, you understand, but customers. In fact, by passing on cuts to borrowers banks have to pass them on to savers too, or they lose money. Brown knows this, but he doesn't really care much for savers, as his record shows.

Next time your building society or bank cuts your savings rates, you know precisely who is to blame.

Brown Ignored by Overseas Media

2008-11-15T09:04:00.000-08:00

Here's something interesting.

Gordon Brown and his friends are trying to present him as the economic saviour of the world, the man to whom other world leaders are turning in their hour of need.

Yet I've been reading a fascinating article in the Washington Post about the G20 meeting. Fascinating not because of what is in the article, but because of what isn't. As one might expect, the countries in attendance and their world leaders are mentioned in the piece, but there is one very notable exception: Gordon Brown. The article runs to 2 pages, yet the man who claims to be running the show and leading by example isn't mentioned once when practically everyone else is.

Perhaps the G20 meeting isn't the Gordon Brown show after all. Perhaps other leaders are not so keen to take advice from a man who is dealing with a much bigger debt burden than any comparable economy. Maybe the narrative in this country's media is a little out-of-touch with reality and is due a correction - rather like the economy, some might say.

The article, for anyone who might be interested, is here:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/15/AR2008111500902.html?hpid=topnews&sid=ST2008111500904&s_pos=

Hazel Blears' Comment Moderation

2008-11-10T11:49:00.000-08:00

The other day, I posted a comment on Hazel Blears' blog. The text went like this:

"This does sound a trifle patronising.

In my experience, young people just want somewhere to hang out, smoke cigarettes and drink the white cider they bought from the dodgy off-licence down the road. Talk to them about "community cohesion" or "taking ownership of their communities" and they'll think you're absolutely stark-raving bonkers, especially if you use language like that. Well, those that don't listen to Cliff Richard will."

Today, I received an email from the webmaster asking if I would like to rephrase it. Apparently, the term "stark raving bonkers" is deemed too personal.

What?

The Axis of Ineptitude

2008-11-05T10:11:00.000-08:00

Congratulations, Obama.

In 2 months or so, one half of the axis of ineptitude - George Bush - will be gone for good. His administration will be swept away by the tidal wave that is Barack Obama. With that, we can all breathe a collective sigh of relief.

Let us not forget, however, that the other half of this axis - the Brown half - is still in office, and intends to cling on as long as possible. If we are lucky, Labour will depose him in a leadership election in 2009. If we are not, we will have to wait until the middle of 2010 before he is removed.

Change is definitely in the air. Speak to people on the street, even in safe Labour seats, and you realise there is no mood for continuity. Brown represents that continuity; the failed policies, the old dogma, the inability of an administration to admit to its own mistakes by putting them right. The Labour Party needs to wake up and smell the coffee, or it risks losing by a landslide when the UK electorate finally gets its say on the decade of debt, the invasion of Iraq, and other failures of the past.

Until Brown goes, one half of the axis of ineptitude remains in place.

Brown's Culture of Debt

2008-11-01T10:15:00.000-07:00

Shortly after taking office in 1997, Gordon Brown handed the task of determining interest rates to the Bank of England, charging it with keeping inflation down. Back then, the government's official inflation figures were based on the reliable Retail Prices Index. One might have expected this to mark the end of political interference in interest rates, but that was not the case. In 2003, Gordon scrapped RPI as the MPC's inflation target index, and replaced it with the Consumer Prices Index, or CPI. In effect, he was telling the Bank of England not to concern itself with ever-rising house prices and consumer debt, and to concentrate on little more than the price of goods in the supermarkets.

This was a highly significant act calculated to force rates down. In 2005, Labour's election campaign ran several posters boasting about the how cheap it was to obtain credit. The message was clear: spend, spend, spend and don't worry about the consequences. People did just this, and personal debt burst through the £1 trillion mark, and kept on rising. Personal insolvencies soon hit 100,000 per year, by far the highest numbers ever recorded. What did Gordon care? So long as the debt bubble kept growing, his faux growth figures made it look like the economy was still doing well. Accordingly, the government kept on spending money as if it were water, with no regard to what might happen in future. Eventually, the whole house of cards had to collapse, and so it did in 2007 with the first run on a British bank in more than a century. The credit crunch was upon us.

The mess that Brown has made of the UK economy will take years to clean up. Far from being in a good position to weather the storm, the UK is in an uniquely bad position to deal with the economic situation. The recession will hit Britain far harder than most comparable countries. Of course, infamous as he is for being unable to own up to his past mistakes, Brown won't admit to any of the damage he has caused, and still insists on trotting out the same tired old lines. This is why he is unlikely to restore RPI as the Bank's inflation target. To do so would be tantamount to admitting he messed up badly.

2008-10-28T09:46:00.000-07:00

Oh dear.

We are now into what looks likely to be a very deep and long-lasting recession. What's more, the government seems intent on compounding the terrible decisions it made which brought us to this place with even worse ones in a doomed attempt to get us out.

Increasing public spending is the wrong thing at precisely the wrong time, and will inevitably make the situation far, far worse. We've been down that road before, and the consequences were pretty horrific. Even Jim Callaghan knew you couldn't hope to get away with what Brown is attempting, but then hindsight is not something that troubles Brown, who famously listens to no-one. He has persistently ignored best advice, which is why the country is in such a poor position, and why it will continue to get worse until he starts to see sense, or is removed from office. My money is on the latter.

Brown's answer to the economic hardship for which he is largely responsible is to lurch to the left, yet this it no time for outdated and discredited political dogma. Instead, he should just cut taxes and stop throwing away the money that this seriously indebted country does not have. The economy needs a stimulus, not another mortgage.

The Old Ones are the Best Ones

2008-05-13T08:46:00.000-07:00

John Prescott, Charles Kennedy and Gordon Brown were stuck on the roof of the House of Commons in a thunderstorm. The rain was lashing down, and all three were worried that they might get struck by lightning at any time. Suddenly, the ghost of John Smith appeared in front of them. "Fear not," the apparition said, "I will act as your guardian angel. All you need do is jump off the roof, shout out what it is you want to land on, and you will descend safely and gently to the ground below."

Well, the three MPs were unsure at first, but none of them had much choice. John Prescott was the first to take a leap of faith, shouting "Meat pies" as he leapt from the roof of the building. Sure enough, he drifted slowly towards the ground, and landed in a pile of warm meat pies, which he started to devour.

Without a moment's hesitation, Charlie Kennedy was next. "Whisky!" came the cry, and he too glided gently down, landing in a vat of whisky below. Charles was in heaven.

This was too good an opportunity for Gordon Brown to miss, he was but a leap away from restoring his party's finances, and maybe the economy and his party's fortunes in the opinion polls too. As he contemplated which word to shout out, he lost his footing and tumbled head first from the roof.

"Shhhiiiiiittttt!!!!"

Leaked ID cards document

2008-02-02T07:32:00.000-08:00

Apparently, this is the leaked document on ID cards, annotated by that the No2ID campaign. I have to admit to being completely opposed to Brown's ill-considered scheme, and reading through this document did nothing to ease any of my concerns - although some of No2ID's points seem to be reading between the lines somewhat. Of course, this is all assuming that the document itself is genuine, although I have no reason to believe otherwise.

Why Peter Hain Must Go

2008-01-12T06:44:00.000-08:00

Another day, another scandal. This time Peter Hain is under mounting pressure to go. At first we were told he had not declared 17 donations to his failed deputy leadership campaign amounting to more than £103,000. As more details emerged it became clear that these donations were made in a rather bizarre manner, via a newly set-up think tank. Then we were told that not all donors were told that money they had given to that think tank was to be diverted to Hain's campaign fund. The think tank involved, known as the Progressive Policies Forum, has no staff and has not undertaken any work as its funds were diverted to Hain. It would be cynical to suggest that this think tank was set up specifically for the purpose of hiding the source of donations to Hain's campaign, and as such we have to give Hain the benefit of the doubt. Nevertheless, given the current administration's track record, this thought is bound to cross the minds of many ordinary voters. It is not necessarily the wrongdoing that is damaging, it is the suspicion that we only ever see the tip of the iceberg, and that there is far more going on than meets the eye.

In the UK we have become accustomed to sleaze in politics. Under John Major's administration there were certainly sleazy individuals. It was possible to find the odd rogue MP prepared to ask questions in the house for cash, and quite a few were caught with their trousers down, but they were acting individually. However, under Blair and Brown and Blair the sleaze has become systemic. Why bother paying for questions to be asked in parliament, when following a substantial donation to the Labour party one could actually become part of the upper house? This time corruption isn't simply a case of a few selfish individuals with their snouts in the trough, although that in itself would be bad enough, under the present administration there appears to be a culture of sleaze running from top to bottom. It's as if corruption has become unofficial government policy, and whether that perception is right or wrong, it does far more damage to the government specifically, and to politics in general, than a few bed-hopping Tories ever did.

Gordon Brown has been part of the New Labour government for the past decade, and continues to preside over systematic rule breaking for which nobody has yet resigned. When Brown assumed control in the Summer of 2007 he promised change, an end to spin, and a different approach. Things would be different on his watch. One could argue that he has achieved this in one sense, as Labour party interests are now deemed paramount, and certainly more important than the national interest. Under Blair ministers would occasionally resign - grudgingly, mind you. Under Brown nobody resigns because it might damage the party. It has even been rumoured that Wendy Alexander, Labour's leader in Scotland, considered her own position untenable after it emerged she broke the rules regarding party donations, and wanted to resign. The story goes that Gordon Brown forced her to stay on because this might have weakened his own position.

It is an appalling mess, and Gordon Brown is ultimately culpable for the whole sorry state of affairs. Never mind Peter Hain, it is Gordon Brown's head that should be on the block for allowing this situation to continue. We need a PM who is prepared to root out and remove those individuals who are caught out, and insist on resignations when required. Gordon Brown, it would seem, is not that man.