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Vine cable is my local Mp and lives at the end of my road so should lead the country as far as i am concerned
(hes actually a lovely bloke too)
Brown has grasped the nettle reasonably well but no reason to get carried away. hes presided over the bloody mess didnt he?
Having said that, would be a very brave leader/chancellor who before the bust, defalted the housing and credit bubble. Hardly a vote winner with those that have been sucked in.
Bring ing back Mandleson was a shrewd move. hes already played a blinder with Osbourne and is going to be a very significant figure going forward. Interestingly his extremely high reputation with those that worked for him (arther than with) has been confirmed by a friend of the family who was in his department. They seriously loved him in whitehall
Judge a man by those hes responsible for, not his enemies
(c) cpacey 2008I just can’t forget that speech that Mandelson gave when he lost his seat; I just thought he was totally paranoid.
Possibly.
There are plenty of arseholes in Fife.
I beg your pardon?
I knew I’d get a reaction out of you, Rob.
I only included family members in my assessment – perhaps I should have made that clear.
I made my response fairly neutral, thus giving you a little room to manouevre in response……
A little bit of trivia. For what it’s worth, my wife is the only headteacher to been head of primary schools in both David Cameron and Gordon Brown’s constituencies. It’ll disappoint a few no doubt, but having met both she found them very pleasant in ‘real life’!
Rob
Have to agree with Yorkshire about Vince Cable who should be leading the Liberals. Best of the current bunch IMO.
Hard to argue with that – he’s been an accomplished and convincing presence in the House and on the telly for some time now.
As for Brown, it’ll dismay plenty, but I can’t bring myself to dislike him overly. I think the moral compass is rather more intact in him than it was his egregious, perma-grinning war criminal antecedent.
It ought not matter to anyone that he is not especially photogenic, that he does that hang-dog expression all too unwittingly, etc.; but for some reason, in a climate where increasingly – as Michael Franti once sang – "straight teeth in your mouth are more important than the words that come out of it", it seems to for some people.
Brown, then – a dishevelled, unpolished human being, but a reasonably upstanding one in the greater scheme of things.
gc
Are you lot kidding me? Vince Cable is a political snipe and a pretty poor one at that. In fact he is probably my most hated politician appearing on TV. We would be in deep sh!t if this man ever ran our country.
Is he announcing policy initiative after policy initiative just to try and get one over on Cameron and Osbourne?
Does he put his hatred of the Tories above his duty to the country?
Why, when our economy is up sh!t creek, is he announcing extra millions on foreign aid here, millions on this scheme there, millions on that scheme there?
When you’re next to broke, shouldn’t you rein-in spending?
Shouldn’t you announce CUTS (we’re big enough to take it Gordo!) in government spending like id-cards schemes, public-sector employment numbers etc.?Am I alone in thinking that maybe, just maybe, Brown is a cat’s cock-hair off being bonkers?
Anyone on here rate the guy?Am I being pessimistic/cynical, or is Labour’s approach to this recession the point where the balance of governmental decision tips in favour of short-term PR over the most sensible policies?
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I would agree that it seems folly to ‘waste’ money in non-economic areas, insomniac, but do you think a matter of millions is going to make any relative impact on the current financial crisis?
Gordon Brown has been accounting creatively since Labour came into power and I doubt whether 98% of the general public realise exactly what he’s done in order to cover his incessant borrowing. But, whilst there can be no denying that his management of the British economy has been poor, I don’t doubt for a second that he’s an incredibly intelligent man and far from being bonkers.
Politics has become little more than character assassination, one man (or indeed woman) trying to upstage his adversary to the adolescent cheers of his party-men. The issues, it would seem, are merely an after-thought. Perhaps it’s just me, but snide remarks about Peter Mandelson’s return to government shouldn’t necessarily overshadow discussion on Iraq, Afghanistan, the economy and any other ‘hot potato’ Labour have had to deal with (Mandelson is a weasel, by the way, and a crooked one at that).
I’m wondering at the moment exactly who has put together the recommendations for a second bailing out of the banks. On the one hand I can’t believe that Brown hasn’t had some say, but the formation and delivery of the proposal was so deplorable that only Darling could have done it. Indeed, the Chancellor was duly torn to shreads in parliament yesterday, failing to answer any of the questions that were put to him (though, in fairness, nothing constructive was offered from either the Liberal Democrats or Conservatives).
Certain markets – housing, construction, luxury cars and fashion, for instance – are going to struggle for the next 12-18 months. Of that there is little doubt. But whilst I agree that starting to spend relentlessly without the promise of credit being made available isn’t the best option, people need to spend nonetheless. The most sensible approach, from a day to day point of view, is to diversify. If you normally buy your fruit and vegetables from Asda on a Sunday, for example, get them from your local market on Saturday and limit yourself to packaged foods from the supermarket.
The more money that can be spread around the better off we’re all going to be.
Whilst I maintain that the world isn’t in quite the state of disrepair we are led to believe (I was speaking to someone only this afternoon who suggested that there are many institutions in the UK willing to lend, but people are being put-off from taking up any offer due to future uncertainty), we’re in a difficult situation with regard to interest rates and inflation. At this point in time we need to increase inflation, and the only way to do that is to spend and make saving less attractive. With interest rates approaching 0% squirreling money away couldn’t be less enticing, but a rush to take money out of the banks could, in all honesty, prove catastrophic.
Many have criticised the proposed idea to flood the economy with newly printed money (something that has to happen every so often, not least in response to the fact that money is ‘invented’ every time a loan is approved), but if handled correctly it could be exactly what we need. Too much too soon could see a case of hyperinflation, which is something we don’t want, but a period of relatively high inflation wouldn’t be unmanageable (if people aren’t spending anyway, a lack of purchasing power isn’t a major concern). Interest rates would slowly rise in order to tempt people into saving again and inflation would decrease as a result.
Of course it’s not as simple as that, but on a very basic scale that’s what needs to happen.
What our government can’t control, but should push for, is strict regulation of the financial industry and, in particular, financial markets. The de-regulation of specific financial areas has been a major factor in the collapse of US lenders in that they were free to trade in bad debt as much as they liked. What started off as a genuine attempt to reap early profits from existing mortgages soon became a vehicle for disaster; institutions stopped borrowing to lend and actively sought to lend to borrow.
This ability to pass on bundles of liabilities was hailed as a phenomenon in the world of trading when it was introduced, but greed soon saw it mis-managed and it got to the point where everyone was playing catch-up. Throw in the suicidal notion of CDOs and what we’re experiencing now has been hovering around for quite some time. And it hasn’t gone unpredicted.
If proper regulations can be brought in to limit, or at least report on, the nature if transactions previously free of scrutiny then the global financial system will stabilise. Governments will be able to re-establish their economies, if indeed they have begun to faulter, and we can return to something approaching normality. However, that depends on the authorities’ ability to conquer the thirst for wealth which drives people like Bernard Madoff to do some utterly despicable things.
All I can say is ‘good luck’ to whoever is charged with that little task.
I think Brown is just making it up as he goes along, it’s a plan a week at the minute.
I wouldn’t like to try and guess what they are going to next.
Good post Equi, btw.
Why, when our economy is up sh!t creek, is he announcing extra millions on foreign aid here
If Brown had declined to send a paltry 20M to help the Gaza relief effort on the grounds of our economy being up shoit creek, I for one would have found that decision far sicker than any dubious Alzheimers-type joke
On a world scale we are still rich beyond the dreams of avarice, just not quite so rich as we were a year or so ago
I was speaking to someone only this afternoon who suggested that there are many institutions in the UK willing to lend, but people are being put-off from taking up any offer due to future uncertainty
No doubt there is, but they are not lending to the "right" people. They are willing to lend to those that dont need to borrow.
Alistair Darling was appaling on Radio 4 yesterday morning. Reminded me of Lamont. Rabbit in headlights
Im trying to envisage how the economy is going to genuinely improve. We have yet to see the true effects of unemployment kick in and perhaps not even the results of the Fear of Unemployment. This will simply add to the spiral
On a more jaundiced note, am i alone in wondering why more bank workers havent been fired off? If the goverment is bailing these lazy grasping cnts out, why arent there coniditions? RBOS workers are still getting bonuses FFS
Brown is desparately fumbling to save his political skin. And it looks like he is failing to do so. Blame everything, anything, everybody, anybody in order to cover up his own shortcomings. Rushing out statement after statement to create the illusion that he is doing something, anything. And irrespective of the plain facts that are all around him.
He constantly talks of confidence in the economic system. How can there be a return to confidence when it is becoming increasing clear that there is no public confidence in him. His record on the economy is truely appauling.
Mr Brown should be made stand a vote of confidence / general eclection. But of course he wont.
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