Bringing Brazil to the table

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Questioning the value of the tour is completely different from questioning the validity of the summit. The summit is potentially a good thing, it brings all the leaders together and strives to provide response to the global depression. This tour however is just posturing on the global stage by Brown and his opportunity to lecture as we have seen in many of the speeches he has made. It also undermines the role of a foreign secretary or even a Chancellor who could equally have embarked on this trip on our behalf. Instead we have Gordon embarrassing us on the global stage with his ineptitude, especially after the Governor spoke and then the failure to sell the gilts.

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Well for once it may be that the ex-Chancellor has chosen well - Brazil is an important emerging economy (and would have emerged rather sooner had a certain powerful State not interfered in its democratic processes during the 'sixties).

However will an opportunity be lost owing to the ex-Chancellor's lack of humility and desire to lecture all and sundry?

Nick - please tell us how the ex-Chancellor is received, and not confine your reporting to transcripts of his speeches.

Very eloquently put Nick but I for one doubt that anyone is taking a blind bit of notice of Brown. He is just fiddling whilst Rome burns.

The real problems at home will not be addressed by the G20, the Americans, French and Germans will go home and be as protectionist as ever and the UK who has auctioned off all its assests to the highest bidders will continue to see our factories and offices closed down as the work is taken back abroad.

There are no magic solutions, we have to learn to live within our means and wait for one monetary fix to take affect before embarking on the next.

Brown is obsessed with being seen to be taking action to fix everything and his hyperactive fiddling is making us an international laughing stock.

His complusive need to 'fix' everything and 'lead'the World is no doubt driven by the forthcoming general election.

The world has changed. The only person who hasn't recognised the fact seems to be Gordon Brown. He appears to be is the only one who is trying to make the old system work. No doubt he will see a virtue in such isolation. He will be supported for as long as it takes for the old gang to switch their wealth into something convertible and mobile and disappear.

Monetary solutions don't seem to be creating necessary jobs in infrastruture.

Hi Nick,

"Luckily for Gordon Brown the G20 agenda is much broader than the debate about the fiscal stimulus which has so far dominated this trip."

It's not luck. Co-ordinated stimulus was just about the only item on the agenda. Brown himself is trying to broaden the scope because the original purpose he had planned for it is no longer possible.

BTW: There is a big difference between the initiatives that may be carried out by the UK and Brazil. Specifically, the UK is broke and has to print money (because it cannot sell gilts), whereas Brazil can dip into the $200bn it set aside when the times were good.

See you in the pub.

So Gordon Brown would like to see some action, would he Nick? How about he resigns? We don't need this devaulued PM anymore. Oh, I forgot, people reading this might not know what I mean, since you haven't mentioned the most talked about viral political speech currently on YouTube: [Unsuitable/Broken URL removed by Moderator]

I would be interested to hear what you think about Daniel Hannon's speech in the European Parliament. I take it you have heard about it as you are traveling with the PM right? I thought it was fair comment and wondered how the rest of the electorate would view it. There has been a large response to it accross the Internet, I hope you are more intouch with public feeling than Gordon Brown is.

Incase you have missed it hear is the link so you can catch up

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=94lW6Y4tBXs

Without additional discretionary stimulus beyond higher unemployment benefits outlays and lower tax revenues the UK's budget deficit is bound to hit 12.6% next year, according to the Ernst and Young Item Club forecast.

Perhaps it was not that great an idea of Brown to run with a deficit of close to 3% in 2005/6 when the economy was growing above trend. The UK's government finances were already spinning out of control prior to the slump, that is the real story here. It is the story Brown is desperate to keep quiet.

PS Quantitative easing did not work in Japan, which in line with the UK had weak banks, but opposed to the UK had a budget surplus, a trade surplus and a positive household savings rate when the vulcano erupted. Good luck, UK.

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Managing expectations?

Is the global response truly negative to the Brown plan?

Did he manage to offload some of those government gilts on the Brazilians?

Any mention of de Menezes?

Any chance we'll get some of that countries response to the visit? Nothing like getting the whole picture, is there Nick?

So can someone please explain to me why Brazil has a currency reserve of £200 billion, according to Nick's last blog, while "best placed to weather the recession" Britain is heading for a £1 trillion national debt?

"That's why today Gordon Brown will stress the importance of getting credit moving again..."
Is there any real evidence that it's moving here?


"Gordon Brown's answer is that the very existence of a summit has focused minds.."
I doubt if there's any country's leadership that hasn't been already 100% focused on the biggest crisis they've ever had to face.

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The momment for a blog on Daniel Hannan's speech has passed - please can we move on. I am sure that these constant calls will have the same result as all the people who demand an election now.

A bit of "that" speech was shown on the Daily Politics show today, which is worth watching as it has Derek Draper from LabourLists being told to shut up by Andrew Marr. Mr Drapers behaviour reminded me of a comment my daughter once made in one of her university philosophy lectures - "The louder I am the righterer I am"

Nick

I couldn't care less about Brazil in much the same way as they don't care for the chap with the begging bowl masquerading as our PM, the embarassment of it all.

And just think of all those promises he's having to make, but won't be able to keep.

By the way, whilst you're on the copa, more and more people are getting to see Daniel Hannan's 'welcome' to GB during the first leg of his world tour in Strasbourg; it just won't go away. Are you going to mention it?

"To those who question the value of this tour; who query what can be achieved by a couple of dozen world leaders meeting for just a few hours; who wonder whether the words in their communique will mean anything, Gordon Brown's answer is that the very existence of a summit has focused minds, has forced people to talk and, in some cases to act".

GB's right Nick. There are thousands upon thousands waiting to act and believe me they'll be there waiting for him as he struts the catwalk at the London get together. The majority will 'act' responsibly but unfortunately there will be some who are not so responsible; they never are.

You see, while you've been away ducking the real issues of hardship being felt by the good citizens of this once great country, their anger is growing by the day.

Forget the mistakes made, all they are crying out for is ethical and moral leadership if that's not too much ask.

Yes, Nick, GB's homecoming party is hotting up quite nicely.

Just a suggestion, Nick:

Why don't you give us a blog on how the G20 turned out?

It wouldn't surprise me in the least if your 'spontaneous'report on the 'success' of the summit has probably been prepared, dictated and written up already.

Oh dear; the cat's away the mice all play...

https://www.newstatesman.com/uk-politics/2009/03/labour-party-balls-interview

So gordon goes away and his children's secretary manges to slip out that he wants to be both leader and chancellor.

Gordon goes away and Alistair Darling convenes a meeting behind his back with Mervyn King and Lord Myners.

Gordon goes away and the whole of the British press reports that his idea of further fiscal stimulus has been rejected by the Bank of Englad.

Gordon, just go away and stay away.

Call an election

I have trawled through the Brazilian press to see what their take is on this visit (I speak Portuguese and used to live there), and have only come across two references. One was confirming Brown's visit today to meet the Brazilian president Luis Inacio de Silva (nicknamed Lula from his time as a trade unionist with the car industry) as a precursor to the G20 meeting next week.

The second was Peter Mandelson's meeting in Sao Paulo yesterday, where he cautioned those present that the G20 was a process not an event. Anyone expecting a sudden miraculous revelation or cure to the crisis would be severely disappointed. This does seem to be at odds with your comments above, as per Brown's views. I have refrained from posting the link, as the moderators would surely remove anything not written in English.

From the scant coverage that I have seen, Nick do you agree that this visit from a Brazilian perspective is distinctly low key. It could also be that Brazilian football teams are in the middle of the Libertadores Cup (equivalent of the Euro Champions league), and believe me Brazil really does stop for a game of football!

Btw on the Daily Politics show Andrew Neil showed the Daniel Hannan clip, which has become such a popular viewing on the blogosphere.

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Nick, with regard to another so-called 'fiscal stimulus', you say Brown "has not ruled one out". The fact is, it has been ruled out for him. Spending money that we have not got is not an option.

The debt that Brown has already created with his failed policies will drag our whole economy down for years to come.

If Brown refuses to call a general election, Labour MPs should do the honourable thing and call a leadership election. If Labour backbenchers sit by and allow this to continue, they will undoubtedly spend many years in the political wilderness when the public is finally allowed to pass its verdict.

Today's Government Bond Auction was over subscribed by a factor of 2.72

Clearly Good news as no one on here wants to here bad news for our economy, do they???????

Well actually do they, I wondrer?

So who's pleased and who was hoping for a repeat of yesterday?

Be honest now.

In, out. In, out. Shake it all about.

Dither, dither, contradict, contradict.

"Next week we may be able to judge whether he's right"

No you wont. He says so many different things that he is always right at sometime and therefore never wrong. GB is just winging it and the lack of any accountability lets him carry on regardless. This is blindingly obvious to the nobodies outside of Westminster.

Brown reminds me of the crazy DIY enthusiast who wrecks everything but can never put it back together again. A bit like Humpty Dumpty.

The last person that any country would listen to if they seriously wanted to get out of this mess.

The only person who would give away millions of pounds to those fortunate to have tracker mortgages whilst taking billions away from struggling savers.

They pay pennies each month for their huge mortgages while the savers who relied on any interest on their meagre savings to scrape by are ignored.

This just gets crazier by the minute.

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7#

"It's not luck. Co-ordinated stimulus was just about the only item on the agenda. Brown himself is trying to broaden the scope because the original purpose he had planned for it is no longer possible."

Just about sums up this G20 waste of time.


If we all do the same, we all go the same way, which is not what competitiveness is all about.

Should we wish the disastrous policies of GB on the rest of the world?

Right,

Sticking my head above the parapet here a bit.

I have a small issue with some of the name clones that are popping up on this blog. A plethora of Sagas and now an Eton!

Personally I’m not really a big fan of this sort of ridicule. If feels a little bit like bullying to me, in the most juvenile way.

What I really hope it isn't, is some kind of Conservative centralised movement to take the p**s out of the Labour supporters. Let the other side carry out the nonsense name calling, e.g.: Derek B calling poor Patricia all sorts of horrible names. We have broader shoulders than that (Not of course you Patricia).
Leave that rubbish to the style of the Hapless Draper tried to invoke.

The reason I write this is:-

Firstly, it is nearly always misplaced and a little witless, which is why Labour did such a gloriously bad job at Nantwich.

Secondly, you don't need to do it, the government is falling apart at the seams without kicking people while they are down, come on we aint French!

Lastly, Fellas and Ladies we are better than that aren't we. I have been a Tory voter all my life, and it makes me cringe when MP's or members, try to be pithy or funny, or right on. Be yourself; make you well thought out point.

Childish comments are of course welcome however at whatever political figure you wish to target. MP's are fair game!

Anyway just my thoughts, you can of course do what you like.

Harry out

In light of events over the last few days, and reporting of same (or not - nice to still be 'in charge' of what's newsworthy I guess. Makes one feel powerful I guess), I admire the guts it takes to start off a piece with this line: 'No discussion of [ ] would be complete without mention of [ ].

The BBC seems to have a slightly different collection of words that it feels necessary to insert to many of those it claims to represent.

I think you're going to have to bluff it out now. Any belated acknowledgement will kinda highlight what £3B+ doesn't by you. And, sadly, what it does 'get' you.

How do apply for my refund?

No discussion of politics would be complete without mention of Hannan.

Nick,

get your Speedo's on. When will Gordon be back in the UK, no doubt he will then require a rest to recover. Oh no he won't because our Gordon has tremendous energy and is fighting every hour of every day to save the world from the Global Economic Crisis. You can't make it up, the human Aspidistra saves the planet, where are the men in white coats to cart me off to the funny farm because this is getting risible.

16. Laughatthetories

Don't you think the praying is a bit extreme?

Hey folks - British Bias Corp have FINALLY added Mr Hannans speech - now they r wondering how it became such a hit?????? - r these people on the same planet as the rest of us????

It became a hit because one person articulated perfectly what the rest of the UK r thinking and want to say to Clown and Co but can not until 2010.

Dan Hannan - at last a politician who is not afraid to tell the truth (Therefore probably the last we will hear from him!). It is farcical to think that we can spend our way out of debt. Until we realise that we must tighten our collective belts (And at least temporarily pay more tax) we will never get our economy back on track.

No doubt the G20 will end with lots of smiles and vague promises. However when the leaders get back home they will of course look after their own best interests - and why not, that is where their electorate is.

So our dear pm is in brazil begging for money for the uk - sorry the imf. If all the leaders are going to meet up next week what is the point of this tour. Is he that desperate for attention? I think he knows that come next week he is going to a complete fool begging for money, these leaders are not stupid and know deep down that if they do put money in the imf that it will only be a matter of days before ends up here. As for the second stimulus would it not be better to look in to other ways to try an ease the recession rather than throw money left right and center, if it didnt work first time i dought it will work a sencond or third.

24. andfinally

I also checked out the labourlist site for this line-by-line rebuttal of the speech. Could not find anything like this, just a simple article with 3 points of which only 1 had substance. This was discrediting him because of a speech made in 2004 on Iceland. Could not follow the logic there.

The hardest thing to stomach was the half-grin, half-smirk from our PM during the speech. Seemed like he did not care and found it all very amusing. Thanks Gordon.

it's official!

BBC main news page now spotlights the Derek speech, so let's have no more of the bias claims

described (quite rightly by the sounds of it) as an INTERNET PHENOMENON ... number 1 political video, number 3 current any video, closing in on the all time top 25 in You Tube history, would you believe? ... just another 5 hits will take it past the Dairy Milk Drumming Gorilla!

As repetition is the order of the day.

===================

Today's Government Bond Auction was over subscribed by a factor of 2.72

Clearly Good news as no one on here wants to here bad news for our economy, do they???????

Well actually do they, I wondrer?

So who's pleased and who was hoping for a repeat of yesterday?

Be honest now.

26

The successful bond auction was for index linked stock.

The unsuccessful one was for conventional stock.

No doubt the bidders are anticipating that high inflation will become a problem in the future, thanks to our glorious Government's policies. Not therefore good news for the economy I think

1, 8 & 11

all asking about Hanans speach - removed by mods.


looks like someone is getting nervous!

With apologies to rockyhippo and Cervantes – maybe our Great Leader is just tilting at windmills

Gor-Don Quixote - "Fortune is guiding our affairs better than we ourselves could have wished. For it could hardly do worse. Do you see over yonder thirty or forty hulking bankers? I intend to do battle with them and tax them. With their spoils we shall begin to be rich and buy a second home in Harrow for this is a righteous war and the removal of so foul a brood from off the face of the earth is a service the Mirror will bless."

"What bankers?" asked Pedro Mandolin “ I normally prefer oligarchs”


"Those you see over there," replied his master, "with their long arms. Some of them have arms well nigh two leagues in length but still cannot reach their pockets."


"Take care, oh wondrous master," cried Pedro. "Those over there are not bankers but windmills. When they are whirled around by the wind they can help you save the world....again and again and again”

RobinJD 22

I found the article on Ed Balls very interesting. What should worry us all is how little the public are engaged in politics, as the article points out that Balls was not recognised by a lot of the public. Considering he and his wife Yvette were news not so long ago over expenses, (something I would have thought the public would be interested in)I was surprised to find that he was not known to most people.

Ed Balls and his wife Yvette are two of the most untalented politicians we have, in my opinion. Balls particularly has done a very poor job of education I believe.

#26

Apples and pears old boy. Wednesday's auction was of Conventional Gilts. Today's were indexed-linked. What do you think that tells us about fund managers' expectations for inflation?

Assuming any were bought by the funds of course. Maybe the Bank of England was buying a hedge for itself. Or maybe the Fed was. I guess we'll never know.

JohnConstable

I was just writing to say sorry to hear about your sad news, but I see your post has vanished for some reason. As you say, nuts...

Just watched the Daily Politics.

God! Derek Draper is awful, the other fella is a scruff and they both look like they need a wash.

Who told him is a great speaker? The condesending slow blink, and goodness towing the Party line like a blind lamb. I wonder who tells him what he likes.

All I can say is poor Kate Garroway.

If he pointed at me like that I would have broken the bloody thing off.

I've always be taught Never Point always indicate, it better manners.

andfinally 24

I saw the Daily Politics today and frankly I was embarrassed for Draper. I thought he lost the argument on every level by his agressive style and his inability to put forward a decent case for his party. I certainly would not want him representing me if I were the Labour Party.

#47 Meninwhitecoats

With all misplaced modesty, I claim first reference to the similarity of the ex-Chancellor's mission to Cervantes' heroic tale of La Mancha (but you can guess what became of it).

34. HPF

Well put.

RIP Busty

Yeah, yeah, whatever. But what about Daniel Hannah's speech, eh?

#44

Okay, to repeat then:

Apples and pears old boy. Wednesday's auction was of Conventional Gilts. Today's were indexed-linked. What do you think that tells us about fund managers' expectations for inflation?

Assuming any were bought by the funds of course. Maybe the Bank of England was buying a hedge for itself. Or maybe the Fed was. I guess we'll never know.

This could go on all day.

I will risk posting a link to the Globo news site, which gives a flavour of brown's visit:

[Unsuitable/Broken URL removed by Moderator]

The captions indicate that on Thursday afternoon (remeber Brazil is 3 hours behind us), Brown will travel to Sao Paulo, visit the Museum of Football and then give a speech at the FAAP foundation. No mention of any announcement about a USD 100 Billion fund to underwrite international trade, which the BBC is leading with.

A bit of feedback from the Brazilian perspective might be pertinent as well as showing some respect for the host country?

I see Hannan's reached 730,000 posts on youtube now. My first post was removed by the mods as this was seen as 'not relevant' to the topic

My point is 730,000 people feel it is relevant. Those 730,000 people believe that Gordon Brown's trip will achieve nothing

I am still amazed that Nick has not seen fit to comment on this

#53

I make no claims for originality I am just very disillusioned.

Did the moderators get you - they are being rather fiendish at the moment?

One tries to understand the point of all this? One country stop off after another and he'll be treated courteously, of course. For what though? It looks just like another tour to try and save his bacon. All at our expense of course.

With this in mind, just how many Prime Ministers Question times can he catch a plane to avoid? Brown is like a man on a mouse's wheel. Running faster and faster for all to see, but getting precisely nowhere and rapidly losing his energy for solutions and answers.

I also note the removal of posts referring to Hannan's video. A shame its getting to this. I love the BBC, but I'm concerned that they're becoming more of a political puppet by the day.

the flash @ 34

I have been a Tory voter all my life

never fancied a change, Harry? ... not even tempted by the radicalism of Foot in 83? ... or the dynamic early Kinnock of 87?

Bit baffled - a post on one blog which I repeated on here has been removed on this one but not the other??

So here it is again:

Daniel Hanlon
I think this man is the saviour of the free world. I will personally mortgage my house and donate all my possessions to enhance his one man crusade against the dark forces in power. I intend to give him my eldest daughter and pray to him daily.

"Brown reminds me of the crazy DIY enthusiast who wrecks everything but can never put it back together again. A bit like Humpty Dumpty."

So you are suggesting that Humty Dumpty was a DIY enthusiast?
Hold on a minute - all he did was fall off a wall!

I could accept the guy in 'Some mothers do 'ave 'em' - but only if applied to the bankers that caused the mess - aim your bile at them.

Saga

Michael Foot? Well I'd probably buy a Big Issue off him, BTW is he still alive?

Kinnock? Ugh No, bad trilogy Combo for me, Bald, you can fill in the other two, glad Grandantidote isn't around to call me racist!

Anyway been a relative short life. 38 is still young isn't it?!?!?

61 Saga

Anyway I'm glad to see flashes of some of your old self.

All this whirlwind touring must be quite exciting.

Is this what your recent survival training was all about, Nick? Are you about to head off into the Matto Grosso like Colonel Percy Fawcett?

Can the former Chancellor bring off a save as spectacular as another Gordon did from that great Brazilian Pelé?

Does the Business Secretary see himself as a liberator in the style of Roger Casement?

Easy on the cachaca, old chap.

Eatonrifle,

The not insignificant difference between the types of gilts auctioned today and yesterday is that today's were index-linked while yesterday's were conventional, i.e. yesterday's didn't offer a coupon and redemption value that would adjust in line with inflation.

This difference is very relevant because a government that has amassed a lot of debt, as will very soon be the case, gets a little help from inflation to reduce the debt-to-gdp ratio and make its finances look better (and keep in mind that government pensions are indexed).

34 Harry

Nice of you make that point Harry.

It seems that the massively disproportionate numerical advantage of your fellow Tories isn't sufficient advantage for some.

As for "name calling" in general, you can't fail to have noticed that it is "mostly" a trait of the right leaning blogger??

Hey but never mind and thanks anyway.

HPF @ 64

Foot? ... yes he's alive, very much so

in good health and still peeling the carrots in Hampstead - having a little chuckle, I shouldn't wonder, as chunks of his 83 manifesto are finally enacted

as for my old self, well, it's mix and match ... like all the best schitzophrenics!

Good old Harriet!
This from Sky News:

Well I never.

Over the despatch box Alan Duncan managed to do something William Hague didn't during this week's PMQs... make Harriet Harman guffaw with laughter!
When he alluded to Brown's latest stop on his pre-G20 tour jesting: "It's not the nuts we get from Brazil it's the nuts we send to Brazil", Harriet could not contain herself. Realising her faux pas she tried to stifle the giggles with her hand, but to no avail.
We've all been there, we've felt the laughter rising within us, knowing we just shouldn't let it out, but unable to contain ourselves we let it peel from our system, ringing amidst the rafters.
I just hope the Prime Minister has as good a sense of humour as Harriet!

I think we all know the answer to that last question don't we.

#63:
laugh:
For the umpteenth time:
The bankers as you rightly say caused the mess in the banking system in spite of The FSA which was set up by The PM. The PM on the other hand caused the mess that is The Public Finances or lack of it and so is partly culpable for our poor starting position in this crisis.

#52:
If you take a quick look at Draper's site labour list you'll find that the majority of commments are scathing of Gordon Brown and the site commentators with few prepared to put up any kind of dispirited defence of him or them. It might as well be another arm of Conservative Home.

While meeting Gordon Brown, the Brazillian President blamed him+bush for the problems in his own country, he basically said that Brown and his ilk had personally created the global crisis by spending so many years being so jaw-droppingly negligent when it comes to policing their own financial systems, and now his people (ie the Brazillians) are suffering from the knock-on effects because they can no longer sell anything to anyone outside their own country because the uk+us have created global economic annihilation and nobody's got any money left.

But the bbc doesn't want to report that, because it spells out the truth about what Brown's done.

67 Econoce and others

My comment was more to do with the difference in bloggers reaction to the two sales i.e the devouring of the bad news at only selling 93% of the standard bonds compared to todays sale headlined "clamour for UK bonds at auction". Yesterday it was all "the markets verdict" today its *oh I think we'll ignore that one"

Going back to the original post, I honesly believe most on here would prefer the economy to continue badly than actually recover under Brown's premiership, because of the "political oportunity" the recession represents.

What do you think?

On reflection I suppose we shouldn't really kick a dog when it's down. Much of what we are practising on here is overkill when it comes down to it. Best to leave well alone and let the offending party score own goal after own goal without lifting a finger!

sicilian @ 70

I just hope the Prime Minister has as good a sense of humour as Harriet!

another HH fan, excellent!

Moderator,

Please explain.

I wrote an entry at #21 and another at #24.

#42 Dorset_Wurzel comments on #24 which has been moderated which means one of three things:

Either the entry was permitted but then removed because someone complained which doesn't help me when I'm looking at house rules to see that they were not broken in the first place and then find that they have been broken.

Or Dorset_Wurzel is privy to moderated entries and able to refer to them when no one else is privy to them.

Or Deadly Derek came out of the Daily Politics studio to cast his four eyes over entries he didn't like and pulled the plug.

All vey odd really. I didn't think you could be moderated, then not moderated.....

What is strange is that no one here in Gordons team seems to be trumping his cause or making us aware of what he is really up to. Thus we are left with the impression that he is in a futile mission to save his job and will ultimately fail.... in fact, he's causing us so much embarrassment that we loath him more.

Hickory-dickory-dock... The wooden one is over winding his clock
At the end of his tether and beyond his measure, he's leaving us reeling in shock!

So the Brazilian president blames the economic crisis on "white men with blue eyes" (ignoring perhaps the population of certain Brazilian towns like Rondon who largely fit this profile).

How did our great leader receive this racist comment? ("Oh no, it's men in dark suits and red ties").

Not a direct attack, but is he really saying "you're not welcome here, Mr Brown"?

Seriously, it's pretty Brown has got issues

Why is he going on a tour round the world to lecture everyone else? Despite running the country assessed as the worst hit in the top economies he believes he has some authority , basking in his own glory, away from the people who (didn't) elect him

having watched your report on BBC1 News@10 today, I'm quite unhappy about your selective quoting of da Silva's words, shame you couldn't get yourself to repeat the "white men with blue eyes" bit -- too sensitive for the UK public?

#74

Well what do you expect? The Crashmeister has treated the recession entirely as a political opportunity (let's face it, if Paulson hadn't let Lehman's go bust last September, Crash would already have been dumped by his loyal servants in the PLP), so you can hardly complain if everyone else does likewise. Schadenfreude is universally accepted as the only emotion in politics.

It's like the papers. Good news is for page 2.

Nick

Just had a look at the Brazilian Globo news web site with the Brazilian President's Lula's reaction to the meeting with Brown:

Lula said that the crisis was created in the wealthy countries and could not be allowed to penalise the poorest. He said "We cannot allow that the poor pay for the crisis made by the rich, moreover that none of them were black, indian (south american) or poor. This crisis was created by white people, with blue eyes who prior to the crisis who knew all, and now do not know anything."

Damning!

Nick Robinson:

I am glad that the international community is bringing in Brazil to the table, since the country has many good ideas in many aspects...Economy and energy that they could offered their suggestions...

~Dennis Junior~

Chaps, oh dear, oh dear our Prime Minister not having finishd with initiativeitus in the UK [or running round announcing I will do everything in my power] he is now grandstanding this on the world stage with yet more ideas. He wants money thrown at the IMF and then new fund this and change of legislation that.....does he know what is possible to achieve next week? He has set himself FAR to many goals, as ever. This whole idea of I will do anything in my power......Prime Minister in today's globalised market these things are NOT in your power or gift. You must realise that you cannot have so man goals for a summit. It smacks of desperation.

Please, please let us not bankrupt the world as you have bankrupted the UK and mortgaged the future to our children. You do not understand the world's economy and how it 'works'. Do not try and sort it in one meeting. The German Chancellor is right [I have to say this] we need to take time to see the implications of what has been done to date. Patently the VAT cut has been wasted, why or why did that not get targeted onto national infrastructure and other projects that would guarantee British jobs? Its bizarre and behaviour that is quite strange. Such apparent conviction from a person know to love 'reviews'.

Call an election and stand on what you have achieved. Place your record in front of the British people and let them decide. It sounds like you have a hard core of support, polls never went below 23-25% - so trust your core constituency and then see if you can swing the floaters away from the Tories.

You are going to have to do this sometime. I fear that another year of your initiatives will drive away any chance you have of being elected again. Think on. Get your mandate for what you are doing and calm down. Once you have a mandate you can make decisions. At the moment most of the people here believe you are not acting on their behalf. You are trying in their words ' to save your political skin and legacy'.

Stop trying to impress peole with your energy and 'I will do all in my power'. Just do a small number of things right - please!! Who knows if you stopped trying to run the world you just might get that mandate.

A fair assessment by The Independent this morning I would say:

https://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/steve-richards/steve-richards-will-browns-g20-boasts-go-the-way-of-the-election-that-wasnt-1655287.html

77. At 9:56pm on 26 Mar 2009, andfinally wrote:

"Either the entry was permitted but then removed because someone complained which doesn't help me when I'm looking at house rules to see that they were not broken in the first place and then find that they have been broken."

Or Dorset_Wurzel is privy to moderated entries and able to refer to them when no one else is privy to them.

Or Deadly Derek came out of the Daily Politics studio to cast his four eyes over entries he didn't like and pulled the plug.

All vey odd really. I didn't think you could be moderated, then not moderated.....


======================================
I can confirm that your entry @ 24 was permitted as I was able to read it. It was also still on the blog when my reply was published and I believe still there @ 17:00. Beyond that I cannot help. Guess someone did not like it!

excellent @ 83

This crisis was created by white people, with blue eyes who prior to the crisis who knew all, and now do not know anything

spot on

we used to look down on the so called EMERGING MARKRETS, patronise them, charge them a fortune for borrowing money ... boot on the other foot now and I'm sort of glad ... pity they need us so much, otherwise I wouldn't blame them one iota for using this opportunity to flip the world order a little bit

but do they need us? ... do they REALLY?

re 88 sagamix

"we used to look down on the so called EMERGING MARKRETS, patronise them,"

speak for your self; I never did.

I've spent a fair amount of time living in some "emerging markets", and I can tell you that in most cases their education is infinitely better than ours as they actually teach their kids discipline, their people are therefore much more polite and easier/nicer to do business with, their tax is much much lower, their governments might cream-off a few quid with corruption but nothing on the proportional scale that our government wastes public money by its negligence.

Their corruption is usually fairly open/blatent, but relatively small; whereas our current problem is that our unelected leader is so mind-blowingly negligent/stupid that he's throwing trillions of pounds of our money into an ever deeper black hole without any thought about what actually caused the problems in the first place and without a care in the world about having to pay those trillions back.

Ask me whether I think Brazil or the UK is better run, and I'd say Brazil without a shadow of a doubt right now; they are indeed, as their president said, suffering badly through no fault of their own and purely due to the negligence of people like Brown and Bush.

The ironic thing is that Brown's been going round the world trying to combat poverty, yet he's done more to create poverty than I can even begin to imagine.

Eatonrifle wrote:
As repetition is the order of the day.

===================

Today's Government Bond Auction was over subscribed by a factor of 2.72

Clearly Good news as no one on here wants to here bad news for our economy, do they???????


I personally don't see how something that should be business as usual is considered good news, or is the failure of something bad to happen now considered to be a good thing?

The failure of the Bond Auction was news because it was a rare occurance. Usually government bonds are considered to be a very safe way of investing and I would expect them to be well subscribed. I have no idea of the exact figures for bonds but if the usual take up is a massive over-subscription it is possible that this could actually be considered a lack of interest.

E.g. A company makes collectibles and they normally release in batches of 100 and have 10000 people interested in buying them, if they then later make a very limited run of 10 but only have 50 people interested - they might have sold all 10 but the interest has clearly dropped and if they had done a full run then they would have half unsold.

I am not saying that this is the case here - but it is just a point that figures need to be taken in-context. Just as the failure to sell the other bonds is most likely an anomoly rather then a sign of the apocolypse!

Didn't Tony Blair also embark on a world tour just before his demise?

Maybe this behaviour is an indication of terminal loss of political stature at home.

So Brown is now telling us not to be cynical about the G20 meeting. Doesn't he realise the real cynicism is about him? Disappointed because he didn't meet Pele? Then NuLabour accuses the Conservatives of opportunism.

And if Michael Foot is chuckling as chunks of his 83 manifesto are finally enacted can we expect a proposal to leave the EU to be put foreward?

getrid @ 89

me

"we used to look down on the so called EMERGING MARKETS

you

speak for yourself; I never did

me again

that's good

western financial markets I'm meaning, there, by the we ... not you or I because we're not like that

seriously, Get Rid, it's quite funny - we used to charge countries like Brazil and India and China massive interest rates to borrow money ... 500 basis points above LIBOR, that sort of thing ... to reflect the risk of lending to places that were so much less sophisticated than ourselves

and now look

DistantTraveller @ 50

Yes, my post was removed at post 32, presumably because it had almost nothing to do with Brazilian ... nuts, waxes and/or politicians.

I thought it might stand, as it offered an insight which was hopefully much more profound than fiscal issues.

The mods have a tricky job so I'm not too bothered about its removal but after a decent period of mourning, I think we'll be getting another cat but must expect to be heart-broken all over again at some hopefully very distant point in the future.

jc @ 94

John, that's a chilling little vignette you've just posted over on the TORTURE blog ... rather fear it's going to stay in my head a while

#94 JohnConstable

The mods do have a tricky job, but there should be room for a little humanity.

And yes I agree, your anecdote certainly helps to put these 'fiscal issues' into proper context and reminds us that some things are actually far more important. As we anxiously wring our hands worrying about the state of the global economy, we could take a lesson from our furry fiends as they curl up for an afternoon nap without a care in the world.

Cats do bring great joy, but the downside is we usually outlive them. But we can content ourselves knowing we have given them a comfortable life, somewhere safe and warm to sleep, nice food to eat, furniture to scratch and carpet to puke up on. Who could ask for more?