On board the G20 express

global solutions to a global crisis !!

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So Brown Leaves Country where is Harriet Harperson?

Do we expect more political manoeuvres whilst he is away?

Make sure you ask about McNulty, Jackie and the other Labour London MP who don't seem to know where they live

Maybe the Crashmeister should have worked harder at hammering out a consensus between the Treasury and the Bank of England, first.

https://broganblog.dailymail.co.uk/2009/03/king-pulls-the-rug-out-from-under-brown.html

We already know that the G20 will be spun as a success and we will surely be presented with the "appearance of agreements".

Brown will be posing for photo's where he can be seen to be chairing the meeting and or stood next to Barak Obama.

We also know that the French and Germans don't really agree with Brown. However, we'll be fed some line that shows they are in total agreement with Gordon Brown.

Obama will diplomatically side step any journalists that try and bait him on topics of Gordon's stupidity, like the VAT fiscal stimulus and promising to end boom and bust.

Finally some journalists will be looking to talk about Brown's statesman like qualities and will big him up. Some will even be looking for signs of another Brown bounce (there won't be one - the people in the Dog and Duck think that Brown is a devious fool).

Finally, Gordon will be brought back to reality on April 22nd (I think) when he is forced to tell us about the parlous state of the nations finances.

Gordon is a lame duck. He is also part of the problem. The sooner he goes, the sooner we can start on rebuilding the economy.

You say that there are 3 competing agendas to this G20 meeting.
You seem to have missed out the main one as far as GB is concerned.
This is just electioneering by GB, paid for by the taxpayer, and I hope that it is included in the amount allowed to be spent by each of the political parties. After all, what is the point of re-designing the Titanic when it is sinking, you should spend the time and effort in saving as many people as possible and learning the lessons later when there is time to do so.

We already know the outcome.

All agreed they would do whatever it takes.

Problem is none of them know what it WILL take.

Nice trip though Enjoy!

"There are in truth three competing agendas for the G20"
Er no. There is only one agenda:
1. Make Brown look good in front of the media as "saving the world" (again)
2. Internationalise the economic crisis - it's nothing to do with Mr. Brown it's a global problem etc etc
3. Create more dividing lines with the Tories - the G20 is for fiscal stimulus, the Tories are not and are isolated (when in fact Mr. Brown is isolated).

It's a lot of money to pay for a purely party political event isn't it?

Do you think Mervyn King's comments today, reported here: https://broganblog.dailymail.co.uk/2009/03/king-pulls-the-rug-out-from-under-brown.html will have any effect on Gordon Brown's policy?

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Brown leaves the country ? good - don't come back
Nothing to come back to if your loyal colleagues have their way..
Quite a ride eh ? more like a damp squib (Bretton Woods took years to agree) at best he'll get a few words about looking at the issue (and we all know what that means in 'politician speak'
..and now Mr King says there is no money for a 2nd stimulus - budget day will be boring - perhaps he'll call for a review on the credit crunch - that should sort it
And the only bounce he'll get is a dead cat one ..

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briangare... brevity is the essence of wit..

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@4 Obang

Dont worry Gordon is going to be able to say that "everyone else made him do it" after the G20.

Whilst Gordon is out of the country at least we'll be spared any initiatives.

The more important question is "Is there any way we can stop him getting back in?"

(the country I mean, not at the ever distant general election)

Why are we hosting (and thereby paying for) this , if the recession is America's fault shouldn't they pay the bill! Of course we know the answer Obama has won his election Brown is desperate to win anything but it would be nice if journalists asked these sorts of questions rather than the normal sycophantic nonsense we usually get.

Hmm the dog and duck. One is lame and the other will be doing PMQ's

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Please - no more attempts at humour, my split sides couldn't bear it. Just get back to blaming Brown for everything.

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noah brown leads the chosen few to the promised land before it is too late !

sorry that should read "know it all"

Sid

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They fear that the summit will mean little down the Dog and Duck.

That'll be for the simple reason the Dog and Duck has closed - gone out of business. Not long now until there's no pubs left.

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Nick,

you mean you and your boss are off on a "save my job" tour.

There are only 2 things more certain than Brown losing his job and that's death and taxes.

It was hilarious last night to hear Frank Field doing something no other Labour MP can stand up and say "He was being honest".

He explained that he realised what Browns scrapping of the pension scheme tax credit meant to hundreds of thousands of pensions schemes and what it would do.
He then went to Bliar who claimed Brown had not explained the consequences to him.

Roll on May 2010...............if Brown gets that far.

Ah!

There he goes Gordon "Bomber Harris" Brown, off to share the love.

Those poor sods waiting for him at each airport, has me in mind of Father Ted awaiting the arrival of his dour friend Paul.

Dear God, they must think we as a country are mad, and that we believe the nonsense he's peddling.

Someone help us any one!

Nick,

no doubt David Cameron will also decline to attend PMQs now that the great leader is not attending. We will have to put up with his stand-in as well. Maybe, just maybe Cameron can see through this fiasco and say enough of this shambles. I think that he should go ahead with his own questioning of whoever it is that takes the part of the lost leader. How many times has he (Gordon, I will not walk on the other side) Brown actually done PMQs since he took over as a result of what I regard of his coup.

I think that this charade of PMQs should be exposed, come on Cameron come to ask your questions, don't you sink below the parapit like Brown, the same for Nick Clegg, show up Brown for what he is, gutless. Ah well, at least he won't have to read out the names of the dead this week.

G.B., saviour of the world, competing agenda for the G20? Load of rubbish. Think back 3-4 years or more and recall the activities of another P.M., on his way out of office, T.B. took an extended farewell visit to many corners of the world, now shades of deja vu!!!

I think that G.B. IS GOING ON HIS FREEBE world tour, then in May 2010, he will be pushed into resigning, or maybe before that so we have the dubious pleasure of 3 Labour P.M.s on the trot. Get your free world tour tickets here????

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I caught up with the Daily Politics when Redmond and Timms were appearing.

Redmond taunted Timms about the "real UK borrowing level actually being GBP157BILLION for this financial year, with more to come next".

Timms didn't reject the comment.

Is it at the upcoming Budget statement that Darling will be obliged to start recognising PFI obligations and exposure to the Banks' debt?

The present Government 3-year spending plan expires in 2010. All Timms could say was that at Budget time, the "timetable" for delivering he next plan will be announced. Maybe they've realised that it's not much good planning for anytime after 2010, as many of 'em will be shuffling off back to their "primary residences" or "second homes" depending on what the allowances regime and HMRC can agree on!

31

I thought it was amazing to see Frank Field so openly critical of the goverments handling of the pensions issue.

You are right about Blairs comment when Frank Field explained what the 5 billion pensions grab really meant. Blairs response of "that wasn't how Gordon explained it to me .." was quite revealing. I wonder how many of the government, including Blair himself apparently - actually understood what was being announced. Or most of their policies for that matter.

What was even more worrying was Frank Fields comments on financing of the public pensions. I agree with him, that this really does have to be addressed by whichever government and it is not something that will sort itself out or go away if ignored. His analysis that this is part of a much bigger problem that could lead to massive civil unrest - he actually used the word "riots" - could prove to be accurate, and it may be sooner than we all would like to think.

Usually candid comments from a former minister and MP on BBC.He's one of the MPs who seems to be really "in the know" about this.

If Gordon Brown doesn't want to be branded as Minister for the Recession then why on earth is he spending his entire life inventing news ways of smothering himself in its mess?

He doesn't look to me lie someone in control; he looks to me like someone desperate to look busy. We've all sen the type, useless colleagues totally unsuited to theri jobs getting their girlfriends or wives to call them so their office phone rings a few times a day.

The man is paranoid and delusional. It would be tragic if it wasn;t so utterly hilarious that someone who inflicted on us all this monumental hubris will now meet his nemesis at the next general election.

My theory is he is too much of a coward to face the public next June and will stand down. All this rubbish being touted by the press about his incredible stamina is just that; have they seen the man behind closed doors? Have they seen him balling out his cabinet? Have they seen him bleating about his weak knees now the excuse for him abandoning his summer fitness regime?

The whole of Gordon Brown from start to finish is an act, a pretence and a complete fake. He cares about nothing and nobody except himself and his own self image.

He can't even fire anyone form his own cabinet in case it reflects badly on him; he is truly a man of straw.

Call an election; we deserve better than this.

Nick

Is the BBC going to report the case of Dawn Butler MP and minister claiming expenses for two houses both within 10 miles of Westminster?

For a good discussion about the effectiveness of stimuli please refer to an economics paper by 4 repsectable economists, including John Taylor who devised the Taylor rule for central bank interest rate setting.

The paper challenges the analysis of stimuli as well as their effectiveness and is called:

New Keynesian versus Old Keynesian Government spending Multiplers

It can be easily found in the web.

Maybe Brown can explain how much of the 12.6% budget deficit the Ernst and Young Item Club forecasts for the UK is due from fiscal stimulus beyond the automatic stabilisers of higher unemployment benefits and lower tax revenue. You will find that it is almost zilch. Brown was running a budget deficit close to 3% in 2005/6 when the economy was growing above trend, i.e. prior to the crisis, which built a structural deficit into the UK's government finances no matter what would happen.

PS Which tax haven has contibuted to the downfall of the Dunfermline building society, around the corner from Brown's constituency, that contiruentcy of which the office was sublet?

And now we're at it, or 'them' rather, those tax havens Brown is talking so much about. Which tax haven brought down Northern Rock (with government adviser Wanless on its board), HBoS (where previous Brown ally Crosby ran the show), RBoS (Goodwin was government adviser well into February 2009), Bradford and Bingley, Alliance and Leicester, London Sottish Bank or some other building societies.? The answer is: no tax haven or shadow bank!

It is scandalous that Brown introduces more regulation (after opposing it) as a response to a global crisis (so why do we need regulation) and then claims to be consistent.

The toothless FSA led to the HBOS downfall and that is on his watch and reflects the problem. Whilst any major downturn in the US would affect us we could have been considerably safer and had more cash for a future stimulus (one that works unlike the VAT injection).

Greedy bankers, who were legal bankers, still probably number highly as government advisers.

If Brown is to be believed then none of the measures could stop a future "unprecedented" - barring the Wall St Crash - global phenomenon. If they could then why weren't they in place.

So whilst he continues with this shoddy masquerade of denying reality its hard to see how the problems get fixed.

Also I am still waiting for somebody to say what the future of derivatives like Credit Default Swaps - the value of CDS is apparently four times greater than the total global capacity to pay for them if they were all cashed. On the one hand if that were to happen we would probably all be bust anyway. On the other hand we have just seen banks go down like dominoes....

Perhaps GB is looking for another place to live, far far far away from the once great country he led to ruin.

He is not wanted here.

Go.

And go now.

He's done more world tours that Tina Turner. No doubt he's planned to go to the G20 with Simply the Best "blairing" out loud.

I'm sorry so sorry would be a better theme tune:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CPNH0R1LAoQ

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yep; let's close down the cayman islands; that'll fix our negative spiral of many trillions of pounds of government debt, deflation, increasing unemployment, and worthless gbp exchange rate.

glad to see you get your priorities right, Gordon.

who cares about the fact that you've bankrupted our entire country with your personal negligence over 12 years when you can shout about how you're going to "clean up" obscure tax havens that only a handful of people even use?

stay out gordon; don't bother coming back; you're not welcome here.

God help us!

Don't get on the plane Nick, Harriet could be planning a coup and you would be away from the action.

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Inflation up and Mervyn King writing to the street-walker Darling to explain how printing money is the solution to rising inflation. It seems like a good time for Golem Brown to sneak out of the country. It's going to the dogs.

Could it be that he wants to see as much of the World at the taxpayers expense. He's had talks with other World leaders already and it doesn't seem to be working, it's time he listened instead of thinking only he knows the way. A case of Brown's ideas not working, Labour policies not working, leading to Britain not working.

Any chance that Brown has a one way ticket.........then we'll be rid of that arrogant buffoon. He can go & save the world in the US, or Brazil, or Zimbabwe, or China, or Malaysia, or Iceland, or Peru......ANYWHERE but the UK.

Post 44. Crash would be more like Ricky Gervais in the Office with his motivational speech to Tina Turner's Simply The Best.

I doubt there wil be much comment down the Dog & Duck as it was one of the six pubs shutting a day due to Crash's continual putting up of duty. Remember no reduced VAT on beer of petrol.

Is there any way we can stop him getting back into the country?

5 day PR trip for a one day meeting. All rather excessive "in these difficult times".
Hasn't Brown heard of the latest trend in global communication -- video conferencing. Cost effective, green and above all no jet lag. Jeremy Paxman uses it all the time.

I see nobody is defending THATCHER anymore - wonder why that is?

How can Brown save the world, when he is busy bankrupting Britain. Brown borrowed and spent far too much during the good times, leaving the country threadbare for the current recession. Even the hapless Mervyn King has warned that there is no more room for fiscal stimuli in the UK, given the crazy levels of Government borrowing caused by Brown's irresponsible profligacy:

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1164440/Blow-Brown-bank-chief-warns-Britains-massive-public-debt-means-afford-extra-stimulus-Budget.html

What this country needs is a General Election and a new Government with its eye on the long term prospects for this country, instead of being preoccupied with its own short term re-election prospects. The country is being bankrupted by a bankrupt Government (which now has two Ministers who have been exposed as venal and milking the taxpayer for expenses - whatever happened to Brown's moral compass?).

Well I quite like Gordon Brown and I don't blame him for any of our financial problems. I think he is doing a good job explaining to the world that we need to spend to make this worldwide recession end. It already seems to be slowing down. I trust Mr Brown and Mr Darling to get things moving again much more than I trust the "do nothing" team of Cameron and Osborne. I've been out of work since October but they would have me out of work for the rest of my life.

"The Europeans see this as an "I told you so" moment."

I know saying this risks the EU paranoiacs scuttling out of the woodwork, but are we not also Europeans here in Britain? (Yes, we are)

I've just read what Brown has said at the European Parliament, Mush of it was the same as what he said in the US congress.

The thing that stikes me is that he went over there and said to the US that Europe want to play with the US now he has gone to Europe and said lets play with the US. he sounds like a kid in the school yard.

"Who wants to play?, global economies, who wants to play global economies?"

HE is going to spend the next 5 days skippinng around chanting away to himself. Then the other 19 kids are going to turn up at the end of play time and play "Isolate the buffoon"

52 umkomaas

" He can go & save the world in the US, or Brazil, or Zimbabwe, or China, or Malaysia, or Iceland, or Peru......ANYWHERE but the UK."

The US won't take him because he's been blaming them for his own negligence and they hate him for it.

Brazil won't have him because of how the menezes murder was swept under the carpet.

Zimbabwe won't have him because Mugabe would see him as a potential tyrannical rival.

Iceland won't have him because he branded the whole country a terrorist organisation.

Malaysia won't have him because they're offended by him thinking that he's a messiah.

You'd be hard-put to find any country that'd put up with him.

I say just cast him adrift in the middle of the atlantic ocean in a rowing boat and with only one oar.

The BBC reports: Gordon Brown tells Euro MPs the EU is "uniquely placed" to combat the downturn, as he begins his pre-G20 summit tour.

Oh dear!

Months ago he said the same about Britain being "uniquely placed to face the downturn" (no mention then of recession). We soon found that 'uniquely placed' really means bent over a barrel with our pants around our ankles.

All good Europeans better pray that Jonah Brown is wrong...

Meanwhile back in the real world Nick, Brown's crusade for a cure-all fiscal stimulus has been blown out of the water after today's surprise inflation figures, leaving him at odds with the Bank of England boss, his chancellor, most of the world and his G20 plan in tatters.
Makes his pre-election PR jolly all rather pointless, doesn't it?

https://theorangepartyblog.blogspot.com/2009/03/borrowing-brown-blown-out-of-water.html

Why oh why all this negativty.

Please, please give Crash another chance. He has promised to get rid of Boom and Bust or was it just the Boom? Perhaps he needs some more time to cure this Global crisis? He is a world leader and is off round the world to provide all the other countries the benefit of his considerable knowledge.

We should be counting the days until he returns to this country and continues his good work.

When you have a brilliant ex-Chancellor and Pm like Crash, we should be gratefull for his help and guidance.

I hope that he will be able to maximise his talents when he is done providing us with the benefit, just as his esteem friend and colleague TB managed before him.

So once again stop it with the negativity.

Why do people wait until Gordon Brown is out of the country to rubbish him and his ideas? I refer, of course, to Mervyn King dismissing the idea of further fiscal stimulus.

When will people learn that it does no good to stab Gordon in the back? Stab him in the chest with a silver stake. Then cut off his head.

It is the only way.

49 - you got something constructive to say about this government?

Forget about the tories for a minute - despite your name -, we have a non-elected prime minister who takes advice from no-one, accepts responsibility for nothing, and obstinately believes he is right about every decision he makes.

You can't be even mildly surprised that - as he is being proven to be a bit wrong about so much of that which he believes in - people are concerned that perhaps he lacks the basic ability to actually help us. Since nobody ever asked him to do so in the first place, it might be an idea for him to allow the country to decide for themselves who they would like to have in power.

If the UK was a football club, we'd be having demonstrations and chanting 'sack the board' at every home game.

Daily Mail Headline:
"Blow to Brown as bank chief warns: 'Britain's massive public debt means we can't afford extra stimulus in the Budget".
Trust Gordon remembers to mention this during his discussions in the USA and other countries this week. Nick -- perhaps you could ask Gordon to comment and give us his reaction on tonight's 10PM news.

@56 Crowdedisland

Brown never had a "Moral Compass" that was just another nice sound bite trotted out to fool joe average.

His idea of fair is to have the entire country living on state handouts from the illustrious leader. He is very Joe Stalin in that regard.

All the pain in the world
I see it
I feel it
Not the big things
It’s the small stuff that gets me
Millions upon millions of little hurts
The teenager who can’t fit in
He tries so hard but nothing works out
The scratch on the new car the very first time it’s driven
The holiday that disappoints
The really nice woman who never finds the right man
The man who craves respect being laughed at
So many little things adding up
Terrible little things
All adding up

... the G20 won’t address any of this

Yes, this is Gordon drinking at the last chance saloon.

This is what he has dreamed of since college.

Too bad hardly anbody will be singing from the same hymn sheet as him.

Stand by for Riot Junction. Scream if you want to go faster....

I work in business. I have colleagues round the world who I talk to regularly. I generally pick up the phone and speak with them. If I need to be there in person I try to arrange a conference call with video conferencing and if I need to make a speech or make a presentation I organise the IT that enables me to do this. I am aware that our planet has limited resources and as well as an economic crisis, the planet needs our help at this time by not extensive air travel so I make arrangements wherever possible to limit my air travel.

I am a businessman aware of my responsibilities both financially and environmentally. It is a tragic shame our PM does not have that moral compass himself!

A 'moral compass' is a very useful device and I vaguely seem to remember some politicians mentioning this a while back .. or was it in a dream?

Whatever, the moral compass disappeared almost completely from banking in recent times and it seems grossly unfair that Joe Public, who is generally innocent, is picking up the tab.

No matter what recast global financial systems are proposed at the G20 or even enacted at some distant point in the future, unless 'morality' is somehow plumbed in then 'bad history' will surely repeat itself as pure greed overcomes more noble aspirations.

PS. The wise person never conflates 'price' and 'value'.

57. At 4:03pm on 24 Mar 2009, mrshamilton wrote:

"Well I quite like Gordon Brown and I don't blame him for any of our financial problems."

I presume you are being ironical. Either that, or you are a poor deluded soul. How on earth do you think we are going to climb out of the fiscal hole being dug for us by Brown? Only by austerity, which means public spending cuts and higher taxes. That means less money, a poorer standard of living and fewer jobs. Will you still feel so well disposed towards Brown when you realise the costs being imposed on all of us for his ego and for his bankrupt policies?

I just love this ..."City folk that I've spoken to think that what really matters is the appearance of agreements other than the substance of what is agreed" .....

Or - as me old mum used to say - it'll be all frills and no knickers!!!

Crash Gordon on the move again - basically it is all about positive rhetoric and talking things up to create confidence. In truth thr only way they could truly fix this is to unconditionally buy all the toxic debts from the banks for a pre-crash price, however many trillions that is (or Gillion, is that a thousand trillion?)

O'Bamas pitch yesterday worked for a day but now the American markets are wondering who on earth wants to buy bad debts with the limited aid packages, albeit totalling a trillion dollars again.

Said it before on here, the recession needs to go through its cycle which will take 2-3 years, unless the suggestion above is implemented (which it will not be) we have to sit it out. Perceptions have undergone a quantum shift in the last 6 months, prosperity is a long way in the distant future.

Then Gordon will keep talking it up...

#55

"I see nobody is defending THATCHER anymore - wonder why that is?"

Perhaps because this is not relevant to the current position - she stopped being Prime Minister nearly 20 years ago (November 1990).

Wise up, this is all about the Prime Minister we have NOW, off on a 5 country jaunt to try and show how important he is to a country who has already made up their mind. What a waste of taxpayers' money.

I was no fan of Thatcher when she was PM, still less when she was Education Secretary before ("Maggie Thatcher, milk snatcher" comes to mind).

But that's a generation ago. Trying to blame everything on her by association just won't wash any more. Labour have had 12 years in government, all the problems we have now are their responsibility.

23:
Not even Brown could claim to be responsible for everything that's gone wrong but he's having a pretty good shot at it.
57:
Mrs Hamilton. Even The Labour front bench have stopped using the 'do nothing' phrase because it's past its sell by date. If you trust Brown and Darling then watch out for the front door fraudsters with broad smils and fake ID. You would be a soft touch.

Not quite sure what you mean by "Anglo-Saxon" .I am British but as I live in Scotland that term cannot include me or any other of the peoples of the Celtic Nations of the UK.

According to the clunking fist, the EU is uniquely placed to combat the downturn. Is this the same 'uniquely placed' that Britain is, or a different 'uniquely placed'? Where does Britain's uniqueness compare to the EUs?

What a prat the PM is.

Nearly 5pm and no mention on the BBC website about the head of the Bank Of England's comments made at lunchtime (see #9). Dear dear.

#60 getridofgordonnow

"You'd be hard-put to find any country that'd put up with him.

I say just cast him adrift in the middle of the atlantic ocean in a rowing boat and with only one oar".

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

And even then, I'd bet you that our hapless leader would hit the only iceberg out there!

#65

"If the UK was a football club"...which football club would it be?

Luton?

Go it Gordon. Get as many trips in as you can, for the opportunity of free travel will soon be lost to you.

Anyway, who wants to follow the advice of the architect of his own - err, no actually our - disaster?

(I hope this does not break the HRs.)

55. At 3:58pm on 24 Mar 2009, sagamix wrote:
I see nobody is defending THATCHER anymore - wonder why that is?

----------------------------------------------------------------

Simple - they don't need to.

Brown is deep in the smelly stuff of his own making.

Only NuLabour apologists keep bringing her up after how many years?
Stinks of desperation to me.

wigan @ 63

He promised to get rid of Boom and Bust

no, he promised to get rid of tory boom and bust - and he has

#65 "If the UK was a football club, we'd be having demonstrations and chanting 'sack the board' at every home game."

And if it were a PLC there'd be an extraordinary general meeting to sack the board.

In the 1820s, the Chartists campaigned for annual parliaments. The least we should do is replace aa third of them each year, on a rolling programme - and change the electoral system to stop a minority (in this case with 35% of the popular vote) getting absolute power.

At the moment such checks and balnances as we have are totally inadequate!

61. MaxSceptic

I thought the "uniquely placed" refered to our geography!

Nick - I see then, the BBC line is "don't worry, nothing really settled and agreed, but it will be a success because it has the apearance of such". Honestly Nick - I think you're a great guy, but this is unadulterated Labour bias - it really is. In one of your quiet moments just read again what youi have written and reflect on its implications please.

81 - I had Newcastle in mind, or perhaps Leeds of a few years ago.

#55:

"I see that nobody is defending THATCHER anymore - why is that?"

Excellent point. May I add to that?

My cat is pondering exactly what COLOUR panic is - why is that?

Arthur Bostrom (the actor that played the mis-speaking French / English policeman in 'Allo 'Allo) is prodding a BT workman's tent with a CLOTHES peg - why is that?

Godzilla runs his own driving test CENTRE in Peterborough - why is that?

You are obsessed by THAT Tory woman - why is that?

Anyhow, we all know that you shouldn't be turning your ire on to THATCHER. No, no, no. The lingering economic philosophy of Viscount MELBOURNE is responsible for Gordon Brown's present ills. Either Melbourne, or maybe the primordial bacterial soup of the Archaean seas of the proto-Earth that ultimately spawned life across the planet. In time, over billions of years, that eventually gave rise to THATCHER and then bang! You have a life-long obsession to casually drop into any debate you see fit.

Creationism or evolution? Neither. I blame THATCHER.

The Dandy or the Beano? What about THATCHER?

Chips or rice? I can't possibly be hungry when I'm so wound up about THATCHER.

You do know it's no longer the 1980s don't you?

Anyhow, I would imagine that there was plenty of defence of THATCHER when Gordon's body-guards were in close attendance when he met up with her not so long ago.

Bet you LOVED that little get-together? Bl**dy primordial BACTERIA.

the g20 is going to be very uncomfortable and embarassing for the rest of the world leaders.

out of politeness the others are going to have to pretend that gordon brown is actually sane.

there will be a lot of awkward silences and staring at shoes when gordon says anything.

shouldn't labour put gordon out of his misery? he is going to look like a total clown when he starts pontificating about the false world he has built up in his mind.

sorry about lower case - am on my mobile.

#88

UKFC in the Premiership?

Don't think so somehow. Is there still an LDV Vans League? Oh no, of course not.

#84 sagamix
"no, he promised to get rid of tory boom and bust"

Disappointing, sagamix, as you're much more honest than most NuLab apologists. I grant that over the years he occasionally added the adjective Tory for light relief, but it was said unqualified on numerous occasions as you must know. Here are just three references:

YouTube: "We will not return to boom and bust"

Hansard 22 March 2006 Column 288: "I have said before: no return to boom and bust".

Hansard 21 March 2007 Column 816: "We will not return to the old boom and bust".

Post or reactive moderation for all except CBeebies, please!

Did anyone count how many standing ovations from his speech today at the European Parliament?... anyone care, oops mean't anyone count? sounded like his most pro european speech since the halycon days of Ted Heath, are we now that desperate!!!!

sweet @ 83

Only NuLabour apologists keep bringing her up after how many years?

I'd more say only THATCHER apologists refuse to recognise that the banking meltdown has its origins back then - it's less than 18 years since the great day ... not very long really

In reply to GB's address at the EU parliament today.......

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

badge @ 75

Labour have had 12 years in government, all the problems we have now are their responsibility

I agree with you, they bear all of the political responsibilty - it's happened on their watch

BUT it's important to realise that the root cause is the Thatcherite consensus that has reigned since the eighties - if we don't understand why what's happened has happened, we won't recognise the right policies to fix things

attersee @ 89

You are obsessed by THAT Tory woman - why is that?

I'm not obsessed with her, honestly I'm not! - the rest of your post comes over to me as an extremely funny and original way of saying THATCHER is completely irrelevant to the banking meltdown - but if you think that, you are lacking insight

why oh why do so many people get antsy when someone makes the sober, and eminently sensible, observation that the economic and social policies of Margaret THATCHER in the nineteen eighties are a major contributory factor in the banking meltdown?

this is a very important point and I, for one, am certainly not raising it in order to annoy people

why so TOUCHY about this? ... I really really want to know

Re: 84

He may have ended Tory boom and bust but he has landed us in an almighty mess of an even bigger Labour boom and bust.

Nick you missed one thing out from this rather 1 sided article - the voter cameron sign! Writing sarcastic articles ill becomes a repporter, never mind one who's wages me and every other license fee payer contribute too! this sort of artilce could have been lifted from any HYS about Gordon in the last year!