Gordon Brown's 'slip, denial and defensiveness'

It's going to be a very long few months! I'm tempted to go abroad until election day!

Nick, we all know that you are a former chair of the Young Conservatives, but when will you actually subject Cameron to the sort of scrutiny you persistently use on Brown?

You could start with his total inability to control his councillors - look at Warwickshire, where the Tories are trying to close seven fire stations against massive public opposition. Either he's incapable of influencing people (in which case, how will he cope in international affairs?) or this is a sign of things to come were he to win the election.

Some balance, please, in your reporting.

This morning the Prime Minister said that anyone who thought that "anything other than a joke" took "politics too seriously".

Surely, politics should be taken seriously?

Or has Gordon's governance of Britain been a joke all along?

Answers on a postcard to....

Agree with point 1, the American election starts abou 18 months ahead of the actual day and I've always liked the UK system for the reason that ours last 4 weeks. But this campaign started back in 2008. As for who'll win, well, it won't be the UK electorate. Faced with a stark choice between Grumpy Gordon and Chameleon Dave, it's a fight where it's a shame there can only be one loser. I frankly believe neither of them will do what's best for the country, just what will help get them re-elected 5 years down the line. I used to be quite politically motivated, but my disillusionment is now absolute and my faith in the goverment evaporated...

Whilst watching Mr. Brown being interviewed by Andrew Marr this morning reduced me to that most futile act known to modern man: namely, shouting at the television set.

I hate to play the man but he was totally insensitive as to the dreadful mess his economic policies have put the rest of us. Add into the pot the crass behaviour of his predecessor and we have a grotesque betrayal of public trust. Even Neville Chamberlain had the decency to accept the failure of his policies and resign.

Brown also had the temerity to slip in an aside that the economic problems came from outside. What bunker on what planet does this man exist in?

The next general election which I reckon will be before the start of the next fiscal year, namely late March or even early April, is not going to be about Labour investment and Tory cuts; it is going to be about how much damage will the Labour party suffer at the polls. Will Labour even survive?

The people of Britain want to know the truth. We want honest politics not soundbites. Soundbites went out with Blair. We know we are in a mess, we know New Labour put us there, and so we won't vote for them. But is there anyone out there in the Westminster village who is not fibbing? Nobody is telling us the truth because nobody wants to face up to the harsh realities: the government is flat broke and if the government does not do something sharpish to resolve that problem then the country will be broke as well.

Yes, I note that Brown wants to invest in industry. I agree with that policy but I fear that the very shrewd Peter Mandelson picked it up off the blogosphere. But Brown was unable to accept the point made by Marr that industrial jobs have disappeared under New Labour faster than they ever did under Maggie.

We need industrial development, more jobs, a separation of retail banking from the funny stuff, and a full audit of all the septic loans that are still out there. We also need to grow a lot more of our own food. As a nation we need the truth and we need a programme that will cut the debt fast and bring us back to something approaching prosperity. Will such be in any election manifesto? I very much doubt it.

All that Brown and the political class are engaged in is evasion, evasion and evasion. We need a new start. I recommend to the electorate in general that we use the coming election as the means to force all of the political class to be truthful with us.

New Labour believe in a meritocracy in much the same way Richard Dawkins believes in God.

It's why social mobility has died under Labour.

Someone really should collate a list of Labours lies, it would doubtlessly challenge the Encylopaedia Brittanica for length.

Sorry but there is a typo near the end where it should say "public."

The whole AM interview is now available here in the flash player and available to expats barred from the iPlayer by the BBC’s IP apartheid.

Interesting to compare some of the nuances with his famous YouTubeMPs expenses solo.

I have this odd notion that it's worth judging a person more on what they do or have done, and less on what they say. In the case of politicians, words and their interpretations are less than useful save to fill the columns of Westminster Useful Village Idiots and should be valued accordingly. Which makes assessing quantities unknown save for their utterances a tricky task.

However, in some cases, with a wealth of words over the last decade to not only match with deeds but also consequences, pretty much anything from the PM's mouth is tainted or damned merely by past evidence.

So in pointing to anything he's 'managed' he's totally lost it.

Now the only thing left is to see how poorly any 'alternatives' will 'manage' to 'win' it, by virtue of simply not being Gordon Brown... or New Labour.

It is just to be hoped that none that follow try to claim any kind of mandate through mainly being less awful to contemplate than the incumbents.

7. Andrew

How do you know he wasnt having a subtle knock at Harriet Harman ?

@steve-cov

Perhaps you should reflect about sayings concerning pots and kettles. The individual "interviewing" Brown, one Andrew Marr, happened used to campaign for "Socialist Campaign for a Labour Victory", and joined Alistair Darling in criticising Cameron's "Eton toff" background, despite the fact that both Marr and Darling attended the Scottish public school Loretto. Marr's "interview" verged on sycophantic hero-worship, and Marr has never challenged Brown on how his government "best positioned for recovery" is now the only G20 government remaining in recession.

Before criticising the mildly=left wing Robinson for balance, you should consider how the BBC can provide "balance" in broadcasting when Marr turns his program into a weekly propaganda broadcast for the Labour party?

I am getting rather angry with the childish and completely brainless comments concerning Gordon Brown. The hate campaign is astounding. How can people blame Gordon for a world economic collapse. It just proves to me how small certain individuals intellectual capacity actually is. Gordon has actually saved the banks and has anyone lost money from there bank accounts,i think not. Ask anyone who is big in industry who they would rather have in charge of their busines. Gordon would win hands down. Cameron could not even run a sweety shop without losing money

So when GB lowers and voice and says something with conviction and tenacity, its a joke. Can we believe anything he says?

i never saw the interview but saw bits on SKY news, i watch sky news cos i find it less bias than the BBC.
i'm not really intrested in politics as none of the parties actually represent my views and there manifestos are nothing more than what i consider lies to fool people into voting for them, they never seem to carry anything out properly or to anysort of satisfaction either on time on budget or suitable for use.

the only words out of an MP's mouth i'd believe if any had the b@lls to admit are ï'm in the job for the money, perks and the after dinner speeches when i eventually retire, if i don't get a cushty number in the lords"
the government of the day seems to me to jump from one hot potato to the next, depending on the topic of general discussion or the latest march through the streets of where ever.

in this day and age do we really need a government? we can all vote on everything else via the red button on the TV!!!

i find it hard to listen to a 2hr speach in the parliment that most of us can discuss down the pub in 30mins, if the pub was still open that is and not closed through lack of customers.
i find it hard to listen to MP's try and excuse themselves having knowingly ripped the country off, maybe not legally but morally in the expenses scandle, when they can close ever other loop hole for the rest of us in the tax system, banking system etc.
All laws should be written in such a way as there are no "get out clauses or ommissions" and if sum1 trys and is knowingly at fault they should be dismissed, me breaking the law is subject to the full weight of the law, a policeman who is supposed to be a model and üpholder of the law" is near castrated for breaking the law, a minister who makes the law and breaks it either via a loophole or ignorance (a clock tower is not ignorance!!!) can be counted as a complete idiot and not fit for the role he has been voted into (humm did gordon brown get elected?) and should be dealt with over and above what a policeman is punished with (what comes after castration?). instead they resign as a very last resort, after squirming around and blatently lying only to be re-appointed at some later date when things seem to have settled down. (
David blunkett (guily of theft as far as i'm concerned over the rail ticket business)should never be allowed inside parliment again as with many others.
Like they say the only person to enter parliment with honest intentions was Guy Falkes!!
Sunday rant over phewww feels good!
excuse the typos i ain't re-reading it!

I know the nanny state now extends into many parts of our lives, however can we remove the reference to improve our 'pubic' services?

The failure of financial regulation for 10 years, Iraq war and MP Expenses are etched into the minds of the public and nothing can bleach it out.

Deluded cock up's costing billions followed by inquiries costing millions.

Why don't we just forget about it instead - switch off the BBC, complain about the 375 getting 100k a year and the presenters commanding what the heck they wish. Anything but listen to the deluded destroyers.

We will be lied to and about relentlessly, now and when whoever is in power. Then we will be shafted with tax and the stone cold reality of the results of two power crazed mad men will hit home.

gordon has an army of economists avail to him, called civil servants, have you never seen yes minister? these same civil servants will still be there long after gordon, david and there successors leave power.
As for the economy the rest of the world seems to be coming out of the depression, why is england one of the last? but yes i agree it was a world affair, so as much as some of us would like we can't blame labour this time for entry but the late exit does leave some questions

Someone on here is wearing sunglasses - Gordon 'saved' the banks with borrowed money - yours and everyone else's, now and in the future.

Gordon is not helping big business - he's running it down - if he does get re-elected (god forbid) he is going to bankrupt what is left of Britain and send us into euroland which is ultimately where he wants 'us' - but not him.

@churdymcphee

I marvel at someone who posts a profoundly uneducated post accusing others of brainlessness and childishness.

1) The 'global economic collapse' was a consequence of policies promoted by, amongst others, one Gordon Brown.

2) Brown did nothing to slow the housing market boom or the debt culture, and instead took advantage of greater tax receipts deluding himself into thinking there would be no bust.

3) During his tenures as Chancellor and PM, Brown pursued tax'n'spend policies that have now left the UK in a perilous spot. We have already unofficially lost our AAA status primarily due to public spending being out of control, which means our debt is more expensive.

People such as yourself like to use smoke and mirrors in an effort to deflect Browns role in the collapse, and the extra pain felt in the UK, well virtually no ones buying it - it's why he's actually less popular than the party he leads.

Keep cheerleading away by all means, but I'd advise avoiding ad hominem attacks when you have so little ground to stand on.

I think the problem for voters is that politicians can promise anything they like but don't have to implement their promises once they are in power.

Given that New Labour have had 12 years to implement their promises and have brought the country to the edge of bankruptcy, it does seem to be an economic imperative that they should go.

Whether David Cameron would make a better Prime Minister or George Osborne a better Chancellor is questionable. Though they have the zeal and ruthlessness to make cuts, what worries me is whether they will create a scenario where the cuts will be effective but the economy dies and there is hardship for many.

Making cuts that generate unemployment is unhelpful and tends to annoy the workers and unions somewhat.Creating a winter of discontent is easy and it is a situation we need to avoid, particularly as we are trying to get more people back into work.

The class war we hear a lot about seems to make little difference as ministers on both sides of the House have had a priveleged public school education. What really matters are the ideas any new government comes up with to get the economy back under control particularly as any proposed measures need to be devoid of adverse side effects and need to work effectively right from the outset.

Cameron & Osborne cannot afford to be biased if favour of the rich and powerful and everything they do will need to be seen as honest, fair and honourable. They need to think long term.If they do well in their first term they are likely to get re-elected to a second term but if they do make ill-considered cuts and cause hardship they will be out at the end of their first term and back languishing in the political wilderness.

They need to have learned from the many failures of the current government who put the interests of their party,themselves and their friends above those of the nation.

Gordon Brown will set the election date as late as possible, say May 6th or later as he hopes to attract voters with his Spring Budget and needs time to get his Election organisation in place.But,if things go as they have previously, the Spring Budget will be as ineffective as the last one, which aimed to protect New Labour and people will feel that they have nothing to lose by voting Conservative.

The next six months is going to be a very interesting period in the world of politics.

Why are we even bothering to listen to the mendacious, bullying Clown?

We all know his tax'n'bungle years in No.11 meant ££ trillions were squandered in the fat years. Now in the lean years, Britain is teetering on brink of needing a bail-out from the IMF. Just like the last time Labour ruined everything in the 1970s.

I have never seen such a biased correspondant in my whole life. The BBC is meant to be independant. Nick Robinson is not.

#12 churdymcfee

`How can people blame Gordon for a world economic collapse. It just proves to me how small certain individuals intellectual capacity actually is.'

Might this person of little brain point to the Tri-partite arrangement established by your friend Gordon in which The Treasury, the Financial Services Authority and the Bank of England shared responsibility for the regulation of The City which in 1997 replaced the unitary supervision which had formerly and successfully belonged to the Bank of England for the previous three hundred years. Within ten years of being put in place this Tripartite arrangement failed utterly bringing this country to its knees. The reason why it failed was because nobody knew who was responsible for calling the top of the boom.

This piece of utter managerial crassness is the property of New Labour and must remain as a memorial to the complete and utter incompetence of the Blair-Brown administration.

Now you may get angry because the likes of me are sufficiently surly and unappreciative of such a genius that can ruin a country in just ten years but after some sixty years of life I find wisdom like that so very hard to find amongst the general population. Most of us worked out by the age of four not to drop our buttered bread onto the floor.

Brown's comments in response to his interview?

He wants another ten years to put things right?

Its all going to happen in the next 10 years?

The fact that 80% of the UK population are now worse off in one way or another than when New Labour came to power 12 ... No... 13 years ago - did not seem to figure in his comments?

In terms of manufacturing we're leading the world in what... Toyota/Nissan electric cars? I think that the Japanese may claim that also!

In other words unless the service sector undergoes a massive reversal over the next three-five years, Britain will be transformed by massive foreign investment/invasion to support new UK based green and high tech industries and are currently producing less than 5% of UK output?

I don't 'buy it!'

23

Stanilic...you're hardly doing justice to Brown by only pointing out the central role of his banking reforms in the banking collapse as the reason for the shambles this country is in.

He also sold off 400 tons of UK gold a the very bottom of the market (it's worth around £12bn more now).

Then there's the massive increase in public spending on education whic has seen the UK fall in every international performance leage table over the last 12 years...

And the misguided reduction in VAT which has had no identifiable result, cost the treasury 12bn and business an estimated 24m

Don't forget allowing public pay to outstrip private sector pay nd taking on nearly a million more public workers and not having the bottle to curb thr hugely expensive pblic pensions' cost we now face...so ever more people wll be fuded in retirement by ever fewer workers....

The endless, expensive 'initiatives' for this that and the other that cost mllions and produce nothing (e.g. the pledge to reduce underage pregancies...millions spent, pregnancy rate has gone up)

The micromanagement of every aspect of our lives...3,000 new laws, a tax coda that has increased from around 500 pages in 1997 to over 1,100 today

And STILL no talk of the cuts that will be so necessary.....

What Marr should have asked is how can anyone believe a word Brown says after he
Scrapped the Tax relief on Private pensions - severely damaging the pensions industry and adding to the house price bubble
Sold our Gold at a 20 year low - despite Treasury advice to the contrary - costing circa 8 Billion Pounds
Was responsible for the tax credit fiasco - costing Billions in over payments every year
Removed house prices from the inflation figures and kept the interest rates too low for too long causing a house price bubble
Removed the BoE's role in overseeing the Banks and created the FSA which totally failed to spot or stop the excesses of the Banks lending frenzy
Added 1 million public sector workers to the wage/pension bill

It isn't just the expenses scandal with Labour suffering more because they are "the party in power" - it's the broken promise of a Lisbon Treaty referendum; the lies that led us into the Iraq war; nearly 12 years of spin while crime and immigration run out of control. It's the abject failure of our education system; the parlous state of the NHS with more managers than beds; the stealth taxes; the public/private divide on gold-plated pensions and the retirement age; the Gurkhas; the cynical breaches of the unwritten contract of support for our soldiers, not only with sub-standard equipment but in their treatment when wounded. There's more, and more, and the British public have had it up to their back teeth! We aren't stupid, although New Labour persists in treating us as if we were.
Has brought us to the worst recession/depression in living memory totally unprepared.
For some reason, the media fail to highlight any of this. I understand that the BBC Marr show in particular is the media arm of the Labour Party, but what about Sky or ITV?
This man has done more damage to our economy and our country than anyone since Adolf Hitler.

Browns house of cards has fallen now he says hes still the man for the job. He is totally on a different planet to the rest of us I hate the man and his policys while he goes round the world dishing out tax payers money to every country or to the EU or the global warming con.

#20 - 'Making cuts that generate unemployment is unhelpful and tends to annoy the workers and unions somewhat.Creating a winter of discontent is easy and it is a situation we need to avoid, particularly as we are trying to get more people back into work.'

Agreed, but the emphasis needs to be on creating jobs in the Private sector 'not' the public sector, which has been the goal of Gordon from the get go - popular, but short term policies like this will inevitably result in failure and massive UK debt.

Those in the public sector will smirk and worry little about the unemployed, most of whom come from private enterprise, instead they will be backing Liebour at the next election secure in the knowledge that their pensions are secure and their pay rises comfortably funded by the enormous debt caused by an absurd fiscal stimulus that sounds great but ultimately is unsustainable.

Creating massive debt to fund one section of society while the revenue generating section of society flounders and falls will almost certainly doom us to a impossibly slow recovery or a massive economic disaster.

Absurdly, the self deluded Labour supporters will still hail the PM as the man who saved the world and return in droves to the election box to vote back good old Gordon that he can save their unaffordable jobs and unaffordable pensions.

Many of us saw that one day there would be a reckoning for Labours profligacy.

There is more to come and it will be worth voting Cameron in just to get rid of this nonsense, then maybe we can look to reformat our political landscape and get people in who actually listen to us.

Personally I was pleased that Brown refused to talk about cuts.

The Tory and media campaign arguing for more or less immediate cuts is totally irresponsible. A similar policy in the 1930s resulted in almost a decade of high unemployment. This ended, almost overnight, when the then Tory government finally realised that war was unavoidable, and reversed the policy to start spending on arms.

Marr was a wee bit soft on Brown this morning, considering Brown insists on fore knowledge of the questions. Not only is Brown in denial about the state of the economy , he continually blames it on "somebody else ". Maybe it is a world recession but it's effect and continuance in Britain is wholly due to him and his government's incompetent handling of the situation.Now he will tell any lie to avoid admitting how critical the situation is and puts off any attempt to rectify it in an attempt to keep this failed government and it's incompetent ministers in power. Like Nero " fiddling" he hangs on to power and watches Britain's people suffer for his madness; had their been any assylums left in Labour's utopia instead of "care in the community " he might have been locked up to keep him from self harm and from harming the rest of us.

"Voters should want five more years of Gordon Brown because:"

We're insane?

Masochistic?

Deluded?

Work for Nu-Labour?

There is no reason why any sane, honourable and rational Briton would ever vote for Brown to remain in office for a further day.

One of the main reasons I suspect Brown would not enter Euro was because he would not be able to get Euro Central Bank to print money aka QE so that he could buy back UK debt, which is putting of the day of reckoning into the future, which will come and when it comes it will be catastrophic for all in UK.

#28 Sircomespect

The avoidance of unemployment in the public sector is about avoiding non-productive increases in benefit payments.Putting thousands of civil servants on the dole worsens the situation when a negotiated pay cut keeps everybody in productive employment.

The government needs to reorganise its expenditure so that it is getting greater value for money and developing those areas of the economy in which there has been under-investment.

Let's bear in mind that before the credit crunch we had over 2 million people out of work being paid benefits to do nothing.Gordon's efforts have done little to reduce this number and unemployment is set to rise as the recession bites.

Most of those unemployed people could be offered to companies as a free worker so that they could be productive and earn their benefits.This would be viewed as a half-way house solution on the route to a fully paid job, a sort of work experience with pay.

The problem with job centres is that they only tell the unemployed about available vacancies.They need to be more proactive and place the unemployed with companies that need workers.The young unemployed could be taken on as apprentices or given on-the-job training.

In particular, we need to develop construction, manufacturing, agriculture etc and as a country we need much more self-sufficient.If this was the case we could reduce our imports.

The banking sector has had more than its fair share of development and we need to develop our commercial,industrial and agricultural infrastructure so that we are not held to ransom over the prices of our food, fuel etc and have greater control over our standard of living.

We do need an integrated approach to this national crisis because we don't want situations where workers in one part of the economy prosper at the expense of others in different sectors because that's what happened when the banks generated the credit crunch.

What we are looking at is a fairer distribution of labour and wages, with the people doing the actual work getting fairer pay.For example,the Royal Mail pays the people who deliver your mail poorly and like the BBC the big salaries go to those in senior management who decide policy but don't actually take part in the work process.

As for those in the public sector, they are not so smug because they are employed by a government which is committed to making cuts be it through negotiated pay cuts, pay freezes, natural wastage, redundancies or a combination thereof.

Like the Chinese, we are going to have to work our way out of this recession by doing a better job than anyone else at a cheaper price.

If we adopt an everyone for themselves approach we will all lose out.

29. At 3:43pm on 03 Jan 2010, stanblogger wrote:
Personally I was pleased that Brown refused to talk about cuts.
The Tory and media campaign arguing for more or less immediate cuts is totally irresponsible. A similar policy in the 1930s resulted in almost a decade of high unemployment. This ended, almost overnight, when the then Tory government finally realised that war was unavoidable, and reversed the policy to start spending on arms.

You forgot the most important bit that should have been added onto the end of that statement

I took us 60 years to pay that debt off much like the situation we are now in after 12 years of this government except this is worse. Then in 1939 it was about the survival of the world and whole races but today its just simply about the survival of a political party called Nu Labour and its leader Gordon Brown.

You make a good point Stanblogger. The Torys and the media are the cheerleaders for cuts, cuts and deeper cuts. They have certainly softened the voters up for them and I'm sure the cuts will be more severe as a result. If only it would fall on their heads disproportionately .. but alas if there was any prospect of that ....

However I would like to hear an alternative to global war to improve the UK employment prospects ;)

I think it's the "denial" line that's the most telling of all.

Brown point-blank refuses to admit reality on any front, and it's that denial of reality which is going to give him the biggest kicking in the election.

People can forgive politicians for making mistakes as long as they admit the mistakes (or at least try to correct the damage they've caused) but when the politician just sticks his fingers in his ears, goes "la la la, I can't hear you", and constantly argues "2 plus 2 equals 5", expecting that if he says it enough then you'll start to believe it, that politician is doomed.

The public don't like being told blatent lies. The man's been in charge of the economy for the last 13 years, his "it's all america's fault, nothing we could have done" lies are not going to do him any favours.

He's bankrupted the country, he was never elected, and he's got a scorched earth policy on what's left of the economy out of sheer spite for the tories.

When someone doesn't like what he says (ie when he initiated class war), he says "didn't mean it, I was just joking"). Shame he didn't say the same thing when he doubled the tax rate for the lowest paid.

Labour needs booting out. And soon.

I heard the other night that GB is planning to host an International Conference on Yemen. This not long after he wasted a load of time running round corridors in Copenhagen. When is he going to concentrate his efforts on our ailing economy. It is beginning to look like he has already given it up as a bad job seeing as how we were not the first country out of recession.

Nick

I hear that 5 year old will be given lessons in handling money.

I think it would be best if Brown & Darling should enroll for the first class.

As for Brown on Marr this morning. The man does not look happy in his own skin.

If thinks he can get away with deceit and painting his opponents black on the debt then he is an even bigger fool than I think he is.


Labour has destroyed the economy every time it's had power and Brown has done it big time.

Just reading Peter Schiff's CrashProof 2.0 (after having seen him on youtube being absolutely slated on fox etc in 2006 for warning of the imminent crash).

One of the points he makes for the current bubble getting so high is that successive US govt's chose to avoid a recession "on their watch" by loose monetary policy/reinflating. He argues that a recession is innevitable and necessary to rebalance the economy and to prevent eventual hyperinflation. However, politicians kept forestalling this because they knew they would lose votes.

Although Schiff is writing about the US his argument resonates with the UK too.

Personally I don't have a great deal of confidence in any of the mainstream parties: Labour have shot their bolt, George Osborne fills me with great unease (he always looks uncomfortably out of his depth, like a sixth form public speaker on a school trip to the Houses of Parliament); I respect Vince Cable but the Libs, like the tories, dropped calls for an EU referendum and meekly bowed to the Lisbon Treaty coup d'etat. (and for proof that politicians don't always know best, check out clubmed's happy ride in 2010). Plus if the Libs get in we'll have Proportional Representation and a hung parliament really would put the noose round our necks right now.

I suspect that's what we'll get though from a disillusioned and angry electorate.

(check out "Peter Schiff Was Right 2006" on youtube)

37 "I heard the other night that GB is planning to host an International Conference on Yemen. This not long after he wasted a load of time running round corridors in Copenhagen. When is he going to concentrate his efforts on our ailing economy."

Two conflicting thoughts....firstly, I'm baffled too by Brown who seems to make every announcement and attend every meeting. Does he not have any ministers?

On the other hand, look at the mess he's made not spending all his time on the economy. Imagine the horlicks he'd make of the economy if he worked full time on it....

This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.

Nick Robinson - you really need to be a bit more balanced and less personal (and unoriginal) in your attacks on Gordon Brown. Or have the BBC told you to attack the Government to win favour with a potential future Tory Culture Secretary?

You say Gordon Brown 'refused to make eye contact with Andrew Marr'. Could this possibly be because he has a GLASS EYE and the other one is seriously damaged still? Can we have some equal criticism of uncontrollable aspects of David Cameron, for example that he looks like a smug version of Michael Schumacher?

More to the point, given some of the comments here, I think that some of these comments that Brown has messed up the economy are a bit silly. Can you imagine the fury of the rich and powerful if any government had not deregulated the City and credit markets at the time that the USA was doing this? Imagine the criticism.

Also though, views of Brown's handling of things from abroad are a lot more complimentary than those of most serial posters on this site. Andrew Ross Sorkin's book 'Too Big to Fail' gives a Wall Street-centric account of the run-up to and happenings in the 2008 crisis - and the mentions of the UK government show it as a lot more sensible than the Bush government and their (Tory-like) approach. People show their colours in a crisis and Brown's have been much better for us than those espoused by Cameron.

TV manufacturers should do well out of this. All I wanted to do was to throw the blessed thing out of the window. Brown went on and on and on. Talking over Marr time and time again. How rude was that.

Brown must be sponsored by a well known heat rub manufacturer. The number of occasions he uses the phrase "I believe," is extraordinary. He is about the only person in this country who does believe every word he is saying. He is deluded.

He has totally lost touch with reality and if this is what we have to put up with for the next 5 months, heaven help us. The man is just in total denial about everything.

I don`t quite buy it that Brown will string this out until May. How on earth is he going to persuade Alistair to go through the humiliation of a budget speech after the debacle of the PBR? They are hardly on speaking terms as it is.

I think if the country is shown to be technically out of recession in the last quarter of 2009, Brown will cut and run in case it all goes pear shaped in the first quarter of 2010. Which looks ever increasingly likely as the country heads towards a W shaped recession.

I would bet on a general election in the third week of March - just before everything goes up.

It is very very difficult to see any rationale behind support of Gordon Brown.
I was very hopeful in 97 that the Rev TB and crew would actually sort out the bad feelings towards politicians based on various revelations during the Major government.

The only thing is that we all forgot absolutely and still forget that no Labour government has ever delivered a financially secure country, to the contrary.

So whilst there are things that NuConservatives are silly about they just cannot be worse than the present lot. The influx of new talent into the Commons can only be a good thing.

No government ever survives this 12 year thing. They always loose sight of reality and sadly GB is the very best example of this.

Brave new world Nick - keep up the good work.
I have to say I have not seen Brown but read a lot about him and heard comment on Radio 2 with Richard Madeley that the commentator thought he sounded deluded. Clearly he has no idea how big the mess is or he is simply burying his head in the hope he will be able to spend his way out.
The shame is that he will be given his golden pension and walk away, probably with a seat in the house of Lords.
I hope the next government brings in legislation that it is illegal for a government to borrow more than 30% of GDP ever for whatever reasons, and that as a country we have to leave our future generations with something to go forward with. This should hold the penalty of death as should defrauding her Majesty's revenue with expenses. Well that will be the law in GtheCelt's Britain I can tell you.
More balance from the BBC please - this is excellent reporting Nick!

I agree with the 2nd post from steve_cov...

Nick, you are failing somewhat in your duties as an impartial journalist by refusing to subject Cameron and the Tories to anywhere near the same level of scrutiny with which you report on Brown and the Labour. A bit more balance, please!

p.s. I am in no way disputing anything you said about Brown's interview I just would like to hear some scrutiny of the Tories and their policies.

As far as i can see, defence of Brown on here consists of only one thing. Perhaps acknowledging the shambles he has made of just about everything, his defenders cling to this 'he saved us in the bank crisis'.

Personally i don't feel particularly saved but in any case some of the things he did the Tories supported, some the Tories proposed before Brown and for the rest, we'll never know. it's easy for Brown to say the Tories got things wrong but it's not something that can be prooved or disproved. On anoher post, one Brown defender says that the Tories ideas were more like Bush in the US. Well, who came out of the recession first? Not the UK.

Brown is a meddler, a fiddler, he cannot see the world as it is just wants to change it to suit his own mis-guided unworkable plan.

This comment has been referred for further consideration. Explain.

The rules on the internet posting comments make it impossible to be honest. This confirm that people are not ruling earth, but virus infected people are.

I watched the interview. Having read this blog it is not hard to work out which way Mr Robinson will be voting later in the year. Question is, should Mr Robinson be in a position where he can exercise political influence when he himself is incabable of neutral analysis? I guess it shows leopards don't change their political spots even when they are being paid to provide neutral analysis.

12. churdymcphee wrote:

“I am getting rather angry with the childish and completely brainless comments concerning Gordon Brown. The hate campaign is astounding. How can people blame Gordon for a world economic collapse”.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

I’d suggest it is rather childish to let Brown off the hook for he was responsible for the further deregulation of the banks that lead to the problem of huge UK private debt.

He stood before us all & promised an end to boom & bust whilst turning a blind eye to the massive private debt mountain that had ballooned to over a trillion pounds - & that’s just the private debt, let alone the public debt that is still rising by the day.
------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Gordon has actually saved the banks and has anyone lost money from there bank accounts,i think not”.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Rather shallow – Brown has borrowed 850 Billion pounds to bail out the banks &, by my reckoning, that’s over 14 thousand pounds for every man, women & child in the UK.
Just how do you think this is going to get paid back?
That’s right, every man, woman & child - & probably Grand Child – is going to have to pay in some way.

Brown has already acknowledged the problem with the Public debt & both he & Cameron are keeping very quiet over just how deep cuts are likely to be in Public sector services, after all we don’t want to frighten the voters so close to an election do we?

And under who’s watch did this happen?
Better men have offered their resignation in the past for far less, but we are talking Brown here – a sadly delusional man who is determined to stick with the Titanic until the very last bitter moment.

I'm not surprised big business loves Brown; they know that if they screw up Brown will come a running with my Grand children’s cash to save the day.

You really need to wake up & realise just how bad things are with the UK finances; it’s frightening & you just can't keep blaming everyone else when Brown was at the helm.

We are killing the cows, the apes, the elephants, the sheeps, the blood group fish, the blood group birds, and all blood group species because we are infected by viruses put in us by the maggots, the flies, mosquitoes,gnats, flees, and bloodless species, which are ruling the planet presently using our people.

48

Ei, we have a song often sung at football matches...given your somewhat unique view of the world, it fits you...

"Are you Brown?
Are you Brown?
Are you Brown in disguise?
Are you Brown in disguise?"

48

Ei....oh go on.....name people....!

Moderators, please leave post 48 up....I think he is on to something...

Nick, I sometimes wonder if you work for the BBC or the Tories. I see that you have not done any write up on Cameron’s latest speech, however you have been very very very quick {as usual} to attack GB`s interview. Please try and be objective.

Nick Robinson---

Yes, Prime Minister Gordon Brown is getting "uncomfortable" in his attitude because, many people in the United Kingdom figure that there have been many problems in his time in office....

=Dennis Junior=

"Brown has borrowed 850 Billion pounds to bail out the banks"

He didn't. The national debt may be around 850 bn (and soon to be over 1,000 bn) but only 135 bn of that was borrowed due to the bank crisis. The rest was borrowed to.....er...it achieved....um....it was spent on....well, who knows actually. Soon we'll be borrowing billions just to pay billions in interest...or put another way, soon 17p out of every pound you pay in tax will just go to pay interest on debt run up by Brown...

This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.

55 "Nick, I sometimes wonder if you work for the BBC or the Tories. I see that you have not done any write up on Cameron’s latest speech, however you have been very very very quick {as usual} to attack GB`s interview. Please try and be objective."

Doris, if you are looking for Nick to comment on Cameron's speech yesterday you'll find it above. Clearly you're struggling to find it so I'll give you a clue. there's a paragrah in Nick's blog that starts "David Cameron's speech yesterday"

If you're still stuck and can't find it, vote Labour, they are clearly the party for you.

48, 49, 52...EI God help us, one of them's loose !

57: Andy555.

https://www.iii.co.uk/articles/articledisplay.jsp?article_id=10069152&section=Markets

"Taxpayers have forked out £850 billion to bail out the UK's beleaguered financial system so far, according to a review from the National Audit Office.
This includes the government's purchase of shares together with offers of guarantees, insurance and loans made to banks".

I guess we could split hairs here , but I think you get my drift.

I agree with the comments about disproporniate scrutiny.

I am neither a tory nor a labour supporter.

Nick, and others, should press David Cameron and his team on the detail of their altnerative. The opposition are allowed valuable air time to constantly criticise the government about their policies and performance.

I have not seen or heard any detailed alternative proposal other than short messages hoping to grab the headlines.

A lot of people have large mortgages, rely on the public services and do not want to see the social estate in schools, hospitals and public systems fall back into the state of disrepair and breakdown of the 80s and 90s. In so far as there are genuine frustrations at the efectiveness of government spending, at least there is tangible signs that the country's estate has improved.

People will be concerned about the "savage" cuts mentioned by politicians on the right. I would like to know what the cuts will be in broad terms and what decisions have to be made so that I can place my vote where I believe the priority is correct.

There does not appear to be any media scrutiny of the conservative party blue skies ideas.

There should be a balanced approach to holding the all of the leaders to question, all the same questions, to all the leaders.

The question I want answered is when does the government see us paying the first pound off our national debt... because all ive heard them say is theyll halve the deficit in 4 years...

The analogy is that Labour have dug us into a debt-hole... and their big plan is that in 4 years time they will only be digging at half the rate they are currently...

WHAT IS THE PLAN FOR ACTUALLY GETTING OUT OF THE HOLE AGAIN???

Why havent the government been pressed on this issue? Cmon Nick ask the difficult questions... our nations future depends on this!

I have to say Gordon's interview this morning made me cringe.
He has not the faintest concept of real people and how they live and survive.
For most people, they are honest, hard working and law abiding, pay their taxes whatever they may be, have a moan about it but pay up and pay their way however hard that is.
What is a hard pill to swallow is the benefit system and its unfairness and inequality and what I would welcome is someone to stand up and say that they will give it an almighty shake up once and for all.
I was incensed to read about a young couple who have fourteen children and another on the way who receive over £37000 in tax free benefits, don't work have free housing and don't pay council tax.
I have worked and paid my dues for 40 years and now get to receive £11000 p.a. in a state pension and I only get as much as this because my husband died. However, I have to pay tax on part of this. Who is going to sort this mess out and start rewarding those who deserve it and not those who don't? I hope David Cameron will be brave and become my hero because Gordon doesn't have a clue.

I seem to recall that last year at this time almost everyone (certainly on this site) were saying that the 2.5% cut in VAT was silly because it was too small to notice, and would make no difference to anyone. So I wonder whether the same people will be happy for Ken (or indeed Darling)to increase that tax by the same amount? I guess so - an example of an almost totally painless tax rise it seems.

#1 - oldnat

"It's going to be a very long few months! I'm tempted to go abroad until election day!"

Well forget Hungary - not that you would not be welcome - but you will never guess what's happening in May. A couple of Gordons biting the dust methinks.

"This morning the Prime Minister said that anyone who thought that (i.e. reference to Tory tax policy being written on the "playing fields of Eton")anything other than a joke" took "politics too seriously"."

I seem to remember that it was said in answer to a serious question put to him in the House of Commons

"65. At 7:09pm on 03 Jan 2010, probablynogod wrote:
I seem to recall that last year at this time almost everyone (certainly on this site) were saying that the 2.5% cut in VAT was silly because it was too small to notice, and would make no difference to anyone. So I wonder whether the same people will be happy for Ken (or indeed Darling)to increase that tax by the same amount? I guess so - an example of an almost totally painless tax rise it seems."

Well total VAT saving to consumers was 60-70% of cost of the VAT reduction! IE some people gained from the TAX cut but the majoroty of all TAX payers acutally lost out!

"64. At 7:09pm on 03 Jan 2010, Susan Harris wrote:
I have to say Gordon's interview this morning made me cringe.
He has not the faintest concept of real people and how they live and survive.
For most people, they are honest, hard working and law abiding, pay their taxes whatever they may be, have a moan about it but pay up and pay their way however hard that is.
What is a hard pill to swallow is the benefit system and its unfairness and inequality and what I would welcome is someone to stand up and say that they will give it an almighty shake up once and for all.
I was incensed to read about a young couple who have fourteen children and another on the way who receive over £37000 in tax free benefits, don't work have free housing and don't pay council tax."

I can't disown my children and kick them out as I earn over 30K and as their parent the benbiefist office have written to me stating that I will/might be liable to any benefits that they claim (ie I am a british parent with teenage children) unless my children can prove i have abused them in which case im open for prosiction!) So how can this couple with 14 children get benifits with out their parents being prosicuted?

59 "Doris, if you are looking for Nick to comment on Cameron's speech yesterday you'll find it above. Clearly you're struggling to find it so I'll give you a clue. there's a paragrah in Nick's blog that starts "David Cameron's speech yesterday"

If you're still stuck and can't find it, vote Labour, they are clearly the party for you. "

AndyC555, you fail completely to see my point. This write-up essentially is a bias critique of GB`s interview, I expect Nick to be fair and give Cameron a thorough treatment. To add a brief comment on Cameron’s speech at the end is definitely not fair play. Do you care about fair play? Or are you just a typical Tory?

The answer to the cereal packet Q was cut short :

"his whole career is based on a passionate desire to see all reach their potential ... as taxpayers."

Alan Douglas

GB needs to pack his bags now, not in May. DC is on the AM show next week, so let's see what he has to say before we criticise NR too quickly.

69 https://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article6936223.ece

Here's the cheeky chappy...having a great time at your and my expense....

I do not want another 5 minutes of Brown or New Labour let alone another 5 years. However just imagine............if he did somehow con enough people to vote for him or New Labour that they did get back in. Can you imagine what we will be told then? How will the cuts that have to be made but which Brown denies be sold to the electorate? Or how the inevitable tax rises that Brown is also denying will be sold to us?
At the moment he has nothing to lose, so can promise anything and make up any projections for debt reduction and growth that he feels that voters want to hear as he will not need to justify these figures post election. But if enough people are fooled, then it will get interesting!

Sorry Doris, clearly i don't understand NuLabour thinking....when you say about Nick R that "I see that you have not done any write up on Cameron’s latest speech" and point out he has, it turns out that "I see that you have not done any write up on Cameron’s latest speech" means something entirely different.

As for Nick r's blog being a 'biased critique' what should it be? A fawning repetition of NuLabour propaganda? Which bit of nick's blog do you disagree with and why? Previously Nick HAS written some fawning pro-Brown stuff (he was the only political commentator i read whose slant on Brown's pathetic chase of Obama through the kitchens gave a positive slant to the embarressing incident). perhaps even Nick finally has to accept the truth?

You criticise Nick for being critical of Brown. It's very difficult to be anything other than critical...Even a sizable minority of his own MPs realise he's rubbish....

As for fair play...all for it...fair day's wage for a fair day's work.. keeping a fair proportion of what you earn, having a fair say in how i live my own life....it's brown (3000+ new laws since labour took charge, higher taxes, more politicisation and state control of education, the health service, the police service etc) who's idea of 'fair' is 'I know best'

I think we all are agreed that Brown is in denial; denial of his years as a very poor chancellor,denial that he is singly responsible for ruining our economy and also our society with his ludicrous immigration"non policy" as a way to get the immigrant vote. His reluctance to speak of profiling shows his fear of losing the immigrant ,and in particular, the muslim votes. Fact is all the terrorists have been muslims-but he cant even say that; to say that is NOT racist merely fact.And Yemen? easy answer-the EU will not accept any flights from there or transfer passengers that originate there. It is about time that the African countries and ones like Yemen started cleaning up their own nests instead of relying on foreign aid constantly.There is no way that Labour will win this election. Brown and the rest of his disgraced cabinet know this. We will not come out of recession this year. I am not convinced that Cameron can win with a workable majority unless he gets rid of Osborne and ignores Brown and tells us what we already know: namely, there will HAVE to be cuts, taxes MUST rise, and life will be tough for a while. What Cameron has to do is put right 13 years of Labour misgovernment. We all know that ,so why is Cameron afraid to agree with us? Brown wont/cant do anything because he and his inept government made this mess in the first instance. Someone please tell Dave that Labour really are toast and run his own campaign not reply to Browns ranting. And someone please tell Brown that he IS a liability to this whole country and my grand childrens future. Why do these Labour hacks fear Brown so much that they cant get rid of him? They are all going to lose their jobs anyway.

Interesting how people read into TV pictures what they probably want to see. Having missed it this morning, I watched on i-player to see if the interview was as bad as this blog makes it sound. It wasn't. At the end, the camera was so far away, I don't see how anyone can possibly tell whether Gordon Brown "refused to meet Andrew Marr's eye". There was certainly lots of eye contact and (appropriate) humour during the interview, which was very fluent and confident and not uncomfortable or defensive at all. The only uncomfortable part was when Andrew Marr interrupted and had to be made to allow his interviewee to finish. When Gordon Brown made as if to stand up, he sat down straight away, whereas this blog made it sound as if he had walked off. On the alleged slip about when the election will be, I thought there must be a huge gap between one part ("budget") and the follow up ("if"), but there wasn't any gap at all, it was all part of one perfectly confident and aware answer to a cheeky question. This is very poor reporting and gives people who haven't watched it a false impression. Nick Robinson may or may not still be a Tory supporter, but he certainly wants to make politics more interesting/easier for journalists by continuing a particular script about Gordon Brown, because this will make the campaign about personalities not policies, and it's much harder to report policies.

Thanks AndyC555 for the link. Has really made my blood boil.
How can anyone in their right mind (apart from these benefit recipients) ever think of voting the Labour party back in?

Perhaps his eyesight problems cause odd eye reactions and for that he must be forgiven. I can well imagine that a sudden confrontation will cause him to have to turn his head to compensate. But in a sense it was a predictably sad interview. I am sure I am not alone in only half, perhaps even a quarter or less, listening to this man in denial who I see as almost an imposter having usurped the role of PM. It is probably unfair of me to comment on what he said therefore. His vocabulary is so limited and predictable. He must draw unusually abundant confidence from someone around him, otherwise what makes him tick. He may be a good man but I have a grocer who is a good man. He obviously has feelings but so have so many ordinary people. I just cannot see him as a PM no matter how much he thinks he is the only man for the role. In contrast a predecessor by name James Callaghan who slipped into No 10 by a similar path seemed to grow as a statesman and thereby earned respect.
Even if he does well at the General Election, it would be by hopeless failure of David Cameron and not by much else.
I believe that among Blair's worst acts against the public at large was to hand over the keys of No 10 to this poor man.

'Brown was unable to accept the point made by Marr that industrial jobs have disappeared under New Labour faster than they ever did under Maggie'

they have, but unlike the 1980's, at least they were replaced with new jobs in a different sector...

https://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article6974427.ece?token=null&offset=12&page=2

Read this...it's just frightening how deluded Brown is...how desperate Labour are.

"The reason, I suspect, is that the interview was memorable, apart from what he had to say about combating terror, for a slip - on election timing; for denial - about the need for public spending cuts; and for defensiveness - about talk of a class war against David Cameron's Conservatives."

Honestly, couldn't you have written this in a more readable manner?

Nick Robinson's account of this interview bears little resemblance to what I saw this morning. I saw Gordon Brown showing a mastery of a wide variety of subjects, from terrorism (where his response to the recent bomb attempt has been swift and informed), to the economy and to climate change. Andrew Marr, by contrast, seemed to be waiting to launch into a predetermined agenda. For example, Brown listed all the ways Britain can and does lead the world. Marr waited, cynically, for Brown to get to the 'creative industries' to launch into a contrived scoff that 'no money is made out of the people being creative'. This after Brown had talked about Pharmaceuticals and Digital Technology etc.

The interview was memorable for this reason: It showed how energised Brown has become by the prospect of the election. By contrast Cameron has been floundering in the last few months. That is why the jibe: 'the more he talks, the less he has to say' was so accurate. Cameron has run out of things to say. What's more incumbant governments receive a poll boost in the run up to an election. Cameron, having failed to 'seal the deal' has now missed his chance and from here on the poll lead will steadily diminish.

The problem for the media is that their chosen narrative, that Labour have run out of road, is actually wrong. The media can't change the political landscape like it thinks it can. That is why the next election is going to be the closest since 1974, and will be about issues. The media thought issues had been consigned to the past. It was all going to be about who is the best communicator/presenter and the economics would just be a continuation of Washington Consensus. That's turning out to be wrong. The election will be about Keynsiansism versus Freidmanism. Personalities will actually be less important than in the past. Cameron is already an anachronism: the smooth front man.

80 'Brown was unable to accept the point made by Marr that industrial jobs have disappeared under New Labour faster than they ever did under Maggie'

they have, but unlike the 1980's, at least they were replaced with new jobs in a different sector..."

Have they ever...nearly 1 million more public servants since 1997. Middle managers, advisors, quango chiefs, colour blindness equality inclusiveness facility co-ordinators, all of them with big fat unfunded pensions and protected jobs.....

100,000 odd thousand less private sector jobs in 2009, 44,000 more public sector jobs in 2009....

Moderator Kindly note that I should be posted as Countertalk and not 'you'

Can you do anything about it, please

Many thanks

Gordon Brown still cannot admit as a leader of one of top economies for 12 years that he has any responsibility for the economy mess, let alone admit cuts to public services and jobs. Now he is going to run up more debts and waste more of our money by running a 6 month election campaign; God help us from these money grabbing, incompetent politicians.

62. At 7:05pm on 03 Jan 2010, loquitir wrote:

I agree with the comments about disproporniate scrutiny.

I am neither a tory nor a labour supporter.

Nick, and others, should press David Cameron and his team on the detail of their altnerative. The opposition are allowed valuable air time to constantly criticise the government about their policies and performance.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

What on earth are you talking about - Brown said nothing this morning - the government should be pressed to explain everything they are in government now and we are all completely in the dark as to whether we're even going to get e.g a budget in March

This isn't a game of 'Cluedo'

Fortunately I don't buy Brown's brand of cereal.

However, next time there's an opinion poll, please can everyone say they'll vote for him so he'll call a snap election and we can get it all over with quickly?

One of the most difficult things to believe is that bailing out the banks with public money actually benefitted the country. It seems to me that the future of the next generation will pay the ransom. (Is it beneficial to sell the children of this country down the river?)

There's not enough talk about the size of the debt. The public should know exactly how much money is involved, what the rate of interest is, what the annual payments are to service that debt, and how the Government proposes we get out of it. This question should be asked repeatedly to those who are accountable until its answered fully.

On immigration, other countries have sizeable natural resources, why can't they use them properly to provide for their citizens? Why must Britain take them all in?

Vote Labour for prosperity and Tory for austerity! What an egregiously simple message. Amply adequate for garnering the votes of an egregiously simple electorate, one would have thought. Provided that said electors are not so egregiously simple as not to know what 'austerity' means.

The Tories, on the other hand, appear not to be terribly keen to win the up-coming UK general election after all. Cutting public services on which most electors depend may well turn out to be unavoidable for whichever party is in office after that election, but vaguely threatening to make deep cuts in such services may get the Tories off the hook, conceivably, leaving the chaps who are promising prosperity (and wholly painless repayment of a mountain of public debt) to look rather silly when the UK's triple-A rating goes and its grim economic fundamentals assert themselves.

There simply are some elections that sensible chaps should wish to lose. The next UK general election appears to be one such for a host of reasons. Who in his right mind would fight tooth and nail to be handed a poisoned chalice? Better to play the honest loser this time and let the other chap drink from it.

Meanwhile, in Scotland the little dog laughed to see such fun, yet again. Whoever loses in England, Scotland wins more powers for its parliament in all probability, Labour having promised them and the Tories, if they are elected, being unable to refuse them without increasing support for the SNP, yet again.

Happy New Year, by the way.

I do love the way that those on the offensive against Nick and this article, and defending Gordon are first time blog posters....now why would that be? Who would have thunked someone somewhere would be told to get on the BBC and question the Beeb about impartiality, or defend the PM in the midst of serious mismanagement of the economy. Someone who is a complete outsider to politics who has never ever posted on a blog before but feels the need to come on here and cast their views.

It's happened many times before and the BBC will use it to show that some view the PM as in control and that the tories are weak because these new defenders of the weak (Brown) have come on the blog.

Cynical? Moi?

I was disappointed in Andrew Marr today; in both the interview with the Prime Minister and Lord Mandelson, I felt that he allowed himself to be bullied into keeping quiet whilst the respective interviewee talked over him.

However, his intelligence with respect to determining a possible date of the election via his budget question does have to be admired.

Our Leader Brown confirmed on TV this morning that the UK leads the world in the manufacture of the products I have listed below.

UK leads the world in
Biotech,
Based in Ithaca, New York, Phyton Biotech, Inc. is a world leader in the use of plant cell culture technology, a platform used to develop and manufacture products with applications in the pharmaceutical and biotech industries. Phyton currently generates revenue by efficiently producing a commercial source of paclitaxel, the active ingredient in TAXOL®*, one of the leading drugs for the treatment of cancer. Its German subsidiary, Phyton Gesellschaft für Biotechnik mbH, operates the world’s largest commercial cGMP manufacturing facility using plant cell culture technology.
In 2006, the Japanese pharmaceutical market was the second largest individual market in the world. With sales of $60 billion it constitutes approximately 11% of the world market

Wind Turbines,
In contrast, Denmark's Vestas became the world leader in wind turbine manufacturing with the crucial support of consistent, long-term public investment from the Danish government. The same situation is true for Germany's Siemens and Spain's Gamesa, where feed-in tariff policies provide strong and consistent support for domestic markets as well as investor certainty for manufacturing and technology companies. The same story is now taking shape in China, where new guaranteed wind tariff prices have been launched and the Chinese government has provided direct support for China's turbine manufacturers.

Electric Cars
The New York Times reported today
Chinese leaders have adopted a plan aimed at turning the country into one of the leading producers of hybrid and all-electric vehicles within three years, and making it the world leader in electric cars and buses after that.The goal, which radiates from the very top of the Chinese government, suggests that Detroit’s Big Three, already struggling to stay alive, will face even stiffer foreign competition on the next field of automotive technology than they do today.

Right now Japan leads the world in hybrid vehicles with its Toyota Prius and Honda Insight. General Motor’s Chevy volt, which is expected to go on sale for 2010, is U.S’s major alternative fuel vehicle. The article indicates by 2011, China is planning to produce 500,000 all-electric and hybrid vehicles. By that time, Japan and South Korea together will produce 1.1 million all-electric and hybrid vehicles while the U.S will produce 276,000.

and "Green" Technology

https://www.truthabouttrade.org/news/latest-news/15328-worlds-top-polluter-emerges-as-green-technology-leader
Read this and you will see that China are well in front.

This coumtry is in big trouble not because of Gordon Brown (I won't defend his shortcomings nor forget his achievements), but because of the unsustainable moral and economic madness of too many of the so-called 'elite' in this country (the immoral and greedy madness of too many financial sector leaders, greedy toffs and similar intellectual lightweights) and their deluded cheerleader friends like those assembled in great numbers all too often here on this blog. Neither Gordon Brown nor David Cameron seem to have the appetite or courage to really tackle the undelying exploitative structures and get-myself-rich-quick-no matter-the-consequences schemes in many sectors of the economy in the UK. Ripp-off Britain wherever you look, enthusiastic tax evasion by anyone who can afford it, bankers who seem to believe they have a birthright to live in obscene luxury whilst the country falls apart: this country is morally bankrupt from top to bottom. The fish begins to stink from the head down as the saying goes. Those Torries who think that Cameron would change things for the better where Brown failed are seriously deluded. Yes, this country needs change desparately, but sadly none of the major parties seems to be morally or intellectually able to envison and deliver real change towards a more just, equal and sustainable British society. For a bit of education and further arguments please read:
https://globalinsights.wordpress.com/

I'm surprised that no-one has drawn attention to his New Year message. https://www.number10.gov.uk/Page21944

It's worth listening to as he gabbles through a 10 minute script in 6m 45secs complete with mispronunciations and mistakes.

After his Youtube episode I would have thought someone should have said "now lets do this again a lot slower". Why it was published raises questions about what is going on in Downing Street. Is someone deliberately allowing him look incompetent or have his spin doctors spun out of control?

I am absolutely appalled to read Nick Robinson's report on Brown's interview, time after time Robinson disproportionately derides Labour who have been strong in many areas of government at the same time never challenging conservative policy. The Osborne and Cameron partnership has a) been wrong on every aspect of the economic downturn and recovery b) isolationist towards Europe at a time when we need to be at its core c) provided weak, unclear and at times absurd and irrelevant policy (see Cameron's recent mutterings about forming a war cabinet as a prime example), the list goes on...

It is absolutely disgraceful that Nick Robinson, a former head of the Oxford University Conservative Association and National Chairman of the Young Conservatives should be allowed to be chief political correspondent of the BBC, a supposedly impartial broadcaster funded by the tax payer. I also don't know if it coincidence that Robinson and Cameron were both at Oxford university, both studying PPE, both in overlapping years. I for one will be pursuing the matter further with the press complaints commission and I urge other readers to do the same.

I'm an energy tech consultant and writer and I believe it's very important that people be made aware that Gordon Brown is - to put it bluntly - either completely delusional or simply lying through his teeth when it comes to the claims he makes with regard to sectors such as wind energy and electric vehicles.

I'm sure that people are aware that there in terms of the high value adding, difficult to copy exportable stuff such as high output wind turbines there isn't a single UK manufacturing company. So every time the Govt "awards" a licence to build an offshore or onshore windfarm it's another line on the corporate CV of a Danish, German, American or even Chinese company. We also don't manufacture the subsea interconnect cables and this Govt is so dumb it's just awarded an R&D grant to a Danish company to develop a high power subsea connector.

So our involvement is really very limited. There is one company in Scotland that can lay and bury subsea cable but this is not a unique capability.

As far as electric vehicles are concerned it's true there are a couple of small UK companies building electric vans and small coaches/taxis. But, in the case of the coach/taxis the design is based on a Peugeot vehicle. All the others are coming from other overseas companies and to a degree that's understandable because of course we don't really have much of an automotive sector left. Andrew Marr was of course right to point out that the value goes back overseas. The fact these companies make money and so employ some British people was a complete cop-out on Brown's part because of course beyond that there is no potential for UK plc....

As to Brown's utterly idiotic comment about not talking down the UK economy then Marr let him off far too lightly because of course Brown and co that have let down the UK economy...

The man is strategically inept.

On the question of full-body scanners at airports, we already know these devices would not have helped in the case of the most recent terrorist attempt. It's a knee-jerk reaction that does not get to the root of the problem or deal with the real threat of 'Alky-Aida' (as Gordon calls them).

Given that potential terrorists tend to fall into particular groups, security forces need to focus their attention on those groups and not wast time screening people who are clearly not a threat.

Brown mentioned "young people who have been radicalised", "teaching by extreme clerics", "a perversion of Islam", "murderous ideology" and "at least five thousand internet sites promoting jihadist violence". Unfortunately, none of these things show up on body scanners.

These are very uncomfortable issues for a liberal and tolerant society, but this Government's apparent failure to grasp the problem does not instil much confidence. The airport scanners may be slightly useful, but on their own will not avert the continued and increasingly sophisticated threat.

Ironically, under Labour we all now live in a nanny/surveillance state, with unprecedented snooping powers - even local authorities can intercept phone calls and emails under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 (RIPA).

The threat of terrorism is very real, but Labour has found it a convenient excuse to tighten its iron grip on our traditionally free society.

Under Labour, we are told the State knows best, not just on security issues, but in how we live our lives day to day.... People will have to make up their own minds when the next election comes.

96. At 11:13pm on 03 Jan 2010, Alex P wrote:

I am absolutely appalled to read Nick Robinson's report on Brown's interview, time after time Robinson disproportionately derides Labour who have been strong in many areas of government at the same time never challenging conservative policy.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

You must have a serious problem with reality or be delusional.

I have personally thought at times that Nick Robinson leaned too much towards the government and is otherwise in a fairly impossible position regarding upsetting one or more vested political interests.

Brown has a had a very soft ride of everybody for 13 years now and I think that everyone is losing patience and respect for him with his his non-stop game of 'Cluedo', lies, spin, agenda and other antics.

I don't think the UK has almost never seen such a liar like Brown - he's even a match for Blair!

If you think that Nick Robinson got it wrong why don't you provide a detailed line by line reply and disect his transcript so that we can all have a good laugh!

Even Labour Teddy Bears have rights under New Labour!

Get real!

48,49,52 ei

I have no connection to the above refreshingly different poster but does anyone know where I can get odds on there being no election by some subterfuge or other ?