Re-appraisal?

that 10 point lead will soon shrink as the tories will shoot themselves in the foot more and more before election day!

That was a shockingly easy interview last night. I suppose that because it was Sunday night entertainment, it was supposed to be light-hearted. It was cringe inducing at points e.g. with questions like why are you so great Gordon? But then what do you expect from a close friend of Gordon. I can't imagine the french President will be very chuffed with Gordon's revelations.
Gordon, get your coat, you've gone too far.

So at a time when the country is desparately looking for a strategy to address a massive structural imbalance within its economy, a portion of the political class try to turn the coming election campaign into a clash of personalities.

This just serves to illustrate their complete disconnect from reality and the contempt in which they hold the electorate.

The next election is about the economy not personalities. It just doesn't matter who leads the parties; that is irrelevant.

The issue is how do we extricate ourselves from the catastrophe into which the current government has pitched us all? It is the economy, stupid!

"David Cameron is an air-brushed PR man who will say anything in order to get to power."

Very astute of you, Nick. Welcome to the cognescenti.

Nick,

I do have a problem in that I seriously cannot vote for Brown, I do not live in his constituency, and we don't do Presidents, or do we?

I remember when there was a labour leader of the old GLC. There was an election, with the leader in place, but as soon as the election was in the bag, then the leader was replaced, by somebody who did not have a mandate. The same with Brown, he has no mandate, Blair was going to serve a full term, and we all know what happened next.

So, does this make the Lisbon referendum betrayal not a U-turn but a re-appraisal of their manifesto promise?

I think the country needs a re-appraisal of this government, via the ballot box, and without delay.

I dare say it's true that Dave will say anything to get to power.

But how is that different from Gordon? Apparently he'll even claim to be human if he thinks it will help him cling on to power. Surely no-one's going to fall for that?

If "he'll say anything to get to power" is seriously going to be a part of Labour's campaign strategy, I suspect they could find it will come back to bite them in the bum.

Once again, it's all about saving Brown and Labour's bacon and to hell with the country. Mandellson still mutters on as though Labour was a credible government and still thinks that the Euro is the end of all our problems. Maybe he hasn't noticed that the Euro is in deep trouble and with a bit of luck will collapse round Sarkozy and the lovely Angela's ears. Brown trying to weep for his child looked like a pathetic attempt to gain sympathy, rather than an attempt to appear human.A man who has probed the depths this man has in his quest to gain and to hold on to power is devoid of any true humanity, everything he does or says is carefully calculated to benefit himself in his hunt for power.

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

Nick,

'A moment of re-appraisal. That is the phrase which Peter Mandelson uses to describe what Labour is trying to achieve.'

The key word here is 'trying'. This translates to 'please overlook our incompetence'.

Try all you want, but if you can't deliver, it’s time to let someone else have a go.

I am relatively new to these blogs and will try to be benign to begin with but I have no time for 'Lord' Peter Mandelson.

So Gordon chooses this moment to become what he hasn't been in the last 15 years (even to the point of denying it), call me cynical but anyone would be excused to think that some are worried about loosing their jobs - and Labour have the audacity to accuse Cameron of being an air-brushed PR man who will say anything in order to get to power!...

Have a good break Nick, I think you'll need it, the next two or three months are going to be tough ones I suspect. Oh and please don't keep bashing on about just Labour and the Tories, we are being told that there is every chance that the next parliament could be hung, this means that it will be the minor parties that hold the balance, we need to know what they are doing and thinking to, obviously once the real election is called you will be tied to what you can and can't report, thus what you report in this 'phony' election period is all the more important.

Piers Morgan is a very good friend of Gordon Brown. He would of course have discussed the questions and also what, of the two hour recording, went out to the public.

I don't think Brown in showing himself as having a few emotions like other people, will have gained any more votes. If he does then they are from people who are not really interested in the real issues of his prime ministership and the disasters he has caused or allowed:

The financial crisis

The changing of many parts of our country beyond recognition due to immigration

The farcical lie over global warming

The swine flu frightener

David Cameron is streets ahead of him in charisma, conviction, intellect, and responsibility for our country.

David Cameron did not marry late in life ("I think we should get married now" a la Brown in a hurry to further his political image).

David Cameron cared for his little boy for SIX YEARS before he died (the anniversary must be coming up soon but I don't think he will milk the media on it).

No, Brown, just start looking for that charity work because after May 6th we will not be paying your salary any more.

The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan in which he and his predecessor thought they would make history for the Labour party and themselves

Nick, you left off the last two paragraphs on what the other two main parties' strategies are... Nick...Nick?

1. At 09:49am on 15 Feb 2010, lefty10 wrote:

"that 10 point lead will soon shrink as the tories will shoot themselves in the foot more and more before election day!"

Indeed, but on the other hand it could increase if Labour starts to shoot themselves in the foot more and more before election day...

I think Cameron is an Air Brushed, PR Man. We are yet to clearly hear from the Tories about any of the cuts they have planned for this year. Its all very hush hush, I can only imagine how drastic they will probably be.

If they get in, they are going to send us straight back into a recession. I'm sure of it.

Whilst I will be voting Labour - I do think a Leader change would be wise. Personally I'd like to see Mandelson step in and do the job he already is, behind the scenes.

A moment of re-appraisal eh? So thats Mandelsons latest soundbite is it?

"Gordon Brown presents himself on television as human".

I already knew that he was human,just not the kind of human being that I
want anything to do with.

A father who mourns? Dosnt any father mourn a loss of a child?

A husband who loves? Dont other husbands then?

A leader who......... has never had a mandate? Yep,thats the one.

'Thus Gordon Brown presents himself on television as a human: a father who mourns; a husband who loves; a leader who may be quick to lose his temper, but who is a leader nonetheless.'
And all in front of Piers Morgan, a man, if that's the right word, who is the cultural equivalent of slipping in dog mess.

Such a pity that the opposition is so poor really, with this governments record the torys should have a easy job getting in. Mind you its going to be basically the same outcome either way. Good call though boilerplated, how about it Nick, focus on some of the smaller parties for a change?

Vote Conservative and Cameron, the man who'll say anything in order to get to power.

Vote Labour and Brown, the man who'll say anything in order to stay in power.



Or vote for a more ethical parliament.

15. At 10:28am on 15 Feb 2010, Anthony Shapley wrote:

"I think Cameron is an Air Brushed, PR Man. We are yet to clearly hear from the Tories about any of the cuts they have planned for this year. Its all very hush hush, I can only imagine how drastic they will probably be."

Very true, but I haven't heard Labour mention what cuts they intend either (and Darling was on Today this very morning talking about anything and everything other than what cuts he plans for his budget in a few weeks time...), considering that Labour has access to many more facts and figures than the opposition does at the moment it is a dammed sight easier for Darling to 'come clean' that Osborne who is having to extrapolate much.

"If they get in, they are going to send us straight back into a recession. I'm sure of it."

We're still in recession...

"Whilst I will be voting Labour - I do think a Leader change would be wise. Personally I'd like to see Mandelson step in and do the job he already is, behind the scenes."

I fear that is what might actually happen should Labour win...

4#

"Welcome to the cognescenti."

Very apt company he appears to be in as well Saga. Do you think that there is some symbiosis, nay, even a mutual parasitic interest between the cognescenti and the left wing "intellectuals"?

A match made in heaven no less....

Maybe I should order y'all a congratulatory card from Moonpig for the happy nuptials.


n. pl. co·gno·scen·ti (-t)
A person with superior, usually specialized knowledge or highly refined taste; a connoisseur.

n. parasite

1. Biology. An organism that grows, feeds, and is sheltered on or in a different organism while contributing nothing to the survival of its host.
2. Other:
1. One who habitually takes advantage of the generosity of others without making any useful return.
2. One who lives off and flatters the rich; a sycophant.
3. A professional dinner guest, especially in ancient Greece.





Oh dear. I'm all laughed out. Much as I try, the best I can offer is a small, salty, bell bottomed tear of pity.

I forecast a somewhat acrimonious divorce, sometime in the next 9 months...

16. At 10:37am on 15 Feb 2010, sevenstargreen wrote:

"..//.. [Brown] A leader who......... has never had a mandate? Yep,thats the one."

Tell me, what was your opinion of Sir Alec Dougless-Home?...

Its sad that he somehow thinks this will somehow make people vote labour....all it does is for a very short period deflect the media from the disaster of our economy.

Who cares about Labour and what they say on TV.
Actions speak louder than words and since they came in 1997 they have allowed the UKs large employers to take UK work off shore and then just to rub salt in the wound these large UK companies are allowed to bring in NON-EU workers to work here in the UK. The UKBA are NOT checking the skills of NON-EU workers coming in via ICT against the governments own SHORT SUPPLY SKILLS LIST. I call for a LEVEL PLAYING FIELD for the UK(EU) worker.

#22 Boilerplated

My answer would be exactly the same as for Brown.

No mandate.

Piers "nauseus" Morgan is a lefty. He is engaged to another lefty of lefty parentage and so it goes....

What I don't understand is why so many actors, authors, media people ARE lefties? Could it be that they are in a naive bubble of their own and think they are grand and intellectual enough to save the world and the poor? They all jump on the bandwagon in times of crisis. Methinks they have grander opinions of themselves than they actually should.

Don't get me going on J K Rowling, typical example, sour faced do gooder.

17#

The closest Piers Morgan would get to Culture would be licking the lid off a tub of Ski yoghurt.

Flamethrower, maybe its because they do all the little charity handouts to make themselves feel good and convince themselves that they aren't living a shallow life?

It was a decent interivew that will please some and infuriate others.

However, what I liked about it was that for the first time I heard Gordon Brown talk about subjects other than politics. I also liked that we heard it from the man himself rather than the distorted abstract opinions that we are force fed by the media.

It will do the man and his party no harm at all.

Did anybody else think of the Yellow Pages advert when Brown was talking about his house getting broken into?

This wasn't an interview though, it was a cosy chat between two friends that just happened to be recorded. We all knew what Brown got out of it as the people get to see his human side, but what will Morgan get out of it? Perhaps he will get a Knighthood or a Peerage?

Are the electorate so naive that they will all say, "Aaaah. Gordon's not such a bad bloke so lets all go out and vote for his party?"

This election will see people hurting because they have no savings, no jobs, no security. Many who have friends and family in the forces will be hurting. People living in counties who have lost investments in Iceland will be angry at the loss of service in their counties as they need to make up this shortfall (Northumberland needs to find nearly £30 million). Constituents of counties that swallowed up their district councils to become a unitary authority will be angry, as they did not want it.

The apathetic of the past are a growing band of angry prospective voters who want change. Now is the time to get them off their seats with something new. There are more Independents standing this year than ever before and they can make a huge difference. It is a shame the BBC have hardly given them any coverage as they could provide Parliament with honesty, integrity and common sense.

The current Presidential style of canvassing that the Tories and Labour do belittles the system where we elect a local MP to represent our constituency. The voice of the peopole will only be heard by those without a party whip to follow and it needs to be aired.

Enjoy your half-term Nick, and come back refreshed and prepared to give a balanced and broad political view. Don't just be lazy and concentrate on the big hitters as the small voices are getting louder.

'a continual 10-point lead of the Tories over Labour ever since Gordon Brown became prime minister'

very astute of you Nick, welcome to the cognoscenti.

Call an election

I'm still up for a Labour victory. 'Specially now the Tories party has increased the number of spokespeople appearing in public. It's harder to hide the unreconstructed 'something of the night' nastiness that still lurks beneath the aspartame surface. Such as: the artificial fuss it's generating about funding for elderly care, the dodgy decimal point fiasco over teen pregnancies, the secret partisanship against NI nationalists. When you look at a Tory, think 'Vogon' (Hitch-hikers G2TG)- thoroughly nasty and proud of it.

What I don't understand is why so many actors, authors, media people ARE lefties? Could it be that they are in a naive bubble of their own and think they are grand and intellectual enough to save the world and the poor? They all jump on the bandwagon in times of crisis. Methinks they have grander opinions of themselves than they actually should.

Don't get me going on J K Rowling, typical example, sour faced do gooder.


'There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy'

25. At 10:56am on 15 Feb 2010, sevenstargreen wrote:

"#22 Boilerplated

My answer would be exactly the same as for Brown.

No mandate."

So you prefer the Presidential style of government, yes, considering that no British PM has ever been directly elected - our election system is such that the party leader could conceivably loose their own seat even though the party obtained an over all majority. The 'mandate' is always given to, first the local MP, then to the party with the larger number of seats, no individual PM is ever given a mandate.

So please, unless people are suggesting a totally different system of government, can we all stop this clap-trap about Prime Ministers and their mandates!

Utterly shameless!

Broon looks like a person rather than his usual sociopathic self. The best piece of pre-pre-election unfair competition puff we will see this time. Normal Broon to try and gain an unfair competitive advantage.

The election will be called at the end of recess..

26. At 10:57am on 15 Feb 2010, Flamethrower wrote:

"What I don't understand is why so many actors, authors, media people ARE lefties?"

Could it be that they are used to, in their professional lives at least, to thinking for themselves (a necessity for fresh interpretations of existing artistic works and styles) rather than being told what to think, how to interpret, and then being expected to do it that way - as is the way of so much establishment business etc., many of the fresh thinkers are also to the left, at least to start with.

And while he's at it perhaps sagamix could explain why if he thinks Cameron is an air brushed PR man then why was the interview with Gordon Brown not actually an interview?

This was a series of spliced together, best reaction highlights. The continual cutting to the devoted wife was worthy of contempt; regardless of the clear emotional turmoil this pair have had to endure. It was cheap and tacky and a continuation of the spin from which Gordon Brown promised to rid us.

Sworn enemies in soft focus saying what a wonderful, misunderstood character he was. How ridiculous; we all understand him and newlabour and the misery they have inflicted on anyone not belonging to their partisan tribe for the last thirteen years. That's why we want rid of them.

'Let the work of change begin' he pleaded three years ago on the doorstep of Downing Street.

Indeed: Call an election.

33#

ZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzz... ah, the rebuttal unit have woken up.... ZZZZZzzzzzz

#33 'I'm still up for a Labour victory'

Me too, but for a very different reason.

I would like to see Labour reverse a £200 Billion deficit without eventually being labelled 'the nasty party'!

Flamethrower @ 26 wrote:
What I don't understand is why so many actors, authors, media people ARE lefties?

>>


Because they have empathy.

"Andrew Morrison wrote:
It was a decent interivew that will please some and infuriate others."

It wasn't what we would expect from a political interview, it came across as a celebrity interview (mindless interviewer asking easy questions)

"However, what I liked about it was that for the first time I heard Gordon Brown talk about subjects other than politics. I also liked that we heard it from the man himself rather than the distorted abstract opinions that we are force fed by the media."

Personally I don't want to know Brown's thoughts about subjects other than politics. He is a politician - he might be the nicest person in the world and nurse sick puppies back to health but when it comes to getting elected that shouldn't matter.

"It will do the man and his party no harm at all."

There were two floating voters on R5 this morning - one was turned off by it and the other warmed to Brown over it. It didn't win me other but then I consider myself to be pretty cynical and I just didn't buy what Brown was selling.

I respected Brown when he first claimed he wanted to keep his family out of the media, but since then he has clung to the popularity of his wife and is now bringing up the death of his daughter - it just doesn't sit right with me.

Out of interest (really H?) when is the absolute latest date the election can be called? Anyone?

31. At 11:38am on 15 Feb 2010, Marc Hydleman wrote:

Are the electorate so naive that they will all say, "Aaaah. Gordon's not such a bad bloke so lets all go out and vote for his party?"


I agree with the rest of your post, but you really really really really dont want to be asking this question... you might not like the answer....

29#

Brings to mind the phrases "very easily pleased" and "the bar was set very very low".

Peter Mandelson has got it backwards.

We don't need to re-appraise Labour, we need to appraise the Conservative leadership.

''Thus Gordon Brown presents himself on television as a human: a father who mourns; a husband who loves; a leader who may be quick to lose his temper, but who is a leader nonetheless.

Simultaneously, Labour is seeking to portray David Cameron as an air-brushed PR man who will say anything in order to get to power.''

Pot, Kettle, Black anyone???

If last nights interview wasn't air brushed PR with a man willing to say anything in order to stay in power then what else was it?!!

Under what conditions will politicans genuinely willing to sacrifice their parties for the interests of the country and the people? My money is on NEVER.

I have always thought that Gordon Browns personal life was created out of political expediency. Not a nice thing to say I know, but his comments on how he proposed would seem to be consistent with this view. I find his recent TV goings on somewhat dis-tasteful, and I think it says a lot about him, and none of it is good. This is the last desperate act of a desperate man, who has nothing else to offer. He really must think the electorate are stupid not to see this through wholly transparent scheme, and I think most people will see it for what it really is. Hopefully he will be able to spend a lot more time with his family soon.

Gordon Brown has now re-invented himself more times than Dr Who. We've had Just Gordon, New Gordon, Save the World Gordon, Listening Gordon, Collegiate Gordon and now Human Gordon. No matter how much spin, image presentation etc take place, ultimately we are are all who we are ..... and the bad news for country, government and New Labour is that Gordon Brown in whatever re-incarnation is ....... Gordon Brown.

Hopefully, it won't be long before we see Goodbye Gordon.

Nick

what is the most important issue of our time ?

The economy ( most significantly the budget deficit.)

Has anything changed on that score?

Yes a letter for the 20 top economists wrote to the Times saying that we can't go on as we are and that the Tory plans are correct Labour thretens the recovery.

Did you focus on this or did you follow a certain agenda to get this weeks Labours message across?

Answer: Labour's message.

Who actually care what Mandy thinks ( Yacht, Mortgage, Aluminum tariffs? we haven't had answers to these questions yet)

I know I shouldn't but I keep expecting better of you.
After all you do work for the BBC.

26. At 10:57am on 15 Feb 2010, Flamethrower wrote:

"What I don't understand is why so many actors, authors, media people ARE lefties?"

Could it be that they are used to, in their professional lives at least, to thinking for themselves (a necessity for fresh interpretations of existing artistic works and styles) rather than being told what to think, how to interpret, and then being expected to do it that way - as is the way of so much establishment business etc., many of the fresh thinkers are also to the left, at least to start with."

Or might it, just possibly, be that so many of them don't live in the world of reality?

9#

Breaking house rules now includes stating the blindingly obvious about the political editor.

Ho hum.

Bring back Kuenssberg.

If in future, one is toiling for an appropriate definition of "desperation", one need only refer back to this grubby little episode.

Perry I'm with you on this one bring back Kuenssberg, was much better coverage plus hers is a better picture to have on your screen than Nicks.

I'm trying to think what telling the audience that a Middle Eastern country sent him a roast pig should be viewed as. I can't find it in the official list of presents; can you Nick, if not what does that make him?
It could be his Tony Blair "I stowed away from Newcastle to the West Indies" moment. All in an attempt to make make him look human

Flamethrower 26

What I don't understand is why so many actors, authors, media people ARE lefties?

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

Are they though, thats the question. It is only the the ones you see, most actors, authors etc like to keep their politics quiet in case their work is effected by it.

However I did read an article on this subject sometime ago and it said that those who come out with left wing politics like to appear like revolutionaries to suit their image.

Rowling can really be dismissed as she is part of the Scottish circle that Brown has and a very good friend of Browns wife, much the same as Piers Morgan. Anyway the films are good but the books are not so hot.

Well done Nick, how you've managed to work from Christmas until now without a break is admirable. You must have more time off work than the BBC cat.
Labour's sympathy tactics will not work. Why now? It's sick cringe making hypocrisy.
It's nothing 13 years too late.

55#

I brought that up on Friday.

I cannot think of a single middle eastern nation who would do such a thing, be they Jewish, Persian, Arab, whatever... such a move would be, I would venture done more in insult than anything else... Unless you classify Cyprus as the middle east, which even then, is tenuous and pushing it a bit.... or he could just have made it up. Bit like most of his other policies on the hoof. The man lives by 24-hour news cycle.

Lord Peter Wimsey....reappraisal, why. Do the facts that they screwed they, screwed the economy, starved the military of helicopters, allwoed imigration to run riot not very palattable to him.

If Cameron is created by PR what id Brown trying to do? surely if it is bad for the tories then it is bad for labour. But wait, this is the party whose members call you know who I am and where to find me after traffic accidents. One rule for them and another for we non party members.

At 59. I thought that Muslims thought the pig unclean and not fit to eat. If they did send him one perhaps it was an insult....or could be he is telling an untruth. Was there an agreement with Blair? Depends on what you believed before Sunday night. Brown is a shallow no hioper who believes the sound of his own voice.

Re#12:
"David Cameron is streets ahead of him in charisma, conviction, intellect, and responsibility for our country."
Charisma - agreed.
Conviction - "hug a hoodie", "referendum on Lisbon", Michael Ashcroft?
Intellect - advisor to Lamont, PR man for Carlton. I guess this is just a little joke to get people excited.
Responsibility for our country - Now I'm laughing so hard I might have a coronary.

Apply the CEO test to Brown and Cameron. Who would you want running a major company. Not the Marketing department but the entire enterprise. If you still think Cameron is the man then God help you.

"peteholly wrote:

Apply the CEO test to Brown and Cameron. Who would you want running a major company. Not the Marketing department but the entire enterprise. If you still think Cameron is the man then God help you."

It is an interesting one - would you rather have a CEO who has brought the company to the brink of administration or someone who has never actually been in charge of a company before?

61 (12)
Brown is a proven liar. So are you saying you would want CEO that lied.
I think it's God help you.

42. At 11:56am on 15 Feb 2010, Mark_WE wrote:
"Andrew Morrison wrote:
It was a decent interivew that will please some and infuriate others."

It wasn't what we would expect from a political interview, it came across as a celebrity interview (mindless interviewer asking easy questions)

"However, what I liked about it was that for the first time I heard Gordon Brown talk about subjects other than politics. I also liked that we heard it from the man himself rather than the distorted abstract opinions that we are force fed by the media."

Personally I don't want to know Brown's thoughts about subjects other than politics. He is a politician - he might be the nicest person in the world and nurse sick puppies back to health but when it comes to getting elected that shouldn't matter.

"It will do the man and his party no harm at all."

There were two floating voters on R5 this morning - one was turned off by it and the other warmed to Brown over it. It didn't win me other but then I consider myself to be pretty cynical and I just didn't buy what Brown was selling.

I respected Brown when he first claimed he wanted to keep his family out of the media, but since then he has clung to the popularity of his wife and is now bringing up the death of his daughter - it just doesn't sit right with me.


Thanks for quoting me.

However, I have to disagree with you when you say:

'It wasn't what we would expect from a political interview, it came across as a celebrity interview (mindless interviewer asking easy questions)'

I don't believe it was scheduled/envisaged as a political interview and some of those questions that GB had to answer were IMHO not easy at all.

'Personally I don't want to know Brown's thoughts about subjects other than politics. He is a politician - he might be the nicest person in the world and nurse sick puppies back to health but when it comes to getting elected that shouldn't matter.'

It may not matter to you if your politicans are unsavoury in nature but it does to me. Of course we did get some measure of the man when he said at the end of the interview that he would not be cashing in on his political experiences by doing the circuit, rather he would be concentrating on charity work. Which of course ties in with his renouncing of his entitled prime ministerial pension.

'it just doesn't sit right with me.'

We live in a land that accommodates differing opinions and you are entitled to your opinion. Inevitably, people see what they want to see and that includes yours truly.

I'm well aware of mourning parents, unsung heros and a husband who cares about their family. But if I'm to vote I'm interested only in the qualities of the leader who should represent values I care about and inspire her/his henchpeople to realise them. Those qualities include whether the person has held down a proper job whose credentials demonstrate their sense of duty and responsibility. In every matter I'd sooner vote for a penitant sinner than a virgin.

So this interview came over rather sickly. It has done nothing to assuage my awareness of Brown's many mistakes, especially his trying to blame our economic ills on banks when it was him who turned a blind eye to regulation as long as the tax was pouring in. His refusal to take any responsibility for that says it all.

No amount of crying on screen will make up for his minuses. Sure, after the next election the unfortunate who wins can blame labour for our woes but political leaders must own the problems they create. So Brown's out. And as far as I can see, none of the other leaders is fit for the job of PM.

16. At 10:37am on 15 Feb 2010, sevenstargreen wrote:
A moment of re-appraisal eh? So thats Mandelsons latest soundbite is it?

"Gordon Brown presents himself on television as human".

I already knew that he was human,just not the kind of human being that I
want anything to do with.

A father who mourns? Dosnt any father mourn a loss of a child?

A husband who loves? Dont other husbands then?

A leader who......... has never had a mandate? Yep,thats the one.

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

That sums it up really. As much as Men In Black may have crossed my mind with a little alien sitting inside his head I have always been convinced that Gordon is human.

All this shows is that a man, even in his position, can have love for his family. What has that got to do with the job?

Interview process for PM:

Question 1) Do you love your family?
Answer) Yes

In the Alan Sugar Apprentice style "You're Hired".

So, is that really the only quality required to be PM...I think not. So far, all this has shown is that the Labour spin and PR propoganda machines are still running. At a time when the country is in a mess, all we have is our top man going off to some scripted event to show that he cares about his own family. Well, what does that really prove about what he thinks of people who aren't his friends or family? I'm confident that he doesn't care that much about my family, the family I love and care about too, so does that make me worthy of getting a TV interview to prove to the nation that I'm human too.

62 mark:

I'd far rather have the man who thinks we should change what we've been doing, over the incompetent who has steered us to the brink of bankrupcy but still shouts "keep going! Keep going!" whilst he steers us even fruther from the safety of the shore.

Mark_WE @ 62 wrote:
It is an interesting one - would you rather have a CEO who has brought the company to the brink of administration or someone who has never actually been in charge of a company before?

>>

A large company would opt for the former, no contest. CEOs of companies that fail usually expect to move sideways rather than down.

One other point to your appraisal that was not covered was Birmingham council losing 2000jobs and other authorities threatening redundancies. This is in most cases political manouvering by opposition controlled authorities who face elections in May and can then blame the Labour Government for this outcome. Whether these redundacies in some cases would be needed is questionable. Local Government, health Authorities and National Government employers should look to save money by reducing salaries on all but the lower paid(under average wage£22K) with a graduated scale of reducing salaries so the highest paid lose most. This would save some jobs, private companies have done this with some success - also take the bonus culture away from local and government employees. People who make decisions about people's livelehood are not affected by the pain and suffering caused by unemployment - they seem to have a network that enables them to find employment if they suffer being sacked.
So where does all this politics leave us? - there are three main parties fighting for our votes with generally no idea of what people want - they just try and shaft one another.I want change in the way government is run and the way politicians should be more responsive to the electorate. Changes in the voting system would help, more referendums and less being lectured by pompous politicians telling us what is good for us - let us make those decisions. I do want a modern health care system which also cares for the elderly (social care) and does not cast them on the scrap heap.

12.
David Cameron is streets ahead of him in charisma, conviction, intellect, and responsibility for our country.
....
the charisma part (maybe). the rest is simply opinion without fact

Harry F @ 43

"when is the absolute latest date the election can be held?"

June 3rd - not only the last date it can be, but the date it WILL be. I have a bonzer bet which says so and I'm already spending the winnings.

"Andrew Morrison wrote:

I don't believe it was scheduled/envisaged as a political interview and some of those questions that GB had to answer were IMHO not easy at all."

Sorry, I didn't mean to suggest that it was planned as a political interview, just that rather than being a hard hitting interview with a politician it was more the soft interview you would expect with a film star.

I admit that I didn't see all of the interview but I didn't see any questions which I would consider hard and I am sure Brown would have final say on which questions were asked and what topics were off-limit.


"It may not matter to you if your politicans are unsavoury in nature but it does to me."

My impression of most politicians is that they are unsavoury in nature, but then these are people who one day are trying to be all things to all people in an attempt to get elected and then after election seem to forget everything they promised. In fact after watching the interview I find Brown to be more unsavoury than I did previously - but would it stop me from voting for him if his policies were any good?

I think at the end of the day a politician's policies are more important than their personality (and if I like Brown as a politician or not I find some of Labour's policies to be unsavoury - just as I feel the same about some of the Tory policies)

"Of course we did get some measure of the man when he said at the end of the interview that he would not be cashing in on his political experiences by doing the circuit, rather he would be concentrating on charity work. Which of course ties in with his renouncing of his entitled prime ministerial pension."

It will be interesting to see if that is followed through - it is easy to say one thing on the campaign trail, it is another thing altogether to follow through on the promises.

He might be genuine about his desire to concentrate on charity work but I wouldn't be surprised to see him doing After Dinner talks when he retires.

Nee @ 21

Confused post, even by your standards. Apart from labeling our Nick has a "professional dinner guest" when he goes to Greece, I cannot for the life of me discern what you're driving at. Which is absolutely fine.

"pdavies65 wrote:

A large company would opt for the former, no contest. CEOs of companies that fail usually expect to move sideways rather than down."

That is very true - but personally given the choice I would rather have someone up and coming than someone with a history of failure!

It seems to be the same in football, clubs will rather go with a PL manager who has got their last club relegated than the young manager who has taken his club up the leagues.

But then I have never run a company so what would I know :)

Lefty

Is the state of the country induced by Brown fact without admission of responsibilty on his part?

peteholly and pdavies...

and what, pray, was Brown before he blasted onto the stage as chancellor and the prime minister... to continue your analogy he was the equivalent of the student lobbyist shouting abuse outside the factory gates...with no experience whatsoever of the company at all.

let's face it, thirteen years on this shows; he has taken a series of monumentally stupid policy decisions for the UK economy from the moment he walked in the door form ruining the pensions industry to creating zombie banks...

Now he's compounding the error by promising to get back 'every penny' of taxpayers money form the banks. How? Ninety percent of the money we have paid was for assets that are completely worthless. Houses in Spain, property deals in Dubai, sub prime in the USA, dodgy lending practices condoned by this government's bailout to save its own skin.

The whole situation is beyond farce. He knows it and makes a weepy address to the population; watched by a breath takingly large 4.2m viewers. That's about all the support he can muster these days.

As for your latter comments about CEOs being shunted sideways; also piffle. Look at Chris Gent from Vodafone; Lord Browne from BP; 'Sir' Fred Goodwin at RBS; and so the list goes on.

Once you've been promoted to the level of your incompetence the only way is down and out.

This is where Gordon Brown is heading. Pronto.

Call an election.

Susan,

"Rowling can really be dismissed as she is part of the Scottish circle that Brown has"

Oh okay. Harsh but fair, I suppose.

61. At 1:16pm on 15 Feb 2010, peteholly

What has Brown ever run except for this country into the ground?

You don't seriously believe that he should be in power after the next election do you?

Labour has destroyed the economy every time its had power but never on the scale of that this idiot has achieved.

How can you support such a disaster?

71. sagamix

"I have a bonzer bet which says so and I'm already spending the winnings."

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

How very new labour

I begin to feel despondent

Labour - Can’t be bothered to comment.

Conservatives! - Get off your backsides now!
Tell us about getting waste out of the public sector, defending our privacy, unlocking business from red tape, working on the EU project to get as much benefit for our investment as possible, retreat from the war....

ask the country to give you the mandate to reverse the deficit - ask US to empower YOU.... if we have allowed (voted for) it, we should accept the bad news. The voters will respond to the responsibility.

The approach by Cameron is to play to Labour's lowest common denominator, that is spin and personality based politics. Go for common sense policies, based on electorate responsibility and watch the polls improve.

PS - DAVE DON'T DO AN INTERVIEW - PLEASE!!!!!

Nick,

I would have thought that Brown could have actually fired a couple of questions back at Morgan, for example what do you think of editors who print pictures in their papers of our soldiers doing 'stuff' they shouldn't, or how about what do you think of insider trading Morgan, where people in the City buy and sell shares which are tipped by any analysts.

As for Mandelson, what does he think of people who obtained mortgages without full declaration, because they forget, or something like that. As for Darling please remember that he had a mortgage with Northern Rock, and as for the Queen, who were her bankers, surely not Coutts, which was owned by Nat West, who were part of the busted Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) who still seem to sponsor international rugby, and Northern Rock still sponsor Newcastle United, where there are loads of votes. And don't mention T Dan Smith and Poulson, great people in the labour heartlands, a banana republic! we are just so much worse than that.

Robin, let's have something constructive instead of all the hormonal humbug. What say we engage on an issue of substance ... CFTE. Don't see why the childish "unfit for office" behaviour of the Tories nationally should scupper our cross bench deliberations - YOU don't have any sick posters to rush out, do you? No, so ... the idea that we fine tune IHT to fund enhanced care for the elderly, you okay with this?

#77

and where did Rowling and the Queens grandson go to University, yes Exeter which has bizarrely just been given the go ahead for unitary status.

73#

What I was driving at, my left-winged-intelligentsia-badge-wearing chum was the origins of the word parasite, which were originally Greek.

Hence my referral to the inferred symbiosis between the cognescenti and the left wing intelligentsia.. your thrust is that you can only be part of the cognescenti if you also happen to hold or give forth views that are held by the left wing intelligentsia.

Which is utter garbage and high rank snobbery but thats beside the point.

I preferred to display the relationship between this perceived cognescenti and the intelligentsia as parasitical; each living off each other whilst contributing nothing.

Eventually these self-aggrandised and self appointed snobs will eat each other.

I thought that would have been fairly clear to anyone with at least a bog standard comprehensive level of education...

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

sagamix...

your usual newlbaour deferring tactics, I see. Don't answer the question make it look as if you profoundly care about something else that is more important. Straight out of the Alistair spin doctor school of electioneering. Flattering but rubbish.

Newlabour can answer how they are going to fuind care for the elderly as until they leave office they are paying for everything.

The priority is to cut waste and public spending. Oops, I've played the Alistair card... I profoundly care about getting the debt of this country down as soon as humanly possible and having a proper plan so to do..and not an act of parliament.This is the issue of prime improtance.

You are seriously deluded if you think financial speculators will not simply hunt down weak governments and currencies one after another now that Greece has fallen foul of the EU.

This country needs a credible debt reduction plan and newlabour are not offering one; your childrens' future depends on it. All our pensions depend upon it. All our long term prosperity (that pays for the current flotilla of public sevrices) depends upon it. There simply is no more pressing issue. You will see.

Newlabour's campaign will fall apart as the currency and bond markets rip their arguments to shreds.

Call an election.

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

We are not voting for a president we are voting for the best team that can manage us out of the mess we're in and cause the least damage in the process.

The PM does need to be clever and astute for he is the one that has to voice that team's policies and get them over to the public in a way that we understand.

Let's hope they drop this 'I am a Human' bit and concentrate on telling us all the truth on what's really in store and how they intend to sort it out.

last night's tv confirmed everything people thought of Gordon - loser.

nee @ 84

Too much Theodore Dalrymple. Warned you about that, I seem to recall.

61#

You are Kevin McGuire and I claim my 5 pounds. Havent you got a stone to be hiding under in No10?

pickled @ 79

Not spending sorry, investing I meant to say ... in some personal infrastructure. Kind of "fixing the roof", if you can imagine such a thing when there's no roof as such, and also no actual fixing.

Catch22 81

If we were supposed to be looking at the more human side of Brown. I would have thought that rather than ask Brown about the more obvious dealth of his daugher. Piers Morgan should have asked Brown how he felt about the death of our troops. Mothers and Fathers have lost their children in this way, not at birth, but having had their children for a very long time in their lives. Then we may have seen his true colours.

I would also have expected Morgan to ask how Brown felt about the poverty that many will now have to endure in Britain, due to the last 13 years of Labour and the destruction of our economy.

These are two key questions which would have shown how much real empathy Brown has for others. As it turns out Morgan did not ask these questions. Therefore we must assume that Brown is only on safe ground and has empathy only with problems which relate to himself.

Therefore it must be just spin and not of any interest or value at all.

43 HPF

[Unsuitable/Broken URL removed by Moderator]


The GE timetable is all here - the election must be annouced by May 10th to meet the June 3rd deadline - or if we are lucky April 12th for a May 6th election.

"What say we engage on an issue of substance "

Substance? You recognise a subject of substance? Dont make me larf.

You're advocating the use of a tax that would raise nowhere near enough to fund a whole new government department that could never deliver what it promised and would outsource the whole job straight back to the private sector who already do it now.

Talking such utter bilge only belittles you even further.

robin @ 86

"This country needs a credible debt reduction plan and newlabour are not offering one"

Neither are the Conservatives. The debt IS important - very - but it's not an election issue. It's the backdrop to the election, that's all ... the wallpaper in the room where the fight will take place. If you're bare chest brawling with another man in a room, Robin - say about the merits and demerits of an open door Immigration policy - does it make any difference to the outome whether the prevailing decor is green or pink? No.

I emphatically and vehemently disagree with the left wing apologist blogging entity known as PeteHolly, but remain sure that he is a fine upstanding chap who helps old ladies cross the road, saves cats from being stuck up trees and pays his TV licence fee a year in advance.

Is that good enough for you, moderator? Just how far down this blasted censorship road do you think you're going to drag me, kicking and screaming?

75. Exiledscot52
please see last paragraph on post 500. taking the pulse cardif

14.Boilerplated
i think most of new labours inadequacies have been laid bare. camerons and tory inadequacies in general will be exposed too. of that i have no doubt! Watch this space ..its started already!!!

73/90#

Too much window licking mate. Warned you repeatedly about that too. :-)