I don't know what made me laugh more - the idea of Simon Cowell having his body frozen, thinking he would be doing the nation a service, when he dies in case he can be brought back to life in the future, or Gordon Brown's reported reaction.
I'm assuming that this is a leak aiming to make it seem like our PM actually has a sense of humour. He supposedly said that "I am not sure me coming back from the dead would be quite as popular as Simon." ‘In fact, there may be a public campaign to stop me being frozen"
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Showing posts with label Labour; Gordon Brown. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Labour; Gordon Brown. Show all posts
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Nice Irony from Brown....
Gordon Brown says today that today's difficult global economic situation is "no time for a novice." Cue to shots of Miliband looking about 12 years old and to footage of Cameron looking like he's never run anything more than a bath in his life.
Gordon presumably wants Barack Obama to win in November - can't imagine the McCain/Palin ticket exciting too many Labour people. John McCain's big line against Obama - is precisely the one Gordon is using against the pretenders to Number 10 - that he has no experience.
Of course this logic slightly falls apart when you consider Sarah Palin. Our hamster has a wider knowledge of international relations than she does......
Gordon presumably wants Barack Obama to win in November - can't imagine the McCain/Palin ticket exciting too many Labour people. John McCain's big line against Obama - is precisely the one Gordon is using against the pretenders to Number 10 - that he has no experience.
Of course this logic slightly falls apart when you consider Sarah Palin. Our hamster has a wider knowledge of international relations than she does......
Sunday, September 21, 2008
Has Labour given up on Glenrothes?
Tales of tension and woe in the Labour campaign in Glenrothes have been appearing in several newspapers over the last few days. Frank Roy, the MP charged with running the campaign has gone running for the hills. Apparently they are too scared to let their candidate Lindsay Roy within a million miles of a journalist cos he's a political novice and might make a gaffe. Why on earth did they let him on the shortlist then? The last time the Labour Party had to defend a seat, they looked around and the only person who could be pressganged into being their candidate was an extremely capable former Minister, Margaret Curran, and she couldn't win it for them. They might as well let Lindsay Roy face the press - he's a respected teacher and rector, and you don't get to be in that position if you can't keep your wits about you and think on your feet. What exactly do they think he's going to do wrong?
It's so typical of the Labour Party to be like that - they've picked their candidate, why can't they just trust the guy to do his job for goodness' sake.
Also mentioned in the press is the spectre of interference from number 10. Gordon, you know what happened the last time you stuck your nose into a by-election in Fife - Willie Rennie stormed to victory in Dunfermline. If you had any sense, you'd just butt out and let the people on the ground do their best. I can't imagine that happening any time soon, though.
Labour's own canvass returns apparently show that they are going to lose, and they seem to be so demotivated that they are just giving up. That's not the attitude they need to have. Someone, somewhere should find a backbone, tell Gordon and No 10 to get stuffed and start running a good local campaign. It's their only chance to avoid yet another humiliation.
In the meantime,the Liberal Democrats' Harry Wills and his energetic team have been working hard. New Scottish leader Tavish Scott has been several times, Nick Clegg has been up, People from all over Scotland have been coming to help. Vince Cable's wise words throughout this crisis have been respected by many and Tavish Scott's tax cut plan has seized the initiative.
It's so typical of the Labour Party to be like that - they've picked their candidate, why can't they just trust the guy to do his job for goodness' sake.
Also mentioned in the press is the spectre of interference from number 10. Gordon, you know what happened the last time you stuck your nose into a by-election in Fife - Willie Rennie stormed to victory in Dunfermline. If you had any sense, you'd just butt out and let the people on the ground do their best. I can't imagine that happening any time soon, though.
Labour's own canvass returns apparently show that they are going to lose, and they seem to be so demotivated that they are just giving up. That's not the attitude they need to have. Someone, somewhere should find a backbone, tell Gordon and No 10 to get stuffed and start running a good local campaign. It's their only chance to avoid yet another humiliation.
In the meantime,the Liberal Democrats' Harry Wills and his energetic team have been working hard. New Scottish leader Tavish Scott has been several times, Nick Clegg has been up, People from all over Scotland have been coming to help. Vince Cable's wise words throughout this crisis have been respected by many and Tavish Scott's tax cut plan has seized the initiative.
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Cairns deserts the sinking ship
So, global markets are in turmoil. AIG looks to be following Lehmann into the graveyard of financial institutions. Millions of innocent people are suffering real financial hardship and there's more to come as a result of inanely stupid and irresponsible management practices by banks over many years.
If you ask me, the very last thing we need right now is the markets going even more nuts than they are already 'cos they're panicking at the thought of political instability. A leadership election in the Labour Party now is a luxury that as a country we couldn't afford. If they change leader again, the pressure for a General Election will probably insurmountable. Constitutionally there is no need to have one - the Prime Minister is not directly elected and is instead the leader of the Party who can command a majority in the House of Commons. However perception is everything and people will want the chance to have their say.
Frankly, I want the minds of Ministers to be concentrated on guiding as steady a course as possible through the economic mire and not on internal Labour party score-settling and, well, bickering seems to be too mild a word.
If they all got a grip of themselves, got their heads down and were seen to be doing something positive and practical to help, then there's a chance that they might avoid complete meltdown at the next general election, whenever it might be. If they carry on the way they are going, they will not be forgiven. They will have presided over two catastrophic failures of Government in 30 years and will not be trusted easily again.
David Cairns' resignation today because he effectively has no faith in Gordon Brown may be honest but it's irresponsible. As a senior Labour Party person in Scotland he must have been heavily involved in the Glenrothes by-election plans. Maybe he wanted to avoid blame for a defeat which, by resigning, he has made more rather than less likely.
Gordon Brown needs to find someone he can trust, who has more interpersonal skills than he has, who wouldn't be stupid enough to turn a Cabinet meeting into a lecture on loyalty, to try to build bridges for him in the Party and to quell the voices baying for his blood.
That person needs to have more sense than to think leaking the names of the rebels to the press is a good idea. It's divisive and shows that Number 10 is on a war footing. It looks like Brown has given up the chance of a peaceful solution and is just blustering his way through it.
The global economic crisis isn't all Labour's fault - but their histrionics could make it worse.
I certainly don't think people are convinced that David Cameron and George Osborne could get us out of this mess, either. They haven't shown a huge amount of understanding of the issues or demonstrated any competence at dealing with them.
There are times that you just wish Vince was Chancellor - he has the experience and the judgment to deal with this and we would be as safe as we could possibly be with him in charge.
If you ask me, the very last thing we need right now is the markets going even more nuts than they are already 'cos they're panicking at the thought of political instability. A leadership election in the Labour Party now is a luxury that as a country we couldn't afford. If they change leader again, the pressure for a General Election will probably insurmountable. Constitutionally there is no need to have one - the Prime Minister is not directly elected and is instead the leader of the Party who can command a majority in the House of Commons. However perception is everything and people will want the chance to have their say.
Frankly, I want the minds of Ministers to be concentrated on guiding as steady a course as possible through the economic mire and not on internal Labour party score-settling and, well, bickering seems to be too mild a word.
If they all got a grip of themselves, got their heads down and were seen to be doing something positive and practical to help, then there's a chance that they might avoid complete meltdown at the next general election, whenever it might be. If they carry on the way they are going, they will not be forgiven. They will have presided over two catastrophic failures of Government in 30 years and will not be trusted easily again.
David Cairns' resignation today because he effectively has no faith in Gordon Brown may be honest but it's irresponsible. As a senior Labour Party person in Scotland he must have been heavily involved in the Glenrothes by-election plans. Maybe he wanted to avoid blame for a defeat which, by resigning, he has made more rather than less likely.
Gordon Brown needs to find someone he can trust, who has more interpersonal skills than he has, who wouldn't be stupid enough to turn a Cabinet meeting into a lecture on loyalty, to try to build bridges for him in the Party and to quell the voices baying for his blood.
That person needs to have more sense than to think leaking the names of the rebels to the press is a good idea. It's divisive and shows that Number 10 is on a war footing. It looks like Brown has given up the chance of a peaceful solution and is just blustering his way through it.
The global economic crisis isn't all Labour's fault - but their histrionics could make it worse.
I certainly don't think people are convinced that David Cameron and George Osborne could get us out of this mess, either. They haven't shown a huge amount of understanding of the issues or demonstrated any competence at dealing with them.
There are times that you just wish Vince was Chancellor - he has the experience and the judgment to deal with this and we would be as safe as we could possibly be with him in charge.
Sunday, September 14, 2008
Gray Skies ahead for Labour
It doesn't matter what they do at the moment, but Labour just can't seem to get it right.
I suppose we should really give Iain Gray a chance, but I'm not sure he has what it takes to bring people to Labour. I think Cathy Jamieson, despite her faux pas last Thursday would have been better in terms of portraying that Labour actually understands what's happening in people's lives at the moment.
However, the Labour Party in Scotland has managed to get through its leadership campaign without too much bloodletting. They now need to really get their act together at Holyrood. They haven't really been functioning as a proper opposition for the last year or so because they have been firefighting on their own turf. It's always better to subject Governments to vigorous and effective scrutiny - and this SNP one sure needs it.
The UK Labour Party slithers seemingly inexorably towards meltdown. There is a bit of Devil's Advocate in what I'm about to say, but in many ways this lot have been lucky to get away with so much for so long. Gordon Brown had a sustained period of fairly benign economic circumstances as Chancellor only to see it all fall apart the minute he gets the top job. Frankly, the global economic crisis isn't entirely the UK Labour Party's fault. Sure, they failed to curb the banks' irresponsible and clearly unsustainable lending habits which led to the credit crunch, but there are bigger global economic players who chose to make their hay while the sun shone who should share the blame.
Let's not forget that Tony Blair's new Labour led us into what was probably an illegal and certainly an immoral and expensive war in Iraq in the face of unprecedented opposition on the streets, they have been responsible for attacks on our civil liberties such as ID cards and 42 days' detention.
Labour backbenchers were bitching and whinging over all of these things in Tony Blair's day. Hell, he lost a darned good Cabinet Minister in Robin Cook over Iraq, but he coped. I guess he had what Brown lacks - the Bullshit Factor. He could sit there and look all sincere and tell a story - and nine times out of ten that's exactly what it was, a piece of carefully woven spin - about what was going on. And while people didn't always buy it, they accepted it.
When Gordon Brown tries to explain something, he just sounds a bit awkward and lumbering - he just doesn't have that way of telling that story that makes you feel that he has everything sorted.
Maybe we don't need that, though. Sure, when we're headed for bad times, we want reassurance and somebody to tell us it isn't happening. We don't want Captain Darling telling us we're all doomed.
Times are tough, though, and they will get tougher until we can find a more sustainable, less oil dependent way of living. This is going to require some common working amongst politicians of all parties but I don't have much hope of that happening any time soon.
As for the whinging on the Labour benches, I suspect it's not just about people being worried about their own seats. It's the continuation of the Blair v Brown feud which marked virtually all of Blair's premiership. There are scores to settle and the Blairites are going to enjoy raining as much misery upon Brown's head as they can.
It's all a bit pathetic, really. They are saying they want a contest, but don't say who they want to be the challenger. I guess all potential challengers see the spectre of Michael Heseltine before them - he was earmarked as the clear challenger to Thatcher, they used him to get rid of her and then chose someone else. Nobody wants to make that kind of sacrifice of their career.
If Labour are ever going to get anywhere, the whingers need to shut up, no elected Labour official should say anything that isn't directly related to understanding and dealing with people's troubles at the moment and they just need to get their heads down and deliver. While we're at it, they shouldn't allow stories to build around things like a planned £150 payment to every family - if it's not true they should kill it immediately. Cos a few weeks later when all they end up giving out is some lagging for your loft, people will feel disappointed.
I'm not optimistic that Labour are going to be capable of digging themselves out of their current mess. I think it's possible, but it will involve effort from everybody, including their backbenchers. Changing their leader will do them no favours. Ok, they might scrape back in like John Major did for the Tories. But at what cost?
We need a grown up Government dealing with the current problems, not being preoccupied with the knives aimed at their backs.
I suppose we should really give Iain Gray a chance, but I'm not sure he has what it takes to bring people to Labour. I think Cathy Jamieson, despite her faux pas last Thursday would have been better in terms of portraying that Labour actually understands what's happening in people's lives at the moment.
However, the Labour Party in Scotland has managed to get through its leadership campaign without too much bloodletting. They now need to really get their act together at Holyrood. They haven't really been functioning as a proper opposition for the last year or so because they have been firefighting on their own turf. It's always better to subject Governments to vigorous and effective scrutiny - and this SNP one sure needs it.
The UK Labour Party slithers seemingly inexorably towards meltdown. There is a bit of Devil's Advocate in what I'm about to say, but in many ways this lot have been lucky to get away with so much for so long. Gordon Brown had a sustained period of fairly benign economic circumstances as Chancellor only to see it all fall apart the minute he gets the top job. Frankly, the global economic crisis isn't entirely the UK Labour Party's fault. Sure, they failed to curb the banks' irresponsible and clearly unsustainable lending habits which led to the credit crunch, but there are bigger global economic players who chose to make their hay while the sun shone who should share the blame.
Let's not forget that Tony Blair's new Labour led us into what was probably an illegal and certainly an immoral and expensive war in Iraq in the face of unprecedented opposition on the streets, they have been responsible for attacks on our civil liberties such as ID cards and 42 days' detention.
Labour backbenchers were bitching and whinging over all of these things in Tony Blair's day. Hell, he lost a darned good Cabinet Minister in Robin Cook over Iraq, but he coped. I guess he had what Brown lacks - the Bullshit Factor. He could sit there and look all sincere and tell a story - and nine times out of ten that's exactly what it was, a piece of carefully woven spin - about what was going on. And while people didn't always buy it, they accepted it.
When Gordon Brown tries to explain something, he just sounds a bit awkward and lumbering - he just doesn't have that way of telling that story that makes you feel that he has everything sorted.
Maybe we don't need that, though. Sure, when we're headed for bad times, we want reassurance and somebody to tell us it isn't happening. We don't want Captain Darling telling us we're all doomed.
Times are tough, though, and they will get tougher until we can find a more sustainable, less oil dependent way of living. This is going to require some common working amongst politicians of all parties but I don't have much hope of that happening any time soon.
As for the whinging on the Labour benches, I suspect it's not just about people being worried about their own seats. It's the continuation of the Blair v Brown feud which marked virtually all of Blair's premiership. There are scores to settle and the Blairites are going to enjoy raining as much misery upon Brown's head as they can.
It's all a bit pathetic, really. They are saying they want a contest, but don't say who they want to be the challenger. I guess all potential challengers see the spectre of Michael Heseltine before them - he was earmarked as the clear challenger to Thatcher, they used him to get rid of her and then chose someone else. Nobody wants to make that kind of sacrifice of their career.
If Labour are ever going to get anywhere, the whingers need to shut up, no elected Labour official should say anything that isn't directly related to understanding and dealing with people's troubles at the moment and they just need to get their heads down and deliver. While we're at it, they shouldn't allow stories to build around things like a planned £150 payment to every family - if it's not true they should kill it immediately. Cos a few weeks later when all they end up giving out is some lagging for your loft, people will feel disappointed.
I'm not optimistic that Labour are going to be capable of digging themselves out of their current mess. I think it's possible, but it will involve effort from everybody, including their backbenchers. Changing their leader will do them no favours. Ok, they might scrape back in like John Major did for the Tories. But at what cost?
We need a grown up Government dealing with the current problems, not being preoccupied with the knives aimed at their backs.
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