“Waste not want not.”
So Gordon Browns latest solution for tax burdened hard working families is for us all to save £8 a week through eating their stale food. It would be cheap of me to point out the irony in this coming at the same time as Brown was set to embark upon 8 courses of the kind of fine food that is so rare to find in his Kirkcaldy constituency. In fact it would also be cheap to point out that this plea for prudence is coming from the same man who squandered billions through his indecision on Northern Rock. Finally it would be cheap to pass comment on the fact that this declaration of caution came shortly after MP’s voted to keep their notorious John Lewis list. However all cheap points aside the greatest waste and the greatest tragedy has been the way in which Brown has thrown away a once in a lifetime opportunity to reform our great country. When he should be championing deep and long lasting change Brown is spending his time sending out patronising messages about how we can save our pennies.
The past year has been a year if doom and gloom with U-turns and anonymous briefings defining the Westminster village in a way reminiscent of the final days of Major. This time last year Brown was riding on a wave of high expectations and strong public support. Since then we have seen precious little to get excited about, in no are of social policy has Brown managed to do anything seriously worthy of note, we are still in a quagmire in Iraq, the nation is still gripped with widespread discontent relating to petrol prices and in terms of health and education we have seen precious little. After 11 years of a Labour government the gap between rich and poor has grown and the widespread disillusion has seen the Labour Party fall behind both the SNP and Tories and have been rejected from almost every single city council across England and Wales.
Under not circumstances would the self proclaimed Heathcliff have envisaged his first year running so badly, a series of bad results in bye election could be followed by a disastrous result in Glasgow East which many are already saying would spell the end of Brown. While a defeat in the Glasgow heartlands would surely be crippling all of this speculation ignores they key point that no one in their right mind would want to lead the government right now. For a young up and coming minister like Milliband or James Purnell then surely a stint in the top job would be a political kiss of death, the best they could hope for is for the next election to be competitive. Also as Michael Heseltine can attest it is very rare for the one who bears the sword to ever wear the crown. There appears to be a sense of compliance within the government, from a voters perspective it appears it seems like there’s an acceptance that the party are due a term in opposition.
Yet to paraphrase the West Wing it has to be said that Labour MPs have a greater chance to affect change within 1 day in government than they do in a lifetime outside it. One of the main reasons for the government’s failings has simply been a poverty of ambition. It’s been a long time since the Prime Minister addressed the big themes of government; we are still yet to hear about the Brown vision, unless that vision involves mediocrity and a series of corny sofa interviews. If we accept that defeat in 2010 is inevitable then that only further underlines the need to Brown to make the big changes and put in practice the irreversible egalitarian policies that we always hear about him supporting.
Brown has wasted his first year in the top job, he has thrown away an opportunity that the majority of us will never have: the chance to help create the Britain of his dreams. Significantly a number of Brown’s wounds have been self-inflicted; the indecision, the 10p tax disaster and the serious questions about the health of the economy yet these have all happened under an air of doom from a PM who spent 1 years backstabbing and bullying his way in to power and has shown precious little ambition now that he’s in control. Brown needs to stop wasting the little time he has, stop chasing headlines in the right-wing press and remember the reason he got involved in politics: to make the country a fairer place. The extravagance of the G8 feasts, the John Lewis lists and the indecision over Northern Rock are one thing but to waste a full year and to waste the chance to introduce great reform in Britain’s top job is surely unforgivable.
So Gordon Browns latest solution for tax burdened hard working families is for us all to save £8 a week through eating their stale food. It would be cheap of me to point out the irony in this coming at the same time as Brown was set to embark upon 8 courses of the kind of fine food that is so rare to find in his Kirkcaldy constituency. In fact it would also be cheap to point out that this plea for prudence is coming from the same man who squandered billions through his indecision on Northern Rock. Finally it would be cheap to pass comment on the fact that this declaration of caution came shortly after MP’s voted to keep their notorious John Lewis list. However all cheap points aside the greatest waste and the greatest tragedy has been the way in which Brown has thrown away a once in a lifetime opportunity to reform our great country. When he should be championing deep and long lasting change Brown is spending his time sending out patronising messages about how we can save our pennies.
The past year has been a year if doom and gloom with U-turns and anonymous briefings defining the Westminster village in a way reminiscent of the final days of Major. This time last year Brown was riding on a wave of high expectations and strong public support. Since then we have seen precious little to get excited about, in no are of social policy has Brown managed to do anything seriously worthy of note, we are still in a quagmire in Iraq, the nation is still gripped with widespread discontent relating to petrol prices and in terms of health and education we have seen precious little. After 11 years of a Labour government the gap between rich and poor has grown and the widespread disillusion has seen the Labour Party fall behind both the SNP and Tories and have been rejected from almost every single city council across England and Wales.
Under not circumstances would the self proclaimed Heathcliff have envisaged his first year running so badly, a series of bad results in bye election could be followed by a disastrous result in Glasgow East which many are already saying would spell the end of Brown. While a defeat in the Glasgow heartlands would surely be crippling all of this speculation ignores they key point that no one in their right mind would want to lead the government right now. For a young up and coming minister like Milliband or James Purnell then surely a stint in the top job would be a political kiss of death, the best they could hope for is for the next election to be competitive. Also as Michael Heseltine can attest it is very rare for the one who bears the sword to ever wear the crown. There appears to be a sense of compliance within the government, from a voters perspective it appears it seems like there’s an acceptance that the party are due a term in opposition.
Yet to paraphrase the West Wing it has to be said that Labour MPs have a greater chance to affect change within 1 day in government than they do in a lifetime outside it. One of the main reasons for the government’s failings has simply been a poverty of ambition. It’s been a long time since the Prime Minister addressed the big themes of government; we are still yet to hear about the Brown vision, unless that vision involves mediocrity and a series of corny sofa interviews. If we accept that defeat in 2010 is inevitable then that only further underlines the need to Brown to make the big changes and put in practice the irreversible egalitarian policies that we always hear about him supporting.
Brown has wasted his first year in the top job, he has thrown away an opportunity that the majority of us will never have: the chance to help create the Britain of his dreams. Significantly a number of Brown’s wounds have been self-inflicted; the indecision, the 10p tax disaster and the serious questions about the health of the economy yet these have all happened under an air of doom from a PM who spent 1 years backstabbing and bullying his way in to power and has shown precious little ambition now that he’s in control. Brown needs to stop wasting the little time he has, stop chasing headlines in the right-wing press and remember the reason he got involved in politics: to make the country a fairer place. The extravagance of the G8 feasts, the John Lewis lists and the indecision over Northern Rock are one thing but to waste a full year and to waste the chance to introduce great reform in Britain’s top job is surely unforgivable.
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