Why Gordon Brown is a hero and bankers are the UK's biggest asset

No need to check the calendar. It's not April 1st. I'm not being ironic either. As we approach the general election in May, I just felt it was time that someone injected a little bit of sanity into the current debate about the deficit, the economy and the banking industry.

Lets start with Gordon Brown. His name has become a byword for incompetence. The Conservative party would have us all believe that Brown was a hapless incompetent who rammed the economy into an iceberg, mismanaging the UK's finances and losing control of public spending. The inconvenient truth for the Conservatives is that rather than wrecking the economy, Brown actually saved it. The financial meltdown of 2008 was caused by two things. The first was lax regulation of the banking industry. This was as much a product of the Tory years of deregulation under Thatcher and Major as it was Blair and Brown. The prevailing pre crisis view was that deregulation was a good thing. If anything, had the Conservatives been in charge 1997-2008, the regulation regime would have been even more permissive, it certainly wouldn't have been stricter. When the crisis hot, Gordon Brown correctly realised that the UK economy is reliant on banking. We are arguably the centre of the global finance and maintaining this is vital to our national wealth. In the US, the hard right orthodoxy of the Bush regime allowed many financial institutions to go to the wall. In the UK, Brown baled them out. The net result is that the UK still has financial services industry with global credibility. The baled out banks have recovered and are once again contribiting to the UK economy. It should be remembered that the then Conservative opposition questioned the use of tapayers money to bale out Norther Rock, RBS and Lloyds TSB. Had these companies gone under, who knows what shocks and meltdown may have happened. It should also be remembered that Brown played key role in negotiations to ensure that the worlds banking system didn't collapse. Its should also be remembered that the problems in the banking industry largely started in the USA, not the UK. There is a saying that when the USA sneezes Great Britain catches cold. This certainly was true of the 2008 banking crisis. As a result of huge bale out process, the UK's public finances were plunged into crisis. We are still paying. What isn't discussed so much is what the UK economy would look like without the Brown lead bale out.

This brings us to the banks and bankers. Both seem to get a never ending bad press and I can't remember the last positive major news story about the banks. The question is how fair are these comments. Of course when banks do bad things, it warrants a story. No one could claim that much of the torrent of bile is unwarranted, but wouldn't it be more sensible to try and get some degree of balance. Banks make a huge contribution to the UK economy. Over 1 million people work in the banking sector in the UK and the organisations they work for bring huge wealth to the UK. Banking products are a part of modern life. Few of us would own homes if the bank didn't provide mortgages. When we buy things in shops, we use credit and debit cards (often using money the card companies are lending us in the form of a credit limit). If we want to buy on line products, we simply do an on line transfer. If we get woken up at 2am and we need an emergency plumber, we cn get cash oiut of an ATM. Modern life would be unimaginable withourt banks and the services they provide. We would also all be far poorer. In London, we have a fantastic city. We have great public transport, but leasing companies own most of the trains. When schools, hospitals and roads are built, these are financed by banks, the money is paid back once the facilities are in operation. In London most businesses, pubs and restaurants are kept running by bank employees.

This brings us to the subject of the bankers themselves. Often they are portrayed as fat cats. Most people who work for banks, don't get paid any more than the rest of us. The call centre staff and branch staff, who for most of us are the main contact, are not highly paid, although they bear the brunt of the public wrath. When we talk about "fat cat bankers" we generally think either of senior investment bankers or board members. I would hazard a guess that senior bank executives are no better paid than senior executives elsewhere in the private sector. as to the traders who get huge bonuses, these are usually driven by commission and profits of the organisation. If you work for a profitable institution, why shouldn't the people who generate the cash get the money? We hear the same comments sometimes about footballers and pop stars. At the end of the day, if you work in an industry that generates lots of money and you have a desirable skill set, you will earn a lot of money.

Then there is the issue of HSBC and the policy of its subsidiary that helped the rich avoid tax. I cannot believe the hypocritical guff talked about this. Every time any of us pay a trader cash to secure a cheaper deal, we are party to tax evadion. Everyone who has ever bought a cheap packet of cigarettes from a dodgy importer, has been a party to tax evasion. If you buy dodgy DVD's you are party to tax evasion. I don't know anyone who would willingly pay more cash to the taxman than they are legally required. Many don't actually see a bit of small scale tax evasion as a crime. As to the activities of HSBC, this was as much to do with the activites of the rich as to their bank. Of course HSBC should be hammered, but ultimately we are indivudally responsible for paying our taxes.

Ultimately banks and bankers make a hueg contribution to the UK. Banking and finance are perhaps the most important sector of the UK economy. Gordon Browns intervention in 2008 maintained this position. If banks suddenly ceased to exist, it would not only wreck the UK economy, but it would make our own lives hugely difficult. The sole purpose of banks is to make money. They will do this however they can. It is the duty of the regulatory authorities and the government to make sure they do this responsibly, ethically and in a way that is beneficial to the economy. It is extremely stupid to continually hammer the countries biggest asset. I do think the banking industry needs to take a long hard look at what it does, up its game and take corporate responsibility seriously. I also think they should start to remind us all that they are very good for the UK. And finally I'd like to see a few members of the Labour party actually talk about their achievements.

Finchley and Golders Green MP advocates being lazy as a lifestyle!

Ask anyone which Prime Minister was the biggest workaholic and they will probably tell you that it was Margaret Thatcher, who took great pride in getting by on three hours sleep. A close runner up would be Gordon "I saved the world" Brown. Whatever you may or may not think of these two and I must confess to being a fan of neither, I was rather surprised and a tad amused by the successor to Lady Thatcher's constituency, Mike Freer coming out on twitter as am advocate of being a lazy git and a slob. I wonder how her Ladyship will view her successors comments. Those of us who were blogging in the days of Mike Freer's leadership will be amused to see him slagging off of his political mentor, Gordon Brown. Freer was a big fan of Brown's stealth taxes, Stalinist tendencies and like Brown could be very thin skinned in the face of criticism.

I must say that since Mike has become an MP, he does seem to have become nicer for the opportunity to put his feet up and chill out a bit. Let's hope Brian Coleman will also become nicer for his voter imposed rest.At times he even seems to have developed a sense of humour. I suppose if Matthew Offord MP is your best buddy, you jolly well need one.

Here's Mike's tweet.

Mike Freer MP ‏@mikefreermp

Brown was total workaholic +we know how successful that was! Import that the PM is able to relax.

Great Britain will join the euro within five years - update

I wrote this blog in July last year - I didn't realise I was a mystic meg in disguise :-


http://barneteye.blogspot.com/2009/07/great-britain-will-join-euro-within-5.html

Fellow Barnet blogger "Don't call me Dave" left this comment in response :-

Blimey Rog, I thought you'd stopped smoking that wacky backy?

2 July 2009 22:39

The first three predictions I made in this blog were as follows (and bear in mind this was nearly a year ago when David Cameron looked unassailable).

January 2010 - Britian starts a borrowing lead recovery from recession, Labour poll ratings improve, but not enough

May 2010 - General election - Tories form a minority government propped up by Unionists

June 2010 - Brown resign's, Mandelson anoints Gordon Brown's replacement. Tories pass vicious austerity budget.

 Sound a bit familiar. Still think I'm on the Wacky Baccy Dave?

Leadership debate part II

So we had the second installment of the Leadership debate. As regular readers will know, I always play five a side football on a Thursday night (may have a night off in two weeks though), so I missed it. Afterwards we adjourned to the Three Hammers pub. It was clear to me as I started supping my shandy (it was my turn to drive, so no hard stuff), that whilst politicos are in an orgasmic blather about the issue, the rest of society takes a different view. Last weeks debate was a new experience and people were fascinated. Last night many people watched maybe 20 minutes of it then got bored,once it appeared that all of the intensive coaching Cameron and Brown have had in the last week hadn't transformed them into Superman. I suspect that 90 minutes is far too long for most people.

What conclusions can we glean from the second debate :-

* If you do your homework properly, you do better
* It's all still to play for

When I got home, I watched some of the debate and some of the analysis. I don't think that the two debates have added a single vote to the Tories or Labour. If you watched both debates and hadn't made your mind up, there really is only one winner. Ultimately that's all that matters.

Nick Clegg judged to have won Leader debate

It's 23:54 on Thursday night an I'm watching Sky News analysis of the Leaders debate. It seems that the instant polls have decided that Nick Clegg won the debate. The pundits seem surprised by this result. I saw Nicks speech to the Lib Dem conference in Birmingham recently. He also did a question and answer session. I'm not surprised at all. I wasn't surprised when Vince Cable won the Chancellor debate either.

Swallow my Pride

The Ramones from 1977

Swallow my Pride


Winter is here and it's going on two years, swallow my pride

Things were looking grim but they're looking good again, swallow my pride
Loose lips sink ships they say, but isn't it always that way


Swallow my pride oh yeah,
Swallow my pride oh yeah,
Swallow my pride oh yeah,
Swallow my pride oh yeah
Winter is here and it's going on two years, swallow my pride

Things were looking grim but they're looking good again, swallow my pride

Gonna have a real cool time and everythings gonna be real fine

Swallow my pride oh yeah,
Swallow my pride oh yeah,
Swallow my pride oh yeah,
Swallow my pride oh yeah
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

If ever there was a song which summed up what is going on in Great Britain today, what we've endured and to give us a bit of hope for the future, this is the one. Lets hope a few people Swallow their pride and lets pray we're gonna have a real cool time and everythings gonna be real fine. I wonder if Geoff Hoon, Patricia Hewitt and co's loose lips have sunk Battleship Brown?

I love the Ramones and I think their minimalism says more than whole tomes of meaningless tosh spouted by many commentators. There's a lesson in there for us all from the greatest rock n roll band ever to walk the face of the earth. Oh Yeah !

Future Shape - The biggest Brownite in Barnet

If you were a Tory Candidate standing in a highly marginal seat, standing against a hideously unpopular Labour Governement, who would be the last person you would think, you would want to endorse you?

Well it seems that the Candidate for Finchley and Golders Green thinks that a thumbs up from Gordon Brown and the Labour Party is just what he needs to win - check this link on his website :-

http://www.finchleyconservatives.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=34:futureshape&catid=2:news&Itemid=2


So there you have it. Gordon Browns goverrnment thinks that Future Shape is marvellous and the Tories say he's bankrupted the country. The former leader of Barnet Council thinks Future Shape is Marvellous and he's gambled all the reserves in Icelandic banks (taking an £18 million hit with your cash). It's a shame that Don't Call Me Dave, Barnets most sensible Tory has retired from blogging as I'd love to hear what he has to say about this "ringing endorsement".

I wonder if David Cameron will be campaigning on the fact that his policies have been endorsed by the Labour party as well? Not unless he's bonkers I would guess. I wonder what Conservative Central  Headquarters office will make of all of this? ( I wonder how long they'll leave this page up. They usually remove their cock ups pretty quickly when I point them out). Is it a new policy - "Our policies must be great because Gordon likes them".

Sometimes it's great writing a blog in Barnet. You don't have to do much to amuse the readers, you just post links to the Finchley Conservatives website and they shoot their own foot off.

**** Update at 8am ****
The Finchley Conservatives changed the name of the web page link on their site so the above link didn't work. Rather odd behaviour really, leaving the page there but making it so anyone visiting from the blog wouldn't find it. If they pull the stunt again, visit http://www.finchleyconservatives.com/ and see if it's still the top story in the sidebar on the right of the page. They either think it's a good story or not? You think they'd be glad of the publicity (I've updated the above link and will monitor).

Gordon Brown and bullying

The allegations of bullying by Gordon Brown are the top news story this morning. Whether or not there is any substance in the allegations, sadly I doubt that Gordon Brown is the only boss in the land who has staff who may feel that they are bullied. One of the most popular shows on TV is "the apprentice". This involves a group of staff being monstered on a weekly basis by Sir Alan Sugar. Then there are the shows where Gordon Ramsey goes into other peoples restaurants, F's and Blinds at them and lo and behold, the place which previously served hogswill suddenly is transformed into a Michelin starred restaurant.

Many years ago, there was a series called "Troubleshooter". It started Sir John Harvey Jones, former chairman of ICI. He'd go into failing companies and use his wealth of experience to turn the companies around. Did he swear at the staff? No, although he probably felt like it. He'd politely explain why their company was failing and what they needed to do to turn it around. Did Sir John become a megastar in the Sugar/Ramsey mould? No, but he probably saved a few companies and a few hundred jobs. The trouble is that these days people love to watch people being bullied. Why else is Simon Cowell such a prime time star? Do we watch X factor so we can see Simon discover a new talent and tell them they are marvellous? Of course we don't we want to watch him monster a poor hapless wannabee who is dazzled by the bright lights.

Have you ever worked for a bully? I have. I'm a fairly robust sort of person, I always have been. I wouldn't have thought anyone would bully me, but I was wrong. Lets call my ex boss "Jane". She did her best to bully everyone. My turn came when my father suddenly had a heart attack and died. I rang in to say that my father had passed away and I wouldn't be in for a few days. She instantly retorted "The Company rules state that you are allowed one days compassionate leave, I expect you to come in tomorrow". I responded that I would be in when I felt up to coming in. I waited a week, to be honest I still wasn't right, but thought that I had to get back to normal life sometime. As I walked into the office, a colleague approached me and said "Oh, so you've decided to turn up". I responded "Did Jane tell you why I was off". He replied "She said you couldn't be bothered to come in". Suppressing my anger, I replied "So she didn't tell you that my father had a heart attack and had died then?". My colleague looked shocked and replied "er, No". He then suggested that I follow him. he took me over the road, to a cafe, bought me a cup of tea and a bacon sandwich and said "Stay here, I need to tell everyone else. I don't want anyone else putting their foot in it". About half an hour later he came back and said "We're all really sorry. we'd have sent some flowers if we'd known. Everyone is really upset with Jane." I explained what she'd said. My friend then said "She was lying, the rules state that you are allowed 5 days compassionate leave". I was too emotionally low to tell her what I thought of her. My colleague did. She responded that she only took half a day for the funeral when her father died. She never apologised for lying. I left the company shortly after.

I don't think that systematic bullying of staff is ever tolerable. I employ nine people and I sincerely hope that I have the respect and trust of my staff without needing to terrorise them. I work in the music industry and I feel that the Cowell approach to talent is awful. I wonder how Morrissey, John Lydon, Bob Marley, Bob Dylan, Meatloaf, Marc Almond to name a few would have fared on X-Factor? I suspect that all you end up with if you are completely stifling, overbearing and aggressive, that all you end up with is clones and yes men. This is as true in politics as in music.I have n doubt that if Gordon Brown actually engaged with colleagues, respected their opinions and listened to their views, that  he'd be a far more successful Prime Minister.

The bottom line is that as far as I'm concerned there is no place for bullying. This is true whether it's in the playground, on X-Factor, in the workplace or in the Prime Ministers office. Sadly I think that our culture actually promotes it.

First Capital Connect Update

Firstly, for anyone who missed the ITV London Reports story on First Capital Connect last night, here it is (thanks to Don't Call Me Dave at Not The Barnet Times for the clip) - Enjoy.

Next up, remember that First Capital Connect said that the days of 4 carriage trains were a thing of the past? We'll I just checked the First Capital Connect journey check website (at 17:45) and saw these affecting Mill Hill Broadway :-

16:44 St Albans City to Sutton Surrey due 18:08
This train will be formed of 4 coaches instead of 8.
Message Received: 05:09:55 26/01/2010
           
17:18 Luton to Sutton Surrey due 19:05
This train has been revised.
This train will be formed of 4 coaches instead of 8.
Message Received: 16:39:27 26/01/2010
       
20:20 Luton to Sutton Surrey due 22:07
This train will be formed of 4 coaches instead of 8.
Message Received: 05:10:41 26/01/2010

As for the petition to terminate the Franchise. It now has 4,726 signatures and has risen to the 26th most popular petition in the country.

One other thing I found out today. I was rather interested in who actually runs First Group PLC, the parent company for First Capital Connect. We've already looked at the CEO Moir Lockhead and his compensation package. I thought I'd see what the Chairman, Martin Gilbert brings to the group. If you click on this link, you'll see an impressive array of chairmanships etc on Mr Gilberts CV. He is the CEO of Aberdeen Assett Management, where he's worked since 1983. What amazed me (maybe I'm just naive or stupid), but he seems a bit light (shall we say) on experience of running transport companies. He looks like a great guy to manage your assets though. Could this be why First is so much better at looking after it's directors and shareholders than it's passengers?

When will the penny drop and Labour Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Transport Minister Lord Adonis realise that the people who should run railways are people who understand railways?

Winston Churchill is still alive !

I bumped into one of my old friends today. Let's just say he has some rather bonkers interesting theories on the way the Country is run. Whilst you or I might believe that Gordon Brown*/David Cameron* (delete as appropriate) are useless, evil barons, set on a mission to destroy the economy, my friend believes that there is no such thing as democracy and it's all just a "front" to suppress us. I've got to say that normally I don't subscribe to these conspiracy theories. Human nature is such that we like gossiping, we always have a resentment of our boss and highly driven psychotic types who would enact such a conspiracy generally don't have a good track at all working harmoniously.

Having said that, his latest crackpot interesting theory was just so bonkers interesting that I felt I had to share it with you. "You know Winston Churchill is still alive and they are going to install him as a puppet leader". I pointed out that he was in his 90's when he died. They didn't have the technology back then to reverse old age and as far as I know they still don't. "No, no, no you've got it all wrong. They took cells from him while he was still alive and they have cloned him. The cells are not a copy of Winston Churchill, they are Winston Churchill". A quick visit to Wiki told me that the first Tadpole had successfully been cloned in 1952, around the time that Winston Churchill was back in charge at No 10. Can you imagine the conversation "Prime Minister, we've come up with a spiffing idea to ensure that we beat the Nazi's if they ever come back. They've successfully cloned a tadpole, so we thought if we took a few cells from you, we could clone you and you could run the Country forever". The mind boggles at what Winston Churchills response would be.

My friend believes that this replacement Winston Churchill was cloned at Porton Down and is around 25 years old. He's been educated at a special institute where the Establishment train up such people for the grand master plan, which is the re-establishment of the British empire. It got me to thinking  - Would Winston Churchill be the great wartime Leader he became if he'd been hothoused in a special establishment school, rather than lead a swashbuckling life travelling the world. Would Winston Churchill have been the biggest critic of the awful policies of the Nazis and their master race creed if he'd been brought up being told he was the saviour of the free world? When it comes to making great leaders is it nature or nurture, genes or life experience?

My friend looked rather puzzled when I asked which other leaders have been cloned. Just imagine a whole army of Maggie Thatchers, Tony Blairs, John Majors and Gordon Browns being brewed up as we speak. As I got home, an awful thought struck me. Just suppose that at the "establishment institute" where the clones are schooled, the Tony Blair clone and the Maggie Thatcher clone got together and procreated? Now I'm scared.

If I mysteriously disappear tonight off the face of the earth and this blog is mysteriously removed, you'll know that my good friend was on to something.

First Capital Connect Passenger Bulletin : "Up Yours Matey!"

********** Important Update 2 *************
Just checking the stats and noticed a few people in Westminster have been looking at this blog today. I wonder if this has anything to do with Lord Adonis suddenly deciding to criticise First Capital Connect on the BBC - http://www.facebook.com/group.php?v=wall&gid=2239285772 - ??????
********** End of Update 2 ****************

********** Important Update ***************
I've noticed a large number of hits from the I hate First Capital Connect Website. I've put a link to this and a couple of other relevant groups in the sidebar. If you are disattisfied please sign the No 10 petition. There is an election coming up and if enough people sign it, then they may take note. As of today there are 2,650 signatures. I will provide regular updates on this
********** End of Update *****************


First Group, the company which operates the Thameslink service issued a financial update yesterday. This is the company which has been completely unable to run the service listed in it's timetable for several months. Here's the key statement from the update.

"We are encouraged by the performance of our rail division which continued to deliver growth despite the clear effects of the recession on the UK's rail industry," chief executive Moir Lockhead said in a statement.

Here is the performance stats from their own website :-

 13 Dec-9 Jan            62.8%
 15 Nov-12 Dec         84.1%
 18 Oct-14 Nov          82.1%
 20 Sep-17 Oct           86.8%
 23 Aug-19 Sep          93.3%
 26 Jul-22 Aug           90.8%
 28 Jun-25 Jul            87.7%
 31 May - 27 Jun       91.3%

As you can see, Moir Lockhead, the bloke who runs this lamentable company is "encouraged by the performance" of the shambolic travesty of a company he's in charge of. Could this be because he trousers over three quarters of a million quid a year in "compensation".

Having completely failed to do his job, how can he stick a finger up at his customers so crassly. It is clear to me that there is only one solution. Strip FIRST Group of this and all of their other rail franchises. Lockhead clearly doesn't understand what is expected of someone who is charged with running a rail company. As I predicted previously, the disruption has had no negative effect on the finances of this company. The only people to suffer are the long suffering passengers. I could not believe that First Group think they are doing well. It is time for the Government to step in and take proper action. Gordon Brown has an opportunity to take decisive action and show that he is a tough leader. How can he not take action? Transport Secretary Lord Adonis must take action or resign. This article in "The Argus" sadly shows that Adonis is completely detached from reality. Adonis seems keener to make excuses for this lamentable company than to actually do anything for the hard pressed commuters. I fully agree with Lib Dem Peer Lord McNally, who I heard on BBC London demanding action against First Group. According to the Argus  :-

Liberal Democrat peers leader Lord McNally, speaking from the backbenches, had urged the Transport Secretary to consider whether franchise operator First Capital Connect was meeting its obligations following a series of problems.

Not for the first time in relation to this dispute, it seems to me that only the Lib Dems are taking the concerns of the travelling public seriously. It is Lord Adonis job to sort this sort of problem out. It is clear to me that he's just not interested.

Tackling yob culture

We will never allow teenage tearaways or anybody else to turn our town centres into no go areas at night times. No one has yet cracked the whole problem of a youth drinking culture. We thought that extended hours would make our city centres easier to police and in many areas it has.

Any idea who said this and when? Go on have a guess? I'll keep you in suspense for now. Do you think that the person who said this got it right? Do you think they have accurately summed up how pleasant it is to stroll through our Town Centres at 11pm on a Saturday night?

The thing which really depresses me about teenage yob culture and problems associated with teenage drinking is that I believe that it should be relatively simple to tackle. I've sat the exam for Licensees, I know the law on the subject. Any licensed premises which fails to maintain public order can have its license to sell alcohol revoked. In the Borough of Barnet, there are certain pubs and shops which are known to be associated with drink related social problems. I wonder how many pubs & off licenses in Barnet (especially supermarkets) have had their drinks license revoked in the last year, following bad behaviour by their customers?

The solution is simple. Individuals who are arrested for drink related disorder should be given ASBOs banning them from ALL establishments in the London Borough of Barnet which sell drink. Every licensed premises should be given a list of names and photographs of all such people and any establishment selling Alcohol to such a person should lose, either on a temporary or permanent basis, their drinks license. You may ask the question "What about supermarkets, how could they police such a system with so many tills?". Well that is a business issue for them to resolve. They have to get a license to sell booze, the same as everyone else. If you are in the game of selling drink, you have to have a policy of responsibility. Big profits come with big responsibilities.

I'd suggest that Barnet have a "responsible drinking month". All areas where drink related disorder was a problem would be targeted and for 1 month, that would be the top priority for local police teams. Any drink outlets that didn't comply would lose their licenses for breaching the licensing act.

My guess is that there would be a huge tail off in all manner of crime as a result. I'd start by withdrawing alcohol licenses for 7 days. If the message didn't sink in, then I'd strip those establishments and individuals who put profits above the law of their licenses permanently.

Back to the quote at the top. Did you get it.  Prime Minister Gordon Brown said this to the Labour Conference in 2009. I'm taking a wild guess here, but I don't think Gordon spends much time boozing in Town Centre pubs at chucking out time?

Losing touch with reality

I've spent most of the last two days looning around in the snow with my children. No school for them. It has been great. Bumped into all sorts of friends, old and new as our kids hurtled down the various slopes of Mill Hill on a variety of sledges, toboggans, trays, inflatables, estate agents signs .....

Each evening I've gone home and put on the news. There are only two stories. The weather and a couple of MP's saying Gordon Brown should go. As I watched I realised that the current story about these MP's sums up all that is wrong with politics in the UK. As I chatted to friends today, did anyone at all mention Gordon Browns problems with his MP's? Not a sausage. Did they mention the travel chaos caused by lack of planning for bad weather? You bet, that's all they wanted to talk about. Which story did David Camerons Conservative Party think warranted rushing out a billboard poster for? My guess is that every Tory politico in the land looked at the poster and went "Marvellous, we're on to a winner here". It is also my guess that every normal voter in the country hadn't got a clue what it was all about. I suspect that if you showed the poster to most people in my local, they'd probably think it was a bad picture of Dierdre Barlow and that she was hooking up with a new husband - Is  Geoff Hoon the new Ken Barlow? Doubtless millions of Corrie fans will be tuning in tonight to be disappointed that this plot line isn't happening.

It was summed up for me during a conversation with a friend, Gary the Cabbie, who told me of when he had John Prescott in his cab. Prescott asked what he thought of the then new bus & taxi lane on the M4. Gary replied that it didn't make much difference to him. He said that Prescott should concentrate on things like banning large lorries delivering during rush hour and listed a whole lot of other enhancements around London which would make a huge difference. John Prescotts reply? "What do you know about transport?". Gary retorted "We'll I've only spent the last 30 years driving around London". Prescott replied "People like you never see the big picture".

The trouble is that the big picture is really a montage of small pictures. The likes of Prescott want a simplistic broad brush, but in reality it's attention to detail which makes all of the difference. David Cameron had the choice yesterday on how to spend his advertising budget. Should he impress all his mates with a poster which they'd find rather clever, or should he vow to fix the effects of bad weather on the economy under a Tory Government?

He chose the easy option. The one his mates thought was clever. You may well ask, how on earth do you fix transport disruption caused by snow? Here's my suggestion. You find out which local authority dealt with it best. You then get all of the other authorities to learn the lessons which that authority has taken on board. Train companies. You institute massive fines for disruption caused by bad weather. In this day and age, the Council must know where it's teams have gritted. Put this information on-line. Let's see in real time how Barnet is doing compared to Harrow and Brent? They must have the information, so why not share it with the public. The Council spent £100,000 on putting you tube videos on the Internet. Why can't they put useful info, like when your road will be gritted next up?

I'll tell you why, because they've lost touch with reality.

Gordon Brown Vs David Cameron

Otto Von Bismark once famously said that “politics is the art of the possible”. Decades later, economist John Kenneth Galbraith responded to Bismark’s quote saying, “Politics is not the art of the possible. It consists in choosing between the disastrous and the unpalatable.”

Cameron Vs Brown? Apart from Party apparatchik's is there anyone out their who is genuinely excited by the prospect of either of these two?

Hat tip to the Flying Oskar blog for the quote (and for VickiM for finding it)

"Oh dear, this wasn't supposed to happen"

At the Sun, in Guido Fawkes smokey lair, and all over the country, the Tory right are rather perplexed. Gordon Brown WON A BYELECTION. In the past, IT WAS THE SUN WOT WON IT.

Well I happen to think this is true of the Glasgow election last night. Sure, it's a Labour safe seat, but at times like these, they fall. I happen to think that Labour turned out because they felt sorry for the unfair hammering Brown took for "Lettergate". The British don't like bullies and they don't like unfairness. The byelection was a strong message to "The Sun".

I happen to think that the only thing which will save Gordon's bacon is a really nasty spiteful and negative campaign. If I was rampaging Rupert, I'd call in my editors and tell them in no uncertain terms to lay off the poison. Trouble is, I don't think Big Rupe does nice. I was talking to a pollster earlier today and they said there are two things which should make Cameron worried. Firstly he's not really managed to push his poll ratings on from last year and secondly, thanks to The Sun, people who hate Brown's guts are feeling just a tad ashamed of the horrible treatment he's had.

It is quite interesting to read some of the contorted conspiracy theories in some of the more outlandish blogs "Brown deliberately sent it to someone he knew would tell The Sun, to get us all to feel sorry for him". Sorry guys, if old Gordon was that clever he'd be 15 points ahead in the polls.

I thought Portillos comment on this week summed it up. The Sun shouldn't have taken the grief of a bereaved mother to stoke up a campaign against the Prime Minister.

What made this country great was FAIR PLAY. Anything that goes against that will instantly turn off the vast majority of normal British people. A lesson for us all - The Sun, Peter Mandelson et all

Gordon Brown and The Sun - a dyslexic viewpoint

I haven't felt too sorry for Gordon Brown over any of the problems he's had with the press.  That was until yesterday when the story broke in The Sun over his virtually illiterate letter to the mother of a soldier killed in Afghanistan. You see, I read Mr Browns reply (as best I could) and I thought - there for the grace of god go I. I've no desire to be Prime Minister, so it's one problem I'm not going to have, but as a dyslexic educated in the 60's and 70's I know what it is like to be on the receiving end of harsh criticism when you've done your best, purely for appalling spelling, awful grammar and dismal punctuation.

I was hit with a ruler on more than one occasion by teachers for "deliberately" spelling words incorrectly. I'm sure that Gordon Brown decided that a hand written letter from the Prime Minister would be far more appreciated than a stock word processed letter with his signature. I've no idea whether he's dyslexic, but his letter has a few of the hallmarks. He's clearly an intelligent man, but like me his brain clearly has a problem with names and words. It isn't helped by appalling handwriting, but I doubt a non dyslexic with his education and job would spell in that manner.

I get my wife to fill in all the forms I have to send off. I always get them wrong. Is it because I'm lazy or not careful? No. It's because if your brain tells you that's how it should be, that's how it should be. Ok you say, surely Gordon Brown should have a civil servant to read it before it's sent? Well hang on, it's supposed to be a private letter of condolence. What would the Sun say if it found out that "Gordon Brown is dyslexic and needs to pay a civil servant to read all his private letters". I say shame on The Sun for using a private matter for such horrible political ends. This whole issue is about trying to belittle Gordon Brown. I'd like to see whether The Sun feels it's inappropriate to use peoples disabilities against them? If it does then it is breaking the law. Let's just have a look at a few famous people, who've made a huge difference to their country :-

Winston Churchill - Alchoholic & Manic depressive
Franklyn D. Roosevelt - Virtual cripple.
Joan of Arc - Schizophrenic

All national icons, in the eyes of many, national saviours. Lord save us from becoming a nation where only the perfect are allowed to succeed. What message does it send to all of those kids out there struggling with dyslexia - "Keep your heads down, don't be too successful, because you've got an achillies heel that your enemies can destroy you with" - before I started writing this blog, I never wrote anything (apart from song lyrics) after I left school. When the Barnet Times asked me to write I blog, I was actually rather nervous about the concept. When I found people wanted to read it I was truly amazed. What I found was that people didn't care about the appalling use of English. They liked the fact that I was saying things no one else seemed to want to say. As a result others started having their say as well. Just as they say "don't judge a book by it's cover" I'd say don't judge anything by the handwriting or the spelling. What is the person trying to say? I wish I had the elegant prose of a Wilfred Owen, the wit of William Shakespeare or the dry humour of Stephen Fry. I haven't, but people still read the blog and get what I have to say (hopefully).  That's why I just can't stand by and say nothing about the crucifixion of Gordon Brown for his letter. I hope that this clobbers the Sun and  it's circulation figures. I think that the editor should be truly ashamed. I'm not going to criticise the mother of the soldier. She clearly has been deeply scarred and holds Brown responsible. She's just hitting back in any way she can. The Sun however are exploiting this to sell newspapers and it makes me sick.

There are plenty of reasons to have a go at Gordon Brown. His inability to write a letter of condolence is not one of them.

Sympathy for the Devil

*** Update  at 19:27 *** How very wierd. I just went into my blog manager page and this blog is the 666th blog I've posted. I didn't realise when I named it - How spooky is that ???? Perhaps the twat  is more evil than we all thought
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Everyone seems to want to talk to me about Nick Griffin, leader of the BNP on Question Time (Pictured left). Many people are shocked that I've not seen it and have no interest in seeing it, given my strident criticism of him.

The truth is, I'm rather sorry for the useless Fascist numpty. Not sorry that he may have been given a hard time by the BBC, no I'm sort of sorry for him in the way I'm sorry for a sick animal. You see Nick Griffin has excluded himself, for no other reason than stupidity, from many of the best things about Great Britian.

Does he appreciate a Brick Lane curry? Does he dance to the sounds of Bob Marley? Does he listen to the poetry of Linton Kwesi Johnson, does he boogie to the sounds of Soft Cell & Malk Almond, would he go to the Roundhouse to watch Smokey Robinson? Would he let his hair down at a Pride festival? Would he sing along with the London Community Gospel Choir? Does he like a nice Chinese takeaway? Does he cheer when Rio Ferdinand scores a goal for England? Does he thank the Lord when he sees Johnson Beharry receive a VC? Does he say a prayer for all the brave Imperial troops who helped save this great Country from Fascism? Does he thank the Lord for the Polish Spitfire pilots in the Battle of Britain.

Well if he does, he keeps very quiet about it. What a sad little man.

As to his claims that he was bullied, given a hard time, the audience was unrepresentative, these deserve a bit of scrutiny and analysis.

1. Was the audience representative? Well the BNP got around 1% of the vote at the last general election, so if there were 200 people in the audience, then maybe 2 of them should be BNP voters. The BNP has a tiny membership, so to be representative, then if one of them was actually a member, they were overrepresented.

2. Did the audience represent London's demographic make up? Griffin conceded it did. As such his bleating was actually for an "unrepresentative" audience.

3. He complained that he was asked lots of beastly questions. Well sorry poor lickle Nicky Wicky, that's what people do on question time. Just suppose they had Gordon Brown on. Do you think he'd get asked lots of nice questions by the Tories & Lib Dems. I can't see Chris Huhne saying "Well Gordon, we'd really like you to explain to us just how lucky we are to have you here and we must give you every opportunity to tell us how you saved the world" or Baroness Warsi saying "Well Gordon, I think you are the greatest thing since sliced bread". They'd probably be far more beastly to Gordon.

4. He claims the audience were picked to give him a hostile reaction. If you picked 100 people off the street at Random in London, they'd give Griffin a far more hostile reaction than he actually got. Going back to the Gordon Brown analogy, Would he bleat afterwards that "There were lots of people in the audience who booed me when I gave evasive answers" I doubt it.

Griffin is a twat. If he'd had half a brain, he'd have claimed a great victory in the face of insurmountable odds. As it is, he's just shown that he can't take it when he has to play ball with the big boys.

The Rog T Express takes shape !!!!!

I've had unprecedented interest in my scheme to take over the editorship of the Daily Express. Some of the idea's have gone down well, some haven't. Everyone likes the idea of freshening up the image, getting away from the same old, same old stories, and getting some new faces in.

As I had 5 minutes free, I thought I'd knock up my first test issue. Of course, I've not secured any advertising yet, so it's free of that and I don't have the fancy design team to make it look proper (or even the patience to spell check it, but that never harmed the Guardian in the good old days). This is just a hint as to how the front page might look and a taster to let you see what sort of stories you could expect. One big change. I've got rid of the Crusader as my logo. This has too many negative connotations for many of my target readers, being a symbol of imperialism. I've replaced it with a cucumber. This is because Cucumbers are cool. Sadly I haven't really secured the services of Beth Ditto or got three legged dogs on Page 3 either.

My good friend Derek, suggested that I should adopt the strategy employed in the film "The producers" and employ the worst team possible, to achieve an extraordinary success. Here's the team he suggested. Maybe he didn't realise just how serious I am in my offer to the Express to revive their fortunes.

Derek's "T" Team.

Environmental Editor - Jeremy Clarkson
Home Design - Pete Docherty
Cookery - Bear Grylls
Architecture - Bob The Builder
Womens Editor - Peter Stringfellow
City Editor - Sir Fred Goodwin
Football Editor - Sarah Ferguson
Racing Tips - Robert Runcie
Religious Editorial team - Ant and Dec
Boxing - Julian Clary
Celebrity Editor - Gordon Brown
Pub reviews - Harriet Harman

What do you think - A winning team?

Lockerbie Bomber released - So what?

I've just heard on the news that approx 75% of Scottish voters disapprove of the release of the Lockerbie Bomber. It looks like the controversial release is not fading from the screens quite as quickly as our masters would hope. My reaction? So what. As I understand it the bomber - Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi - worked for the Libyan secret services. As I understand it, the Libyan regime is a cruel dictatorship. As I understand it in cruel dictatorships, you do what you are told or you get a bullet in the head. Which means that all the pictures you see in this blogs are of Western leaders shaking hands with the bloke responsible. I'm all for justice for the familys of victims, but whilst our leaders shake hands with the poisonous scumbug in charge, how can there be any justice. If Gaddafi had shot the bomber as he got off the plane, then maybe, just maybe I'd believe he wasn't guilty as sin. As Al Megrahi wouldn't have dreamed of letting the bomb off without the nod from the scumbag on top, I really can't see the point locking him up, whilst this whole shameful charade of courting this toad proceeds.

Sorry if I upset anyone, I just loathe and despise cowardly scumbag dictators of all shapes and forms. Especially the sort who order the killing of a planeload of innocent kids.

How do you feel looking at these pictures. They make me sick. We all know how successful the policy of appeasement of dictators is, don't we?

This isn't a banana republic, so why do tolerate coup d'etat's?

Unlike many people on the left, I'm happy to concede that there are areas of policy where the Conservatives have much to offer. I'd even go as far as to say that changes of government are healthy for the political process and are a great way to prevent complacency and corruption. Given that it's pretty clear that Gordon Brown's government has run out of steam, you may wonder how I view the prospect of a Cameron government?


I'm rather worried by the prospect. I've detailed my fear before. It seems I was closer to the mark than I realised. This report in Todays Observer details how some of Camerons top generals want to get rid of the NHS. They see it as "no longer relevant to the 21st Century".

I take David Cameron's statements regarding the NHS at face value. He's seen it 1st hand at it's best with his disabled son. I don't believe that anyone can't be moved by such an experience. I have heard talk that some on the right have realised this and see Cameron as an obsticle to their plans to "transform" Great Britain. They see Cameron as a useful front man to win an election, as the acceptable face of Conservatism. They know that the public will never go for abolition of the NHS, so they have to get in, then do a "Mike Freer" and axe the leader and replace him with someone more "ideologically sound".

You may think this is scaremongering, but consider this. Ted Heath was the last leader of a party (until Brown) not to face either a Leadership contest or be knobbled. Wilson resigned - Callaghan took over, then lost an election to Thatcher. Thatcher was booted out by the Tories and replaced by Major. Major called a leadership contest after winning an election to try and stem the backstabbing. Strangely enough for a man derided as weak and indecisive, he won the contest. He lost the next election to Blair. Blair was knobbled by Brown.

In Great Britain, electing a leader is no guarantee whatsoever that he'll actually see out a term of Government. I think that a law should be passed whereby if a party replaces it's leader, a general election Must be held within 6 months.

If Brown had worked under these constraints, strangely enough, he'd have won and would lead the country with authority. I'd tolerate a Cameron government, if he wins an election. It's called democracy and it's the only form of Government I trust. I also fully understand why Tories despise unelected Gordon Brown. When some right wing nutcase slips the stiletto into David Camerons back, so he can abolish the NHS, the saddest thing is that he'll claim his legitimacy based on the actions of Gordon Brown.

I have one last question. How many of these leaders, who've come to power via palace coup's have done a good job? How many of them have left their party in a fit state to manage a whelk stall, let alone a country. Whatever you thought of Thatcher and Blair, at least they got there by fair means. My question - This isn't a banana republic, so why do tolerate coup d'etat's?