Is it just me, or is the Telegraph's expenses campaign astutely timed to aid its Eurosceptic agenda and to distract parliamentarians from any effective regulation of the the Financial sector?
From a European perspective, lets hope Brown hangs on long enough for Ireland to vote in favour of Lisbon (by a circa 2:1 margin in October) and we can get that bit of business out of the way before the Eurosceptics take over completely.
A total humiliation of Brown by the English (for it is they) could also hasten a Scottish move for independence given that the Tories are now little more than an English Nationalist party.
Brown, of course, carries the primary responsibility for the mess the British economy is in. But is there any suggestion that any alternative PM would have done a better job? Most of the criticism of him that I have seen is still from a neo-lib perspective, with too much rather than too little regulation the primary gripe.
I really hate to have to say this, but Brown may be as good as it gets for the Brits any time soon... notes from no w here
But Brown is nothing if not utterly useless as a leader.
The mess is, as you said, Brown's. But I'm a little saddened by his demise because of the fact that, corrupt and stupid though he may be, he is the one guy who seems to at least kinda-sorta get religion on nationalization (or at least that was the case last I'd heard him on it). And unfortunately his opponent is a prissy little know-nothing rich boy who's probably going to take push teetering Britain off the cliff.
Like Maggie, but with the benefit of Bush's "compassionate conservatism" propaganda to study from. Conservatives want live babies so they can raise them to be dead soldiers. - George Carlin
Picking up after Tonee was always going to be a poisoned paper cup.
I think he may have believed that Tonee was his friend. Sadly not. And here we are.
The mess is at least as much Tonee's fault as it is his. I'm not sure how much policy leeway he really had as a chancellor. I do know he kept some suspicious company. For example:
Financial crisis: Gordon Brown sets up economic 'war cabinet' - Telegraph
Paul Myners, the new Minister for the City, is on the board of GLG Partners, which quite legally made huge profits by "short selling" shares in Bradford & Bingley, a practice which has now been banned by the Financial Services Authority. GLG held the biggest "short" position in B&B while its share price plummeted. The hedge fund, which has £12 billion under management, traded tens of millions of shares in the bank. The collapse in its share price forced the government to nationalise it last month. Short selling involves traders borrowing shares, selling them and then hoping the share price drops before they have to buy shares to give them back to the lender. Any difference in the two prices is the trader's profit. The practice, denounced as "vulture capitalism" by critics, can help drive down the price of shares in companies by undermining confidence in them, though there is no suggestion that GLG was responsible for B&B's demise. GLG's founder Noam Gottesman, an Israeli-American, rose to prominence earlier this year when it was reported that he had paid himself £400 million in 2007, making him one of the highest-paid men in Britain. Mr Myners, who is also chairman of Guardian Media Group and a former chairman of Marks & Spencer, donated £12,700 to Mr Brown's leadership campaign last year.
Paul Myners, the new Minister for the City, is on the board of GLG Partners, which quite legally made huge profits by "short selling" shares in Bradford & Bingley, a practice which has now been banned by the Financial Services Authority.
GLG held the biggest "short" position in B&B while its share price plummeted. The hedge fund, which has £12 billion under management, traded tens of millions of shares in the bank. The collapse in its share price forced the government to nationalise it last month.
Short selling involves traders borrowing shares, selling them and then hoping the share price drops before they have to buy shares to give them back to the lender. Any difference in the two prices is the trader's profit.
The practice, denounced as "vulture capitalism" by critics, can help drive down the price of shares in companies by undermining confidence in them, though there is no suggestion that GLG was responsible for B&B's demise.
GLG's founder Noam Gottesman, an Israeli-American, rose to prominence earlier this year when it was reported that he had paid himself £400 million in 2007, making him one of the highest-paid men in Britain.
Mr Myners, who is also chairman of Guardian Media Group and a former chairman of Marks & Spencer, donated £12,700 to Mr Brown's leadership campaign last year.
Aside from the obvious - OBVIOUS - conflict of interest, and questions about why there's even a need for a Minister for the City - the fact that Brown let himself be bought for a little short of £13k suggests that he's not even very good at being corrupt. Tonee would have had a house in Hampstead and a lucrative consultancy contract from the same deal.
Never trust a politician who doesn't take his bribes from a guy in a trenchcoat and a fedora. Conservatives want live babies so they can raise them to be dead soldiers. - George Carlin
In a parallel universe they could get Vince Cable. The brainless should not be in banking. — Willem Buitler
I had the same impression... *Lunatic*, n. One whose delusions are out of fashion.
Is it just me, or is the Telegraph's expenses campaign astutely timed to aid its Eurosceptic agenda
Well any suggestion as such is being firmly met in the High court by representatives of the Proprietors.
Telegraph lawyers shut down Tory MP's blog | Politics | guardian.co.uk
The newspaper is understood to have acted after she made further allegations concerning the motivation of the newspaper's proprietors, Sir David and Sir Frederick Barclay. Withers, the lawyers acting for the Barclay brothers, are understood to have instructed the takedown, invoking the acceptable user policy used by internet service providers to protect themselves against libel action provoked by comments on websites they host.
If you look around the internet her original allegations are still out there, in the sorts of places you would expect them to be recoverable from. Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.
- Jake If you only spend 20 minutes of the rest of your life on economics, go spend them here.
