Forcing the narrative

mac

The phrase "the prime minister and I" would have been inserted once Miliband's piece (or rather his Spad's) arrived in No 10 for approval.

CoxSays

We don't take them seriously anyway. Regardless of what they say.

Chris

Hardly grammatical either: leave out Gordo, as no doubt Millie would have wished, and it's 'the immediate instinct of I is clear.' Let's not make him Education Secretary any time soon.

NE Fule No

I suppose it's better than txt-spk but "The immediate instinct of the Prime Minister and I", which is in the main body of the article, is illiterate. Whoever wrote it, Miliband should have corrected it. Can anyone in the Foreign Office write decent English?

Prodicus

It's hardly literate, either. Miliboy had some sort of education, I believe, so it can't be his doing therefore it must be a sub who inserted 'and I' and should therefore be hanged. He or she will be, when I rule the world. But then, so will Miliboy and his master.

Augustus

The Georgian President has spoken of a massive change to the borders of Europe. This is complete nonsense. Neither Georgia, or its satellite regions belong to Europe, which ends at Turkey and the Ukraine.

The Russians have simply taken revenge. When the EC and America recognised Kosovo's independence many warned that there would be consequences. Russia felt slighted and betrayed by the West. A dangerous game to play against a former superpower.

Russia was bound to act after Georgia's provocation, so Moscow decided it was in Russia's essential interest to determine boundaries. It seems the bear's patience was at an end. No amount of Brussels chin-wagging can alter the facts. The bear has stirred. Don't prod it with sticks!

molesworth 1

funny, i don't remember miliband1 ever attending st.custards myself...

David C

Last week it was Miliband (maj.) making the running on Georgia. Not particularly successfully, since the French Foreign Minister seems to have rejected sanctions against Russia. If Brown is now writing pieces for the Observer (and why isn't he on TV and Radio giving interviews to serious interviewers?) about FCO matters then who is advising him?
Is Brown going to bat for his foreign secretary in Europe? No. The French have spoken and no serious action will be taken, so Brown joining the fray on his Foreign Ministers behalf would be just ‘cruising for a bruising’.
Is this a reply to the stories about non-phone calls to the Georgian President? Why not pick up the phone?
Is this an answer to Cameron’s visit to Georgia? Too little, too late.
Is it about the Georgian Crisis itself? Then our Government is endowed with thought processes as fast as a speeding tectonic plate.
Since neither party, Miliband and Brown can offer a course to follow, then everything they say has to be viewed through the prism of a power struggle for the leadership of the country. Couple this with Jack Straw hawking himself round the Media telling anybody who will listen that there is no leadership challenge and Darling’s dummy spitting exercise Y/day (since recanted), then it would be reasonable to assume that there is something going on that needs Straw’s efforts at fire-fighting.
With the Labour Party limbering up for the Conference, Ministers taking their tanks out on manoeuvres, things are set for an interesting few weeks.

Nicholas

The two most over-used phrases from this useless government are "unacceptable" and "sending a message". They are tedious parroted socialist cliché from the staff room. If phrases could adopt an image these would be bearded and have patches on their elbows, or ethnic beads and voluminous dirndl skirts in ethnic materials concealing their broad bottoms, both be-sandalled of course.

"Unacceptable" implies not letting the matter rest but doing something about it. We know they won't.

So much this government finds "unacceptable" but does nothing about. Or it "sends a message" by introducing yet another stupid unenforceable knee-jerk law.

Well I find Herr Braun and his unwanted national socialist government "unacceptable" and want to "send a message" to him: give us a General Election and then go away.

Max Kaye

In addition to the recognition of Britain's and the EU's impotence in the face of Russia, it must have been amusing for Medvedv - a very popular (in Russia) elected President - to be lectured on democracy by Britain's most unpopular ever unelected PM.

I do hope that he strongly advised Brown to indulge in 'sex and travel'.

Whatever one's political opinions, surely one must concede that 'impotence' well characterises Brown and Miliband.

Minnie Ovens

Molesworh 1 you twit!
Didn't you know that Fotherington Thomas changed his name twice. First to Cameron and then to WindMill

David Lindsay

Gordon Brown is wrong about Russia. But at least his is a competent article. Unlike the other one.

In the last days of Blair, the Guardian refused to publish Silly Milly's piece of drivel bidding for the Labour Leadership, so it ended up in the Daily Telegraph, which ran it as a joke.

To similar hilarious effect, the Mail on Sunday has cruelly printed this latest effusion.

Brown is baiting a bear, and should stop.

But the right-wing papers are baiting a flea, and should carry on, and on, and on.

Frank Pulley

Listen up chaps, you obviously didn't pay attention to ' J Straw's' reassurances on two TV Channels today. All is well, the only government that could possibly handle our current economic crisis (which was caused entirely by unforessen exigences originating in other countries) is the incumbent one, which has the best economic record of any country in the world ever, entirely due to the wisdom and good management of the erstwhile Chancellor, your Prime Minister, Herr Braun (copyright Nicholas). There will no leadership challenge and the next two years will involve the current Chancellor and his boss colluding to get us and the rest of the World out of the mess that they didn't get us into in the first place. Moreover J Straw Esq is grateful for our past support and is not seeking gratitude for all their good work, for they do it out of the goodness of their hearts. You will also be pleased that J Straw is adamant that he has no aspiration to be Prime Minister and would never agree to accept that position even if he was threatened with having his chestnuts roasted on an open fire. He is also dumbfounded that anyone would assume that two youthful and inexperienced upstarts like Mr Cameron and Mr Osbourne should be trusted with the economy when it is already in the hands of two sages of economics: Herr Braun and darling Alastair. That's it, stop worrying, Jack's back! everything in the garden will be rosey when Gordo and Al get back from Hols and roll their sleeves up clear up the detritus on our doorsteps dumped their by 'them others'. Don't be so frit!

Frank Pulley

Btw: the minor spat with Russia is nowt to worry about. Young Mr Miliband is an expert on Soviet affairs; they were rammed down his throat with his mother's milk as his father ensured that the words of Marx, Lenin, Gramsci, Foucalt et al were learned by rote. So he will have no difficulty in persuading that nice Mr Putin that he's better listen to the advice of his friends in the West, or life could become v-e-e-e-ry difficult for him.

Now if all that doesn't convince you all that we must all vote for New-Old Labour at the next election, I will have to assume that I'm hanging around in a Coffee House comprised entirely of ingrates.

The Laughing Cavalier

The Prime Minister and I? Someone made a Balls of it.

Arthur

If true, then it is another example of how this treasonous government puts its own party interests above those of the country. That they are ultimately playing with soldiers lives, again, is despicable.