The Tories will be thrilled if Brown starts playing the World Saver again

Nicholas

If one takes the view that government activity in a recession has minimal impact and that the market eventually corrects itself then Brown's repulsive hubris is akin to Canute claiming victory over the sea when the tide went out. The fact that he racked up a huge national debt in doing so just makes it worse.

If one believes that the interference was potentially more significant in exacerbating the situation, by using public money to preserve business models that deserved to fail, therefore skewing the market, then his "world saving" prancing and preening was actually destructive to the economy.

Personally I am suspicious about a recognition that the worst is over and we are in recovery. The situation for the banks appeared so dire and the money pumped in so huge how can it be that the danger recedes so quickly and the profiteering begins again so briskly? As with all things to do with this government and its suborned business cartel I smell a very large rat (above and beyond the one standing behind the No.10 lectern and looking so smug and pleased with itself). The fact that the BBC were so quick to make a programme about it all giving voice to Brown & Darling and not a word from anyone else reinforces that suspicion. We live in an age of evil manipulation and the government seem to have a monopoly over it.

country mouse

We must NEVER forget that Blair is every bit as much to blame as Brown and he is being let off the hook. After all, Blair was in power for, what, 10 years? and Brown may just scrape 3

mitch

Brown is the only one who believes he made the right decisions.
Me I think he is an idiot.

saddleworth

Brown as savious of the world won't play and his advisers must know it. His dreadful mismanagement as Chancellor and his contribution to the credit bubble left us poorly placed to deal with hard times. Borrowing was the obvious way to stimulate the economy (using this method does not make him an economic genius) but other countries were far better placed to borrow. His childish petulance over no cuts and his even more infantile insistence on "investment" instead of "spending" have left hime far more derided than admired. Whatever super-hero character he tries to posture as will make no difference - he was rumbled long ago. He won't win the next election (even if he clings on to then) and he is no longer of consequence to the economic struggle. The big question is the ability of the opposition to think straight and hold their nerve when they attain power as the books are going to contain some absolute horrors when they finally get a proper look at them.

golfwidow

country mouse - Whilst I would not for one minute absolve Blair of blame for the mess our country is in, who was his Chancellor holding the purse strings?

country mouse

True, Brown was Chancellor, but the Prime Minister is just that the PRIME Minister. He must take responsibility on what happens on his watch. Blair was not interested in the difficult bits of government; he adored swanning round the world as a 'great statesman'. But the buck stops with the man at the top.

anne allan

Aaaaaargh - Canute did not try to reverse the tide; he was showing his sycophantic courtiers that they were talking rubbish.

Nicholas

" . . Canute did not try to reverse the tide"

Lord preserve us - I did not write that. I wrote "AKIN to Canute claiming victory WHEN the tide went out". As in "as if", e.g. IF Canute had claimed that then it would be an exact example of the fallacy of Brown's claim.

old fogey

I know its a side issue but, on grounds of taste, can we all stop referring to the C word when talking about possible spending cuts. This is especially desirable when refernce is made to the "unmentionable" C word. We all realise what the oh so witty and oh so daring connotations are of using this phrase (ie that of the most offensive word in the language), and the commentators are intending to discomfort us readers/listeners by having us infer,for a moment, "God they're not really meaning that C word are they". Its cheap, common, a bit too clever dick.....and is now frankly a cliche.

TrevorsDen

"After all, Blair was in power for, what, 10 years? and Brown may just scrape 3"

Blair gave over economic policy to Brown - thats the Granita Agreement. So brown is to blame for the bad policy - Blair is to blame for putting him in a position to do it.

Blair should have sacked Brown after 2001 - thats where he blew it because then Brown started to spend our money like a drunken sailor.

The labour Party should not be forgotten - they had a totally idiotic view of Brown and his competence. They were clueless about what was going on.

Moraymint

" ... the idea that Brown is leading the world is looking more ridiculous than ever".

Brown couldn't lead a dog, let alone the world. The shambles that is now the British Government is, with each passing day, becoming almost too embarrassing to bear.

Can the Coffee House not give us a summary of some the world's press leader pages as/when they reflect on the baffling and shameful nonsense that now passes as governance of the (dis)United Kingdom under Gordon Brown and his Marxist colleagues?

I have a suspicion it would make grim reading. My money's on the countries that matter in the world judging Gordon Brown to be a deluded plonker. Not sure how that translates into French/German/Italian/Spanish/Dutch/Welsh/etc/etc

Ian Flynn

I think we should concentrate not only on Broiwn's economic mismanagement but his fundamental dishonesty. The way in which budgets were so called" announced in the Commons and then information bled out over the following days shows a man with a real lack of courage and honesty.