Brown's spelling mistakes prove how badly run Downing Street is

Vulture

I know its not done to call the poor bastard 'autistic', because this reflects badly on real autistic people, but now that the French minister has broken the taboo by calling the Tories autistic, can I suggest that there is much abt Bruin that suggests this condition : this letter and his failure to bow at the Cenotaph being but the latest symptoms of his weird refusal to connect with others' feelings, or indeed with reality at all. He is unfit to be PM.

Scary Biscuits

Less of the passive verbs please! Brown's misspelt letters show how badly GORDON BROWN is running Downing Street. He is so bad at delegating he can't even trust somebody else to stuff envelopes for him.

The Bellman

By all means cut him some slack if his handwriting is dodgy, and shoot the flunky if there are errors of detail, but this is a judgement issue. It should not require a moment's personal reflection, let alone the input of a staffer, to realise that it's unacceptable to send a letter of condolence which contains crossings out and spelling errors.

This is an example also of McSnotty's toxic leadership. I'll bet the adviser who said "Excuse me, PM, you must re-write this letter..." would get about two more words of explanation out before being hit by a flying Nokia.

And before anyone says 'the PM is a busy man, given all the demands on his time he can't be expected to do this sort of thing and not make errors', I would point out only that (a) if government had not accrued to itself so many 'responsibilities' that 'need' the constant personal interference of the PM, then we probably wouldn't be in the position of being run by a psychologically-damaged bullying thug; (b) if prime ministers took their duties seriously, perhaps we'd have had a bit more reflection about the wider consequences of pursuing military action; and (c) I would prefer a country run by a man with a decent sense of priorities, who thus *made time* to write to the bereaved of those killed in conflicts for which he has ultimate responsibility.

Frank P

James F

"... and a political situation that is damaging the Prime Minister; this is the kind of story that sticks in peoples’ minds."

Why are you complaining? Let's have more stories like it. The trooth will out. Who cares whether he can spell it - he sure can't tell it!

Paul Williams

I have every symapthy with Gordon's struggles with his eyesight etc...however he knew he had made a mistake by the fact he tried to amend the poor chap's name in the letter, instead of starting again.

The fact that he didn't speaks volumes.

Chris

This one has backfired. The take home messages are that Gordon Brown writes personal letters of condolence, which he posts himself and that that the sun are a bunch of shits who have preyed on a very distressed woman. I can't stand Gordon, but he wins hands down in this one.

EyeSee

I was intrigued to see that the BBC are tut-tutting about the 'clear political agenda' that 'certain parts of the media have' against Gordon Brown and that they bring up even the most trivial of stories about him, apparently. This, in their own report on this 'non story'! I think the left media are starting a campaign to portray Brown and New Labour as victims of a nasty plot by the Right and their crony newspapers. So, BBC et al, let me explain. A victim is someone who is traduced, unfairly handled not an idiot who is the architect of his own demise. And in this case it is the Captain who expects the ship to go down with him.

Andy

I don't think it has backfired, Chris. The take home message is that Gordon wants to portray himself as caring (he needs the votes, after all), but he can't even get that right.

Frank P

Eye See

His name is Queeg!
Master of intrigue.
But not in the same league
As as his queer Machiavellian
Colleague.
Mandelpeeg.

wrinkledweasel.blogspot.com

What it proves is that, at this point in the political cycle, Brown could engineer world peace and eradicate poverty, and still somebody would find a negative angle.

Hatred of Gordon Brown is palpable. There is a perpetual waking nightmare of watching the wealth of this country being flushed away.

Any sympathy you have left should be reserved for those who have given their lives in Iraq and Afghanistan to satisfy political ends that nobody understands or cares about.

A J Scott

Frank P
Brilliant. You shd be writing for the Speccie.

Jupiter

Can you imagine anyone in No 10 being brave enough to tell the PM to rewrite a letter? The mobile phones & printers would be flying all over the place.

James

'Spellinggate' has made me uncomftable and intoduced me to a new feeling- sympathy for Gordon Brown. No prime minister before wrote letters to families and the guy does have really bad eyesight. This should be left alone as, if I, and I bow to no one in my loathing of this PM and his government, can feel sympathy then so will many others.
Move on.

Laban Tall

What James said. I detest El Gordo as much as the next man, but this story almost makes me sympathetic towards him. The feeling doesn't last long, but all the same.

Tony Gee

Our crazy political system gave the running of the economy in 1997 to someone who had never even run a sweet shop, so it is no surprise to see that he cannot spell, is careless and does not bother to check his work. If his eyesight is so bad that he cannot read his own writing we should be told or maybe not we don't live in a democracy anymore.

Thomas Cussans

The fact is that the prime minister writes officially, in other words on behalf of the nation, to the mother of a soldier killed fighting for his country and the letter is not merely the kind of incoherent, illegible scrawl that would shame a 15-year old (even today) but is littered with spelling mistakes. And this, I repeat, from the office of the prime minister.

It is a precise illustration the strange, terrible and hideous half-world this strange, sad and wholly disastrous man inhabits.

Mike Spilligan

Slightly O/T: What concerns me more is the hypocrisy of Brown's utterings concerning the recent Afghanistan deaths that the nation and its families have suffered, when I know that at a similar age Brown was a student agitator whose personal "rights" came first.
The letter (and others, I assume) are just another aspect of this.

DavidDP

Sorry, but the fault is with the Sun in this case. Disgusting behaviour.

2trueblue

Something going out from No 10 should surely be checked? Bonkers and arrogant not to adhere to the normal rule.

The question of sympathy fo G Brown and his sight problem should not even come into it, if you can not do the job, move over. He chose to do this, and should not undertake something in such an important and sensitive area that he patently can not do to an acceptable standard. We are not talking about some rookie or 10yr old. This is more that a question of etiquette, and we know that he sees himself as being above having to do as the rest of us would be expected to do in that department.

It is outrageous that the Brown/Blair Broadcasting Corporation should so obliviously partisan.

Time to go Gordo.

amanda

sorry but over a few spelling mastakes you are being pathetic seriously it is like saying dyslexic people can knot be a member of parliment because they have dyslexia is that not the same as saying somebody of a different nationnality can not be a member of parliment because of there nationality but no body would dare say that as its a crime racism and so should be belittling a man because he has not correctly spelt some stuff this man is running this country and hes being fair to all every one so why are all of you idiots being so nasty

Bunnykins

I just wonder what sort of parent in their profound grief has the energy or inclination to contact the Press and make capital out of all this. As someone said most succinctly in another blog, Gordon is a Moron, but PLEASE.

Fragmeister

James,
I understand that El Presidente Blair and the Wicked Witch Thatcher both wrote condolence notes so this isn't new to Brown.

This might be a trivial story but it does show something about Brown - he can't spell. If one of my children at school wrote something as poor as that, it would be handed back and told to be rewritten. My dad was in floods of tears the day after my mum died because he got a letter for her. The PM can't be bothered to start afresh when he makes a mistake in the first couple of lines. That's what stinks here.

jordyhammonds

Listen to “THE OUTLAW GORDON BROWN” on youtube

http://www.youtube.com/thisisjohnnyblack#play/uploads/7/w66ywNA8Vpc

daniel maris

Clearly the bloke has a problem with his eyesight. That I am sure would be forgiven. But surely he or someone else could tell him it is not acceptable to write this sort of letter (or indeed a contrite letter of apology to a woman whose honour had been impugned by his staff - Ms. Dorries MP) with a cheap black felt tip pen.

I was going to say it is a minor matter in the grand scheme of things but then realised it is not. Writing a personal letter of condolence, if he feels that is the right thing to do (not that he is commander in chief), requires some minima of decency to be met. Spelling mistakes, crossings out, and a barely legible scrawl fall far short of the bar and are indeed indicative of a bigger problem of perception on his part.

Rainer Unsinn

Brown could fall in a pile of roses and still come out smelling of shit.

Moraymint

My experience of working in "the Establishment" is that such letters should be dictated carefully, typed up and printed, checked by the author for quality and then despatched with a handwritten salutation and a handwritten valediction.

In my time working in "the Establishment" (admittedly some years ago now), our world class, apolitical civil service would have been right on top of this kind of administrative matter. Such an abortion of a document would never have seen the light of day.

This incident is as much an indicator of general administrative incompetence and the demise of good government as it is of Gordon Brown's legendary gauche behaviour.

To think, not so many years ago we were one of the most respected nations on earth. After 12 years of Labour Party shambles, we are rapidly becoming the world's laughing stock, led by a complete fool.

mac

The sympathy-for-Gordon posters exhibit a commendable sense of fair play (well, most of them; Amanda's protestations seem to be direct from the formulaic Gordon apparatchik tendency).

But why does anyone still want to give this bullying, calculating, unprincipled wrecker any credit? The letter ought to be an embarrassment to anyone even half-educated: wrong name, misspellings and a crossing-out. It;s insulting to the recipient.

And why exactly do you think Gordon sends these letters? A deep sense of humanity and compassion? Get real, this is Gordon Brown, and that means the tactic is cynical posturing for perceived political advantage on the advice of some PR shill or other, perhaps one close to home - "my husband, my hero".

Scott

And if this had not happened and you Thatcherite loons found out Brown employed some hack just to read through his hand written correspondence, you would have an apoplexy screeching he was wasting tax payers money and noting how incompetent he must be being unable to properly write. The poster above is completely correct Brown has come out of this much better than his critics and The Sune, once again , has been exposed as the vile chippy chippy wrapper it is.

JohnPage

"this is the kind of story that sticks in peoples’ minds."

... or even in people's minds, James. Tricky this English, isn't it?

Amanda in America

Two points about handwriting (talk about a storm in a ...)

1. Anyone can learn how to 'decipher' bad penmanship; good secretaries do it all the time (I used to be one). If you don't know a word, you ask. With names particularly, you double-check.

2. I can write fully legibly in my usual style with my eyes shut. Just did it as an experiment now. I had to open them frequently to make sure I was on the same 'line', but that's not something you need great vision for.

3. Really bad penmanship is a sign of 1) carelessness, 2) haste, and 3) on occasion, being made to write with the wrong hand as a child. (This happened to my husband: he was vaguely ambidextrous in childhood but his teacher insisted that he use his left hand to write with, thereby proving she was 'progressive'. Consequently he is an intelligent man with a cramped hand more suited to a young child).

teledu

Bunnykins calls it right.

Andy Leeds

Moraymint is right: the letters should have been typed and Gordo 'top & tail' them. They should all be a more or less standard form, possibly 2 or 3 slightly different ones. But personally I'm not quite sure the Queen's Prime Minister should be writing such letters in the first place.

Frank Leader

I am not a fan of Gordon Brown. A busy man who finds time to send a personally handwritten letter of condolence to families of the fallen. He can't really be accused of not caring. It would be interesting to know if Tony Balir or Margaret Thatcher also sent personally handwritten notes. Another thing Gordon Brown is blind in one eye and the other one isn't all that good.
He's damned if he does and damned if he doesn't.

DavidLondon

It is good of Gordon Brown to write personal letters, but if he is going to do it he needs to do it properly. His letter was unacceptably sloppy, and he should have had someone who could have told him so.

Frank P

Frank Leader

Is that you Gordon? If so, it's a very inappropriate sobriquet!

Anyway, let assume it isn't. If his physical handicaps render it too difficult for him to discharge the duties of Prime Minister, then he has the solution in his own hands. Resign! The vast majority of the electorate have been waiting for a General election since he usurped the Office. Tell him if he looking for sympathy from this patch, it's a bit short on the ground. He can find it in the dictionary, though - some between 'shit' and 'syphilis'.

Frank P

Bunnykins

The sort of parent who is probably deeply distressed, no doubt, at having lost a beloved child in a war that has been badly resourced and is without clear objectives. The sort of parent who detests our 'Prime Minister', even more than most of us 'window lickers' do, because she has more reason to. Bunnykins!

She is entitled to complain - perhaps you are less entitled to criticise her. Never criticise an Eskimo unless you have walked 200 miles in snow shoes- Bunnykins!

TrevorsDen

The reason this story is in the open is because the recipient made it so. As such the press can feel free to report it.

As a conservative I can draw my own conclusions about the story but otherwise I would not make any comment on what is a personal matter. I advise everyone to do the same.

I suppose what can be commented on now we know for sure it is going on is
1)
the need for the PM, any PM, to write personal letters to the bereaved. Lloyd George did not do it (he would have had to have written 750,000) and Churchill did not and no one thought any less of them for that.
2)
IF such letters are to be written then a 'typed' letter ought to be considered sufficient with a personal signature.

For my own part I have terrible handwriting and on the occasions that I do have to write important letters by hand its been known for me to have to make say 3 attempts.
I have screwed up christmas cards for gawds sake. But I verge on breaking my own advice.

PS
Did Blair or Thatcher or Major write hand written notes? Who set the precedent?

quadratus

Entirely agree with Moraymint on the standard of letters expected from anyone in Government, One accepts that the Treasury is broke but a decent dictating machine is surely affordable. Could it be that it is a little too heavy to throw?

Moraymint

I should have said earlier that I don't actually agree with the PM sending letters like this, nor do I agree with all this reading out of dead men's names at PMQs.

When you think about it, it's nonsense really and merely a populist gesture. At what level of casualties in battle does a PM stop reading out the names like this?

As an ex-serviceman with 20 years service I hope I'm allowed to point out that this sort of cynical, political gameplaying nonsense would have been unthinkable during the great wars of the last century: the British people were more stoic then.

bill balmer

What a lot of very sad ,bitter people making comments. [HE who never made a mistake never made anything] comes to mind. Suspect this applies to many of you who would be better human beings if you could unburden your resentments.

Salford Rick

Bunnykins I would suggest a rather angry parent. The letter is awful I can't imagine what it must have felt like for her. Just look at the state of it never mind reading it (if you can make it out). I'm really shocked

Anne Wotana Kaye

Nu Labour has deliberately set out to create a society where excellence is not valued nor appreciated. In the twilight world of dullness, competiveness is seen as "pushy" and greatness is measured by how an individual appears in the Pop Charts. Brown, noted the passing of Jade Goody, Michael Jackson and played to the lowest levels of society. Education and the promotion of excellence are distained. Gordon Brown has not only helped to create an unintelligent, society which does not promote potential talent, but rather buries it, he is also a product of it. Ignorant, proud of his ignorance, and surrounded by despicable advisors and ministers, Jack Straw, Ainsworthy, Balls, et al. he allows a country to rot through govermental neglect, whilst he too rots in the sickness which leaks out from him like slime poisoning everything it touches. Damn you, Brown. GO!

Harinder

I cannot in anyway claim to know how the family feel about their loss, but a poorly written letter with spelling mistakes would be the last thing on my mind and besides even a well written apology would not have been enough...

Nicholas

Thatcherite loons. I'll have to remember that one Scott, you nasty little socialist pariah. Your post comes across as a bit foam-flecked and frantic too. But keep sticking up for Gordon, keep playing the Red Flag as the ship goes down - it's all you idiots have left.

Still, at least old Maggie wasn't in cahoots with the KGB, eh? Loons and duplicitous, lying traitors - what a choice!

Anne Wotana Kaye

BILL BALMER:
What a lot of very sad ,bitter people making comments.

Yes, Bill B, I think I can speak for many of us. We are very sad at seeing what is happening here. We are also bitter that the swines in charge don't call an immediate election and resign en masse.

TGF UKIP

One very small statistic from yesterday's BBC coverage of the Remembrance Day memorial service shows just how nannified and mawkish New Labour have made the population - Cyprus 1955-1959 371 British servicemen killed by EOKA. No whimpering then, as I recall.

Fifty years ago we might have given the jihadists a run for their money, today we simply look as though we're there for the taking.

R King

At last we now know who has been drafting all of the terrible legislation this government has produced. Plus it's pretty obvious now why the economy is in such a mess if this dim illiterate bastard did all the sums.

But seriously if his "supporters" had known how problematic his communication skills were would even they have wanted him in running the country?

I think not!

Nicholas

"What a lot of very sad, bitter people making comments. [HE who never made a mistake never made anything] comes to mind. Suspect this applies to many of you who would be better human beings if you could unburden your resentments.

Hey, bill, you supercilious smug little leftist prig, it's not resentments we need to unburden but your lousy government. Call a General Election so we can kick Brown and his gang of communist cretins out for good and we'll all be sweetness and light. Our sadness and bitterness will disappear overnight and we will all be better people living in a better place.

Watt Tyler

The percentage of posters here who cannot see anything wrong with this just about confirms my view on what is wrong with this country, and why it is still, a crappy little country, with crappy people in it. Jesus wept!

john miller

I find the reasoning of the Brown apologists bewildering.

It seems to rely on the Labour mantra of "I didn't mean it". Any transgression of whatever law is excusable if the Minister or MP didn't mean to do it.

Brown may not have meant to give offence, but he most certainly did. How do you excuse that?

What worries me is that many people find it acceptable that our Prime Minister is only able to communicate at the level of an illiterate, uneducated 9 year old.

Paul B

Trevorsden, Mrs T started it. She did it off her own back without prompting. Its something she felt she had to do. She was sincere. Since then all the other PMs have just followed in the footsteps of a Giant.

Mark C

Brown gets a thorough spanking in the phone call. It is straight out of The Thick of It, without the swearing. You can sense Brown trying to bring it to an end, but the mother comes back with more accusations about lack of equipment, failure to increase troop numbers etc.
Listen here:
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/campaigns/our_boys/2722174/Mum-Jacqui-Janes-at-war-PM-is-humbled.html

Roger Davies

Only an arrogant organisation would believe that such a letter should be sent without first being checked. The grief of the mother is infinitely more important than the letter from the PM and the latter should have been checked, rechecked and then delivered by hand by a senior representative of the PM's staff. Excusing the PM for his poor handwriting misses the point and is pathetic to say the least.

Rainer Unsinn

If you have bad knees and a flight of stairs to climb, you get help.
Brown would never ask for help, try on his own, fall over and blame the stairs.

RMH

Its a mistake, a horrible one, but no one died because of it (yes I know it is about a dead person).

Brown is incompetent, as normal.

This is press bullying.

richardj

Obviously he can not spell RESIGN.

Dorothy Wilson

If Brown wants to write letters of condolence, he should make sure he gets them right. If he cannot do that, he should not write them. Simple really.

Someone should also tell him that expressing sympathy is not quite the same as having empathy. The points Mr Janes has made about the lack of equipment for the army - and most people would put a major part of the blame for that at Brown's door - are clear evidence of that.

Norman Dee

Brown deserves only the minimum of sympathy for his bad handwriting, and none at all for dashing off a hurried letter betweeen more important things like ruining the country for the next government. It should be remembered however that this is the man who is ultimately responsible for his death. Who cancelled the helicopters, the lack of which we have been told recently, by people who know the truth, is why so many bombs have been planted to catch forces making unneccessary road trips.

Mike

The whole sorry saga began when Mrs Janes named her son. "James Janes" is a bit of a tongue-twister and must have been miss-spelled many times before a half-blind PM had to grapple with it.It dos not excuse the lack of checking though.

John Lea

As much as I agree that the letter contained a disrespectful number of errors, I think coffeehousers would be acting naively if they believed there was no media agenda against Brown. I think some of the comments on this thread are disgraceful. Brown is clearly uncomfortable in front of the cameras and tries too hard to disguise his natural melancholy, but to call the man autistic is insulting.

Anne Wotana Kaye

John Lea:
Yes, John, I agree it is insulting to call Brown autistic. It is insulting to the many autism sufferers who are ordinary citizens and their families. They don't send their fellows off to war, ill-garbed, poorly equipped and generally disregarded by the government.

Nicholas

John Lea, if there is media agenda against Brown it is no worse than the machinery behind New Labour's propaganda agenda since 1997. I have no sympathy for Brown - he is reaping what he sowed. Nobody forced him to pursue his ambitions or to behave the way he does as PM. The majority in the country are tired of New Labour and detest him with due cause. To stubbornly cling to power when change is desperately needed and there is no point hanging on other than to conduct a scorched earth campaign makes him an enemy of the people and he deserves everything he gets.

So, don't make excuses for this miserable excuse for a human being. It's not the comments that are disgraceful John Lea - get a sense of perspective.

John Lea

Nicholas, I take your point about Brown: yes, he is a public figure and must therefore accept public criticism. However, I feel increasingly uncomfortable about the level of personal vitriol directed against him. Personally, I have no time for the man politically and detest his party, but he seems, increasingly, to be becoming a Nixon figure - i.e. a figure who inspires criticism (and in someplaces, outright hatred) for his personal demeanor, rather than his political failures. I simply do not trust those in the media who criticize him for not possessing Blair's suavity or salesmanlike 'presence' in front of the cameras. I know Brown is a bad example, but surely we should judge politicians based on their character and integrity, rather than how they appears in the media. Or am I the one being naive?

David Nally

I was always told when writing an important letter read it over and write it again if you care what the person receiving it thinks of you. He didn't because he couldn't care what people like Mrs Janes think of him. Don't tell me he is too busy. He can talk about plastic bags and ring the loser in X Factor. This letter illustrates for me what he thinks of the Military and any one who serves in it.

egh

Nicholas @ 11.36 a.m: Spot on, as usual. I confess to having felt a tug at the heart-strings for the poor hapless ass who can't get anything right: but you put that in perspective. Whether he is being his usual manipulative self, or whether he is just proving once more that he is 'unfit for work' - he needs to get out now and let us minimize the damage. The media are right to pursue the issue.

PS: Just heard a BBC World Service broadcast on the subject. The commentator was at the airfield where 6 more victims are being brought home. He began to describe the 'phone interview, suggesting that Gordo got the worst of that - but the BBC host cut the commentator off without ceremony. Disconnect.

Snowman

James, give the bloke a break. It couldn't have been deliberate. Given how busy he must be what with everything going pear shape, and the deteriorating eyesight.

egh

Also - to those who criticise Mrs. Janes for going public ~~~ Is she not highlighting predicament of her son's brother soldiers, and so trying to improve their chances of survival? And ours of performing better in war? I say she's being a patriot and deserves our support!!

Oh - and if money's the problem ... how about not paying the euSSR 55bn a year? How about funding the people on our own side, for a change?

Alex Smith

Couldn't you have got your own editor to check your grammar?

Cuffleyburgers

Unforgiveably sloppy on the part of the PM, and his aides, and quite rightly held as further evidence if such were needed that the wheels have well and truly come off; and yet, and yet, I do think it's a bit orf for the bereaved lady in question to go to the Sun and cheap for that paper to make such a song and dance over it.

We know Brown is useless, but this was a time for just rolling eyes in resignation. For once at least he probably meant well.

alan macdonald

What kind of parent would read a letter from someone who sent her son to play the part of a turkey in a turkey shoot? Going way back, incumbents at NO. 10 have never held down a job or shown any talent for anything other than taking 'tough decisions'...evidently they do this by tossing a coin

Nicholas

John Lea: "I know Brown is a bad example, but surely we should judge politicians based on their character and integrity, rather than how they appears in the media. Or am I the one being naive?"

Yes to character and integrity, ordinarily I would agree with you but I think you may be being naive in this case. There is a lot of smoke about Brown's personality so there may be underlying fire but his political cynicism and duplicity are well documented. His body language in PMQs is not just "shyness" or an inability to empathise. In the telephone call to Mrs Janes what struck me was that his position was ego-centric, he was still talking about his intentions, his feelings and there were just too many "but"s to her statements of anger.

I tend to agree with Moraymint here that I think condolence letters are best left to commanding officers to write and there may be just too much political heat about the war for a politician to be able to strike any kind of appropriate balance between personal feelings and public position when it comes to sympathy for the relatives of casualties. In attempting to defend his record in providing enough equipment by pleading over the telephone to a grieving mother Brown unwittingly brought the office of PM into disrepute. There were many things he could have said to deflect her anger and to take personal responsibility but he chose not to utter a single one - just platitudes. If he was going to cross that line the letter should have been formally presented, typed and topped and tailed, from the office of Prime Minister - not Gordon Brown being intimate.

If he had said to her on the telephone "Yes, Mrs Janes, my government is at fault and responsible. We have made mistakes and I am ashamed of that. It is because of that that I felt I must speak to you personally." he may have attracted more respect if not admiration. But his words were essentially politically motivated and defensive, concerned more with the public perception of Gordon Brown the election campaigner than Mrs Jane's grief and anger. As somebody has already noted it was a damage limitation exercise that backfired - and isn't that so typical of his record as PM? He continuously conflates party and government, party political campaigning with government business. Under New Labour they have become hopelessly entwined, to the consternation and discomfort of almost everyone in the country. New Labour simply do not understand government or the grave responsibility of offices of state.

Brown was the sponsor and umbrella for the smear war launched by McBride. His many dishonesties in answering questions and announcing initiatives are well known but it seems soon forgotten. It is as if the whole country has lowered itself to an apathetic acceptance of a lack of character and integrity in positions of trust and responsibility.

If Brown had the integrity and character you hope for he would have read the runes by now, realised the game is up and that the country desperately wants change - any change - and called that General Election. If he stood up and owned up to New Labour's lies and failures, which everyone can see, he might be better thought of. Instead he is going to go down in history as stubborn, spiteful, egocentric and essentially dishonest - as well as useless.

Peter

I have read posts sympathising with Brown and pilloring him. I have read posts sympathising with the family and criticising the Sun.

I have not read much about how the story came to the Sun. Only by either the famuily actively making contact with the paper or the Sun following up a story and gaining the cooperation of the family.

Either way it diminishes sympathy for the family.