Where have all the Brownites gone?
Fraser Nelson 10:39pmI'm just out of a More4 studio debating Brown with Francis Beckett, author of a very good (and, to my mind, under-appreciated) biography of the Dear Leader. He'll carve a niche for himself, I thought, being the talking head supporting Brown over his two remaining years in power. But even he struggled to say that Brown is cut out for office - or that he is decisive. He wanted to be supportive, but Brown as a PM? Even he didn't seem to see it.
Producers who set up these TV pundit debates often moan about the problem of balancing them. It's getting harder and harder to find anyone not on his payroll saying "actually, he's a good man doing a good job". And he's not even a year into the job. Have all his supporters really evaporated so soon?
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The Laughing Cavalier
April 24th, 2008 8:50am Report this commentBrown is not the "Dear Leader", that was Blair. He is the Dour Leader.
David
April 24th, 2008 9:09am Report this commentAfter watching Newsnight last night, and the gulf in understanding between Frank Field (using quotes from a letter) and Yvette Cooper (there in person) as to just what the U turn actually means, I think we have just witnessed TAXCON 2.
Its sole purpose was to get the Labour backbenchers help the PM thru PMQs yesterday. It does nothing to solve the issue confronting the low paid affected by the abolition of the 10p rate.
Ann
April 24th, 2008 9:17am Report this commentNo! Really!! You mean, MacLiar actually is so low as to perpetrate a con and a scam on the taxpayer? I am gobsmacked!!!
Oscar Miller
April 24th, 2008 9:37am Report this commentDavid - you are absolutely right. The fact is millions of people earning under £18,000 will still not be entitled to receive any compensation of any kind. And many others will probably be too bamboozled to claim what they are entitled too. Added to that it is insufferably patronising to fob off some pensioners with a winter fuel allowance which Vince Cable rightly points out will not amount to the extra tax they are now paying. This is beyond doubt TAXCON 2.
Jennie
April 24th, 2008 10:00am Report this commentThe Labour rebels, now that Gordon's (and Darling's) drivel about 'compensation' is dawning on them, still have time to vote against the Finance Bill after all.
THX1138
April 24th, 2008 10:25am Report this commentDid anyone see Gordon Brown on American Idol.
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=Ld1KHAz41JE
Maybe be this is why we need to scrap the 10p tax rate?
Dennis
April 24th, 2008 11:35am Report this commentYvette Cooper keeps saying that half the losers from the abolition of the 10p tax band are in the 'top half of the income distribution'.
She makes it sound like 2.7m of those to be worse off as a result of this change aren't poor people at all, but hedge fund managers or something.
Yet all the reports agree you have to be earning under 19 grand to be worse off.
I can't get my head round this.
Can someone explain?
Tiberius
April 24th, 2008 12:53pm Report this commentThe explanation, Dennis, is that Yvette Cooper is nuts.
David
April 24th, 2008 12:56pm Report this comment"I can't get my head round this.
Can someone explain?"
Think of words like "smoke" and "mirrors" and "arse" and "elbow" and all will be clear.
not a statistician
April 24th, 2008 1:12pm Report this commentDennis,
Forgive me, I am no statistician, could this be a horrendous Brownie?
Average income is circa 24k. Significant numbers of people earn far more than this simple maths mean that a large number (a majority?) of people less. Which means it is possible to draw a line through the income distribution which has 50% of people either side of the line but bears no relation to the average salary.
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