Politics

Rob

"So Mr Brown’s up-before-dawn energy, his political brutality and sheer shamelessness mean he has earned the recovery in his opinion poll lead."

Erm, which opinion poll lead?!

Fraser Neson

Rob, sorry, I should have made clear: the opinion poll lead where he's seen as best on the economy.

Canon Alberic

As any study of the subject demonstrates, what matters in politics ultimately is not "presentation" but loyalty.

That is the key difference between paid journalism and political leadership.

I have come to despise you Mr Fraser.

Anglica

Mr. Fraser, I'm awfully dim, and having such a time understanding you. Forgive me if I resurrect some of the dear old Words:

Christ spoke in parables and, according to traditional exegesis, the stone which the builders rejected is Christ, Himself. My own interpretation of our Present Day Pharisees and Priests is that, for them, gordo the Great might count as an anti-type of the original - especially in view of that stuff about saving the Sadly Unimpressed world.

According to St. Matthew, Jesu's exposition followed from the Parable of the Wicked Husbandmen (who murdered the Son), and continued:

Therefore, I say unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof.
And whosoever shall fall on the stone shall be broken: but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder. {All is Matt 21: 33-46}

Did the Pharisees of old have greater perception than those who compared gordo and Christ?
Those Pharisees knew He counted them as wicked husbandmen. Nevertheless, they had the wit to fear the multitude, who recognized Christ as a prophet.

Somebody in the new reading seems to despise the Multitude... ...

Gosh, it's difficult... I mean, why would Famous One-Offs like marx and gordo (to say nothing of mephistopholes) appropriate the (supposedly defunct) Scriptures to their own images or purposes?
Or is it Unintentional Plagiarism?

[[apologies to all about my Execrable capitalization. it's euro education...Messes a person up.]]]

cuffleyburgers

It is a mark of the contempt in which the political classes and their journalistic running dogs hold their country and their responsibilities that the man should be judged as some sort of good player as a result of some presumed political Houdini act, when the real world effects of this act and the ten years of incompetence and dishonesty that preceded it will be felt by the long suffering population for decades (and particularly by Brown's deserving poor, especially now their numbers are set to be bolstered considerably), and some of the damage he has done will never be expunged.

I cannot believe I have read this cynical crap in this august organ.

Johnathan Pearce

Several commenters are missing the point of Fraser's article. He is not defending the cynical view, merely pointing out that in crude political terms, Brown has bounced back from political death. Fraser's contempt for the lies, deceptions and mistakes of Brown is fairly obvious.

Maybe the reading comprehension skills of some Spectator readers has declined recently.

rathbone king

Apparently PM Brown is now immune from reality. The nation watches with anxiety as the bad news collects like rubbish without sticking to Mr Clean/PM Brown. Even the arrest of MP Damian Green means nothing to the British. That Europe has stopped Britain collecting DNA databases of innocent people fails to register. You get the leaders you deserve....mediocrity is now the new British disease/malaise.

Anona

Rathbone: a little OT, but in response, must say I think: -

i)The British Government had no business collecting the DNA; that is one thing.

ii) The eu had no business stopping the British Government; that is another thing.

iii) But maybe both things come together as a set-up to justify el gordo for giving Britain away to europe: or, in other words, to justify europe for colonizing a free country - by showing that the country clearly hasn't the wit, or a suitable system, for governing itself [Contempt for the Multitude].

To bring this further back On Topic then: what if the DNA scandal were another brownie? What if it were about crucifying our self-styled 'king' so as to deter insurrection within the unwilling colony....
[The Multitude would then be justified in ignoring it for what it is, wouldn't they?]

Duncan Gormley-Lake

Fraser Nelson, thinks Gordon Brown has had a fantastic year?
I can only assume he must mean that he has been even more awful, useless, clueless and thoroughly incompetent than the previous ten years.
A general election now would result in a resounding thrashing for same old labour, however Gordon wouldn't dare declare a general election, because he knows he would lose the power he so richly doesn't deserve.
I am counting the days when he is finally ejected unceremoniously from office, so he can be put out to pasture, and enjoy his £100,000 undeserved plus index linked tax free annual pesion, whilst pensioners exist on £90 per week.
Good bye Tony and Gordon, good riddance to you both, and shame on you, especially for the "peanuts" you give pensioners.
Pensioners should be getting a minimum of £200 each per week - yes we can afford it, we have wasted billions on wars and moreso the bankrupt banks.
However, this will never happen, because you are Same old labour, the totally uncaring party of low wages and high taxation.

Paul Hillock

If Bush,Blair with the full backing of Gordon Brown as well as the Tories had not made the stupid mistake of going into Iraq with the eventual impossable aim and dream from La-La land of a sort of non factinal democratic Govenment run with the consent of Kurds, Sunni & Shihite factions all co-operating to work together. Saddam was on top of corruption, top police, army & civil service dare not be anything but honest.He also gave the world 12.5% of it's oil demand at $25 a barrel, since that time 7% of the countries oil has been lost to corruption so the oil price peaked in July 2008 at $147 a barrel which in turn has led to a global economic downturn with much more job losses and suffering to come.Meanwhile whilst these 3 woefull leaders claim sucess in Iraq the oil price hikes have benifited the mostly middle east countries but also the disliked Russia and Iran to the tune of $1.4 billion.The recent pirate capture of a supertanker based in Ubecistan to me means that Russia has been buying oil in Iraq indirectly to sell round the world to the highest bidder whilst the U.S.A & Britain had armies based there. Not one journalist in economics seem to have spotted the above outcomes, and that Gordon Brown far from having the best solutions, actually was one of only 3 politicians to CAUSE the world economic downturn we all see around us for many years yet to come.Future politicians might best study the history of Iraq & Afganistan to realize they are on a pointless expensive road to nowhere. Between 1979-1989 Russia had 500,000 troops in Afganistan and drove itself bust so it was unable to afford to stop it's eastern block heading towards the western capitalist system. Also the British were able to take over the verdent Punjab & what is now today Pakistan after the ruler there between 1720-1760 fought a 20 war in both Pakistan then made the mistake of attacking Afganistan. This so bust the coffers that up one his death when his son took over it was only as a puppet to British control.