Category Archives: Gordon Brown

Duplicity? No. A bloody lie.

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Guido has very kindly coralled all the relevants cuttings over at his gaff, so there’s little for me to do but to add my own comments.

August 2009:

“Gordon Brown today broke his silence on the release of the Lockerbie bomber, saying that the UK government had done no deal with Libya and that he was “angry and repulsed” at the scenes of jubilation in Tripoli.”

September 2009 (Gordon Brown): 

“On our part, there was no conspiracy, no cover-up, no double-dealing, no deal on oil, no attempt to instruct Scottish ministers, no private assurances by me to (Libyan leader) Colonel (Muammar) Gaddafi. We were absolutely clear throughout with the Libyans and everyone else that this was a decision for the Scottish government.”

Today:

“The former Labour Government did “all it could” to help Libya secure the release of the Lockerbie bomber, Britain’s most senior civil servant is to admit today”

“Policy was, therefore, progressively developed that Her Majesty’s Government should do all it could, while respecting devolved competencies, to facilitate an appeal by the Libyans to the Scottish government for Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi’s release under the Prisoner Transfer Agreement (PTA) or for release on compassionate grounds. Such an approach was understood across all relevant departments.”

There are serious doubts in my mind as to whether al-Megrahi was the perp here. The public were demanding that someone be locked up for it, it was perhaps politically convenient to both the UK and Libyan governments at the time that al-Megrahi should be that man.

But, for the Prime Minister to wilfully mislead the country and the House is unforgivable. Yes, we all know that politicians lie, but there are lies and there are lies. Bugger an inquest, let’s just go straight to the prosecutions, shall we?

I’m no lover of the coalition shouting match we have at the moment, but it will be a long, long time until we see a government as deceitful, arrogant, hubristic and contemptible as the one that was thrown out last year. I hope it is equally as long until anyone from the Labour party gets their hands on the lever of power again, and I wish that the last Labour government is just that, the last one.   

The One That Is Really Quite Sad. . .

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Now the initial Schadenfreude has worn off, I’m going to admit to being a little bit saddened at yesterday’s events with Brown.

I’m not saddened because he has shown himself to have scant regard for anyone else’s opinions, or because he has revealed, once again, his bullying blaming nature, or that this shambolic, graceless spectre has brought the name of our once great country and its highest office into disrepute, for the umpteenth time. This is all old news.

Whilst watching the news reports last night, a few seconds of footage I had not seen previously really stuck with me. It was the footage of poor old Gillian Duffy’s reaction as she was played Brown’s comments as he was driven away. There was a proud woman who looked like she’d been kicked in the stomach, I have little doubt that had she not had a TV camera in her face, she would have shed a tear.

It’s very easy to be a worldly cynic sat behind a keyboard throwing bricks at the politicians, and on the odd occasion when a blogger scores a hit, there is much rejoicing, and rightly so. The politicians are used to this, being the attacker and the attacked is their stock in trade. Mrs. Duffy’s position is entirely different.

I don’t want to sound patronising about Mrs. Duffy, nor do I wish to make assumptions about her and her character, but this is what I saw when I looked at her. I saw a long time, loyal supporter of the party. A supporter who over the course of her life has seen the party she supports change beyond recognition, a supporter who was given the opportunity to raise genuine concerns over the policies and performance of HER party.

Before the comments were made it was obvious Brown did not want to talk to her. In part he displayed an insincerity which did him no credit at all, ‘Working with children is SO important, isn’t it?’ Yes, Gordon, I think she knows that. However, despite some remaining concerns the pair shook hands, and as far as she was concerned, the deal was done. The media handlers must have been shouting ‘Win!’ The story would have been that Brown was fronted up by a supporter with concerns and won them round, job’s a good-un.

Of course Brown wasn’t aware his comments were being broadcast, and of course pretty much every other politician has got into their car after being leapt upon in such a fashion and made uncharitable comments about the MOP who has accosted them. But, and it’s a big but here, how many of them would have had the lack of self awareness to realise that the situation went well, that they’d re-assured their support, had scored a goal in the right net, not in their own? How many of them having realised the win would have then lambasted the MOP as they drove off? The comments would have been along the lines of ‘that went well’, ‘we’ve got a vote there’, ‘that’ll look good on the news this evening.’ Only Brown could see a disaster in the victory, in the same way that only Brown sees a victory in the defeat. No other leader of a political party would have so mis-judged that situation.

Furthermore, no other political leader would have been caught so off-guard by a TV camera in a radio studio, and no other leader would have dragged the world’s media and half the town around to the poor woman’s house.

This is not some politician, spin doctor or campaigner, nor is this woman some attention hungry celebrity or media whore, and she found herself under siege for the whole day and night because of some ridiculous comment that need never have been made. Of course Brown thought what he said, like some paranoid and corrupt dictator, he sees plots and smears everywhere, because that is the way he does business. It’s been his MO for the last decade, to have people dismissed with the old nazi-racist-bigot line if they disagree with, or it would seem even question, his decisions.

His ridiculous smile after the almost hour long apology only served to compound the crime, heaping insincerity upon insult, injury and blame.

I suspect that Mrs. Duffy was brought up by her Labour supporting parents to treat people in positions of authority with respect, and to accord people like MPs all the deference that these MPs believed they were due. I suspect that to her, the Prime Minister is someone she would have had a great deal of respect and admiration for. One can only imagine how the adrenaline was roaring through her veins as she spoke with and pressed the flesh of the man she had been brought up to venerate.

It must have made the hurt and distress of hearing his totally unwarranted comments even worse.

I would hope Brown does feel mortified about his performance yesterday, but I doubt his regret is really about Gillian Duffy’s feelings being hurt, it is the fact that he was caught out.

This isn’t about party allegiance, ideology or policy, it is about an individual displaying his contempt for his own supporters, his dismissal of anything which isn’t his idea, and why he is not fit to hold any office.

And Mrs. Duffy, irrespective of her political allegiances did not ask to have the world’s media camped out on her doorstep and did not deserve to have her pride trampled under foot. She deserved a good deal better than what she got, and she stands as an example of millions of British who find themselves bewildered and hurt at the treatment which has been meted out to them by this Prime Monster and his cabal.

The One That Wants To Know How Anyone Could Be So Stupid. . .

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You thought I was talking about this, didn’t you?

I’ll just leave it at this.

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!

It doesn’t matter Gordon, there’s always someone who drops a bigger bollock, you just have to know where to look.

Ah, here we go . . .

A lost sailor has had to be rescued after running out of fuel circling a small island when he thought he was sailing around the UK coast.

The Sheerness lifeboat and the Thames Coastguard assisted the man who ran aground off the Elmley Marshes on the Isle of Sheppey on 19 April.

With only a road map for directions, he set off on the river Medway, from Gillingham, and headed for Southampton.

But the RNLI said the man had “ended up travelling round the Isle of Sheppey”.

Probably a local, not for nothing is it known around the Garden of England as ‘Six Toe Island’.

There you go Gordon, what do you think of his efforts?


Yes, my sentiments exactly.

The One That Is Touching On A Couple Of Points. . .

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My break continues apace. . .

Errrrm. . .

Right.

OK, a couple of little things that have grabbed my attention over the last few days, all completely unconnected.

Firstly, regarding our (hopefully) soon to be erstwhile Prime Minister.

Grumpy Old Twat has a graph which makes interesting reading. It is entitled ‘worrying’, and here it is in all its glory:

If that graph follows the trajectories shown thus far, then it would seem that come election o’clock that Broon and Cameroid will not have a (banned in enclosed public spaces) fag paper between them.

Good.

Whilst the instant gratification of seeing loads of Labour MPs getting the gooner would be nice, I think the longer term benefits of seeing an immasculated hung parliament will be better. What we need to do now, I believe, is just stop, let the willy waving pass and then see what is left of the detritus can actually acheive when they have no option but to actually, properly engage with other people.

Of course, things still don’t go well for Brown, so I think the graph above says more about people’s uncertainty surrounding the plastic man in charge of the Tories than it does about any resurgent support for Brown.

This bullying story simply won’t go away. I’m not surprised that Brown appears to be a bully, Rawnsley certainly seems to think so, and Raedwald hits the nail squarely on the head when he says that if it isn’t true, then Brown needs to back up his claims of lies with action in the court. I’m not convinced he can, because in my opinion, it is probably true.

Again, this is not a comment on Brown individually, but in order to get to be the leader of a large political party you have to be willing to tread on toes, willing to smear and willing to be not very nice at all. Unfortunately for Brown, he comes across as being charmless and graceless, so this makes it all the easier to believe.

On a different tack completely, one of the less reported, but most revealing stories of the last few days has been the storm about young teenagers/old children being taught to drive.

The immediate response when reading the headline is that idiot parents are taking their progeny out on public roads before their 17th birthdays. But they’re not. These are kids being taught on private land and closed tracks.

So where’s the problem?

The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents has warned the courses could make youngsters over confident and more likely to crash.

Well, that’s fine. I’ll quite accept the position. I don’t accept the argument, but RoSPA urge caution when unwrapping a kit-kat, lest the tin foil you hold find its way into a plug socket which you have carelessly left turned on and with no safety child plug in. That’s what RoSPA do, it’s their job, although so scared are they about everything that I’m surprised they don’t all work from bed via telepathy to remove any risk from the day at all. (Hang on, what about bed sores?)

Indeed, let’s hope these kids do crash on the closed course, without injury and learn that over confidence is not an aid to driving. The reverse is also true, when learning on public roads, having never sat behind the wheel the problem of timidity and nerves also appears.

I remeber my first time and was not comfortable. You realise that as well as keeping an eye on what you are doing, you must keep an eye out on all the other drivers, cyclists, pedestrians etc. You encounter other drivers who don’t care about the large red L on the rear of the car you drive. You get pressured, tailgated, flashed at, it isn’t nice. You wouldn’t teach a kid how to make boiled egg in one of Gordon Ramsay’s restaurants during dinner service, would you?

More illustrating is the quote from the Police Federation of England and Wales.

It’s a good-un.

Driving on one of these courses at 11 years old, it’s another six years until you can get a driving licence. How does it replicate the real world, the spontaneous incidents?

Well, it doesn’t. But then that’s not the point, is it? That’s like asking how a child’s toy kitchen set replicates chip pan fires. It gives the child an understanding of the mechanics of the situation and I should imagine is a good way of improving physical multi-tasking, spacial awareness and hand-eye co-ordination.

But. . .

Are kids mature enough at 11, 12, 13 years old to understand what’s happening on the roads, to be able to manage all the demands and pressures?

No, they’re not, that’s why it isn’t done on public roads, but on private, closed courses. That is why a driving licence cannot be obtained until one’s 17th birthday. Do you see? Your point is perfectly irrelevant.

The real issue here is that people aren’t breaking the law, but are only one step removed from breaking it. Some police officers would just love to wade in and nick them anyway, others just think that as the police are now so politicised that they need to act like politicians (shouldn’t) act and tell us what to do.

Uh-huh, WE tell YOU what to do. We make the laws through our elected reps. We pay you to enforce those laws. We do not pay you to enforce laws you want to and ignore those you don’t. We do not pay you to make up laws on the spot. We certainly do not pay you to preach to us about what should and should not be allowed.

Wind your bloody necks in.

The One That Thinks They Are Pathetic. . .

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I’m finding this hard to understand. This whole Northern Ireland thing, at the risk of making understatement of the 21st Century, is a bit daft, isn’t it?

The crux of the matter seems to be that a large minority despise their counterparts because they say their prayers differently, one side also don’t like the other very much because they like to wear silly clothes and walk about in an odd fashion because they won a battle over three hundred years ago. I wonder if the Germans would get so huffy if we did the same to them?

‘Zo? You von? Und? Vere are your factories? Vot you did to Coventry vas vorse zan vot ve did to it, at least ve rebuilt Dresden not qvite zo bad, and zat vas ven dey vas Ossies, Commies! Und ve can still go to the pub you know and haf ein smoke.’

And yet still people get upset about the parades. Then the parading lot get the hump because people chuck stones at them whilst they do their 300 year old ‘Loooossseeerrrr!’ routine.

How odd.

It also seems to be that one lot really, really, really want to belong to the Republic of Ireland and one lot want to belong to the UK. You’re all fooling yourselves. It doesn’t bloody matter, it’s akin to Siamese twins arguing over whether they’re going to have their steak with pepper or béarnaise sauce whilst walking into a vegan restaurant.

Oh? You didn’t notice? Whilst you were poking fun at the others because they wear bowler hats, aprons and sashes over their Glasgow Rangers football shirts, or deriding the others because their priest walks around with his handbag on fire and the congregation all wear Glasgow Celtic football jerseys (what is this pre-occupation with Scottish football in Ulster? They’ve a perfectly good league of their own), the government of the UK signed away its independence without so much as a by-your-leave, whilst the electorate in the Republic did it themselves for five minute’s peace. It doesn’t matter, you’re just a constituent part of the EU now, you may as well be a region of Portugal for all the bloody difference it makes.

But still we have the DUP complaining that the Unionist community must have confidence before police and justice is transferred from Westminster, and Sinn Féin moaning about the Parades Commission. So what happens? Like an irrelevant student council at a school, come a disagreement they go running to teacher.

You do realise that the rest of the UK looks at Ulster and laughs, don’t you? You’re nuts, totally hat stand, barking at the moon, batshit mental. The Republic must look over its northern border and think ‘we’re well out of that.’ I’d want nothing to do with them if I were in their shoes.

Yet, bizarrely, we invite the Taoiseach along. Lord knows why, I suppose it keeps the Nationalists happy, but it’s akin to a section of Buffalo and the north of New York state deciding they want to join Canada and Obama inviting Stephen Harper along to try and keep a lid on the mess (I’ve been to Buffalo, the Canadians wouldn’t want it, they’ve far too much sense).

So we have the wonderful image of Brown and Cowen sat together in the back of a car on the way to or from Hillsborough together, looking like the European area final of the World’s Ugliest Man Competition. Jesus, I wouldn’t trust those two to run a sweet shop, put them together and any agreement is likely to be in spite of them, not because of them.

The situation in Northern Ireland isn’t their fault. Well, it is, because they continually come running when Stormont call up and say they’ve had another row, so they reinforce the behaviour, like a parent with an attention demanding child. The politicians in Stormont are also to blame, because they’re so obsessed with taking offence because someone was speaking Irish in the chamber (speaking Irish? In Ireland? Whatever next?), or arguing about some Dutch bloke in a flamboyant hat on a horse, three hundred bastarding years ago, that they don’t leave enough time for important things like running the country.

My opinion? Brown and Cowen should get together and say ‘We’re sick of the bloody sight of you, you’re own your own.’ Then they can argue about parades, language and religion until they’re blue in the face. They can then see the schools breaking down, burglars and muggers not being caught and rubbish piling high in the streets. If you give them the luxury of being able to spend time over their pathetic little squabbles, they’ll use it. Stop running the bloody country for them. They want a parliament? Fine, then get on with it, don’t be going to Dublin and London every five minutes with your complaints of what the nasty man said.

However, there is one group more to blame than the politicians in Westminster, Dublin and Stormont. Not the nutters and paramilitaries on each side. No. It is the electorate. Just as the Palestinians and Israelis repeatedly vote in people who want nothing more to have a big scrap with the other side, the people of Ulster consistently do the same. Again, that’s fine, it’s your vote, cast it where you wish. However you must deal with the consequences. If you vote for someone who wants a scrap, and you get a scrap, then don’t be surprised. You voted for it. Neither should you be surprised when everyone else turns round and points this out whilst sitting back and watching it unfold.

If you really do want change, peace and some degree of normality in Northern Ireland, then stop voting for these arseclowns who will do their level best to ensure that this arseclownery continues. You’re being played like a cheap violin, because if one morning you wake up and realise that this ridiculous in-fighting (and it is in-fighting, you really aren’t that different) is a waste of time, money and life, then those politicians will be totally irrelevant, useless, obsolete.

Don’t look to them to make that change, they’ve no interest in it happening. You have to look to yourselves, no-one else will do it for you.

The One That Doesn’t Understand Why He’s Done It. . .

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Gordon Brown is to apologise for the UK’s role in sending thousands of its
children to former colonies in the 20th century, the BBC has learned.


Right, let’s get something straight what was done to these kids was unspeakable, they were treated in the most apalling fashion. That being said, and without wanting to sound glib, I should imagine the offspring of these people are quite happy to be in Canada, Australia or NZ.

It is a belief of mine that you can and should only apologise for something if you are the one responsible for what happened and you feel genuine sorrow for the results of your actions.

I’ll give Gordon the benefit of the doubt and will accept that he understands what a hurtful course of action sending these kids away was and I would hope that nothing like this would happen again. It seems the Aussies are going to say sorry too, they’ve got form in this area anyway, with the social engineering of the ‘lost generation’* another staggeringly insensitive practive that shows just how cruel and spiteful the Nanny State is.

However, Gordon cannot apologise for this. It is a simple fact that he was nothing to do with it. It is not his sin to atone for.

I don’t mean this in a way to do these people down, and I really do feel for them, but it just isn’t Gordon’s fault. He, like me, can express deep regret at what happened, but he cannot apologise any more than Angela Merkel can apologise for the Holocaust, or Sarko can apologise for Napoleon’s actions, or Berlusconi can apologise for the Roman usurpation of the Iceni lands from Boudica.

He’ll be all too quick to fall to his knees declaring ‘mea culpa!’ He’ll then find someone responsible and sack them. Wildly ironic, given the fact that there is so much which is his fault that he steadfastly refuses to apologise for.

*If you don’t know about the Lost Generation, or even if you do, please read the linked account from the NSW Parliament. It is a most chilling testimony to what happens when people who think they know best get carte-blanche to waltz in and take over peoples’ lives and dictate to them. Leg-Iron talks about this today and history is repeating itself here now. To misquote; ‘We are all Aboriginals now’. The only outcome when The State inveigles itself into personal life is despair, hurt and destroyed lives. The State is incapable of love, that is an act which can only exist between two individuals.

The One That Thinks He’s Having A Laugh. . .

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So, the response to the petition is out.

“We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to resign.” Details of Petition: “There are many reasons why we might want Brown to resign, but rather than having lots of narrow petitions on this topic (most of which have been rejected), I wanted one for all of us.”

That’s the petition wording.

Here’s the response:


The Prime Minister is completely focussed on restoring the economy, getting people back to work and improving standards in public services. As the Prime Minister has consistently said, he is determined to build a stronger, fairer, better Britain for all.

But we’re broke because you’ve pissed all our money up the wall, Gordon.

There are no jobs Gordon, not real ones, there’s no manufacturing. The EU has seen to that. Private business is mired in a morass of paperwork, red-tape and punitive taxes because you lot can’t stand the idea of someone making money without your help.

The public servants are now starting to rise up, unable to do their jobs because of your rules and tinkering. Thousands added on to the payroll, with nothing to do, and now you’ve realised you can’t pay them.

As for building a stronger, fairer and better Britain, well, you’ve had almost 13 years now. From where I’ve been standing, it’s become weaker, unfairer and much, much worse.

Invite us in for a cuppa when we pass your gaff this morning, give all your advisors and spin doctors a scare. You might even like what we have to say.

The One That Bought A Paper. . .

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For the first time in a long, long time, I went out and bought one of the national daily papers today. For the first time ever, that paper was The Sun. I just wanted to see with my own eyes that hatchet job on Brown. And it is one hell of a hatchet job (I like the poster especially). It also seems to be railing solidly against Brown rather than Labour as a whole, and I can’t help wondering what would happen if he was shown the door before the election.

I think the answer is probably that The Sun’s stance would soften slightly, but that Labour would still lose the election. No-one is going to oust Brown now, no-one wants to be the person that took over and the took the party on to an absolute paggering at the polls. They’ll all start sidling away during the campaign. Come the inevitable bun-fight in June it will all be, ‘Me? No, it was nothing to do with me, I was nowhere near it. Well, I suppose I could have stepped in before Christmas, but the loyalty of the rank and file is paramount, no-one wanted to see Gordon go. The Tories ran a despicable campaign, it hurt Gordon badly, and someone has to step up now he’s stood down.’

With some of the squawking in the media you’d have thought that the job of PM is awarded by The Sun. It isn’t. The Sun backing Cameroid isn’t going to win the Tories the election. One truism that is, errr, true, is that oppositions do not win elections. The Sun isn’t telling people how to vote or think, they’ve known for plenty long-enough that New Labour is done. They’ve done this now to cause as much damage to Brown as possible.

The Sun hasn’t announced its support to influence the outcome, it has done it to sell papers. The Sun was never going to back Labour, because they will lose. It won’t want to be seen backing a loser. Can the Sun influence a winning margin? Yes. If they press the right buttons then a lot of those who don’t vote may just turn out to put the boot in. The Sun can turn a big victory into a huge victory, but it cannot turn a large defeat into a narrow win. Even if The Sun indulged in the sort of partial pro-Labour reporting that would make the BBC blush, it wouldn’t change the result.

On the morning after the election, when The Sun says something along the lines of ‘It Was The Sun Wot Won It’, that’s just to persuade people that it is more influential than it really is.

Brown will be furious, Campbell on Sky News this morning gave the air of a man who was about to stamp his feet and claim that it isn’t fair, but it doesn’t really matter. The Tories won’t win because they’re best – I’m expecting a policy free zone at their conference next week, indeed their manifesto may just as well be Cameroid and chums in matching knitwear holding kittens, The Tories won’t win because of The Sun. Labour will lose because of their complete contempt and disregard for the public. Labour will lose because they continually nag and mither us, because they insult us, because they take our money and waste it, spend it on themselves, because they are incapable of admitting fault or responsibility, because they make promises they have no intention of keeping, because they snoop upon us and criminalise us for no other reason than they can.

Alternative vote? Give me a break. You would have done that in ’97 if it was worthwhile. Now you stare down the barrel of a gun you think that people’s second choices are important?

Slut’s Huts/Gulags for Slags? Yeah, nice. Bring back homes for fallen women so you can indoctrinate them and their kids. That’s the sort of the thing the BNP would do. . . Oh.

Take your ball and fuck off. You’ve had your chance, and you have squandered it. It’s over. Finished. Gone. Your attitude of entitlement to win this time would be truly offensive if watching it wasn’t so funny. You make Comical Ali look like an incisive commentator.

I’ll leave the last word to 22 year old Keeley from Bromley, who for some reason left the house wearing nothing but a small pair of blue knickers and a pout.

‘He [Cameron] can’t possibly do this instantly as he will inherit huge, long-term, deep-rooted problems. We need to allow him time to implement fresh ideas and policies that will get the country off its knees.’

Hardly a ringing endorsement, is it? When did glamour models become so politically aware?