The death march

Andrew Cooper, the polling guru and one of the owners of Populus, has sent me this fascinating graph (click on it to enlarge). The red line is the current Government's opinion rating starting after the election in 2005. The blue line is the Major Government starting after the election in 1992.

The red line represents an average of Populus, ICM and You Gov while the blue line uses only ICM, because they were the only pollster using a properly adjusted measure during that period.

It is immediately obvious that Labour is on the same path as the Tories in the run up to their spectacular defeat in 1997.

There is one departure - that little spike in Labour's rating was the Brown summer, when he could have called the election but didn't.

Andrew notes the point where the red line stops. At that moment on the blue line, John Major was under such pressure that just two months later he called a leadership election and told his party opponents to put up or shut up.

Comments

[RB]

Gordon Brown is the best asset the Tories have. Deeply unpopular, obstinately clinging to power, he is rotting New Labour from the inside, slowly, just in time for the next election.

[Tim Brookshaw]

Presumably the political geniuses at Number 10 are equally aware of this, and so the next year or so will be spent watching a slow motion train wreck with a horrified fascination, as they blunder on with an increasingly desperate aspect - taxing, wasting, spending, taking the long term view, making difficult decisions etc., when all the nation wants is to be rid of them. Reality - what a concept.

[PJD]

It would be interesting if a line for the Tory poll rating from 1987-1992 was also added. That would show the recovery they had from early 1990 to late 1990 when Thatcher was replaced by Major.

[David Gillies]

John Major was dreadful. And he was still an incomparably better PM than Brown is proving. Brown's sole contribution to history will be to figure fairly high up some Worst Prime Ministers of All Time list in, say, fifty years.

[Bob Etherington]

It may be unfair (OK it IS unfair) but the Labour front row and especially the PM need to understand that presentation (what things look and sound like) is extremely important when it comes to human (voter) persuasion.

As WS Gilbert has the odd looking sailor 'Dick Deadeye' say in 'HMS Pinafore', "From such a face and form as mine the noblest sentiments sound like the black utterances of a depraved imagination; it's human nature...I'm resigned!"

[c nelson]

This government is a bloody digrace , record unemployment (incap) record crime (tough on crime tough on the causes of crime), record taxes, record employed in the public sector, record inflation (3%) oh please !!!

[Lee Andrews]

Brown is a real life Oedipus for our age; destined to kill New Labour and bring disater to the country. With everything going wrong around him, he still doesn't accept he started it.

[Mike]

Its surprising that Labour has held on as long as it has but as many have said time and again, its the economy that really does it in for a political party. We complain rightly about all the Labour sleaze that far exceeded the trivial stuff of Majors government but that in itself is still fairly minor. Labours anti 'toff' was bound to fail as the country has moved on even if Labour hasn't. However the betrayal of a countries heritage, rights and freedoms is a first from any recent government and Labour ought to be ashamed of itself. They won't of course, as theres always some obscure justification in their twisted minds why all contentious legislation is for the good of the country but they never explain how it will be good for the country. Just as Al Capone was imprisoned over tax evasion rather than his real crimes of racketeering and murder, Brown & Labour will be kicked out of government over the economy and not over Iraq and their multitudinous failings in crime, education or the NHS. Most of us pray the Tories can reverse most of the damage done by the Nulab experiment as it cost a fortune to run and failed miserably.

[Raymond Ward]

Gordon Brown is obviously a clever guy, probably feels he is doing his best for the UK. However, why do politicians always believe that THEY are the best thing for the UK? Gordon should head up a think tank listing all manner of solutions to perceived problems, but having no say on policy.

[Nick Anstead]

I would be interested to see a comparable graph which showed Labour support 1992-1997 and Tory support through the current parliament. I suspect that (at least until recent weeks, maybe) Labour would have been doing lot better under Smith / Blair. Whether this is significant is yet to be seen, but it might imply that the current situation is more volatile than the one back in the nineties.

[Greg Lorriman]

If only the Conservatives were actually on the right. Rather they are on the left, the right and nothing but the center, with a nasty twist of liberal morality.

Yuk!

No thanks.

[Robbed by a Sub-Prime Minister]

Brown should be declared a national disaster area. He is addicted to disaster and no good will ever come from a Brown government.

I like the comment by RB. Brown is rotting New Labour from the inside, just in time for the election.

[Frank]

The graph misses the crucial fact - that the Conservatives had a change of leader in 1990 two years ahead of the General Election which they WON against all the odds. The election would certainly have been lost had Thatcher still been in power. The greatest factor in politics is boredom. People are bored of Gordon Brown. He's been around too long. Only a change of leader will give Labour any chance of winning in 2010. The question is whether Gordon Brown has his own interest or that of the Labour Party at heart. I think we all know the answer to that.

[bill wilson]

it is beyond credulity, that people
will actually vote for new labor
considering the damage blair and brown
have inflicted on our country.crime
endemic,immigration out of control,
millions who will not work,on benifits
worst old age pensions in europe
wake up people

[steve ratcliffe]

The implosion of New Labour.The financial chaos.The uncontrolled immigration.The spin.The lies.The bill we all pick up. Vote them out - forever.

[tally]

It is very noble of English New Labour MP's to sacrfice their seats for the scottish raj. If New Labour continue to ignore English calls for an English Parliament they deserve everything they get.

[A Todd]

Being British and living outside the UK for a few years now, its amazing to read the level of anti-labour sentiment being expressed here. Very interesting graph too. Brown must be kicking himself (or should be) for not going with election last summer (40% approval!) Now look at him and the party. Sounds like the UK needs change and quickly...but are the Conservatives really the answer or just the best of a poor bunch?!

[michaelex]

brown is getting what he deserves as an unelected p.m the arrogant assumption that he and tony blair alone could decide on britains leader has come home to roost.only an idiot could not see that brown is unelectable.

[Peter B]

Please don't go Gordon. If you do, your party might possibly find a leader who can make the changes necessary to reverse Labour's fortunes, and even give them a chance of winning the election whenever it comes. Please stay, please carry on as you are. If you do, the election will have to be called sooner rather than later, the country will demand it, and when it comes, you and your party will be kicked out so spectacularly that there will be no chance of another Labour government for several generations. Whoopee!!

[Phil A]

The reason why Labour have held on so long is that part of their strategy in the 90's was re-working the electoral boundaries- to their advantage. It's more difficult to get them out now, Tories need around 42% to get a majority, Labour 37% or so. John Major was a decent prime minister and a decent individual- he left a great economy, and a low tax environment along with a low government interference life for us all. He just wasn't a leader and lost control of his party which was sad.

[Phil]

Yes, a very bad result for Brown but it is typical that the voting public in Britain forget how awful things got under Tory administrations in the eighties and nineties.The current figures for growth, employment, unemployment, inflation, strikes and interest rates are all infinitely better than the majority of similar figures under the Tory party of Mrs Thatcher and Mr Major, even at this particular moment of economic uncertainty.It is also typical that so called responsible media folk also forget those years. How about producing a graph to show the comparisons for the factors mentioned above. I suspect that might be a better reality check for the public before they make further marks on ballot papers. It might also give some food for real political analysis rather than the usual tedious , lazy and often meaningless translation of a bye-election result into a national picture for future government.

[Kit Dowling]

He might be inept and disingenuous, but he has managed to boost his pension by getting to the big chair.

People really need to look at his wonderful, good for Britain budgets a little more closely, particularly over the past four years. Taken in the context of market predictions that were made a he prepared those budgets, it was obvious that he was making ill-judged decisions.

Sadly, his growing incompetence is taking food from the tables of those least able to afford it and is driving the economy to the brink.

The abolition of the 10 pence tax rate was identified as a increased cost on the low paid on the day it was announced, yet Mr Brown and his appointees, suddenly discovered their oversight only after it had become policy and millions of workers were put one step nearer poverty.

The truth of it, of course, is that Mr Brown had hoped he could sneak in a revenue increasing measure without the voting public being intelligent enough to spot it and he was caught out when they did, hence the panic.

He also seemed surprised, as did Alistair Darling, when inflation last month exceeded 3%, when it was obvious that increasing food and fuel prices would drive inflation up.

This man has never been as intelligent as claimed. He is merely cunning and can create a complex and hard to understand budget, which he hoped would confuse enough people that it wouldn't be questioned. That's now bitten him in the backside.

Time for a change.

[David]

Just shows how fickle and short-minded the media and voters are - just look how popular Brown nine months ago.

Brown may have botched holding an election, and be responsible for the disastrous 10p tax débâcle, but he's essentially being blamed for a worldwide economic downturn.

Just what exactly would smiley Dave do differently?

WAKE UP EVERYBODY!!!

[Nick Graham-Brown]

I thought the whole point of a democracy was that the people have the power. And yet, here we are, with the nation displaying overwhelming distain toward Mr. Brown, and yet he sits there, unmoving. Surely if he is a democratic leader he should recognise that the British people don't want him, and walk away.

[Gary]

I doubt anyone will want to stand for the leadership. They will lead the party to defeat only to have to resign the day after the election. Brown will obstinately hang on and the potential new leaders will keep their powder dry until after the electoral slaughter.

[JT]

It is the Labour government that the country needs to be rid of. Changing the Labour leader would be just a prevarication.

[Jonathan]

Talisman Tony saw the wrting on the wall and handed Gordon a wonderful Hospital pass.
The economy is what really matters - which is not always under our control - but people want a change as evidenced by recent events.
The question is whether Gordon can halt this head of steam.
He has to do something quite spectacular which might require him to fall on his sword. Failing that a miracle.
I also thought that the Labour Party election tactics in Crewe showed that the Labour Leadership has lost control.
Gone is the on-message controlling strategy which has been prevalent since 1997 and we now see political mavericks allowed to broadcast seriously naive electionering messages which demonstrate that the ship is on a rudderless course.

[TRE COOL]

Bye Bye Mr Broon!

[TRE COOL]

Bye Bye Broon

[Stephen Potter]

Being a good Prime Minister does not come from being around a long time , or being a heavyweight Cabinet Member; not even from being good at your job as Chancellor. In recruiting for the top post its what you need to be in the future that matters, not what you have been in the past.
This has been the fundamental and obvious error of the Labour Party, falling for the pathetically simple 'Buggins turn' selection process.
It still happens in industry and in Local Government and it stems from arrogance and complacency. From the delusion that leadership is your right and that earning it is no longer required.
There is only one possible way out for Labour, get rid of Brown and appoint a leader on rigourous merit. Simple?

[Chris K]

I'm sure Brown will blame the result on the credit crunch and global economy, but surely a prudent government would've anticipated this and built up the country's reserves to weather the storm.

Now where did all those gold reserves go...?

[Neil]

Gordon Brown seems to be casting himself as "indispensable" to the Labour Party and "indispensable" to the country. If, as I suspect, this is so he should heed the very wise words of the late President Charles De Gaulle who, when told that he was the only person who could run France replied: "The cemeteries are full of indispensable people."

[Keith Adams]

I never subscribed to the view that Gordon Brown was a wonderful Chancellor. The fact is that many of us are promoted to one job above our abilities and we fail - Gordon Brown has been promoted to two levels above his abilities and has failed at both. The real shame is not his personal failure but the fact that he failed his Country.

[Andrew Watson]

I feel like I'm living in a spin induced bubble .... but this time its everything that goes wrong in the world is Brown fault. I blame him for the recent earthquake in China; too much clunking fist.

[Andy Mockett]

Already the Labour MP's are scripted by the spin docs all reciting the same mantra-"voters are feeling the pinch"..."its the global economy" .."rising petrol,gas and electricity prices" etc. Such denial.Only when they wake up to the fact the voters in the local elections and in Crewe don't buy this spin lie will they have a chance of recovering. Axe Brown now. He is the stealth tax king and Darling is his puppet.Having briefed and plotted against Blair for years,obsessed by having his job, he will be having nightmares that his underling Ed Balls is doing to him what he learnt from his mentor.Go Gordon-go before you are throw out. Or was all your blather about unity of the party just a cover for you avarice for power.

[Robert Peters]

The media spin anti-Brown has been phenomenal. Let's try and capture the worst possible photographs to show he is stressed/tired/uncaring.
Let's blame him for the impact of world oil prices, and then slag him off when he says he will try and work internationally to improve the situation.
It's probably his fault when we come last in Eurovision as well

[Muzza, Stevenage]

RB - New Labour has been rotting from the day it came to power. It is a criminally incompetent mob of corrupt imbeciles and utimately it is also a socialist organisation. And socialism is a failure wherever it has been. It just takes people time to realise it especially if they are bombarded by how great the 'government' is. But the truth is coming home to roost - even if you've paid the highest taxes in modern history, had your pension destroyed by the tax raid, seen well in excess of 100 new stealth taxes introduced and are paying exorbitant prices at the pumps (which Brown could cap if he really wanted to help) can you honestly say this country is a better place, or rotten to the core like its leadership (and that ignores the Labour inspired yob culture) Other than limitless sums of money spent on criminals and immigrants where has all the money gone? Answer - just check out the expense claims published today. All that matters now is the permanent destruction of new Labour, the cancer it brings and the rest of us being able to put the great back into Great Britain. With Blair's legacy though, that will take generations.

[JRE]

It is about time that Mr Brown understood those words of Wisdom.
" You can fool all of the people some of the time and some of the people all the time, but you can not fool all of the people all of the time".

[Norman West]

Gordon Brown has really run into trouble unfortunately because of his inability to recognise the feeling of the people he represents.

He funked calling an election when he would probably have won, he allowed to tax screw up to go ahead without recognising its potential problems. He sold gold years ago at the wrong time and at the wrong price, but worse of all he believes like Blair that we the electorate like to be told what to do. There are so many more controls on the electorate, but big business especially finance houses are left alone to screw up our economy.

He is a number two, never the number one, and the sooner he realises it the better it will be for the party that has done so much good over the years that will only be credited with after a few years of the Tory party

[Paul Smith]

Poor Gordy he has lost his moral compass
New Labour say the Tories they will jump us
With Cheries tales of cupid
Its the economy stupid
Gosh Gordy may lose cool and simply clunk us

[dermot]

@ CHRIS K: "Now where did all those gold reserves go...?"

Laughing at that! Yes, selling tons of the nation's gold reserves for $240 an ounce in the late 90s, to stand and gape as it rises by a factor of four...costing the UK billions.

Oh my, Gordon. We are a silly boy.

I'm beginning to wonder - if things get bad enough under GB, any chance of the Libdems becoming the opposition party?

With NuLab on less than sixty seats, it's not impossible.

[Paul Smith]

poor old gordys lost his moral compass
just a clunking hand to thump and thump us

[Jim Dyer]

With Brown we were supposed to get a "clunking fist", but it looks like the only damage he can do is to himself and his poor cronies who will lose their seats. Perhaps the Scottish government will appreciate his talents, and give him a job where he won't have to worry about "alky-ada" whoever she is!

[Jim Dyer]

When Brown eventually goes, will we get a reversal of his pension plundering, or will pensioners have to continue to suffer, as their money will still be needed to waste on lesbians IVF treatment.

[Bruce Harper]

Gordon Brown was flattered as a Chancellor by the Global rise in house prices. He did nothing to discourage the greed by lenders, estate agents and indeed quick buck merchants buying property for profit. As a result the population felt asset rich, borrowing feel-good money against the rising property prices.

Blair saw the writing on the wall, the economy is running out of money, and ran. I would have run away from that frog-mouthed woman at the same time!

Brown becomes PM and oversees some disgraceful decisions. The 10p tax issue is madness - alienating low income Labour voters at a stroke. Then backdating the Road Fund License to sting people who bought cars with higher Carbon outputs before we knew what they are is an absolute fraudulent disgrace.

On top of that he is a boring, ugly, moody pig with no personality whatsoever

[R Lindsey]

Gordon will not go gracefully. He's stiffed-necked and stabborn. Moreover, he has tasted power and thinks he is infallible which is odd, for the son of the manse.

[paul freeman]

Note on the fascinating graph the modest recovery of the Conservatives poll rating after the low point, roughly where Labour are now. Expect by November to hear Gordon and New Labour saying 'there you are, we're recovering'as they rearrange the deckchairs on the Titanic. Cameron needs to watch the marginals carefully though, because he needs a larger relative swing.

[Andre]

I liked John Major. He personally intervened so that I could stay in the UK long enough to finish my masters degree.

Thank you - John Major!

[martin taylor]

the country has turned on brown & gang for many reasons , flogging of OUR gold reserves , opening the flood gates to the flotsam & jetsom of europe , toe curling bending over backwards to brussels , the referendum we never got , the expenses they wanted to hide etc etc the list is endless , suddenly the voting taxpayers have woken up

[Len]

Why do we say that Brown is clever? What is the justifaction for this?
Everything he has done has been a disaster starting with his raid on the pension funds (whilst keeping his safe - was that what gives him the clever status?). This destroyed the sharemarket, companies and the pensions of millions now and in the future. His last true debarcle (one of so many such as selling gold cheaply, increasing the civil service and invalidity benefits to hide unemployment, immegration, fiddling the statistics - an almost endless list)was his 10p tax decision. In his future (Oh hopefully not) his motorist taxation and a tax on plastic bags (next a tax on air?). He dares to suggest he has solved problems and is a safe pair of hands. The man is a disaster taking incompetance to new levels - he must go!

[Tom]

Please when you put up such a graphic put a timeline on it.

[Tom]

Please when you put up such a graphic put a timeline on it.

[nat]

As well as selling off all the gold reserves, please don't forget about selling of all the HM Customs & Revenue offices to a tax avoidance company ( ' Mapeley Steps ' ).
As we will discover shortly, we are (thanks to GB) hocked up to our eyeballs on his PFI schemes and whoever takes over this mess (ignore Darling ... he's just doing as he's told) will have the mother and father of a 'challenge' !
Never mind, Hazel Blears says everything is OK, so what's to worry about?

[Marcus Elliott]

When everything was (apparantly ) going well for the economy,it was all because of Gordon's genius(nothing,of course,to do with the base laid by the Tories or the general world economic climate)
Now everything is going wrong,its all to do with the world situation and nothing to do with Gordon at all! He can't have it both ways.

[James Wallace]

Labour has a major problem with its MPs. They are killing the party, complaining a year late with the 10 p tax rate. It is as if they have just understood the implications.

Get a grip.

David Cameron has managed to get public support without actually saying that he would re-introduce the lower band. (which he won't as Brown introduced it in the first place).

A political change is sweeping accross the country and it is being led by the Labour party, not its leader.

[Stephen Hinds]

A curious thought,the Australian Governor-General,(who is the Queen's representative down here),has powers under the Australian Constitution to dismiss an Australian Government in extreme or dire circumstances,I wonder does the Queen herself has similar powers to intervene here?
Perhaps if she does and did it might actually be a relief for Mr. Brown,he can ride off into retirement and not worry anymore,of course on a generous taxpayer funded pension.

[Tony Muncaster]

I am living and working overseas because I was a poor man in UK, despite holding down a responsible job. I agree with all the criticisms of the Brown government that your readers have posted - I was beginning to wonder why the country was sleepwalking to ruin. Oh, and another thing you can add to the list: taking the country into two unwinnable and hugely costly wars. After years of pain I have recently had major surgery in the Middle East which was not available to me in UK and they charged me nothing for it (uninsured). So much for the Brit NHS.

[Terence Munro]

Brown is useless at being PM . Please go quitely before we throw you out and humiate you

[Keith Margin]

Please Mr Brown stay where you are and carry on working hard for David!!

[IGrimes]

An interesting graph. The spike seen when Gordon Brown finally took over from Blair clearly shows how fed up people were with Blair and 'New' Labour. Anyone was seen as being better at the time. Where I live (in Birmingham) most Labour supporters have been looking for some substance from Labour for years now... sadly, it seems that with Brown it's just business as usual. Voters here ask what's the difference between the Tories and Labour? It's just not that obvious to many, and therefore votes will drift away from Labour and if the core Labour voters stay at home then it looks bleak for 'New' Labour.

It's so frustrating that a fresh start and big change of direction just doesn't seem to be on Brown's agenda. He is losing support fast because nothing has really changed with what Labour are offering voters. In my opinion even if the economy wasn't in such a bad shape 'New' Labour would still be slipping heavily down the polls. Labour has lost it's core voters and now the floaters are abandoning ship fast. We want some 'big' ideas from Labour that are directly aimed at it's core supporters and Brown needs to stop pussy-footing around. We need a strong leader with a firm idea of what the 'Labour Party' should actually be now that Blair has gone. I'm fed up of hearing that Labour is the party of 'social justice', let's see the party make some serious big decisions for once and be the party that we all wanted a decade ago.

[CopernicusNick]

The crucial difference betweeen Gordon Brown in 2008 and John Major in 1993, is that Brown is currently leading a just about united party with a meaningful majority. They still have the potential to turn this around against a Conservative party who have somehow stolen the centre ground while Labour weren't looking. The people going over to the Tories aren't natural Conservatives, and Labour can reclaim them. The last thing they need now is a catastrophic party split, which will further discredit them. Either brown has to stand aside or the Party has to get behind him. The alternative is 1997-style wipe out.

[adrian parker]

Gordon Brown dithered and then decided against an autumn election last year. By stating his decision had nothing to do with the change to the opinion polls was clearly untrue and showed him to be disingenuous - clearly not to be trusted. Does he really believe the people of this country to be stupid?Many friends previously left leaning will be changing to the Conservatives at the next election. New Labour has lost the confidence of the British people - they were reelected in 2005 with 35% of the vote. The country has now in all probabilty decided that it is time for a change and this will happen from the day after the date of the next general election.

[sweetalkinguy]

Where has all the money gone? Into the pockets of consultants and Private Finance Initiative contractors. It is axiomatic in politics that one should look after one's own people first, taking the cash from one's traditional opponents if necessary, but this government has done the opposite, hence its unpopularity.

Brown's "Gordon Glum" demeanour is out of place at a time when times are not good. It reinforces the message that he is in some way responsible, and weakens his assertion that he is the best man to turn things around.

The 42-day detention policy likewise will remind people how the state has become more authoritarian, and how personal freedoms have been eroded, and the Brown regime will be held responsible. There is little electoral advantage to be derived from this.

Brown's best hope is that the Tories adopt a Mail/Express agenda and start making promises on fuel duty, immigration, law and order, tax cuts, etc. that they cannot possibly keep, which will undermine their credibility, which the electorate will see through.

[sweetalkinguy]

Where has all the money gone? Into the pockets of consultants and Private Finance Initiative contractors. It is axiomatic in politics that one should look after one's own people first, taking the cash from one's traditional opponents if necessary, but this government has done the opposite, hence its unpopularity.

Brown's "Gordon Glum" demeanour is out of place at a time when times are not good. It reinforces the message that he is in some way responsible, and weakens his assertion that he is the best man to turn things around.

The 42-day detention policy likewise will remind people how the state has become more authoritarian, and how personal freedoms have been eroded, and the Brown regime will be held responsible. There is little electoral advantage to be derived from this.

Brown's best hope is that the Tories adopt a Mail/Express agenda and start making promises on fuel duty, immigration, law and order, tax cuts, etc. that they cannot possibly keep, which will undermine their credibility, which the electorate will see through.

[tim]

If the English support Scottish independence will they take Gordon(Tony Hancock looky likey)with them ?So requiring a general election, as he will be redundent in Scotland .

[Tim]

Major didn't rescue the Tories, he just prolonged the agony. But Major didn't kill the Tories either because Thatcher's government had already done that. So it is with New Labour. The Blair reign (most significantly the Iraq war) has already delt the fatal blow to the party. It's not a matter of 'if New Labour loses its hold on power' it's a matter of 'how' and 'when'. New Labour is dead - it just hasn't realised it yet.

[DavePr]

Uncontrolled immigration is not just that, but with Muslim immigration as its main component, has implications for the future existence of the identity and character of historic Britain.

We already see the signs of war being carried on against Britain by these forces. It will get much worse in the future. Whatever are the faults of new Labour, and there are many, I cannot forgive it for putting Britain in jeopardy for short-term electoral gain.

[Neil]

It seems that it will be a long, slow, mournful funeral march, mixed with moments of farse. Can't the Government be humanely put out of its misery more quickly? We certainly wouldn't let an animal suffer like this.

[Hugo Chav]

Brown should have gone to the polls when he had the chance, that dithering has defined his Premiership, I am reminded of Churchill's critisism of General Lucas (i Think) after the Anzio landings, "I had hoped that we were hurling a wildcat onto the shore, but all we got was a stranded whale." the Germans were gifted time to reinforce and lead to the bloodbath at Monti Casino.

[Richard]

Lab/Con. Two wings of the same party. Whatever party wins - Britain (especially England)- will be the loser. Many complain, but few people dare to vote for a radical party which will really make a difference.

[Jeremiah]

The old provertb says 'anyone can sail a ship in fair weather', so the present uncertainty couldn't have come at a worse time. In recent years the Housing Market has been the mainstay of the economy, but this is likely to be blighted for the next 5 years .This will be worsened by the Global down turn. So this is the moment when the country needs sound leadership people with courage integrity and above all charisma. It will be interesting to see which sections of society exploit Labour's present weaknesses

[Antony Dilnot]

Gordon Brown is another Scotch Socialist with a wet and rotting sporren. His predecessor TB is Scotch and, his predecessor as Scocialist Labour Leaded was Scothc too. This accounts fot the English malaise

The English should remember what we were told by an Irishman in the Shadow of the French Revolution.

'All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.' EDMUND BURKE.

[Julian]

For want of stating the obvious, good accountants do not necessarily make good managers.