To hope that Gordon Brown doesn't resign?

[mrsruffallo]

I still don't think he is doing a bad job. I think he is a very caring and intelligent politician, and I hope he stays.
Am I the only one who feels like this?

sorry for perpetuating the Wire hijack but has anyone else seen the whole 5 series? or am i the only one obsessed enough to have hired them all from lovefilm? the last series made me rofl and gasp at the ridiculousness of the world, particularly politics

I am actually surprised at how many people agree with me.
The media have really stirred this up haven't they?

Politics is too tricksy, swedes. ANy fule can talk about frocks.

That post was about GB, not The wire btw

Misfit- I have only seen the first two series so button it

tinker, you have sown a seed in my mind - maybe I should join the Labour Party too ... hmmm, need to mull that one over.

Londonone, I, as a Londoner, I find your comments ridiculously southerncentric! What about the fact that Scottish voters had a Tory Government foisted on them all through the 1980's?! Oh yes, that would be a silly thing to say because there were plenty of Tory voters in Scotland just not many (any?) MPs.

totalmisfit - in the middle of series 5 now.

This nation has faced one disaster after another since he's been in power. He is invisible when it matters and has the charisma of a wet mop. Get rid!

A definition of slavery is that you are not given the 'fruits of your labour'. Considering we pay nearly half of all our earnings in tax (when you add them all up) that means we are 'half slaves' and you can bet your bottom or your last dollar that after this massive bout of overspending has finished your kids will be paying 75% tax.

i met him, i thought he was deeply charismatic.

I've never met him Aitch, but I find that easy to believe

Who've you met? I getting confused with all this Wire stuff... Bit of a relief to read this thread, so glad I'm not the only one to be behind Gordon.

I thought she meant Gordon, chungli

I'm relieved to read these posts too. I thought I would be flamed to tell the truth, but I mean it.

Sorry but YABU. Gordon is a moron. But then I've always thought that and tis nothing to do with recent events. I too, however, could never vote Tory and can't bear their whole ethos no matter how touchy feely they're trying to pretend to be. Only a fucking Tory MP could possibly claim for a moat to be cleared. Yes there were lots of very dodgy claims from all sides but what was clear to me was that with the Tory MP's its same as it ever was (like my Wire reference ). They're still a bunch of upper class twits with country estates and no clue how 99% of the country live.

So, who is to be then? Don't really know that there's anyone obvious. That Caroline Flint seemed to have her head screwed on but she's gone now too....Her quote about 'female window dressing' is pretty damning IMO..

I too love Omar (but not like that). Just watching Series 2 and the courtroom bit had me peeing my pants. Am currently mourning D.

I know what you mean abiout D. I am still mourning Wallis, I found that so so sad

Oh god yes. Twas horrid. (Thanks for still talking to me even though I said YABU!)

I quite like GB - but I must admit I kind of resent working 60 hour weeks to fund MPs colluding to keep noses in troughs. A plague on all of them.

I have never considred for a minute that I work for many hours a week to keep MPs' expenses going.

You have the Wrong Attitude, quztt

And now it's 'defiant Brown' because he hasn't resigned yet....

"Winky - Agree that some of those members of that group are highly suspect, Cameron would agree with us and I'm sure he would rather not get into bed with them. But they had to leave their other group because the group supported federalism and that isn't what the Tory party want from Europe. If you understand the voting system in the European Parliament then you will understand that they would be voiceless if acting entirely independently."

How interesting that Cameron is willing to get into bed with such suspect, right wing, anti gay groups for whatever reason. Unjustifiable whatever the reason.

Makes you wonder and it certainly doesn't make me think that he's at all someone I would want to lead my country.

He's even embarrassing his own senior party members.

I haven't read all this thread but I feel a bit sad for GB. He was the "substance" man for TB and now he has the fag end of Labour's period in office. More so, his "crime" of not calling an election is a cynical accusation, in a way?

I think the country felt let down by TB because of Iraq but in fact Cameron is TB's reincarnation? Gordon's main crime is that he is not slick like TB and DC et al. People don't like his smile and funny facial expressions! Well he he is partially sighted, remember.

On the substantial points, I think he has led the world leaders into taking the right actions to mitigate a global disaster unlike the political manoeuvring of Sarko and Mertle. The global crisis happened under his watch but I can't imagine that any UK Chancellor would have spotted it and prevented it.

But Cameron is very well atuned to the elctorate (as per TB) and is as likeable a leader as you will find and will win by a landslide.

I never thought GB was a good chancellor - the only good thing he did was give the Bank of England the power to set interest rates. Other than that he raided private sector pensions, taxed to death everything he possibly could, and massively over-spent on the public sector (which would have been ok had it been spent on front-line staff but a large proportion was spent on layers and layers of additional pointless bureaucracy that has actually hampered front-line staff in doing their jobs). Consequently although he didn't cause the financial crash he made it very difficult for the country to get out of it.

As a PM I get the impression he is a micro-managing control freak and he is out of his depth.

As for the Tories I think the expenses scandal has been a useful way for DC to get rid of the moat-owning toffs and a change of government would be refreshing for the country.

WhiteWine- I wonder if Lawson and Lamont and Major were good Chancellors in your eyes.

Agree with what you say about DC clearing out his dead wood. I quite like DC and think that he is a good bloke in that Tony Blairish sort of way. But I will probably not vote for his party:

1)still not sure what his policies are
2)still not sure that his party represent the vulnerable in society
3)I still prefer the aspirations of fairness of the Labour Party

But I am a pragmatist and recognise that DC will win 2 or 3 terms. And he is as good and reasonable Tory leader as you could hope for? I just don't like the fact that the Tory's party central aim is to look after the middle classes and the rich.

The Tories and the MCs argued for low taxes and the free market for years and now they turn around and blame labour for not intervening into the market. Entertaining stuff.

before i run off, it has ocurred to me that Brown has many of the same values etc as Obama but lacks Obama's media savvy-ness and Obama's charm. But I do question whether I should discount him (Brown) on that basis.

Think GB is a conviction politician, and takes the role of PM as duty rather than vanity.

Here's what I don't understand. In the past few years, national insurance has sky rocketed, but unlike poll tax, there have been no protests on the streets, no campaigns.

Is it because it's a covert tax, and unless you work for HMRC or are a payroll officer, you have no idea if it's right or not and complacently accept it?

I have absolutely no idea why we are earning more, but less is appearing as net income. Somehow gets sucked up into that big void where mismatched socks and dummies end up!