... Anyone confused as to the how dire the state of the UK's economy currently is, Mr Hannan tells it like it is.
Yes ...
sort of and it was indeed an excellent speech cum rant, and one well delivered. IMO, one or two rather questionable 'factoids' in there, but as a collection of soundbites cleverly strung together, and on point - top notch.
That said, I think Daniel Hannan is a quasi poster boy for UKIP (along with Redwood despite his public stance), certainly Hannan has been guarded in his comments regarding UKIP though hardly harsh in criticism - to me it seems quite clear where [many of] his sentiments are rooted.
Nothing wrong with that of course, in that he's entitled to his views, never mind that u
nofficially UKIP is little more than the BNP's 'Sinn Fein'. They may be a 'bunch of nutters and fruitcakes' but these are interesting times, hopefully not that interesting.
So tell us, is there a chance the government will fall or are the conservatives happy to let the liberals take the heat? Brown reminds me of John Major, as they're both phantoms of the people they followed. How long can Brown hang on?
I don't think so, no. As for Gordon Brown, well it's a curious thing, the very instability of his [read Labour] position may be his salvation, at least for now.
If a serious challenge were to be made, I'd have to believe Brown would be shown the door. The irony is that were that to happen an almost immediate election would have to be called, I really can't see any way around that. Were that to happen in the current climate, Labour would be soundly evicted. The irony being that right now, Labour's weakness is it's only strength.
However, short of an economic miracle, I can't see many circumstances under which he would lead the Labour party into the next election. This crisis is Brown's Iraq.
In terms of the next Government; what worries me is less about who would win that there would be a knee jerk response with the parties reverting aggressively to type;
Labour by seeking closer EU union, increasing taxation and public spending while failing to prevent incipient rising inflation thus forcing interest rates back up. The signs are there; a zero or negative RPI opposing a rising CPI. The alarmists might suggest Labour would even try to railroad Euro adoption. Regardless of any [arguable] potential merits in such a plan it would be political suicide and I'd be amazed if Labour were
that stupid.
Conservatives may respond by deepening and embracing their anti EU rhetoric (a la Mr Hannan, Redwood et al), use Immigration and social security policies more overtly as blunt instruments to gain political leverage and adopt a robust campaign of simple scaremongering. Mr Hannan's three minutes in the sun perhaps being a foretaste.
Scaremongering will of course be perpetrated by Labour, make no mistake. The use of Social Security and Immigration as political footballs is another shared tactic, neither party is free from such sin.
Considering the above (which is really my distilled take on a complex gameplay) and given what's happening in the US, I can't see why anyone would express other than feigned surprise or dissapointment at Obama seeking to establish some ... space.
Gordon must surely rue the timing of all this - In a very real sense he is being held hostage to the consequences of policies of which was a principal architect, or at least a willing accomplice. In his defence I doubt any one person could have fully averted this trainwreck, and as ever hindsight is 20:20.
Had this crisis come even six months later, I'd wager even money Brown
might have been [narrowly] elected PM back in spring 2008 had he stuck the knife into Blair over Iraq this might have helps, but all he did was procrastinate. The economic situation may be the same but the political lanscape would perhaps be a little less ... geologically unstable.
However, today, in his few remaining quiet moments alone, sitting in No 10 pondering some last ditch means to prevent the collapse of a house of cards he helped build - among his undoubted rants about the injustice of it all - he is likely cursing Tony Blair to his grave.
In a small way I actually feel sorry for the man, not for the politician - you understand the distinction.
