baldysblog.co.uk

So last evening we had the third and last “Leaders TV Debates” and personally, I hope that they are not repeated in subsequent elections. There was an interesting comment on what Mervyn King was alleged to have said, well worth a glance:

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/finance/edmundconway/100005270/king-election-winner-will-be-out-of-power-for-a-generation/

In addition the Independent ran another totally daft Editorial which elicited some resonse from me:

http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/leadi ng-articles/leading-article-voters-should-consider-judgement-above-all-1958433.html

To the Independent

I’m really sorry to say that this is the third time in a week when the Editorial seems to have been written by someone without a clue about the real world, a person on “Work Experience” would seem a polite description. You do not seem to realise that whilst your ‘audience’ contains Labour, LibeDem and Tory supporters, they are all pretty united on one thing as these comments pages should tell you, they are largely pretty sophisticated and highly intelligent and therefore this sort of Editorial is little short of insulting to most of them.

Leave the “We hate Cameron and the Conservatives” to Steve Richards and Hari, in your Editorials strive for some insight, this election is less about politics and wholly about economics and the public have already demonstrated that they don’t want to hear the grisly details, the politicians have ‘obliged’ them and in the end, a Country gets the Government they deserve. It is rather like the difference between going to an old time Butcher and see him cut up a carcass or, buying a chop in a shrink wrapped tray in Tesco or Sainsburys.

I have never supported these TV Debates because they are irrelevant in a UK context even though essential in the USA. To my mind they were a “Got up by the Media for the benefit of the Media” rather than for the benefit of the electorate and in the end, seem to have sucked the oxygen out of the campaign. The real decision will be made next week by us the electorate and the real focus today should not be on a media hangover because the TV Circus has left town, it should be on the future both immediate and longer term.

It Is the Economy Stupid

The ‘real story’ you lightly touch upon at the end of this article, the crisis in Europe over Greece which will be very significant for an incoming British Government and a proper examination of that would be far more productive because it is clearly much more than just the Greek Government spending recklessly because of its impact on the Eurozone. The other thing to look at is the assumption that we will all come out of recession and start buying iPods and new cars again, just as before, I don’t think that is right and developing a ‘new economic model for Western Economies’ is going to be as if not more crucial to Europe than just paying down deficits.

Rambling on about “New Green Industries” is total botox, the real move may be towards a ‘repairing and recycling economy’ rather than the current ‘Replace and Discard’ one. Shoes that can be repaired means the creation of jobs for cobblers, higher unit costs on initial purchases would be the ‘norm’ but so would the creation of thousands of support jobs but it takes a change in mindset and that will take time but economic hardship may well accelerate that.

This crisis did not start with “American Sub Prime” as Brown likes to say, that was a symptom of a disease built on a rapid expansion of global trade, low interest rates and loads of ‘hot money’ floating around the global system combined with politicians not being prepared or far sighted enough to face up to the potential consequences as in “I have abolished Boom and Bust in the UK economy…” This Greek problem also is a symptom rather than the disease itself…

A Good Election to Lose

This is a good election to lose. I am of the opinion that the public made up their mind some time ago, it will be Cameron who gets the job and there won’t be a hung Parliament. Mr King’s reported comments on the fate of whoever won this election is right today as it was when Thatcher came to power 30 years back. Britain was the ‘Sick Man of Europe’ then, today it is the whole of Europe that is sick an ailment bought about by complacency and paying themselves too much. Thatcher was ‘saved’ by the Falklands, will Cameron be as lucky with a parallel I wonder ?

For Labour supporters and especially those who genuinely believe in the Labour Movement, this is one that Brown must lose, 100 seats will be enough to fight back from and rebuild, winning or leading a minority Government would see the total destruction of the Party. Besides which, they need to get rid of the current “Old Guard” and replace them with young fresh talent to make up for the ‘lost generation’ destroyed by the Blair-Brown feud.

The LibDems have done well but not I suggest well enough. Vince Cable may make a good Speaker of the House but he would be a dreadful Chancellor because he is massively over qualified and would be more likely to make catastrophic mistakes because he would believe that he knew what he was doing. They need to revise their constitution and become more geared to becoming a ‘National Party’ which will require less ‘democracy’ for the members and more discipline. They also need to work on building up the profiles of their MPs, they do not project themselves as either a Team or a Party that could put together a credible Front Bench to form a Government.

The TV Debates were yesterday, they are finished and done, Brown’s ‘bigot’ remark irrelevant, enough of the tribal crap, there are these islands to save and then the whole of Europe, time you got the “Big Boys” back in to write the Editorials !