h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

It's 10pm! Has GB resigned yet?

one of his cabinet ministers has resigned to provoke a debate

Yeah, just saw that.

"James Purnell becomes the third cabinet minister to resign as pressure grows on Gordon Brown's leadership of the Labour Party. "

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8083585.stm

I hate GB, I turn over if he is on TV. He thinks he had a God given right to be PM. He simply is not up to the Job....

It'd be nice to have a proper Labour party again but, judging by the voting records of their MPs, it doesn't matter who leads them, they're staying right wing.

All three main parties singing the same rotten song.

We need a bleedin' revolution.

Well for Purnell to go is a massive blow for Brown. I thought he might soldier on until the election.... but now, no chance.

FB

What annoys me about all this in-fighting is that it stops the Labour party putting the heat on the Tories. It seems likely to me that the party of wealth and privilege will savage public services when/if they get in.

The electorate should be seriously getting the message about what they intend to do...rather than just concentrating on Brown's poor man-management skills as PM

Doesn't matter who gets in, there's going to be cuts in public services. With a huge debt to service, this isn't a party political issue. Cuts have been going on for the last six months. Benefits offices are being closed, staff on short term contracts are being let go. Right across the civil service more is being asked of less and less staff. Labour make noises about what the Tories are going to do, whilst glossing over what they themselves are actually doing.

Well thats the point.....

The lasting betrayal of the "New Labour" is that not only ha the gap between rich and pooor widened under 12 years of their governance, but that the prospect is for possibly a generation of Tory government. Hope for ordinary people is kinda going down the pan, because of a cartel of Blair/Brown and Mandleson sold the soul of the Labour Party having been dazzled by business.....

FB

Whoo Hoo SWL. So where have you been these last few weeks? I was amazed that you hadn't commented on the whole MPs expenses thing here on h2g2...seeing as you've been banging on about the self serving politicians here for years.

Umm - http://wwwthepartysover.blogspot.com/

The problem is Effers labour have been in too long. I voted for them , the only time, when Blair got in but it seems so, so long ago and it is time they went. I voted for a party that had Blair in charge and could see what I was getting. Brown was a sneaky underhand Chancellor who I would never vote for. He is dour and even always on a more basic level always looks a bloody mess. I think that even now he thinks he is fantastic as PM.

> Brown was a sneaky underhand Chancellor who I would never vote for. He is dour and even always on a more basic level always looks a bloody mess. I think that even now he thinks he is fantastic as PM.<

Sorry SS, but that sounds more like the assessment of someone on a reality tv show. What concerns me are policies not someone's personality...especially as politicians are notorious for having dodgy ones, having to survive in something as cut throat as the world of politics.

Dave makes me want to puke everytime he comes on with his plummy tones...and gives off fresh faced Eton grin...but that wouldn't be my reason to vote for him.

***

Well good on you SWL for putting your money where your mouth is ...but I can't see a one issue, ie anti sleeze...entity, with a non party nebulous structure ever catching on much in the real world. But at least I know now what the heck the 'Jury Team' was on the ballot paper. And I do hope you don't wear that smart suit for clipping your new hedge

Effers, personallity does matter as Brown is ineffectual, so much so I simply don't bother listening to him anymore.

I agree SS that in a 24/7 tv/internet/media age it is the height of stupidity and naivity not to take more seriously the common perception of someone's personality. Brown is clearly very weak in this area...and appearing to not know the imporatnce of how he comes across, and is perceived.

But everyone knows that its the hard reality of policy that really counts. Didn't Kinnock once express something along the lines of..'don't be very young, don't get sick, don't get old, don't be poor...etc'

Many people still remember the reality of the Tory years of cutting public services to the absolute bone...these memories should be revived...because as sure as eggs are eggs it's coming again.

<>

Ooh, it's you! This is *entirely a party political issue. I don't think anyone doubts who'll do worse from Tory cuts than Labour ones, even if it's a matter of degree. Incidentally, I read somewhere recently that one reason Brown wanted to sack Darling was that Brown was intending basically to campaign on the fact that there wouldn't be many cuts under Labour, whereas Darling was going to argue, more honestly, that the cuts would be far more painful and targeted at the poor under the Tories.

There will have to be cuts whoever gets in.
.
I really think the country needs an election now as Labour really do seem to be in meltdown, Miz Flint is another to tear into Brown.
Whoever wins, I really think the country needs some freshness with MPs fiddling expensis all round.

<>

That flies in the face of Brown's performance at PMQs. He repeatedly and insistently hammered home the point that the Tories were going to inflict cuts in public spending, whilst failing to mention that his side have already begun the process. If closing benefits offices isn't targetted at the poor, what is?

I don't deny that the Tories will inflict cuts. They'll be forced to, as would any coalition government. Doesn't matter what colour tie they wear, they're all going to have to cut public services, which will disproportionately affect those who most use them - the poor and disadvantaged.

The ones least likely to be greatly affected are the middle classes who both sides, Labour and Tory, will be courting in the next few months for the simple fact that white collar workers are more likely to vote than the low-paid and unemployed.

It's not party political. Neither side gives a stuff about the disadvantaged because there's not enough votes in it for them.

Does anyone actually believe it makes a flying fig whether it's the Tories or Labour in power? I don't. They'll do some things you like, they'll do a few you don't; but ultimately they'll both be self-serving and looking out for the big cheeses who can keep them in power.

And that's it ... choice of two. The LibDems will never get in because people don't vote for them because people don't believe they can get in. Same for any other party.

<>

Yeah, it does, but only cos he's lying. Amazing, eh? The point was that Darling's favoured election campaign was at odds with Brown's, and that was why Brown thought about replacing him. He's not really done so badly as chancellor.

<> & the rest

The govt's going to have to balance the budget over the next few years. Basically, spending will be cut and taxes increased. If you think the Tories are going to undertake that to ensure the same winners and losers, you're mental.