Blog:Lib Dem Loons
From Bolton Interweb
Cary Urbagg, Political Correspondent, 26th September 2009
The last conference before a General Election is absolutely critical to any political party’s hopes. With Brown pathetically chasing after Obama in the States in a televisual parody of the end sketch in a Benny Hill Show whilst Labour self-combust, it is hard to see how any opposition party can fail. So trust the Lib Dems to come up with a loony idea that grabs the headlines and overshadows anything of any sense they might come up with.
The mad Mansion Tax is so wrong on all levels, it is almost beyond belief that it emerged from the politician with probably the best grip on economic theory, Vince Cable. So wrong that even senior Lib Dem politicians have slammed it as lunacy. Firstly it harks back to the politics of envy, trying to gain popularity by hitting the rich. Except, the mansion being talked about could be a terraced house in some parts of London, exposing the Lib Dems to Tory attacks citing the poor widow-woman with no income but a house that has gone up in value through no fault of her own. Secondly, house prices fluctuate – a million pound house last year is now about £800k, so what happens then? Rebates? Thirdly, the Lib Dems want a local income tax to replace property taxes, so why introduce a property tax containing all the flaws they are so against? Finally, and the most loony of all, is the idea that you can hit a tiny fraction of the population for a few thousands and use it to take 4 million people out of tax altogether and reduce the tax for others by £700. Someone can't add up. And even if it were credible, this at a time when we all know taxes need to go up not down – you may be able to understand this as a way of reducing the deficit slightly.
So the Lib Dems will now be remembered by the voters, not for any decent policies that never got reported on, but for nonsense. But they did put the finishing touches on their self-destruction when a deluded Nick Clegg (apparently he is the leader), declared he wanted to be Prime Minister after the next election. The guy has the personality of a turnip, is as inspirational as a potato, and has less chance of becoming Prime Minister than I do of winning the X Factor. In fact it is unfortunate that he told us about this ambition following several weeks of other deluded wannabees making a fool of themselves by declaring themselves the next Madonna then screeching tunelessly into a microphone for the amusement of the populace.
Also this week, Labour proved that there is no longer any honour in their politics when Baroness Scotland, the Attorney General, neither resigned nor was asked to resign after being found employing an illegal migrant. Guilty of a law she guided through Parliament. I remember a time when a minister would resign for far less a cause, when it was the right thing to do (when caught). The Government’s top law officer breaks the law, gets fined, keeps her job. Don’t get me wrong, Patricia Scotland is extremely well respected, amongst her political enemies as well as friends. She was the first black woman to be made a QC, the first black and first woman to be Attorney General, and the first black woman to sit at the Cabinet table (although not formally a member of the Cabinet). It would be hugely sad to see her go, and hard, but doing the right thing is not always easy.
With only 24,278 voters ever having given Gordon Brown an electoral endorsement, it is always amusing to see him pontificate on the democratic credentials of other World leaders such as President Armadinnerjacket of Iran. Even Uncle Bob Mugabe has genuinely received more votes than that. Anyway, leader of the blind leading the blind Gordon appeared on the BBC's Andrew Marr show on Sunday morning. I didn't see much of the interview as I had more important things to do like filing my toenails, but enough to throw a shoe at the TV, fortunately missing. The Labour Spindoctor-General Prince Mandelson has subsequently sought to distract attention from the object of my shoe chucking by slamming into Marr for asking a question about Brown's health - perfectly legitimately. The real story was when Marr questioned Brown on the economy. Brown, incredibly, was still trying to claim credit for saving the country from the shit he plunged us into in the first place. Statistics, his own government's statistics, were denied, debt was dismissed as not being as bad as those of other countries, borrowing was excused. If the British economy is so great, Gordon, then why is the Pound performing so badly on the foreign exchanges? Why are other countries coming out of recession ahead of us? Australia never even went into recession - just a guess but very low public borrowing might be something to do with it. Go Gordon, just go. Before you take the vast bulk of your Labour colleagues with you when the voters have a say in the matter. Would you appoint the former chairman of Northern Rock to run the Bank of England on the grounds that he now knows what he did wrong and is therefore the best qualified to fix things. No? So why is there still a rump of 10% of the population who think Brown is the best placed to sort out the economy he buggered up? I suppose some turkeys will always vote for Christmas.
© Evrose, 2010
