I can concur with Jeff Randall’s opinion of the shadow chancellor .
He was dreadful again this morning on Today . He can’t think on
his feet and even if he has all the right ideas he cannot
spontaneously express them and - I’m sorry to say - he doesn’t look
the part either.
I say to David Cameron “I know he’s your friend but find him another
job please” John Redwood would be my choice (Read his blog!) Guardian
xxxxxxxxxxxxxx cs
===========================
TELEGRAPH 17.10.08
If anyone can find George Osborne, tell him his country needs him
Something is not quite right; it doesn't add up. Bits are missing.
By Jeff Randall
Britain's employment "miracle" has been exposed: the jobless total is
expected to hit two million by Christmas – and keep rising.
Inflation, at 5.2 per cent, is the highest since 1991. Stagflation,
the disease that advanced macro-management was supposed to have
eliminated, is coming back.
House prices, for so long the reserve bank of British consumers, are
falling by about 12 per cent a year. The feelgood factor has been
replaced by bad karma, as home repossessions rise above 15,000 a
quarter. People who thought they had a roof above their heads are
having the rug pulled from under their feet.
Bankruptcies will again total about 100,000 this year, the equivalent
of a city the size of Colchester going bust. The pension system is a
house of cards, thanks to Gordon Brown playing his tax joker on
company schemes. The combined pension deficit of FTSE 100 members has
ballooned to £100 billion.
The Government's edifice of financial supervision fell apart in
Hurricane Sub-prime. Northern Rock dropped through a crack in the
floorboards. Having been encouraged by lax monetary policy to lend,
lend, lend, high street banks need a £37 billion transfusion from the
taxpayers' blood-bank.
With the stock market below where it was when Labour came to power 11
years ago, the savings of millions have been dissipated. The Brown
bounce – he was supposed to have saved the world, wasn't he? – has
already fallen flat. The small investor no longer knows if he's
Arthur or Martha.
Public finances are less certain than a lucky dip. Fiscal discipline
has been thrown over the fence. As tax receipts collapse and welfare
payments head for the moon, the gap between the Chancellor's income
and spending will probably top £100 billion in 2009. Nobody really
knows, least of all Alistair Darling. His pre-Budget report should
begin: "Once upon a time…"
In short, it would be hard to construct a set of economic
circumstances that could offer the shadow chancellor a better
opportunity to display his credentials for leadership. This, surely,
is George Osborne's moment. The ball is bobbing on the goal-line.
There's not a defender in sight. All Wee Georgie needs to do is smash
it in the net. Go on, my son, you can't possibly miss from there.
Hang on a minute, where the bloody hell is he?
Er, Osborne's not in the box. In fact, he's not even on the pitch.
The Blues' golden boy cannot have left the stadium because he never
arrived. Just like another famous George, he failed to turn up on
matchday. The difference is, whereas Besty was enjoying a steamy
session with Miss World, Osborne seems to have frozen in the
headlights. As the situation becomes ever more serious, George looks
increasingly flaccid.
Unlike his Liberal-Democrat counterpart, Vincent Cable, who worked
out more than two years ago that spiralling household debt would
destroy Mr Brown's reputation for economic competence, Osborne has
been trailing events. He's not so much behind the curve as behind the
curtain. When the audience should have been cheering him on, it
couldn't hear his lines.
Whatever you think of the Prime Minister – and no doubt I will read
many of your opinions on our website – he does represent something.
And, as they say in America, you can't beat something with nothing.
Zero, however, is the sum total of Mr Osborne's performance in the
latest, most dangerous phase, of the credit crunch. If you told me
that he had been left behind on a stag trip, bound and gagged in a
Prague motel, I'd be tempted to believe it.
George, get your trousers on. Liven up. Your country needs you.
Mr Brown steered the car into a brick wall and is now claiming credit
for pulling a rear-view mirror from the wreckage. This must not go
unchallenged.
There is so much for the Conservative party to expose, [Cameron made
a pretty good job of exposing this morning qv -cs]yet it seems to
have lost the will to think. The speed and scale of the financial
implosion has shell-shocked a party that believed it was on cruise-
control to a general election victory.
Where are the big ideas? What is the counterproposal to the
Treasury's plan to nationalise the banks? Lloyds TSB was never a
basket case. It was one of our more prudently run institutions. Its
reward for dull solidity was to be bullied by Mr Brown into a daft
deal with a dysfunctional HBOS.
As a result, Lloyds' share price has been caned. Worse still, 40 per
cent of the combined entity has now been snapped up by government.
Much shareholder value in Lloyds has been destroyed, completely
unnecessarily. Investors are, rightly, outraged. Why is the
Opposition not opposing this?
Mr Osborne has mumbled a few recondite comments about "bankers'
bonuses", but where are the Tories' plans to revive and restore an
entrepreneurial and risk-taking economy? They seem overly keen to nod
approvingly [see Cameron today -cs] , as Messrs Brown and Darling
capture the commanding heights.
A bank chairman told me last week that if all went well, the Treasury
would sell its newly created shares within two years at a handsome
profit. Not a chance. As any economic historian will tell you,
getting rid of ministers is like trying to expel squatters: they are
skilled at beating eviction.
While Mr Brown is in charge, the state is here to stay. The
nationalised banks will become his Hotel California, from where "you
can check out any time you like, but you can never leave!"
The credit crunch has thrown up important issues about the way banks
are regulated. It's not just the role of management that needs be
examined.
Who audits the auditors who signed off the accounts? How much did
KPMG get paid for ticking boxes at HBOS and Bradford & Bingley?
What's the point of having armies of number crunchers on fancy fees
if they cannot spot the difference between a shack in Alabama and a
triple-A security?
Then there are the non-executive directors. Corporate governance
campaigners are very keen on these. They are supposed to rein in a
runaway chief executive. Often, it seems, they pose the difficult
question only after something has gone badly wrong. Too few are
inclined to cut short lunch in order to ask why and how the bank's
profits are so juicy.
What does the shadow chancellor have to say about these matters?
Nuffink. Where are his detailed proposals for an overhaul of
Britain's financial services, plans that might secure London's
position as the best capital for capital? Dunno. He seems content to
polish the hubcaps on Brownian intervention.
There is now a chance, albeit it slim, that Mr Brown will call a snap
election. You can see why he might wish to. From here, the economy is
going to deteriorate rapidly. A window of opportunity has been opened
by the Tories' vapidity.
He was dreadful again this morning on Today . He can’t think on
his feet and even if he has all the right ideas he cannot
spontaneously express them and - I’m sorry to say - he doesn’t look
the part either.
I say to David Cameron “I know he’s your friend but find him another
job please” John Redwood would be my choice (Read his blog!) Guardian
xxxxxxxxxxxxxx cs
===========================
TELEGRAPH 17.10.08
If anyone can find George Osborne, tell him his country needs him
Something is not quite right; it doesn't add up. Bits are missing.
By Jeff Randall
Britain's employment "miracle" has been exposed: the jobless total is
expected to hit two million by Christmas – and keep rising.
Inflation, at 5.2 per cent, is the highest since 1991. Stagflation,
the disease that advanced macro-management was supposed to have
eliminated, is coming back.
House prices, for so long the reserve bank of British consumers, are
falling by about 12 per cent a year. The feelgood factor has been
replaced by bad karma, as home repossessions rise above 15,000 a
quarter. People who thought they had a roof above their heads are
having the rug pulled from under their feet.
Bankruptcies will again total about 100,000 this year, the equivalent
of a city the size of Colchester going bust. The pension system is a
house of cards, thanks to Gordon Brown playing his tax joker on
company schemes. The combined pension deficit of FTSE 100 members has
ballooned to £100 billion.
The Government's edifice of financial supervision fell apart in
Hurricane Sub-prime. Northern Rock dropped through a crack in the
floorboards. Having been encouraged by lax monetary policy to lend,
lend, lend, high street banks need a £37 billion transfusion from the
taxpayers' blood-bank.
With the stock market below where it was when Labour came to power 11
years ago, the savings of millions have been dissipated. The Brown
bounce – he was supposed to have saved the world, wasn't he? – has
already fallen flat. The small investor no longer knows if he's
Arthur or Martha.
Public finances are less certain than a lucky dip. Fiscal discipline
has been thrown over the fence. As tax receipts collapse and welfare
payments head for the moon, the gap between the Chancellor's income
and spending will probably top £100 billion in 2009. Nobody really
knows, least of all Alistair Darling. His pre-Budget report should
begin: "Once upon a time…"
In short, it would be hard to construct a set of economic
circumstances that could offer the shadow chancellor a better
opportunity to display his credentials for leadership. This, surely,
is George Osborne's moment. The ball is bobbing on the goal-line.
There's not a defender in sight. All Wee Georgie needs to do is smash
it in the net. Go on, my son, you can't possibly miss from there.
Hang on a minute, where the bloody hell is he?
Er, Osborne's not in the box. In fact, he's not even on the pitch.
The Blues' golden boy cannot have left the stadium because he never
arrived. Just like another famous George, he failed to turn up on
matchday. The difference is, whereas Besty was enjoying a steamy
session with Miss World, Osborne seems to have frozen in the
headlights. As the situation becomes ever more serious, George looks
increasingly flaccid.
Unlike his Liberal-Democrat counterpart, Vincent Cable, who worked
out more than two years ago that spiralling household debt would
destroy Mr Brown's reputation for economic competence, Osborne has
been trailing events. He's not so much behind the curve as behind the
curtain. When the audience should have been cheering him on, it
couldn't hear his lines.
Whatever you think of the Prime Minister – and no doubt I will read
many of your opinions on our website – he does represent something.
And, as they say in America, you can't beat something with nothing.
Zero, however, is the sum total of Mr Osborne's performance in the
latest, most dangerous phase, of the credit crunch. If you told me
that he had been left behind on a stag trip, bound and gagged in a
Prague motel, I'd be tempted to believe it.
George, get your trousers on. Liven up. Your country needs you.
Mr Brown steered the car into a brick wall and is now claiming credit
for pulling a rear-view mirror from the wreckage. This must not go
unchallenged.
There is so much for the Conservative party to expose, [Cameron made
a pretty good job of exposing this morning qv -cs]yet it seems to
have lost the will to think. The speed and scale of the financial
implosion has shell-shocked a party that believed it was on cruise-
control to a general election victory.
Where are the big ideas? What is the counterproposal to the
Treasury's plan to nationalise the banks? Lloyds TSB was never a
basket case. It was one of our more prudently run institutions. Its
reward for dull solidity was to be bullied by Mr Brown into a daft
deal with a dysfunctional HBOS.
As a result, Lloyds' share price has been caned. Worse still, 40 per
cent of the combined entity has now been snapped up by government.
Much shareholder value in Lloyds has been destroyed, completely
unnecessarily. Investors are, rightly, outraged. Why is the
Opposition not opposing this?
Mr Osborne has mumbled a few recondite comments about "bankers'
bonuses", but where are the Tories' plans to revive and restore an
entrepreneurial and risk-taking economy? They seem overly keen to nod
approvingly [see Cameron today -cs] , as Messrs Brown and Darling
capture the commanding heights.
A bank chairman told me last week that if all went well, the Treasury
would sell its newly created shares within two years at a handsome
profit. Not a chance. As any economic historian will tell you,
getting rid of ministers is like trying to expel squatters: they are
skilled at beating eviction.
While Mr Brown is in charge, the state is here to stay. The
nationalised banks will become his Hotel California, from where "you
can check out any time you like, but you can never leave!"
The credit crunch has thrown up important issues about the way banks
are regulated. It's not just the role of management that needs be
examined.
Who audits the auditors who signed off the accounts? How much did
KPMG get paid for ticking boxes at HBOS and Bradford & Bingley?
What's the point of having armies of number crunchers on fancy fees
if they cannot spot the difference between a shack in Alabama and a
triple-A security?
Then there are the non-executive directors. Corporate governance
campaigners are very keen on these. They are supposed to rein in a
runaway chief executive. Often, it seems, they pose the difficult
question only after something has gone badly wrong. Too few are
inclined to cut short lunch in order to ask why and how the bank's
profits are so juicy.
What does the shadow chancellor have to say about these matters?
Nuffink. Where are his detailed proposals for an overhaul of
Britain's financial services, plans that might secure London's
position as the best capital for capital? Dunno. He seems content to
polish the hubcaps on Brownian intervention.
There is now a chance, albeit it slim, that Mr Brown will call a snap
election. You can see why he might wish to. From here, the economy is
going to deteriorate rapidly. A window of opportunity has been opened
by the Tories' vapidity.
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