A Deep Recession
I don’t want to seem indifferent to suffering, and I don’t want anyone to accuse me of minimising the likely effect of the recession, because the coming months will very probably be a lot tougher – for millions of people – than the boom times we have all recently enjoyed.
The column can be read here.
But after reading the BBC’s special market crisis website, complete with its jagged red arrow pointing at the floor, and after hearing the pornographic glee with which we are told that another small country has gone up the spout, and after Mr Bean, the Deputy Governor of the Bank of England, has informed us that this could be the worst financial crisis in history, I am afraid I want to thrash my FT on the table and shout, Whoa! Come off it, folks! This isn’t the Black Death. Pinch yourself. Are you still there? Got a pulse? Thought so. Look out of the window. Those aren’t zombies. They are men and women engaged in the normal business of getting and spending.
This isn’t some disaster movie about a virus from Mars. It’s a recession, a downturn, a correction of a kind that is indispensable to any kind of human activity, and it does not require that we all go around under a special kind of credit-crunch pall. It does not mean we have to cancel all parties and talk in hushed credit-crunch tones. It doesn’t mean we have to line our rooms with newspaper, get in the foetal position and live on tins: in fact, it means the opposite.
It was pretty disturbing, on Saturday, to read a hymn of hate, in this very newspaper, about the incompetence of the political class and their grossly inappropriate decisions to take holidays in July and August, just when the financial storm was gathering. Not since Earl Haig, we gathered, had there been such blithering myopia about the impending slaughter.
Well, I can scarcely complain about pieces attacking politicians, since I have made a pretty good living out of them myself. But if we ban holidays for the British Establishment, where will it end? What about restaurants? What about taxis? What about going to a film on a Saturday night? If we are not careful, a puritanical pall of disapproval will spread over the economy, vetoing consumption, nixing hope.
I am not suggesting that those in debt should add to their problems by trying to double up on their credit cards; I am thinking more of the people out there who still have dosh. There are quite a few. There are the hedge fund boys who have made a mint by shorting the banks, and then there are all the knuckle-cracking receivers who will do well from the coming bankruptcies. There are the oilmen, still awash with profits after the recent price spikes. And then there are all the people on dependable fixed incomes such as – gnash, gnash – the BBC’s foul-mouthed multi-millionaires Russell Brand and Jonathan Ross, unchastened, unpunished, still laughing themselves sick on their mountains of taxpayers’ gold. What is the point of asking such people to protect their loot? Whom does it help if they keep it in their Luxembourg bank accounts?
I read the other day that the credit crunch had affected the dress-procurement strategy of the Queen. Sensitive to the mood of her subjects, she had decided not to lash out on any new frocks, but to recycle the old ones. I read that with alarm. Who is giving her economic advice these days? Now is exactly the moment for the Queen – who has a bob or two – to buy dresses, now when the milliners and dressmakers of London could do with a right royal tonic. This is not the moment for dowdiness and self-sufficiency; this is the moment for a life-affirming splurge.
We should remember that the boom-slump cycle is a natural part of our history; indeed, it is indispensable to our psychological make-up. It is like love. It is a basically incurable condition, and we revert to it again and again. First. we conceive the passion – the Tulip Mania, the South Sea Bubble, the dotcom or the property boom – and then we bicycle-pump our hearts with wild hormonal elation, and every time it happens we tell ourselves that this is the big one, this time it’s real, this time we have broken the paradigm; and we invest with ever more irrational exuberance, and though some people occasionally tell us that the love-object is not worth it, we don’t see it that way, of course we don’t, since our exuberance is irrational.
And then it turns out that we have been in some way deceived, and the bubble bursts, as bubbles do, and the irrational optimism gives way to a pessimism that is equally irrational, and life isn’t worth living, and nothing will ever be the same again, and we wish we could be towed out to sea and sunk with 20-inch guns.
And that, economically speaking, is where we seem to be today. It is miserable, but it is not so miserable that we have to cease all economic activity out of deference to our misery. Some people genuinely seem to think we would be better off staying at home and growing our own cabbage and baking our own bread. This is insanity. I have just brewed 24 bottles of home-made cider, and by the time I had bought the bottles and the stoppers and the yeast and the press and the alembicks, it was the most expensive cider ever made.
There is a system called capitalism, by which goods and services are allocated by markets, and under capitalism I can go to the off-licence and buy five times the cider, of vastly superior quality, for a twentieth of the price, and I can use the time and money saved to buy other things and stimulate the economy in other ways; and by the time the mistresses of the bedchamber have finished trying to make and mend her clothes, I expect you could say the same of the Queen’s dresses.
A deep recession may be upon us. But there is no need to go into mourning for capitalism, because capitalism will never go away, and there is nothing remotely impolite, in these circumstances, about spending money and being seen to spend money. Far from it.
[First published in the Daily Telegraph on 28 October 2008 under the heading: “Financial crisis: Eat, spend and be merry – this is not the end of the world.”
72 Comments
Barrie: I see on another article thread (Are we on the verge of a recession) you suggested Boris should set up a weekly bright-ideas competition. What would you like to see? How would it be judged? Immediate contribution to London/theGLA/”the economy” or simply kickstarting businesses by anyone of any age? Would you put a cap on the size of the project to stop the mega-corporations competing against the individual? Would you give equal credit to money-saving or social-care ideas as to money-generating ones?
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Angela, why are busy defending Ross and Russell – 2 over hyped, over paid, ageing, trying to be young and trendy again has-beens? The over paid, ageing, trying to young and trendy again BBC bosses are also equally embarassing. Teenagers watch their shows and grow up like them: self-made mental airheads !
A £18Million/ 3 year ( or £16,000 per day ! ) contract for Ross ? They must be joking. Even Ross doesn’t think his ” talent ” is worth that much and be laughing behind his closed door.
It was so humiliating and embarassing to see Russell being put in his place by Britney Spears on US television.
Celebrities do have their sell-by-dates.
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Like that bloke Chris Who? ( who was once married to Billie ) he was very popular then and became so big headed he was sacked by Richard Branson. Ha ha ha ha !!! Nobody is above the law or untouchable.
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Lesbey-Anne, you must have misread my posts if you think i am defending Ross and Brand. I have said it is totally the right thing that they were suspended and i am glad Russell Brand has done the decent thing and resigned, taking full responsibility. If I had my way, Jonathan Ross should have resigned as well and I hope they sack him.
I am merely saying the position of the two comedians is not the same. Russell Brand has had a very traumatic childhood – his dad left his mum when Russsell was only 6 months old and his poor mum has fought off cancer three times. Russell had a tough adolescence, and was a heroin addict for eleven years. I was just making the point that the fact he has turned his life around is to be commended, he has been clean since 2003, and is a teetotaller, and he is the president of a charity that helps drug addicts.
To me, Russell is far more talented than Jonathan Ross, and I was merely pointing out that this could be another example of Russell’s self destructive streak. In his youth, he did a lot of self harming (slashing his arms and legs) and continually pushes the barriers the more successful he becomes, as though he wants to trash it all. His compulsive womanising is another example of his massive insecurity.
An article in today’s Standard http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23580076-details/How+Russell+Brand+is+flirting+with+his+old+enemy,+self-harm/article.do
says the same thing I said before, that Russell has a self destructive streak.
The article also says that Russell was led on by Jonathan, and I agree with this as well.
I am not making excuses for Russell, but I do feel sorry for anyone who has suffered as badly as he has in his life. Jonathan Ross is an overpaid, egocentric oaf, with a potty mouth and no brains. I feel not an ounce of sympathy for him and I intend never to watch anything he is hosting or appearing on ever again.
ps. Apparently he has just been suspended for three months and that is his punishment. NOT HARSH ENOUGH.
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Saw Boris on television opening the new shopping mall in West London, with Stuart Rose of M. and S. We shouldn’t panic as already said above, but keep our cool and spend sensibly as before.
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One good thing about the so called credit crunch – it is reducing the amount of alcohol that people are drinking. Sales of booze are down, and I am sorry, I don’t want people in the brewery industry to be out of pocket or lose their jobs, but I can’t help thinking this is a very good thing.
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We do have a frightfully excellent selection of vintage wines in our manor’s cellar. We do not think this ghastly recession or credit crunch is affecting us in any ways. We do drink as normal; vintage wines of course.
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Spending on – yet more – credit is what Gordon Brown seems to want us to do in order to get us out of this fix.
Credit is the problem don’t you agree, Boris ? It can’t be the cure, surely ? Oh. I geddit. When you mentioned spending you were talking about those with LOTS of dosh – those who aren’t really affected by the general malaise at the moment anyway. Well I don’t think they’ll be stopping their spending but I DO know people who will because they are in the throes of losing everything and facing a bleak life hocked up for thirty years with little to show for it.
By the way. Could you please tell Gordon to stop prattling on about a ‘New World Order’ – it’s rather unnerving and I was quite happy with Britain’s position in the OLD World Order circa 1997.
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Gill-not charity,but a panel employed to select to say a angel fund Ideas in say the 50,000- 100,000 pounds per applicant in investment phase,do 30 of these a week over next few years, expect the recession you have to have will be deep and that long.
Criteria London Design/innovation/product development/scalable inventions what ever, on the basis that within 1yr these applicants could employ say 5-10 people.
Then set up a retail incubator for young people in the crafts,based on excellence,expect such a project would become a major tourist attraction in London.
Create London as a design centre of the world-try a new Angle instead offices/banks paying massive salary for these idiots to loose billions of pounds.
Then maybe turn the coming massive amounts of surplus office space into affordable hotels/student accommodation.
Drive affordable tourism to London-its an exciting city-create a new focus around the Arts,the foundations are there.
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Estella de Versace, drinking vintage wines in moderation must come under the heading of your patriotic duty.
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George Osborne was in full cry as he attacked Labour’s borrowing plans, calling them “weak” and “irresponsible”.
You only had to look at Gordon’s shifty expression when questioned on SKY t.v. to see how true this is. Weak, shifty and irresponsible doesn’t begin to cover it.
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A Daily Telegraph poll shows the Tories on 42%, Labour on 33% and the Lib-Dems on 15%. The huge Tory lead has shrunk because some people have fallen for Gordon’s rap that he is the man to handle the economy.
Anyone who votes Labour in the Glenrothes by-election will be aiming a gun at the heart of Britain, there is no getting away from their disastrous record of the past 10 years and there is no getting away from the fact that some countries such as Canada didn’t even need a bailout. Gordon’s spending now is only to ingratiate himself with the public like some oily, ever so humble Uriah Heep, but we are too proud and too clear headed to forget his shameful record and we don’t want his ruddy bribes. He can stick them where the sun don’t shine.
Does he really think that giving up tax on Simon Cowell’s “Heros” CD will make up for how he has treated our
armed forces and how he has shamelessly favoured Scotland over the rest of Britain? Does he really think that we have not worked out that if the Labour party had not spent billions by dragging us into a disastrous war, so that Tony Blair could prance around like the second coming,thinking himself a world saviour, we would have a lot more money to deal with the present crisis which is only partly world wide? The rest is down to Gordon’s ghastly mismanagement.
Money that is borrowed eventually will have to be paid back in the form of higher taxes, and don’t think we wouldn’t be massively clobbered with tax increases, if ever Gordon’s Scots bum managed to plonk itself back into No.10. If he doesn’t get back, it will STILL mean bigger tax increases, and will be passing on the burden for years to the next generation. As George says, Gordon is aiming a Cruise missile at the heart of the economy.
Now Gordon is trying to fool us he is above partisanship, the most partisan, bitter, backstabbing, scheming PM to ever disgrace this country! As William Hague wittily remarked, he has built a Cabinet in his own image, and just a few weeks ago they were all busily plotting to get rid of him!DO YOU THINK WE ARE FOOLS GORDON BROWN? DO YOU REALLY THINK WE DO NOT REMEMBER THESE THINGS?
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I just don’t know how people fall for it. The country has deteriorated so badly under the present Labour government, that it is impossible to believe that anyone wants Labour to continue any longer.
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If Gordon Brown is right, and we are better equipped than many other countries to deal with the recession, isn’t it worrying him that the pound is sinking like a stone?
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Boris’s proactive attitude in forming the War Council, a cross party group to lobby the Government for assistance in London’s problems in the economic crisis is commmendable. However, why do I think he would have more success if he dressed them all up in kilts and tam o’shanters and got them singing “My heart’s in the heather….”
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And never mind George.
“You’ve just seen what you have to become to beat them.”
Batman, THE DARK KNIGHT.
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“Comment by Estella De Versace on October 30, 2008 @ 7:46 pm
“We do have a frightfully excellent selection of vintage wines in our manor’s cellar.”
Just show me your cella’…Estella!
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IN THE 19TH CENTURY, GORDON BROWN WOULD HAVE BEEN FLOGGED AND COURT MARTIALLED, THEN THROWN OUT FOR THE WAY HE HAS TREATED OUR ARMY.
SAS Commander Major Sebastian Morley has resigned in disgust, devastated by the needless deaths of four of his soldiers in Afghanistan. (Three men and one woman died). The cause of their deaths was the vulnerability of the Snatch Land Rover to land mines. There have been endless complaints about this type of Land Rover from the officers commanding men who have to use them,the cause of course being chronic underinvestment in the proper equipment for our troops. The Snatch is knicknamed the coffin.
If our soldiers do not have the correct equipment to safeguard their lives, as David Cameron has continually pointed out, they should not be sent to fight, and it is as simple as that.
And yet Gordon Brown has spent nearly £400M on advertising, PR, and Spin Doctors to keep his Scots bum in Downing Street. When asked if he was being paid for returning to spin his black arts, Alastair Campbell replied evasively “Not as far as I know!” HOW CAN YOU SLEEP GORDON?
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I am listening to Gordon Brown at the moment, saying how concerned he is about Rwanda and we should send troops there. But when David Cameron went to that country, and was absolutely vilified for doing so, I never heard Gordon squeak a word in his support.
Our troops are already overstretched in Afghanistan, but if Gordon wants to look like a World Peacemaker and Move and Shaker, he thinks let them lay down their lives elsewhere as well, let their blood stain a foreign soil and let them die far from home. Will he reduce his budget for his own self promotion by one penny? WILL HE HELL!!!!!
If Gordon Brown HAD been born in the 19th century, not only would he be the most dishonoured commander in British military history, he would also be the first to be shot in the back by his own troops.
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There have been harsh words against short sellers in the press, but we need to remember they are taking a huge risk as well as making huge gains, and it doesn’t always pan out. Recently wealthy hedge fund bosses were left devastated after losing almost £13 billion in 48 hours.
A plan to cash in by short selling Volkswagen shares backfired because the giant car firm Porsche had been secretly buying a 74% share in Volkswagen.
The huge clandestine buy up meant that the gamble of the short selling hedge fund bosses that VW shares would plunge, failed catastrophically.
Instead of falling, the shares soared by 400% in two days – forced up by Porsche’s shock revelation of its secret holding. Hedge funds around the world, including some in the UK, suffered combined losses of some £12.6 BILLION.
Some managers were in tears when they realised the scale of their losses.
Short selling = RISKY BUSINESS.
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Ol’ Tom the Gardener,
Certainly. And… what else would you like me to show you once we are down in my cellar ? ( giggle, giggle )
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Workers will be warned today ( 31/10/08 ) to brace themselves for an ‘ avalanche ‘ of redundancies. A quarter of bosses said they would be forced to to axe workers over the next year to survive the recession. Those aged over 50 or approaching retirement face the biggest risk of being handed their P45, according to research from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development.
The study found that many bosses have been desperately trying to avoid getting rid of staff. At an average cost of more than £10,000 per person, redundancy is expensive – particularly if the downturn is short-lived and companies need to recruit again within months.
Dr John Philpott, the Institute’s chief economist, forecast that the number of people who are unemployed will jump from 1.8million to 2.5million by next Easter. However, he said that this number was ‘ optimistic ‘ – whatever he meant.
Sounds very awfully depressing, does it not ? I thought Brown, Darling and Co. had claimed they had already fixed it. What a ghastly lot they are, are they not ?
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Ghastly indeed. Gordon is on a huge spending spree at our expense, and b…. the cost. Live now, pay later is his creed! He is like the lottery millionaires, Spend, Spend, Spend! Alastair Darling just tags along like a nodding dog and Harriet Harman and the Miliband Duo are Gordon’s groupies. From his rival, David Miliband has suddenly morphed into Gordon’s biggest fan! What a group of sickos!
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A video of an Iraq veteran blasting Obama for calling the war a ‘ mistake ‘ has been watched by more than 11 MILLION people- handling a huge boost to McCain. In the YouTube clip, titled DEAR. MR. OBAMA , ex-soldier Joe Cook faces the camera pretending to address the Democrat hopeful.
He says on the website: ‘ I witnessed first-hand the many sacrifices made. Those sacrifices were not mistakes. When you call the Iraqi war a mistake, you disrespect the service and the sacrifices of everyone who has died promoting freedom. ‘
Announcing his support for McCain, Joe adds: ‘ Freedom carries a price ‘ – then walks away on a false leg to reveal he lost his limb in service.
the two minute film was made without the backing or funding of McCain’s campaign. Joe, 23, said: ‘ McCain is a leader. I can really respect him. ‘
Obama spent nearly £2.5 Million ( Oprah’s? ) on a 30-minute prime-time ad on US TV networks on Wednesday.
Have any of you seen the photos of McCain taken when he was a POW in Vietnam? Oh, he looked so hot; just like how a typical hero should look.
( Tom, you could come and help me tend my over-grown garden. Together we could rewrite ‘ Lady Chatterley’s Lover. ‘. Please don’t mind me backing Sen. McCain. Yes? )
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When Boris humorously describes his attempts to make cider and warns us of the difficulties of self sufficiency, the hard truth is he is absolutely right.
We may cherish rosy dreams of a Jane Austen existence – sewing our own dresses, embroidering blouses and samplers, knitting exquisite jackets in a couple of days, but the truth is, these items take a huge amount of skill unless you want to look like an absolutely scarecrow. They also take time. It takes about a month to knit a cardigan, and that means knitting in the day, not just evenings, and you need to know how to assemble the pieces and stitch them together professionally.
The Sunday Telegraph printed and costed a pattern for knitting a scarf. With the equipment, this came to over £25 and I should say this was the minimum you could make a decent scarf for. The cost of wool, since the hey days of the ’80′s and ’90′s has tripled, it now costs as much to knit a cardigan as a cheap Citibreak.
And that is only the beginning. What if you aren’t a very good knitter, or don’t like the end result – the money has just gone down the drain.
We all have dreams to buying a cheap length of fabric and whipping up an adorable tailored shift for a fraction of the cost in the shops…. ARE YOU KIDDING ME! Good tailoring takes a lot of talent and skill to execute and first you have to buy your sewing machine, and learn how to use it, and the minimum that will cost is about £100 for a basic model.
If you have the time, and a creative streak that you are burning to fulfill, and also if you have plenty of cash to buy the best materials – who wants to labout for weeks over horrible acrylic – knitting and sewing are absolutely fantastic. Needlepoint also is soul enhancing and addictive and one of the most enjoyable pursuits known to man.
But as cheap options, FORGET ABOUT IT.
ps. If you already have a sewing machine, it is great to use it for repairs and you will save money that way. Taking up hems, making things smaller, are all a cinch if you know how to operate the machine. But this is not a recessionary measure, it makes sense to do this even if you are absolutely flush with cash.
pps. And anyone who can’t sew on a button, or put in a zip, it is very much worth learning these basic skills and they should still be taught in schools, as should basic sewing and knitting.
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“Not since Earl Haig, we gathered, had there been such blithering myopia about the impending slaughter.”
Could some kind soul explain Boris’s above reference to Earl Haigh, as I like to understand historical references?
I have googled Earl Haigh, but still don’t understand.
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Hi there Tom,
I’m interested in gardening, too. I’ve just moved back to the old Blighty all the way from Brussels. Perhaps you would kindly show me how you make your cucumber grow so big?
Mandy.
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JOHN McCAIN FOR PRESIDENT
THE DAY WE LOSE OUR WILL TO FIGHT
IS THE DAY WE LOSE OUR FREEDOM.
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http://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/Haig,+Douglas+Haig,+1st+Earl
The first Earl Haigh was Douglas Haigh, 1861 – 1928, a Field Marshal.
According to the above link, he mismanaged the Battle of the Somme and then mishandled the strategy and conduct of Passchendaele, resulting in appalling casualties.
Is this the correct interpretation? (If one of Boris’s aides would clarify, I should be extremely grateful).
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John McCain ? Oooh, he looks gorgeous. He’s a hunk. I mean, never in my life would I judge a man by his appearance, but weedy, skinny and lanky men like Obama really do turn me off. No offence, but maybe Obama should swap his body with Oprah.
John McCain looks so manly, chunky and sturdy with broad shoulders. And look at his chiseled jaw. What a hunk, just like Boris. Oooh, I’m feeling hot and heady already…
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I like the way Obama looks, intelligent, subtle, sensitive, and i don’t mind that he is skinny either. He looks like a gangly, kindly college professor, slightly geeky but brillliant.
Do you really prefer the Arnie type, the muscle bound dope, with absolutely nothing between his ears? He has a nerve criticising Obama’s legs. Trust Arnie to think the only thing that matters is the size of his pecs and calves.
John McCain was very good looking when he was young, but ladies, that was then, this is now! One newspaper described him as looking like an antiquated jelly baby, and that just about covers it.
On a personal level, I too prefer chunky, solid men, but for President, Obama will do just fine.
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http://www.oddschecker.com/specials/politics-and-election/glenrothes-by-election/win-market
Above you can check the betting on the Glenrothes by-election, which I lok at daily with bated breath. As one pundit said, if Gordon wins, he will have achieved the momentum convincingly. If the SNP wins, we will know that the newspapers have exaggerated Gordon’s fightback and the Tories still have it.
DAVID cAMERON, you are a fighter and you know how to grab the initiative. You have done it before, and I believe you will do it again. Hard though it has been, you have stood back and let Gordon have his economic moment for the good of the country, but if I know anything of your strategy, you are planning a huge counter-offensive after Glenrothes. You are merely employing Wellington’s reverse slope technique; your forces are marshalled safely below the brow of a hill, to avoid enemy fire. With supreme psychological astuteness, and your famed cool, you are awaiting your moment to signal them to spring up and deliver the coup de grace.
The Old Labour Guard will fall, to cries of “Nous sommes trahies!” and their discredited Commander in Chief will slink off sulking back to the heather, to cries of “Gordon, where’s ye trousers!”
At one time, Gordon was nearly neck and neck, but Alec Salmond is pulling away slightly, COME ON THE SNP!
You will also see from Oddschecker that Boris Johnson is odds on favourite to win the next London Mayor’s election. WHO ELSE IS THERE?
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Excuse me, Angela. But were you implying that Boris looked like an antiquated jelly baby, too?
Over-muscled men are a real turn-off; nothing up there and nothing down there either.
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Mama,
I will tell Papa you were flirting with Mr. Tom the Gardener !
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Hi Edwina, how did you work that one out? John McCain doesn’t look like Boris, nor is he really chunky or sturdy, is he? He is a great guy, a war hero, and deserves huge respect for that. But he does look frail and like he might not last one term, and that has to be a huge worry when his VP is Sarah Palin.
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Someone should point out to Arnie, better skinny legs than a tiny intellect, and if Arnie ever tried to blow his brains out, with that pea brain, he’d have to be a ruddy good shot! (JOKE).
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Acording to Oddschecker, the odds are shortening on the SDP winning Glenrothes. It’s still very close though……. This is definitely a turning point….
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In view of the way Gordon Brown has blatantly favoured the Scots regarding prescription charges, care of the elderly, etc., it would have been churlish for the people of Glenrothes not to vote for him. It was obviously pay back time by the Scots for Gordon’s continued unfairness to the English and Welsh and who can blame the Scots for returning Gordon’s huge favour when they must fear they would lose those advantages if the Tories came to power?
People are terrified of what is happening in the economy, and if they have any financial advantages, they are hanging on to them.
Also, the timely interest rate cut, obviously staged by Gordon to boost his election chances, probably didn’t hurt.
It will be a different matter in the general election.
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Also, it is unfair for pundits to blame David Cameron for failing to come up with other solutions to our economic problems, when there probably aren’t any, except for what he has suggested already.
Unlike Gordon, DC has always been honest when talking about the economic situation. He and George Osborne clearly laid out the situation at the Tory conference, and whereas some government expenditure is necessary to keep the economy moving, certainly not to the extent envisaged by Gordon, who is just sucking up the country to save his own hide.
The credit crunch has played into Gordon’s hands and he is now in the driving seat, with the country at his mercy. The IMF says that Britain is spiralling into the deepest recession of any leading nation. Gordon has made huge mistakes, but he thinks that if he spends now and murmurs sympathetically about “helping people through these hard times” we will fall for it and see him as our saviour. WE WON’T.
Boris had the right idea, cutting transport projects ruthlessly, and doing all he can to save money. Gordon should be doing the same.
wE ARE THE WORST PREPARED COUNTRY IN THE G7 FOR THE COMING RECESSION, BUT IT IS TOO LATE TO DO MUCH EXCEPT HANG ON AND HOPE FOR THE BEST WHILE DC KEEPS THE REINS ON GORDON AS MUCH AS IS IN HIS POWER.
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Let Gordon enjoy his mini bounce…. he has had a rough time lately, and we Tories are not mean at heart. We know that David Cameron will win the next election, for the same reason that so many people complained vociferously about the Ross/Brand prank.
It wasn’t just the prank people were objecting to so violently, it was the low standards submitted on a daily basis by the BBC. The country is sick of having to put up with third rate standards of decency and we are also sick of third rate standards of government.
We hve not forgotten the lies and dodgy dossiers we were forced to accept over the Iraq war. We can clearly see the damage done by that war, to millions. We have not forgotten the shabby treatment dished out to our armed forces and the Iraqis who helped them. We have not forgotten the way Labour have indiscriminately handled immigration, overloading our social services and we have not forgotten the way they let crime get totally out of hand. Rather than allow foster parents who smoke to adopt kids who desperately need love, these kids are left to shrivel emotionally in care. White foster parents are not allowed to bring up kids of a different colour. Political correctness disparages and patronises women, and chokes even the simplest action with red tape. Our councils are turning our kids into spies and are spies on our freedom themselves. In fact our civil liberties are totally eroding, and we have had enough. We say no more, and there is no way Labour will ever win another election for many decades and I believe that from the bottom of my heart, because the people of this country deserve better.
David Cameron, William Hague, George Osborne (however much they seek to undermine him) and Boris Johnson are exceptionally able and it is about time we had exceptional people running this country.
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And Gordon, don’t try the politics of fear on the people of this country. They fell for it in Glenrothes, but we see through you.
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I agree, there is not much significance in Labour winning Glenrothes. They were bound to win ONE Scottish by-election, and Gordon and his wife had to beg and plead to swing it their way anyway. if he feels happy for a bit, that’s OK by me too.
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If Gordon feels the need to recall and lean on two men like Peter Mandelson and Alastair Campbell, he must be at a very low ebb. But he doesn’t have the strength and decisiveness necessary to be a good leader and that has been the problem all along.
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Anyone daft enough to have a go at George Osborne for this is totally out to lunch. How is it his fault? I like George, he has the gift of clarity without being patronising.
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We need protection from all forms of abuse and exploitation, not just terrorism!
I cannot watch England cricket or football because some rich bloke has been allowed to stop me from doing so unless I pay him for the privilege.
I cannot heat my home because the government is helping foreign companies to abuse an essential commodity for living.
I have no choice where I buy my groceries because the government has encouraged Tesco to restrict my choice.
My mortgage interest has not been lowered although the base rate has been reduced by 2% because the government is in awe of the bankers. “what can I do”, says the chancellor.
I have worked for the past 33 years and have been made redundant 4 times because the directors of the companies have been, either totally incompetent, or greedy and selfish. 1 of these directors managed to shut down a company within 3 years of taking over. The company had been trading since 1844!! 2000 people lost their jobs and nothing happened to the ar….le! Why?
Where ever I look I see exploitation. Especially where consumers do not have a choice. Electricity, Gas, Petrol, Mortgages, Public transport, hospitals, TV, etc… in fact, I cannot think of any essential commodity that is not exploited by some big company. And with collusion by the government.
If something is wrong, stop it! Don’t find reasons not stop it.
thank you for the chance to air my grievances
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Roha you have your vote. And you can write in and complain, some bodies have formal complaints procedures. If enough people complain, people have to take notice, for example, the BBC recently. You can air your views on websites such as this. I know it’s not much, certainly not enough to sort out the things you are talking about but it is a start.
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Okay, OBVIOUSLY Boris didn’t say ‘go out and spend your money so the Queen can buy dresses’, he said if you can afford it, don’t start hoarding all your money because the news tells you to. If the people who can actually afford to spend STOP spending, then the economy is going to get nowhere. I’m 16 and I worked that out. Love you Boris
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I will taking Boris advise quite soon,just waiting for the car/boat lots to fill with more toys from the Hedge Fund guys walking the streets expect to by a low mileage Aston Martin ,garage/maintained at the past employers expense.
Expect soon the receiver no reserve auctions then go to market ,hey might even buy a as new yacht as well.
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[...] But [...] Read A Deep Recession at Boris Johnson [...]
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can boris let me know what his plans are for taking over the conservative party and ultimately the government of the uk?, as i’m in Dubai and i want to make plans to return to our shore’s(i have also heard he makes exceedingly good chutney!).on the recession,we went through it in the eighties. so keep spending (with moderation).keep any debt to the minimum, and dont believe everything you are told by men with surnames starting with a B !.
look forward to seeing BJ as PM !.
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