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When anger turns to pity
It's a sad thing when people start feeling sorry for the Prime Minister. The whole thing has gone so far, it's become a farce. To me it doesn't really matter who leads the Labour party, it's an irrelevant sideshow. What matters so much more is allowing the public to have their say on the direction we as a country are taking, especially following the expenses scandal.
And if Gordon Brown doesn't want the indignity of another leadership crisis in the Autumn (which is almost inevitable), surely the sensible thing to do is to go to the Country, and have a General election as soon as possible. Even if he loses he'll retain an element of integrity and dignity, rather than being forced out.
This is the first time since the 92-97 Parliament that the term has gone over four years, and every time it happens it is for political convenience, and usually turns against the ruling party. There must be a good case now for fixed term Parliaments.
The anger people have felt against Mr Brown seems to be turning to pity. This cannot be a good thing in the long term, the country needs leadership, something we don't have at the moment. All we have is a man who is compromising himself to appease his backbenchers. It's sad to watch.
For me, the final nail in the coffin was during the botched reshuffle 10 days ago when minister after minister started leaving the cabinet, and he replaced them in a rushed and embarrassing way, which hasn't delivered the 'new blood' the country is calling for.
There was the indignity of now having the likes of the unelected Peter Mandleson as 'First Secretary of State' (which really means Deputy Prime Minister) and also the unelected Glenys Kinnock as Minister for Europe (I keep having to remind myself that this has really happened – it sounds so ridiculous – but I'm afraid it really is true!)
'Our Henry'
I was very disappointed that Henry Allingham wasn't awarded a knighthood in the Queens birthday honours list – surely this hero, now aged an incredible 113 deserves to be recognised in this way. Especially as the likes of Delia Smith have got an award. I'm sure Delia is a good cook, and she is certainly a good businesswoman, but does it really compare to 'our Henry', who saw action in the first world war? I think not. I also think Harry Patch, the other great survivor from the first world war should also be honoured in the same way.
'Egging' the BNP
At first it seemed great entertainment to see Nick Griffin of the BNP getting 'egged' outside Parliament. But in many ways it's much more serious than that. If we could solve the problem with a few eggs things wouldn't be so bad. But the truth is, and unpalatable as it is, the fact is that this country has for the first time, elected two BNP members to the European Parliament.
The only way to really deal with this, is not to give them what Mrs Thatcher called 'the oxygen of publicity' by having high profile public eggings, but by getting them to state exactly what they do believe in, and then debating with them on the issues themselves. That way they can be defeated, not martyred.
Next week, a few reflections on the Tennis week. In the meantime, have a great week friends!
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Weather for Eastbourne
Saturday 26 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 13 C to 23 C
Wind Speed: 23 mph
Wind direction: East
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: 11 C to 20 C
Wind Speed: 14 mph
Wind direction: South east
