The Death of Politics

That debate was an absolute disgrace. If this is the intellectual capacity of the three men who will be charged, either jointly or individually, with leading the UK out of economic crisis, then you may as well tow it out to the middle of the Atlantic and sink it.

I turned it off after half an hour, because not one of them has a grasp of even basic Economics, and not one of them can suppress the populism coursing through his veins like fire. Brown YET AGAIN gets away with this ludicrous statement about the Tories taking 6bn out of the economy. Why? Because CMD doesn't understand how to counter the argument. I have gone through this before and won't waste time repeating myself.

Not one of them can answer a question properly. Not one of them can debate properly. Nick Clegg's pathetic re-use of his "I didn't hear your name. is it? Well , you're absolutely right" goes unpunished. Brown just appears to have no idea what he is being asked, so utterly indoctrinated in his own nonsense is he. CMD is just so utterly weak and feeble when faced with frankly terrible opposition, that he is actually going to balls this election up, and if he does win it will be despite his myriad failings not because of his leadership.

So what next? I have no idea, but it's pretty bleak. They can talk all they like about restarting the manufacturing industry, but this isn't a planned economy and they don't work anyway. They can talk about getting the Banks to lend again, but if you tax them AND regulate them at the same time that won't work. Cutting benefits is a step in the right direction I suppose, but it won't be enough as long as there is this obsession with frontline services and a refusal to consider reducing foreign aid.

Thursday 6th May will be remembered as a terrible day for the UK, no matter what happens. It will be the day politics finally came off life support, and couldn't breathe on its own.

Great Debate

Pretty tedious really, found it so hard to concentrate. Agree with Dizzy though, Clegg came over really well and looked worryingly like a leader. Brown was actually not as car-crash like as I might have expected. His first answer was mystifying but after that he warmed up, tough for the incumbent even if he is an idiot. Repeated himself too much though.

The big failure was Cameron. The Tories are so bloody terrified of putting people off, they shy away from every single opportunity. When Brown was banging on about taking 6bn out of the economy, over and over again, Cameron had a golden opportunity to explain that no, the money wouldn't leave the economy, it would leave the Government's coffers. As any fule no, privately spent money is usually better used than public spending, so the 6bn would probably be used better. Instead he hemmed and hawed and didn't really get anywhere.

CMD will need to step it up for the next one, because if he doesn't own these debates, then hung parliament all the way, and with Brown's "Nick and I agree..." parroting in evidence, that is something to be scared of.