Lame Labour: Gordon Brown's Dead-Man Walk

In the winter of 2007, I sat in Peter Hennessy's "Hidden Wiring" grad seminar at Queen Mary, University of London, and listened to someone observe that as much as everyone despised Tony Blair for Iraq, they might watch Gordon Brown for a year or 2 and wish Blair were still at 10 Downing Street.

In their wildest dreams, they could not have anticipated the prescience of their statement.

In addition to the right-ward shift in European politics, the recent local & EU elections combined to inflict what can only be described as beating-a-dead-horse blows on Gordon Brown.

Labour suffered its biggest defeat in history last week, when it placed third in local council elections, winning 23% of the vote, behind Conservatives and Liberal Democrats with 38% and 28% respectively. Labour may have fared even worse in the vote for the European Parliament. The final results were published last night after we went to press, but the British media cited Labour officials over the weekend who feared their party would come in behind the Tories and Liberal Democrats, and even the fringe U.K. Independence Party.

Nothing short of an economic miracle will save Gordon Brown and Labour in the next election... and even that might not be enough.

If you have tips, questions, comments or suggestions, email me at lybberty@gmail.com.

Words Of Wisdom From Margaret Thatcher

President Obama & the Obamabots at State may not think much of the UK or our Special Relationship, but I sure do. In honor of that relationship I present, for your consideration, Stuart Taylor quoting Lady Thatcher:

If this president fails, who will revive our economy? And when? And what kind of America will our children inherit? But with the nation already plunging deep into probably necessary debt to rescue the crippled financial system and stimulate the economy, Obama's proposals for many hundreds of billions in additional spending on universal health care, universal postsecondary education, a massive overhaul of the energy economy, and other liberal programs seem grandiose and unaffordable. . . . I hope that the president ponders well Margaret Thatcher's wise warning against some collectivist conceits: 'The illusion that government can be a universal provider, and yet society still stay free and prosperous.... The illusion that every loss can be covered by a subsidy. The illusion that we can break the link between reward and effort, and still get the effort.

Remember, The Road to Serfdom is paved with trillions of dollars worth of liberal good intentions.


If you have tips, questions, comments or suggestions, email me at lybberty@gmail.com.

Iowahawk In The UK

Dave Burge is back writing for Anorak. This time he tackles the topic of Gordon Brown's counter-terror policy--specifically, Brown's penchant for arresting those who "irritate" him.

Enjoy.

COUNTER-TERRORISM POLICE today rounded up hundreds of Britons suspected of membership in organizations described as “irritating” to Prime Minister Gordon Brown. The exact number was not released, but police officials said that many more are expected, “depending on the Prime Minister’s mood this morning.”

“Our sole purpose is to keep citizens safe from the threat of international terrorism,” said Thomas Ayckroyd, a spokesman for the Home Office. “While these detainees may all be British citizens, they were clearly engaged in treasonous acts designed to destabilize Her Majesty’s government by embarrassing, irritating, or otherwise inconveniencing the Prime Minister.”

For a more serious take on the very serious erosion of democracy in the UK evidenced by Brown's arrest of Damian Green, Shadow Minister for Immigration, read Roger Kimball.

Shouldn't be irritating our violent immigrants now, should we?


If you have tips, questions, comments or suggestions, email me at lybberty@gmail.com.