Gordon Brown Crashes The Party

JOHNATHAN Pearce looks at how Gordon Brown’s melting-away Labour Party are every bit as crazed as he is:

The meltdown of Gordon Brown’s Labour government continues. I was struck by this passage of resigning Cabinet minister James Purnell’s letter to the Prime Minister. It is very revealing in what it says not about the differences between these men, but their similarities:

“We both love the Labour Party. Party. I have worked for it for 20 years and you for far longer. ‘‘We know we owe it everything and it owes us nothing. I owe it to our party to say what I believe no matter how hard that may be. I now believe your continued leadership makes a Conservative victory more not less likely. That would be disastrous for our country. This moment calls for stronger regulation, an active state, better public services, an open democracy. It calls for a Government that measures itself by how it treats the poorest in society.

Anorak

Posted: 5th, June 2009 | In: Politicians | Comments (3)

Gordon Brown’s Nursery State

RICHARD North loosk at nursery games in the House of Commons:

Watching the glee with which the BBC dealt with James Purnell’s resignation last night and the febrile excitement of the claque, the only conclusion to be drawn is that the political classes have totally lost the plot.

Politics now has become a self-referential sport, totally divorced from reality, consumed by its own narrow passions, focused only on the great election game, which has become an end in itself.

Anorak

Posted: 5th, June 2009 | In: Politicians | Comment

Alistair Darling On Finding A Good Tax-Avoidance Accountant

GOOD old Chancellor Alistair Darling, Chancellor of the Exchequor, for supporting the accountancy industry by paying an accountant public money to complete his tax return.

MPs then – possibly – asked the same accountants about capital gains tax, if a porn film is tool of the trade and to explain tax loop holes.

Chancellor Alistair Darling is among nine Cabinet Ministers who paid accountants public money to complete their tax returns, it has been reported.

Anorak

Posted: 25th, May 2009 | In: Photojournalism, Politicians | Comments (11)

Sun Seeks To Drive Afghan Refugees From Home

A WIN for the Sun as Toorpakai Saindi and her seven children are to be kicked out of their home.

The Sun says the home in Acton, West London, is worth £1.2milion – and falling in value all the time. The single mum gets the “equivalent of £170,000 a year from the taxpayer”.

The paper makes no mention of why Ms Toorpakai moved to the UK, only that she was placed in the home because the council had a shortage of alternative accommodation.

Anorak

Posted: 21st, October 2008 | In: Reviews | Comments (26)