Thursday 30 April 2009

Mandy to the rescue of an old New Labour friend

Bernie Ecclestone's call for government backing for the British Grand Prix has not fallen on deaf ears. The Digger column in yesterday's Guardian sport section suggests Peter Mandelson has offered to meet Bernie and discuss the issue. In particular Mandy has suggested that regional development agency money might be used to support infrastructure improvements that might be to Bernie's liking.

It is hard to contemplate a cash-strapped Government using taxpayers to support a sport run by a billionaire, even indirectly. Ecclestone has always had a special relationship with New Labour though.

Monday 27 April 2009

Can't polish a turd

So within a week of Gordon Brown making his weird video message to announce his flawed plans on MPs expenses they look dead in the water.

This attempt at using new media was clearly an attempt to follow the lead of Barack Obama who was so adept at using these methods to talk directly to voters in his election campaign. New Labour was always more about style and substance and while many commentators insist the Budget has marked its end, this episode illustrates that in one aspect - the obsession with presentation - it survives.

The Government still hasn't grasped that, in the end, it's what you're saying rather than how you say it that matters. Obama had a message that appealed to the voters. Brown's proposals on MPs expenses were garbage.

Or to put it another way, you can't polish a turd.

Why the End is Nigh

Anyone left in the swiftly diminishing group who thinks this Government still has anything left to offer should listen to this contribution from Harriet Harman on Today this morning. Last week Labour delivered a devastatingly bleak budget, this week it is wittering on about some Equality Bill which its main champion struggles to justify. The plot has well and truly been lost.

Sunday 26 April 2009

Cameron Shows The Way - or just more distraction burglary?

Iain Dale thinks David Cameron's speech today is his most important so far in that it is the clearest signal yet of the direction of a Conservative government.

In some ways i think Dale's right. It certainly is the starkest statement he has made yet of the awful position the Tories will inherit and the challenges that will bring. It even includes some specific areas where cuts would be made which, although limited, is certainly a welcome piece of plain speaking.

His defence of the Tories' position on the 50p tax rate is also pretty good, describing last week's budget as a piece of "distraction burglary" where Darling points to the 50p rate which is largely meaningless to distract attention from the growing disaster in the public finances.

I say only pretty good because it's a bit cheap for Cameron to accuse Labour of distraction burglary when later in the same speech he uses the same technique. Listing the high salaries of public officials and promising to name and shame them is good knock about stuff but cutting these back will save hundreds of thousands of pounds, not the billions needed.

We need our politicians to get serious about the financial mess we're in. For voters part, that means not reacting in a knee jerk way when a politician talks about making cuts. They're going to come, the argument should be about where. For their part, politicians need to talk in serious terms about where we're going to find billions of pounds in savings, not just try and focus public anger on a few (admittedly overpaid) public servants.

Friday 24 April 2009

Ecclestone and the NUT - unlikely allies

Bernie Ecclestone has today said it is a "disgrace" that the Government hasn't offered financial backing to the British Grand Prix. That's millionaire Bernie Ecclestone mind you.

He can join others in the queue making ridiculous demands of a country approaching bankruptcy. Such as the National Union of Teachers who are demanding a 10 per cent pay rise.

Madness.

Thursday 23 April 2009

Why the regional media matters: A case study

As has been well-documented, the regional media is going through terrible times as the recession accelerates the decline of an industry that already had long term structural problems. This has largely been met with a shrug of the shoulders by the majority outside media circles - of course it has that's why readership figures are so low. If people valued their local newspapers they'd buy them.

Optimists say that when the existing regional media dies it will be replaced by new entrants to the market. I hope so - and this story from the Yorkshire Post illustrates why. Rob Waugh is one of the most talented journalists in the regional press and here he has raised serious questions about the spending practices at Leeds Met University. In the absence of a local journalist plugging away at this story this would probably have slipped under the radar. As it is, its now on the BBC website.

Quality local journalism matters. Let's hope someone finds a way to pay for it.

Why is Brown laughing?

Gordon Brown was memorably once described as "psychologically flawed". The quote is often attributed to Alastair Campbell which he denies.

Anyway, somebody has clearly told Brown that he needs to seem more human. The result is the scary grin he now uses at every available opportunity. The problem is that while he can tell his face to perform the action he still likes the emotional awareness to use it appropriately.

How else to explain his mysterious gurning during his online video announcing his plans on MPs expenses? He was at it again during Cameron's budget response yesterday.

Stop it Gordon. These are serious times and the people losing their homes and jobs aren't smiling. Take the risk of looking like an emotional retard and stick to glowering. At least it fits the awful mess we're in.

VFTN makes a comeback

VFTN is making a comeback, more follows.