Could Gordon Brown Pull It Off? The General Election 2010

There are many who believe that Labour, under Blair, Brown and Mandelson, squandered the goodwill available to it to improve the UK socially and financially.

Blair, the death of British service personnel almost a minor consideration, joined in a war, not out of principle, but to indulge his friend George W. Bush. Gordon Brown, over so many years, allowed his obsession to be PM overrule his obligations as Chancellor and in trying to be ever so clever took the country down the road to economic gloom. And yes, the rest of the world suffered too, but has recovered quicker, without the clanking chains of the UK's debt mountain. For generations to come, the Brown inheritance will haunt the country.

As for Mandelson, he has managed to spin his way to the pinnacle of power, with time on his hands to wine and dine on rich men's yachts. And his greatest achievement is that it is no more than we expect. In fact, we almost admire him for it.

And yet, despite the bloodshed and disillusionment, the Conservative Party under David Cameron, is not making a wholly convincing case that it could do any better to improve the current woes that beset the country. Surely the party should be further ahead in the polls, or is the public so angry with politicians that next time round, the voting will result in a hung parliament? Or, has the image of the Tories as the party of the spoilt and rich, so embedded itself, that whatever Labour's faults, many still feel it better represents their values and aspirations?

Perhaps the days of a landslide Election victory have passed and Nick Clegg and the Liberal Democrats will be called upon to sacrifice principles for power and then have to decide which of the others it would be best to rescue?

Quangos: The Road To Riches

If your little one fails as a banker, just encourage them to become the next best thing....a member of a government quango. Firstly they need to get to know someone with influence within the government and, once started on the Quango Road, sums of £5,000 per day, could be making its way to that off-shore account.

The current Labour Government is busy waging class war on the Conservatives, but it has done more that any previous Tory administration to create an aristocracy of Quango-ites, who move from one panel to another, picking up large amounts of money along the way.

It really is an industry for the elite and influential and if Gordon Brown has any real interest in protecting public monies, especially at this time of job and home losses, he should order a suspension of all quangoes pending a review. After all, those who serve on them are quick to say they do so as a public service. Fine, they won't mind then if we bung them a daily allowance to buy a Subway sandwich and their return bus fares home.

The UK's Number One Single: The X-Factor

Simon Cowell has proved everyone wrong! There he was being criticised for ruining the music industry as we know it and, along comes a band who, with the support of the public, gains the coveted No. 1 Christmas single. Now, if it hadn't been for Simon and his TV show, The X-Factor, the band Rage Against The Machine, would not have made it to the top spot and the blanket media coverage of the music business would not have happened.

Simon Cowell has brought excitement and controversy back into the business of music and that can't be a bad thing. The man has made millions out of knowing what the great British public want and one wonders how long before he makes a bid to take over ITV? I am sure he and his backer Philip Green have discussed it, but then, perhaps business sense will overide their massive egos?

Gordon Brown, David Cameron & Nick Clegg: Let the battle commence!

Oh Lord! So the next General Election is to be decided by a TV debate! Is this going to be another Simon Cowell production, with telephone voting and BIG dramatic music to announce the result?

Solid, dependable, Gordon, public schoolboy, Dave and, that promiscuous 30 times a night, Nick.....you make your choice, as one by one they are eliminated. I really don't think Gordon Brown should have agreed to it. He comes across as sincere and knowledgable, until that first hint of a smile, which reminds one of what Dracula must look like in that minute before sunrise. Dave, on the other hand, is slick and youthful, but there are times when he looks just that bit too self-satisfied. Like an Eton schoolboy who has been brought up to believe he has every right to rule the planet. Nick, well, I like the guy, but just when you think the Liberal Democrats have something worthwhile to offer, they come up with silly policies that make one wish for an Iranian bomb to reach our shores. (They could borrow one from Tony's Iraqi stock and replace it latter).

We will hear the same tired old slogans, mixed with a few new family-friendly ones from all three leaders and, in the end, we will have no further clue as to their real policies. Presentation will win the debate on the day, when what the country desperately needs is clear spin-free leadership.

Who do you think has the skills to pull it off?

BA Strike Threat: So why are the Unions out to destroy Labour?

Pardon me if this is a dumb question, but why are the Unions so determined that Labour lose the next General Election? I just don't understand why, at a time when the country is still in recession, when people are losing their homes and their jobs, a Union would call a strike that is guaranteed to inconvenience the innocent public in a very cruel way. This is the time when families across the world plan to get together for the festive season, so isn't it a PR disaster for the Union Unite to scupper those plans in its battle to bring BA to its knees?

With only months to go before the General Election, headlines about strikes only remind the great British public of the bad old days, when the destiny of the country was decided by trade union officials in back rooms and via the back door of No.10. It was why Margaret Thatcher was welcomed with open arms and why Labour was out of power for so long.

The Sun is determined to sink the government and see Afghanistan as the most lethal weapon against Gordon Brown and Labour, but the threat of strikes over the coming months will have the general public storm the ballot box in support of the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats.

BA is inefficient, lost over £400 million last year and has a pension deficit of over £3 billion pounds. It is fighting for survival in a cut-throat business, with Virgin and others, waiting to pounce on any opportunity to destroy it even further. Should the threatened 12-day strike happen, it will have a devastating effect on the airline's immediate and long-term finances.

BA cabin crew earn far more than their opposite numbers with Virgin Atlantic and with less duties expected of them. Many earn £56,000 and more, so it is unlikely that the general public will have much sympathy for any walkout.

In a few hours time BA will go to court to challenge the result of Unite's ballot. While Union Officals gloat about their power, one has got to ask why its members are happy to commit hari-kari and in the process destroy a great airline.

MPs Expenses: Who gives a damn what the public think?!

So the latest round of MP expense claims show a total contempt for the general public and the absolute powerlessness of the so-called Fees Office. Many MPs know that come the next election they will no longer be in the House of Commons, so what do they care that, at a time when many of their constituents are out of jobs, they continue to hoard the cash with claims for double-beds, bell tower repairs and chimney sweeps.

The claims may have been legitimate and a perk of being an MP, but the whole system has systematically been used and abused by these so-called upholders of the law of the land, many of whom wouldn't be given responsibility for the opening of an envelope in the world beyond Westminster.

Between now and the General Election there will be MPs who will milk the system for everything they can get and I hope that all current claims are being scrutinised with the same enthusiasm as the Tax Office check the rest of us.

The sadness of this scandal is that even the so-called great and good have modified their claims, not because it is right to do so, but because of public scrutiny.

The X-Factor: And the winner is.....Simon Cowell!!

So, it's going to be Joe, Stacy or Olly who will be declared the winner of this season's X-Factor, but of course the real glory will belong to one Simon Cowell. And rightly so. I have said previously that I am not a fan of these shows, or at least wasn't, but this series has been fascinating to watch, especially the inter-play between the judges, which is actually what the show is really about.

Simon Cowell with X-Factor and Britain's Got Talent and, it must be said, the BBC's Strictly Come Dancing, has re-established weekend television, with incredible audience figures. It is not discussed, but these shows have wrecked the pub, club and cinema trades these past few weeks, as families have stayed in together to watch the dramas unfold.

Word is that Joe has attracted more votes than Stacy and Olly combined, in two out of the past three weeks. It is obvious that it is Joe who the panel see as the one to ship the most singles and albums over the next few months, but does he have a long-term future as a pop-star or will the musical theatre beckon? My money is on Joe, but with the right song material, Olly could be the one to repeat Will Young's success.

Joe has a great voice and likability, is unlikely to do a Jordon, so to speak, but watch out for those tabloid headlines.

Copenhagen: The debate on global warming heats up

I must admit I have never quite understood why all these meetings about global warming take place. It just seems like a photo opportunity for world leaders, who trot out tired old statements about saving the planet when what they are really saying is that all those developing and poor countries have a duty to watch their emissions, while, for the sake of the world economy, the rich ones must be allowed to carry on regardless.

So while the planet continues to hot up, the politicians play politics and nothing actually gets done to advance a remedy. It's a game of trickery which future generations will have to deal with. Am I being cynical or just not understanding the importance of the debate?

In Copenhagen, it seems the only thing decided is that countries like China, India and even Russia, don't want to call a halt to their countries emergence into the rich man's world. Leaders of these countries don't want to head home to lecture their populations on the need to restrict fridge, travel or car ownership for the good of mankind. Especially when they don't see that happening in the rich countries of the world.

America is the great gas and energy guzzler, with a population that laughs of the threat its spoilt behaviour is having on the planet, whilst worrying deeply about the effects a second cup of coffee will have on the nervous system. It is a country that hands down dollars to the poverty-stricken and gets them to make sacrifices, while it continues to light up the skies and the skyscrapers without a moment's thought.

It must be remembered that while my home is lit up like a Christmas tree, there are areas of the world where electricity or even an in-door toilet are longed for possessions. Try telling those people to cut back on their dreams, when we can't even turn a light off without feeling deprived.

Gordon Brown: It's a class thing innit?

Dave from Eton can no longer believe that the General Election is in the bag. Gordon Brown smells the blood of the shaken toffee-nosed Tories and has thrown class warfare into the ring, much to the delight of the core Labour supporter who would rather bring the upper-classes down a peg or two, than aspire upwards. Jealousy is a powerful force and in this time of recession and lost jobs amongst the lesser havenots, the wealth of those who have is seen as a legitimate target for higher and higher taxes.

Gordon's call to arms surely flies in the face of Labour's efforts to bridge, in an upward direction, the gap between rich and poor, a strategy which helped win over the middle and upper-classes in the previous elections under Tony Blair. It is also rather hypocritical of Mr. Brown to associate the Tories as the party of privilege, when many of his own Cabinet and Labour elite are themselves no strangers to the playing fields of public schools, rich men's yachts or private planes. Tony Blair is a prime example of a privileged background and look no further than Lord Mandelson and the Kinnocks when it comes to enjoying the high-life.

David Cameron is showing signs of looking lack lustre, whilst the Prime Minister's re-discovery of those very old, Old Labour prejudices, are providing him with a renewed vigour for the challenges ahead.

In this day and age, should it matter if David Cameron had a nanny to wipe his bottom? My concern is that too many politicians, both Labour and Conservative, have had no experience outside of the political arena, when in the real world they wouldn't be trusted with the opening of an envelope.

Gordon Brown should be looking to reform Parliament, not re-kindling a war between the classes, when the only winners are the politicians and the rich. People like him and his cronies.

Tiger's wood lands him in a deep hole!

I am one of those people who find golf a boring activity to watch or play and, judging by one of his lovers, one golf player, namely Tiger Woods, has also proved quite a bore in the bedroom. Now that is one bad thing to say about any man, but especially one who has been busy protecting his personal balls from being crushed by one angry golf club wielding wife, now said to be re-negotiating her pre-nuptial agreement.

Tiger always struck me as someone who behaved like a well-polished corporate robot, so it comes as a bit of a surprise that he has an uncontrollable desire to risk family and reputation for an occasional meeting of minds outside of the marriage bed. And, by the sound of it, on a frequent basis with the most inappropriate, but willing, bed partners. The kind who keep the American equivalent of Max Clifford on speed dial.

Rachel Uchitel, who apparently was seeing the golfer for some time, cancelled a press conference this week, fueling rumours that her silence had been bought with a very large cheque.

Tiger's squeaky clean image has attracted major sponsors over the years and it will be interesting to see how many will continue to use him in the months ahead. Some of the biggest corporations liked his conservative, self-assured, but respectful, image, whilst others may find his tainted reputation an even more attractive proposition.

Do any of the women involved take any responsibility for their own behaviour? After all, THEY were quite happy to climb into the billionaire's bed...married man or not!