Gordon Brown's plans

So what's Bogey the Fungusman got planned for us? The BBC has the lowdown:

[H]e said he wanted to strengthen Britain's constitution and give more power to MPs.

More power?! This is madness! Power needs to be taken away from politicians and given back to individuals. 

"One of my first acts as prime minister would be to restore power to Parliament in order to build the trust of the British people in our democracy. Government must be more open and more accountable to Parliament - for example in decisions about peace and war, in public appointments and in a new ministerial code of conduct."

So instead of the Prime Minister handing out sinecures and positions on quangos to party loyalists, he tells the lobby fodder in Parliament who he wants to appoint, and they rubber stamp it.

Great. 

Mr Brown also suggested Britain could get its first written constitution, saying: "we need a constitution that is clear about the rights and responsibilities of being a citizen in Britain today."

You would have thought that he'd have noticed a few other things wrong with the country? Might it have crossed his mind that these should get priority? Perhaps it has, but focusing on the constitution just looks like an admission that he doesn't know how to fix any of them. His ideological foundations in socialism has failed. He's tried throwing money at problems and this has failed too. He is completely clueless about what else might work.

And I hate to think what a constitution written by Brown might look like. Fairness and equality blah; multi- this, poly- that and post-endogenous- the other. It's hard to see him as Thomas Jefferson isn't it?

Craig Murray, NuLab and the University of Dundee

Craig Murray is apparently now the rector of Dundee University. Excellent. Couldn't have picked a better man. Someone who knows right from wrong and isn't afraid to say so.

His first meeting of the University Court seems to have been lots of fun. The whole thing seems to be run by NuLab cronies who are trying to run it for the benefit of Jack McConnell. Craig is, quite naturally, on the warpath. This is going to be fun.

Read the whole thing. 

Slow news day

Not inspired to write anything very much. Been mucking about with Photoshop. Ended up with Patsy Hewitt looking like something out of Bo Selecta. Hope you like it.

 

Budget quotes

"So to reward savers, pensioners and hard working families, my aim now and in the next Parliament is to ensure that more of savers', pensioners' and working people's income, now taxed at the 22 pence rate, should be taxed at the lower 10 pence rate. And I propose to make a start today with a one billion pounds a year tax cut [...]

A measure which will benefit 25 million taxpayers."

Gordon Brown 2001

"So to punish savers, pensioners and hard working families, my aim now and in the next Parliament is to ensure that more of savers', pensioners' and working people's income, now taxed at the 10 pence rate, should be taxed at the higher 20 pence rate. And I propose to make a start today with a one billion pounds a year tax rise. [...]

A measure which will harm 25 million taxpayers."

Gordon Brown 2007 (or his thought process, at least).

The Golden Arrow affair

Iain Dale is all over the Golden arrow affair - he's now onto his fourth update in as many days.

I wonder why the BBC hasn't mentioned it? 

The BBC: all the news that's good for you.