Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Who's Running Economic Policy?

Newsnight has just reported that the Government will publish a new economic strategy paper in seven days time. Isn't it strange therefore that the Treasury has been briefing that they know absolutely nothing about it. The First Lord of the Treasury is clearly taking his job title very seriously indeed. Just saying...

38 comments:

Old BE said...

Who has been running it for the past 11 years? Let the work of change begin, I say.

Anonymous said...

What a mess.

What an outrage!

What an unbelievably inept shower this nulabour government are.

Gordon Brown, if you've swapped places with Dirty Man of Europe, Alastair Darling and he is now PM while you are again Chancellor, we, the people demand to know!

Tell us the truth for once in your miserable life, Brown!

Anonymous said...

Well it certainly does not appear to Alastair Darling the Chancellor of the Exchequer!
Sounds like Brown is running official Ministry's of State with figure heads while the actual departments are being run out of No10 Downing Street by carefully placed Brownites like Yvette Cooper.
Isn't there evidence that Nick Brown is running a second Whips operation on the QT while Hoon is kept out of the loop?

Alan Douglas said...

Pretty obvious answer, from the state we are in : NO ONE

Alan Douglas

Anonymous said...

Sigh. It looks like it's going to have to be me. I've been waiting, but if you want a job done do it yourself. With thanks to Oliver Cromwell amd Leo Amery.

This is meant for Gordon Brown.


You have sat too long for any good you have been doing lately ... Depart, I say; and let us have done with you. In the name of God, go!

Anonymous said...

Well judging by the state of the economy and the extreme dithering going on it can only be one "man" and its not the chancellor.
If I was Darling Id go on holiday and leave the fool to it then at least the blame will go where it should.

Anonymous said...

Sorry to post twice but all the fool will do is re announce the tax he gave out trying to save his skin and hope we have forgot I would put money on it he has form on this.he will say a £60 one off and £10 a month.

Anonymous said...

Darling - like him or dislike him, doesn't anyone feel sorry for him, having a manager like he does?

Anonymous said...

Q: Who's Running Economic Policy? A: Nobody in No 11.

Not a sheep said...

Jon (06:00): No I don't feel sorry for Alistair Darling, he was stupid enough to accept the position of Chancellor of the Exchequer from the control freak former incumbent of that role. What was going to happen was bloody obvious. Did Darling feel the money was worth the humiliation, he's a fool or there's another innocent explanation...

Anonymous said...

Answer:The same "incompetent" that's been running it for the past 11 years and here's a clue it ain't "Prudence !"

Tapestry said...

I doubt Gordon is capable of strategy on his own. His masters in Brussels will be handing him his strategy.
'I am only carrying out my instructions,' he blurted out in his post-Crewe & Nantwich speech. Quite so, Gordon.

You are just a little Lisbon-signing EU apparatchik just as we suspected.

Darling knows that Britain has no government, but that he is expected to pretend that it does, and take the blame. Who will be the first politician to break cover and tell us who actually decides what happens in Britain?

Anonymous said...

tapestry.... I doubt its Brussels , more likely the 'voices'

Anonymous said...

"The British economy remains strong despite the crisis at Northern Rock, Chancellor Alistair Darling said today.


..... he insisted that the economy as a whole was well placed to ride out the international "credit crunch" following the collapse of the sub-prime mortgage market in the United States.

"What is encouraging from our point of view here in the United Kingdom is that the fundamental positions - the strong economy, the fact that we have got low interest rates and low inflation which we haven't had in the past - do stand us in good stead and that is very, very important," he told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme."

Alistair Darling 17 Sept 2007

Tapestry said...

tankus - no access to your profile on blogger.

Do you think Brown would be capable of formulating policy on anything? He cannot decide whether to hold an election, attend a signing ceremony, the Olympics or probably his own funeral.

He's little Gordon, the apparatchik - not the big beast he was wrongly portrayed as.

Chris Paul said...

Hilarious. Looks like either :

(a) someone has worked out who the anonymous briefers in the Treasury are and is keeping them out of the loop; or

(b) ditto, but persuaded them somehow to stay schtum this time

If they knew the content and weren't fully in line they'd be briefing that content in half-arsed and partial ways - reducing the impact of announcements - instead of this.

From the point of view of a Labour loyalist this is very good news, whichever way the leaks have been stymied.

Letters From A Tory said...

Even if somebody is in charge of economic policy at the moment, it sure as hell doesn't feel like it.

Anonymous said...

Who's running the Economy?

Why it's "the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune".

Hat-tip to Will.

" ...and certainly not Mr Bean"

Tapestry said...

New Labour are not a government, auntieflo.

There is no government any more.

There is an incompetently run PR Agency, which subcontracts decisions out to a remote shambolic bureaucracy.

Government there is not. Hadn't you noticed?

Anonymous said...

'Economics' and 'policy' - mutually exclusive words under NL. Tax and spend is not a 'policy' and it's sure ain't economic. Lola

Dick the Prick said...

The mad arrogance of the man beggars belief - no consultation with experienced officials under the guise of "are they one of us" - so this history or politics grads (on scottish political leaders that no one's ever heard of) reckon they can beat the mathmaticians and economists after 20 odd years minimum experience!! In the words of Frazer "we're doomed". Can't remember the name of the permanent secretary who expressed it much better!!!

Anonymous said...

Tapestry, you are clearly as mad as a hatter. If the EU WERE running things, this country wouldn't be in the state it's in now. Things would be a whole lot better.

I used to be an EU cynic, but took the time to find out more about it from unbiased and neutral sources. Travelling around mainland Europe is a real eye opener as well - we're living in a sewer compared to the rest of the Continent.

Personally I'm up for the French Government taking us over - France may have it's own problems, but the country has a great transport infrastructure, health and education system. The 'Family' is still very important and it's possible for the elderly (and anyone else for that matter) to go at night without the risk of some horrible Chav sticking a knife in their chest.

Bring it on - nutcase Little Englanders like you have had their opportunity to run the UK, and have totally screwed it up.

Dick the Prick said...

Anon 2.20. That's either a wind up or you're an idiot. I suspect the latter.

Anonymous said...

The lights are on and no one's at home. Agree with Dick on Anon @ 2.20.

Anonymous said...

Anon 2.20. That's either a wind up or you're an idiot. I suspect the latter

Neither. I'm deadly serious.

Your blogging name describes you perfectly.

Dick the Prick said...

Anony child. Whilst it would be nice to have an integrated Europe run by the people for the people by humbly submitting yourself to French domination purely because of a summer gap year you took hardly constitutes reason. Instead of talking to zee nice Frenchies, why not pick up a book or a magazine - say the Economist any blinking week of any year and you'll discover that THEY HAVEN'T SIGNED OFF THE ACCOUNTS FOR OVER 10 YEARS!!!!!!!!

Zut alors! Not get back to your media studies research - namely, watching Eastenders or Neighbours etc etc.

Anonymous said...

To dick the prick at 4:43 PM -

Ha Ha. Funny Guy.

Do a bit more research yourself - broaden your horizons. There's more information out there, than you normally glean from the pages of Private Eye. I'm surprised you didn't mention garlic, berets and snails in your petty diatribe against 'ze nice Frenchies'. Why stop there - maybe slip in a mention of greasy Spaniards throwing donkeys off church towers, or lazy Italians on mopeds pinching bottoms?

Sadly, the simple joys of watching Neighbours are not be - I have to analyse and sign off my own Corporate accounts. Assuming of course that my simple idiot brain is capable of doing such a thing.

Au Revoir

Anonymous said...

Re the EUconomical situation - Spain is in deep doo-doo, so is Denmark, and the rest of the Baltic states, so is Italy, Germany's confidence index of future business has crashed, and France's debt is building up. None of that gives me the slightest pleasure.

But it does surely demonstrate that the EU is not the economic miracle it was supposed to be.

Anonymous said...

Sadly, I think nobody is running economic policy. Lets face it, the Deputy Governor of the Bank of England said he was 'keeping his fingers crossed' in an interview a few days ago.

The public finances are shot with PSBR overshooting by a significant margin and tax revenues collapsing as corporate taxes and stamp duty fall ever faster.

Monetary policy is stuck between the twin policy dilemmas of keeping interest rates high to curb inflation and low enough to maintain economic growth.

There is no way out of this situation other than for property prices to fall to sustainable levels and unemployment to rise far enough to damp down wage demands. With a fall in commodity prices as world demand slumps there may then be scope for UK
interest rates to be lowered. Even then, there is a strong probability we may enter a Japanese style deflationary spiral.

I have not seen it this bad since the 1970s with banks terrified to lend to each other for fear of systemic collapse.

Anonymous said...

Your question prompts another ... 'What economic policy?'

The answer to yours is 'Nobody.'

Anonymous said...

tapestry said...
New Labour are not a government, auntieflo.
There is no government any more.


Good point.

Anonymous said...

tapestry said...
New Labour are not a government, auntieflo.
There is no government any more.


Good point.

Tapestry said...

anonymous - you've ridden on a French train and now you can see the future. Some ride huh?

Did you enquire about youth unemployment, no-go areas in city centres, real euro-inflation rates?

Thought not.

Anonymous said...

Tapestry, I know full well about the problems that exist in France behind the glossy veneer of TGV's and brand new autoroutes. But guess what? They're nothing in comparison to the problems the last 50 years of Anglo Saxon government have dumped on us in the UK. Administrations influenced by short sighted people such as yourself lamenting the loss of The Empire, always looking backward rather than forging ahead.

The French are well placed to survive the economic storms sweeping across the world, with a secure energy supply, sound transport infrastructure, self sufficiency in food and a largely well behaved and educated populace.

I believe you're not even resident in the UK, so why don't you just do us all a favour and keep your frankly bizarre views and sniping comments to yourself. Get back to running your flag up the pole in whichever enclave you're lurking in; why not have a pop at the host country which has the misfortune to harbour you at present?

You remind me of that great Scottish patriot Sean Connery who argues for Scottish independence, yet chooses to live elsewhere. If it's so good why isn't he resident?

Dick the Prick said...

Anon 8.43. I guessed right - you're an idiot. In fact it's worse than that, you're the guy who votes for the idiot. I genuinely pity you. You've absolutely no knowledge how much you're being rogered and instead of protesting, you say more please! If the last 2,000 years mean nothing to you that's fine. How easily they forget.

Anonymous said...

dick prick at 10:12 AM -

Oh goody - hints of conspiracy theory. The little man being done over by the mysterious dark forces who seek to control us all from behind the curtain. Lizards maybe? Do you know David Icke?

I'm not sure about the 2000 years though - religious hints?

There's no great plan, no European overlords seeking domination. You need to get out more.

Dick the Prick said...

No, no conspiracy. Don't believe in them. Just shoddy, trough feeding, incompetent, vain glorious, distant, malevolent and disgusting parasites on the warts on the arses of the dung beetles that allow it to happen. I'm too jaded having worked with politicians for the last 12 years to believe a word they say and the further one allows control to be centralized then the more you're gonna pay for it (well, not me as i'm rich and educated but the ones less fortunate - it'd be easy not to give a toss but I was brought up right).

I'd love to live in your ideal world, sipping coffee or cocktails on the boulevards without a care in the world but it ain't that way at all and it sure as hell ain't that easy sunshine.

Lola said...

French economy based on the OPM system and mercantilism, plus it's been making a loss for yonks.