Thursday 15 October 2015

No, Prime Minister

by Panda Paws

It is unusual for parents to gaze adoringly at their new born baby and decide yes let’s call him Gideon, as it means the “destroyer”, but perhaps George Osborne’s parents were gifted with great foresight. A recent Munguin’s Republic poll had 59% of readers selecting the current Chancellor as the next Tory leader and thus in my opinion the next Prime Minister. That does not mean he is universally popular however.

George Osborne is a man who has overseen the slowest post-crisis recovery in history, the longest sustained decline in average wages in history, a shocking decline in comparative productivity with the other G7 economies, and the continued existence of the vast UK trade deficit. Yet there he was blustering away as if he's some kind of amazing guardian of the economy, rather than a hopelessly under-qualified chancer who has somehow been given a mandate by just 24% of the public to continue his hopelessly inept and often venal economic stewardship for another five years.”



And who can forgot him being booed at the Paralympics whilst he grinned like a Cheshire cat on cocaine (allegedly).




The privately educated, heir to a baronetcy and Bullingdon alumnus resident of Number 11 has been accused of not understanding the lives of ordinary people. However he has recently lost of lot of weight on the 5:2 diet and thus has shared experience with those affected by his benefit cuts and future tax credit cuts as they also don’t eat for days on end. This is not the only change in his appearance recently. A severe haircut has left him looking like a Roman Imperator though without their charm and compassion.

http://1.images.gametrailers.com/image_root/vid_thumbs/2014/09_sep_2014/sep_04/t_totalwarrome2_imperatorpack.jpg?

So what will he destroy then? 

As someone even more ideological than Cameron and who wept at Thatcher’s funeral, he certainly wants to destroy public goods such as a welfare state and the public provision of water, mail, et al  with such services provided by private, profit making companies.

He’ll herald this as a low tax state (meaning income and capital taxes) but the sting in the tale/tail will be when you realise that everything your tax paid for in the past is now dearer and poorer quality now. 

If you are a low or middle income earner the tax cuts are unlikely to compensate for this. He’ll destroy the social cohesion of the UK and frankly a few weeks of his “leadership” is likely to destroy the UK itself because I doubt his vision of a perfect society matches that of the majority in Scotland. The problem will be how much damage he will have done to the Scottish economy before we can flee from his influence. 

That said, a Brexit under Cameron may render the whole point moot if Scotland has voted to remain in the EU.

Jeremy Hunt wants the British to be more like the Chinese. Given that a No vote last September has resulted in five years of full fat Toryism. I think we have long since been cursed to live in interesting times.

25 comments:

  1. The Tories are wrecking the UK in a way Thatcher wouldn't dare. Perhaps it is because she did not come from what would have been termed a "noble" family in centuries gone by. At least she had a stronger education. Gideon is one of these people who would have bought a commission in the Navy or Army in the 19th century, and been bloody useless.

    I don't think he is going to get the chance to be PM however. I think the breaking point will be the proposed trade union legislation I think the unions will say "fuck it" and go for a general strike.

    zog

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    1. In a country with a more discerning and investigative MSM, there is no way this shower of incompetents would get way with it. I disagree with you re a general strike. MSM would use this as a hammer to beat Labour with and cement the owners' favourite party in power. Still it will be interesting to see how hard the Tories can hit the people and still get away with it.

      Hope things are good on your planet, Zog.

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    2. Things are fairly well, once I sort out the HMRC idiots - otherwise known as IDS Minions (apologies to the movie ones!). My local council has been superb in providing documents that I need.

      I still think there will be a lot of industrial action, MSM or not. I think public support might be higher than some will think, depending on who is striking. I'm not a union member btw, never have been.

      Forgot to say you wrote a good article.

      zog

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    3. Zog what do you mean he could have bought a commission in the Army or Navy in the 19th Century, do you think much has changed? The same people still send their kids to the Army or Navy, look at Harry and William. They are still useless tossers, we do not win wars because they are in charge but because they are too busy swanning about and leave control to their non commissioned officers. The only branch which could be said to have a meritocracy is the Engineers.

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  2. MacMillan said that Thatcher was selling off the family silver when she privatised many of the assets owned and payed for by UK tax payers.
    Osborne and friends are just finishing this process.
    Their short term narrow view of life,where you are only good for your next pay check,is not something which breeds confidence or long term viability.
    These sort of people should not be in charge of national economies but unfortunately too often,especially in England,are elected to public office.
    Perhaps England's long history of servitude to their ruling classes is responsible for much of this and it seems unlikely that anything will change in that respect.
    Westminster is the Monarch's parliament (and her present cousins) but Holyrood is our's (people of Scotland) and we must ensure that our government acts in our interests and not those of a mostly unelected elite (certainly by Scots anyway).


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    1. Indeed Thatcher's economic miracle was no such thing, their economies are mince! Selling off the family silver and North Sea oil are what fueled (see what I did there!) the so called boom times. If Scotland had achieved independence is the late 70s/80s rUK would have been in dire straits.

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  3. I have no idea how wee Gerogie Porgie pudding and pie could NOT understand the lives of *ahem* ordinary people P.P. after all he was once an *cough* ordinary person was he not?

    I am of course referring to his tumultuous time spent at Harrod's, I believe, working as a TOWEL FOLDER! LOL

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    1. It was actually a towel "refolder" - he wasn't allowed to fold them initially. However, you are most mistaken as Harrods has ordinary people in it, they frown on that sort of thing. I'll forgive you however, as being nearly 700 years old, your memory isn't what it was.

      Oh dear an ageist remark, how very Neil Hay of me :-)

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    2. No need to apologise P.P. unfortunately when you reach my age you do tend to find some things start to wander. LOL

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  4. On 22 May 1971 there was an earthquake in Turkey and I had my heart broken by a toffee nosed bitch at the youth club disco.

    The next day Gideon was born...

    Just saying.

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    1. How very Omen-like. Perhaps another of his names is Damian...

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  5. I reckon he will be the next prime minister, although it won;t be like labour or the SNP, a coronation.

    In addition to being chancellor, he is First Secretary of State, which makes him de facto deputy to Cameron.

    There is no actual deputy leader of the Tories.

    I reckon people will think Boris a bit too wild for the serious role of Prime Minister, and I can;t help but think that Tessy is just a bit too much like Thatcher. The membership might like her, but they know that the ordinary Englishman or woman won't.

    Frankly if we are still a part of the UK when it happens, and I suspect we shall be, I'd rather have Boris. At least we'd get a bit of a laugh while the country disintegrated.

    There's not much fun in either May or Gideon.

    Whichever of them it is, unless you are wealthy with a stable job, life is going to get more and more awful.

    In the meantime Corbyn needs to get a grip on his party. He needs to remind the right wingers that HE was elected with an overwhelming majority, some 60%.

    He and his policies are what Labour wants, not some ghastly Tory light Blairist nonsense.

    Those who find Labour, left of centre policies to be distasteful should get the hell over to the Tories, or start a breakaway. You really can;t argue with 60%, and yet that's what some of them are doing.

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    1. Well the problem is that another Labour split a la 80s will result in a hammering in MSM and whilst Labour would benefit from a Blairite clear-out Old Labour will have problems getting elected. Yes I think George will succeed Call me and Scotland will still be in the UK at the time.

      Thanks for commenting and come back again. Oh no wait, it's your blog!!

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    2. Whatcha mean... don't come back again?

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    3. LoL. You can come here anytime you like. Or more likely any time Munguin releases you from your duties. You'd better be back by Sunday as there will be hell to pay if there are no cute animals and lovely vistas to see.

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  6. Osbourne does not instil any confidence in me whatsoever. He's a history graduate with no experience of real life. Boris may come from a similar background, but he interacts with people and people will listen to him. He's also a helluva lot smarter. Harking back a few hundred years, Boris would be the noble leading the charge into battle, and people will follow him.

    Looking at Braveheart (the film). Yes, it's full of inaccuracies, but look at the main characters.

    Cameron is the young Prince Edward. Insecure.
    Osbourne is Philip (his adviser), thinks he knows everything but a completely useless twat who gets chucked out of a window. (No I'm not suggesting that happens!).

    That concludes today's lesson on amateur psychology.

    zog

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  7. An excellent article Panda Paws, no wonder you keep getting asked back. I used to say George's Dad was very astute as he was never let into the family business, then I discovered Ma and Pa Osborne went bankrupt at one time so that says much. I mean would you let that useless twat loose with real money? It is bad enough he is playing with real people's lives and jobs as Chancer of the exchequer, no not a mistype, I meant chancer. I said to Thomas Clark the other day, why do we actually allow History Graduates to run? the treasury? Surely one in the form of Gordon Brown should have been enough, I bet the fragrant Sarah keeps charge of their housekeeping.

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    1. Thanks for the kind words Helena. TBH I'm not actually asked back, more I pester Tris saying "please pretty please print". And he's so overcome with my alliteration, he's powerless to refuse.

      But yes, it would help if the people in charge of finances actually knew something about economics and less about ideology. John Swinney might not have been the best leader but he is a unsung hero of the Scottish cabinet as Finance Minister.

      I'm not surprised his parent's business went bankrupt, have you seen how much they charge for a roll of wallpaper. What's it made of, platinum?

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    2. Hmmmm...

      Helena, she needs the money Munguin pays for articles. Indeed Munguin has recently doubled the fee he pays for these articles, and put my wages up by 40%.

      Watch carefully, PP will disappear off to the Bahamas for the winter!

      I'm thinking Cannes myself.

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    3. Seriously though, it is a great article (and worth every penny). I'm always delighted to receive an email from PP.

      Anyone else who wants to write anything can drop me a line on:

      trispw@gmail.com

      I sometimes can't think of anything to say!!

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    4. I wouldn't bother with the Bahamas, Cannes now more my cup of tea, less humidity. The last time I was in the Caribbean it rained every day and I do not care whether it is warm rain or not, it is still wet.

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  8. If Gidieon was a towel folding emperor, would his flunkies say "Bale Cesar"?
    Sorry couldn't resist, great post by the way.

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    1. aha love it. But I do the terrible puns around here! Glad you enjoyed the (Roman out)post.

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    2. Veni, Vidi, Complicatum.
      I came, I saw, folded.

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    3. Brilliant Jim!

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