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gbcambridge

Listed below are comments made by gbcambridge between Wednesday, 4th February 2009 and Monday, 2nd November 2009.

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Not one but two major rows 4:57pm on 02 Nov 2009 Leopards and Spots!
I believe Brown claimed at a meeting with what is left of his supporters that he would become a "listening" Prime Minister. I doubted it then and I completely discount it now. He has none of the attributes of even a middle-manager let alone PM. The problems are of his own making and perhaps even he recognizes that. He and his merry men should go as soon as possible.
The political detail 1:37pm on 17 Sep 2009 Why is no one mentioning the Windfall Tax on Bankers incomes? Surely that will recover sufficient money, especially if applied over a couple of years, to help fund the recovery and share out responsibility fairly. A Windfall Tax was applied by the PM on Pensions. That affected a lot of people. He could apply a focused Windfall Tax and hit those generally held responsible. I hope he will announce this soon and be able to postpone many of the cuts that he has mentioned
Big choices 1:31pm on 17 Sep 2009 There is no shortage of money ... it is mostly all still there. The PM is probably right not to talk about cuts. After all, the rumours of applying a Windfall Tax to the incomes of selected levels of Bankers, going back an unspecified number of years, will raise a great deal of money and also ensure that the pain is fairly shared over the population. I suspect that the PM is keeping this up sleeve for surprise revelation at the appropriate moment
No-one can rewrite political history 12:24pm on 14 Sep 2009 We have a leader who cannot lead, and who certainly cannot communicate. He has hired a communicator - Lord Mandelson to help out. Perhaps now he could also hire a leader just to complete the job.
With or without the right policies there is no way that anyone in their right mind should vote Gordon Brown into office. He lacks so many of the qualities needed for a PM that just his presence would impede even the best policies.
Note his recent "apology" for the treatment of Alan Turing after the war. We know Brown hates to apologise - he thinks it shows weakness and might even imply some responsibility - so what does he do? He thinks a little and comes up with the brilliant idea that he should apologise for something for which he was not responsible. Thus, in one bold move, by apologising for the treatment of Turing he has shown he can apologise and at the same time he need not admit to an error, because Turing's treatment was nothing to do with him! Brown's personality and psychological makeup should preclude him from any leadership role whatsoever.
Honourable no more? 2:22pm on 11 May 2009 There are no real surprises here. Given the number of lawyers in Parliament and their attitude to laws / rules, of course ways around the intent of the rules will be found. It is a little disappointing that these same lawyers were apparently unable to draft more watertight rules for themselves.
I don't believe that "honour" will be enshrined in any rules drafted by MPs themselves. We of course need an independent set of new rules to be defined and an independent group to control the execution of them, surely not beyond the "Mother of Parliaments". And openness too... in case they should forget.
RBS: big losses, big bailout 09:41am on 26 Feb 2009 It's all OK... Bank shares were up 20% today, so if the government sells now we are all quids in!
Perhaps these are the first green shoots of a strategy?
Bonus buck stops with Brown 00:17am on 08 Feb 2009 Surely the "investigation" into how the banks pay their bonuses will not happen after the bonuses have been paid. That would be just too silly.

It is apparently much easier for the government to "borrow" money from the millions of savers, than to attempt to recoup anything from the people who stole it, and continue to do so.
In The US, President Obama continues to make strong statements and has capped the bonus / salary structure of the US bankers. Does our governemnt pick up this lead. Yes.. it starts an investigation.
Tired, out of touch, and morally corrupt, they should go.
Bonus buck stops with Brown 11:19pm on 07 Feb 2009 Mandleson says "Please be mindful about how this looks and what public opinion will be" regardiing the bonuses about to be paid by the banks. This is a shameful comment. He should be considering the justification of the bonus, not how it might look.
This really does sum up this "Labour" government...total concern for the "look" and nothing about the substance. The Tories may have done little to deserve to be in government, but "Labour" have done nothing to deserve to stay there.

I am glad that Gordon is doing all that he can. It is not much ,and it is rewarding the people who got us into this mess. Labour will not see power again for a generation, if we are lucky!
Should bankers repay bonuses? 8:32pm on 05 Feb 2009 What the banks (and others in our financial world) have done is fraudulently pay themselves patently unjustified bonuses, to such an extent that the banking system has become bankrupt.
It is hard to see how these people can avoid being "requested" to make refunds to the Treasury, and it is particularly galling to see people who have saved for years watching their pensions collapse around them whilst those who caused the problem and those living off credit continue to benefit from the present crisis.
I also note that Gordon Brown has refrained from seriously attempting to reign in the salaries and bonuses of Bankers.. apparently asking them to consider how large payments would look in the current situation. They know how they look, and they like it. You can never accuse Gordon of taking one clear path when two will do!
Obama biffs bonuses 10:35am on 04 Feb 2009 President Obama recently said "I think I screwed up, and, you know, I take responsibility for it and we're going to make sure we fix it so it doesn't happen again."

Sadly, I doubt if Gordon Brown will be copying that particular Obama example.

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