Well, there you have it! The strategy is plain for all to see, provided you care to look, that is. Brown is going to borrow and borrow and borrow, not just up to the hilt, but up over his head in a desperate gamble to win the next election, or, at least keep a Tory win minimised. He will watch re-action closely over the next few weeks and if he thinks he's in with half a chance he'll cut and run, or, if he truly believes his own propaganda that the worst will be over by this time next year (it won't) , he'll wait until 2010. For him, it's a win-win situation because having run the nation's finances into ruin by playing double or quits he won't mind handing over the resulting smelly pot of poo for the Tories to deal with when his forecasts are proved wrong - which they will be - and that will perpetuate their reputation as hard-faced 'Gradgrinds' for another generation, thus giving Labour every chance at the election after that.
Our parliamentary life has reached a new low, no longer gutter politics, now it's sewage politics.
Additional: Fraser Nelson spells out the nasties over at The Coffee House:
"[Brown] has no plans to fund his extra spending. He'll just keep borrowing. Debt will keep rising from £537bn in 2007-08 rising to £1,020 in 2012-13. Darling says it will peak then, but only as a share of GDP. It will rise to £1,080bn in 2013-14 (all excluding NR, B&B etc). Then: pow. His crystal ball runs out.
The debt will be dealt with by whoever wins the election after next. Until then, we'll be paying more in debt interest than in defence and probably on schools and police as well. So the Tories were wrong-footed: the debt bombshell implied some degree of honesty from the Treasury, some repayment plan. The bombshell is there - but it is not due to explode until 2015/16. And until then it will be a blitz of government spending pushing families ever further into the red, year after year. This is Brown's plan: we will knowingly saddle our children and our grandchildren with billions upon billions of debt. And as Eleanor Roosevelt said: this not just an economic failure, but a moral one."
"Muck or nettles" would be politer, David. Then you could reserve "shit" to describe the PM.
Posted by: dearieme | Tuesday, 25 November 2008 at 19:18
I have something stronger than that for him, 'DM', but I can't quite bring myself to type it!
By the way, what do you think of the new colour scheme? I'm not mad about the 'poo brown' but I do like the beige background, easier on the eyes than the glare of black on white. My next task is to find out how to enlarge the fonts on the 'Comments'. This could take several years!
Posted by: David & Son of Duff | Tuesday, 25 November 2008 at 19:28
Colours fine. Bigger font always welcome, of course.
Posted by: dearieme | Wednesday, 26 November 2008 at 14:50
Alas, the delicious 'Jen of Typepad' tells me that it is not possible to alter the font size on 'Comments', unless I upgrade my contract with them - at almost double the price, 'natch'!
Posted by: David & Son of Duff | Wednesday, 26 November 2008 at 16:52