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BROWN TOO SHALL PASS

But the CAUSES OF BROWN remain untouched and will give us ALIEN PRIME MINISTERS, again and again in the future, unless their genesis and elevation is addressed.

The terrifying level of power bestowed on a British PM, by a combination of extreme party hierarchy and proxy monarchy, inexorably in the wrong hands, opens possibilities of disaster that, strangely, go unnoticed. Remember Blair saying there was nothing he had ever done, where he did not, in retrospect, WISH HE HAD GONE FARTHER?
Those words alone, from a PM (yet another) with severe character flaws (flaws now obvious even to the ‘charisma-blinded’) should strike a deep chill.

Brown, dumbly elevated by the party machine and its machinations, to the point where the dutiful Queen topped off his insubstantial meringue with a Royal Cherry, is now crumbling.
He will be replaced by whom? Just look at them; listen as they tell us of Brown’s unrecognised magnificence, both as a chancellor and leader; magnificence that we, by inference, are too simple to spot. Every one of them is, thereby, a proven fool or knave; in short, a regular 2008 British politician.

Will we file meekly to vote, a bunch of daft crossers, as the charade continues and another Brown, Blair, Major, Thatcher - aberrant being - takes near-absolute power over us? Blessed are the meek.

Not used.

Why is the trial of an asian man for the murder of a bnp activist in Stoke still ignored by this "news" programme?

PLEASE can somebody discuss the fact that the next general election will be held in the shadow of a Scottish Independence referendum that the SNP can win and in my view can only lose. Brown and many cabinet members are Scottish.

Therefore they have vested interests and may well try "a Crewe" - a few billion here and there to buy off the Scottish voters. Meanwhile the Welsh will be watching as will the English.

Cameron has shot up to Scotland today - but Tories in Scotland are like sightings of Nessie. It may be some Labour seats go Tory but they ain't going to win it. He is at least talking about the union, probably not about possible separation - although I would be happy with an English Republic if they do go.

If Brown fails you end up with a party suddenly devoid of viable leaders; a country ill prepared for separation (IT systems; tax collections; EU contributions; security policy; energy security etc); a vastly changed political landscape and nobody has prepared for it. Think T5 and then think much much bigger.

MI5 is not mentioned in this post so I assume it won't get binned. Probably wrong.

God save the Queen!
Rule Brittania!
I love Big Brother Corporation....
I love Big Brother Corporation....
I love Big Brother Corporation....etc.

How does one answer grumpy johns question... with another question; would the Â鶹ԼÅÄ report a story if a BNP activist had murdered an asian man?

Barrysingleton puts it well regarding the state of our parliamentary representatives who find themselves at the helm of power. We did not need the 'curse of vision' to know that Brown was always gonna be a spectacular flop as PM. His general manner and recent political applications is incongruent; he is showing early signs of Mugabeism with the recent find of £2.7 billion to bribe the tribe. And also you do not need to be a clinical psychologist to recognize someone who is not a happy bunny; Brown came late in fatherhood and still cannot drive a car; necessary ingredients that makes up a fully rounded individual is missing from our unelected PM (no time or space for that long list of Browns shortcomings). Lacking empathy and experience in the real world makes him totally unsuited for the highest office. My biggest fear is slowly manifesting itself with watching Browns demise and Hazel Blears winning a leadership election by default due to lack of any heavy weight contenders; hence my bolt hole house purchase in Lithuania (with land) some 6 yrs ago for the price of a reasonable priced second hand car. Everything i feared is in place: a fractured society thanks to the madness of uncontrolled immigration, with the rapid downturn in the economy, crime rampant and a police force considering the right to strike. Am i paranoid? i hope so but i am "cursed with vision"...ooooh errr.

P:S Barry at 1 . the difference between Thatcher and Brown is...Thatcher was a natural born leader.....you know the rest.

#1 The sentence

"Brown, dumbly elevated by the party machine and its machinations, to the point where the dutiful Queen topped off his insubstantial meringue with a Royal Cherry, is now crumbling."

was too clever for me. Its intriguing though - what are you referring to?

Could we change the title to "Prospects for 23 MAY"?

I do agree with Barrie above although pleased nulabour's toff tasmin got the boot. I quite "fancied" the candidate that got the least no of votes, she would get mine.
RE 2 Grumpy -Jon I suspect its not PC. It would be interesting to see how many black or asian people have been murdered by white people and vice versa in the last 30 years but the mere thought would be classed as racist and that would never do.

re what kind of do? the same kind of do one steps in from time to time, I am an expert been DO ing it most of my life. GLITCH

AXIS OF YEOVIL

Might it turn out that the ‘Exeter Bomber’ thought he had intelligence that Exeter could annihilate Plymouth in 45 minutes, so enacted a defensive attack (pre-emptive strike)?
Now that such attacks have been legitimised by worthies such as Yo Blair and Dubya Bush, could the above be a viable defence in court? It wouldn’t matter if the intelligence was flawed; well - it didn’t last time. There is probably stuff that the E-bomber knows, that he just can’t tell us; Tony couldn’t. Might Newsnight get an opinion from a retired judge; they are usually favourable.

Brown's main political problem is that he still supports the Blair Corporate Nazi ideas like ID cards, Bin Tax, Spy in the Sky road charging. The voters around the country do not want a Corporate Nazi future for Britain and as the Tories plan to scrap ID cards as a firm policy plus some opposition to road charging and bin tax they offer a credible alternative. Why do the media presenters never mention such factors, is it just that their high salaries make them immune from such factors

12 out of 18 measures in Browns new Queen's Speech are ideas stolen from the Tories, so if you are going to have a Tory government in power you might just as well have the real thing. Measures to improve the conditions of employment for agency worker may be welcome for many on low incomes, but this is being dealt with at EU level anyway.

It is probably misleading to say that its just down to " mid term blues ", Brown took over less than a year ago and was alleged to be a change from an unpopular Blair.

A constructive criticism of this page.

8 comments by nearly 17:00 is not good. Maybe thats because people think they are not going to be listened to.

I am not sure if the hits on the page show a better result but why not try a few polls just to see if people are paying attention? I like Newsnight and therefore want to see you maintaining good support so that you avoid the research cuts in future. It sounds as though the budget cuts Paxo complained about will reduce you capacity to challenge and investigate. You are the, alleged, watchdogs of democracy!

My #3 - meant to say its the SNPs to lose, not to suggest that they would lose and win. Doh!

Viva MI5.

Another topic is needed.

One Lord Patten (?) was recently claiming on NEWSHOUR that the concept of national sovereignty needed to be modified-

to include some idea of the sovereignty of the individual.

To add to the fog, he set up the Treaty of Westphalia as a strawman.

Why not let him "explain" some more?

‘10. At 4:57 pm on 23 May 2008, thegangofone wrote:
A constructive criticism of this page. __8 comments by nearly 17:00 is not good.’

/blogs/newsnight/2008/04/blogging_a_new_era.html

6. At 10:01 am on 19 Apr 2008, PeterBarron wrote:
Oh come on Junkkmale (4), give it a chance. It's only been going for a day.

Give ‘em time, thegangofone, give them time. I’m sure we’re in a minority.

Maybe it’s more a case of not quantity, but... well, often not so many, any more, anyway. Which may not be a bad thing. I do miss the greater variety of posters though, and depth of thought, my rose-tinted rear view mirror suggests used to be more prevalent.

Ah well... progress.

#10 and #12 - Bar a few exceptions NN has never drawn all that many comments, 10-30 is about average. NN did several surveys, which came up as pop-ups on the homepage; those with pop-ups disabled could have missed them.

The current dearth of diversity on this blog might be partly due to the fact that it is dominated by pretty right-wing and, at times, excessively demanding posters. Once you get to a stage where the more moderate have to be exceedingly careful with their comments, or find themselves blasted as leftie/not intelligent enough/friend of beep/etc., it becomes pretty one-sided. I thought long and hard whether to post my earlier comment, on an issue relating to 15 May, and fully expect that it'll get misconstrued.

That's a pity as this is, after all, just a blog (albeit one of a decent news programme) and most comments, even the less agreeable/silly ones, are worth reading..

13. At 9:22 pm on 26 May 2008, Cloe_F

Well, it seems well down on most counts (despite folk being out there, as the Milliband exchanges showed) to me, IMHO, and purely subjectively.

'NN did several surveys, which came up as pop-ups on the homepage; those with pop-ups disabled could have missed them. '

Could, and did. At least in my case. News to me (ironically). Makes you wonder why a survey would be carried out in a manner that might reasonably be predicted to exclude a large section of one's potential willing audience (no 'wingist' inferences intended, as it would encompass an even spread of all views. Just... fewer).

I try to shy away from accusations of bias based on rather loose and often pejoratively intended catch-alls shaped by perceived political leanings. Especially when personal views are stated as matters of fact.

If (which I doubt) Newsnight is 'dominated' by one grouping, maybe that's no more and no less a reflection of its viewership, in much the same way as, say, Guardian CiF might reflect its readership. I guess many inhabit where they feel most comfortable. From my experience, 'blasting' from certain strongly-held belief groupings is sort of an occupational hazard on a blog. You kinda have to live with it. Agreed, some often do try the 'you're an 'inger/'ist/'zi' card if the power of argument seems to be failing. Seldom works, mind. Just the facts, ma'am, just the facts.

If your considered reply elsewhere gets misconstrued it might just be down to how it is articulated, and in the spirit of debate maybe that's a good thing for those looking on at any ensuing clarifications you may take up with those who engage you. Otherwise in simply crying foul on matters of tone, one runs the danger of it sounding like no one is permitted an alternative view save agreement. Of course, extremist attacks that soon veer away from any sensible discourse are regrettable if, sadly, almost inevitable.

It is a shame if those of more delicate debating natures feel sided against, but if unfair or unacceptable that is of course what moderators are for, though this can be an unenviable task.

As to 'excessively demanding', I can't imagine what you mean.

But if it is having firm opinions, and the belief that you are allowed to articulate them in seeking truth or trying to solicit answers, then I am afraid I have no problem with this.

Hence I would quite support the notion of being 'excessively demanding', especially of my fee-funded national broadcaster, from whom I have and still learn much.

Which is why, in dealing with others who would seek to use its public forums, I do appreciate those who do not take no, hype, spin fudge or clumsy redirection as adequate in matters of public interest and debate, and will bang on until they get accuracy and/or answers.

Speaking of which, fantastic Jeremy tonight, by the way.

On the international scene, can the era of unnuanced cowboy politics be
fading away?

SUGGESTION FOR 27 MAY:

A Christian Science Monitor staff writer from Washington suggests, on May 27, that the US and Iran may be heading for talks.

Sanity may be returning to Washington.

A look at the map will show what an important strategic ally Iran could be for the USA.

With half of its population under the age of 25, one suspects that Iran would be much more receptive to the overtures of American culture than to the restrictions of the mullahs.

Cultural imperialism and trade anyone?

We need not all parrot the Israeli line!

#14 Junkkmale - apologies for length, style, spelling.. I've very little time

- Feedback survey: got this on NN today, didn't answer – I'll post the link below (it's very long and somehow upsets the blog). I use Firefox and couldn't get a pop-up in Internet Explorer, but presume that's because they're tagged to avoid loading several. If the link fails then try deleting cookies and browsing history, and disabling the pop-up blocker for news.bbc.co.uk

- Bias: don't think NN itself is biased, it gets accused of it by all sides. The blog can get 'hogged', I think that's the case at the moment, but that's usually resolved when the discussion moves on and other bloggers join.

- Engaging: don't mind people who disagree so much as being misunderstood. I've yet to be suspected of being too delicate...

- 'Excessively demanding': this kind of comments

/blogs/newsnight/2008/05/englands_dream_chance_as_croatia_drop_of_out_of_eu.html

and others, Barrie's 'don't-make-me-angry' and 'Jacqui' (and he normally writes good stuff).. I find it unnecessary and over the top.

Answers: repeating a question is usually more effective than 'Can't-believe-it!'s or threats, let alone sexist remarks (Blunkett/Straw were no better).

Licence fee: There are NN reports worth the licence fee on their own, which get very little feedback. Doesn't mean NN shouldn't be kept on their toes, but a slightly wider range between 'fun' and 'bad journalism' would be good.

#14 Junkkmale - survey link doesn't post, it's probably too long (3 lines in normal Word doc) and I just keep getting

"errormessage=The%20comment%20contains%20invalid%20xml"

CF