Apparently Brown was ‘deeply saddened’ by Jade Goody’s death. Deeply saddened. That sounds quite serious to me. That’s how I’d describe my feelings if my Grandfather died.

I don’t believe that. So he’s a liar.

Funny that, given he’s been in charge of the purse strings for the past ten years. Nothing to do with him, ohhhhhh no…

Yep, I hear that the Americans are also furious with Gordon Brown for screwing up their economy.

In fact the yanks are looking forward to the forthcoming G20 summit where they expect all the countries present to issue a joint statement expressing their outrage at how Gordon Brown’s shafted of their economies.

Strangely enough, when it became apparent just how serious the economic situation was last autumn, Gordon Brown received a massive boast in the opinion polls :?

I think you need to look at the the political ideology of the current Government and look at how close it matches the previous Governments, then you will understand what voters they were aiming at and why the economic ideology of a “light regulatory touch” was not changed and carried over from the Thatcher/Major period.

Forget ideology the fact is they have had long enough to change regulations – get in the real world not the ideological one ….

Yep, I hear that the Americans are also furious with Gordon Brown for screwing up their economy

It may be a global thing, however the UK (according to the IMF et al) is particularly vunerable. Plus, Brown’s managed to blow a national surplus (2000ish? Economic lag after the previous Government), into the uber IOU that we now have…

Mogrim – I really don’t remember Major being hated in the same way at all – laughed at usually or despised.

It just seems to me that there is more hatred of Brown than he merits.

I certainly remember hating Major – really hating him, his slimy grey countenance, his dodgy friends… (And the you’ll have to explain the difference between “hated” and “despised” to me :)

Most politicians end up hated more than they really merit – but they don’t help things by taking all the credit when the going’s good, and blaming anyone but themselves when things go wrong. And that’s pretty much par for the course for all politicians, regardless of party (or indeed nationality) in my experience.

It may be a global thing

Surely not – it can’t be. Can it ?

Still, if he “managed to blow a national surplus”, the Tories won’t make any difference then.

Might as well leave him to clear up the mess ….

I don’t recall the same amount of vitriol being directed at John Major. It seemed more like ridicule. Mibbe I’m splitting hairs.

Jimbo – Member
He takes all the credit for the “good” years, announces the end of “Boom and bust”, yet claims the current recession is “nothing to do with him”.

Isn’t that supporting the argument that he shouldn’t be blamed for the current economic situation?

I presume you mean he wasn’t responsible for the good years despite alledgedly claiming to be. If that is the case then surely you can’t then argue that he is also responsible for the collapse of the worlds banking system. I think you have to argue that the good years were down to him to be able to give him the blame for the current situation also. Think it through.

I thought this was a global crisis though?

I never really thought governments had that much say in what really goes on in the world, they pander to the big companies. True they can have some rules, but genereally bend to what the more powerful people do.

As evidenced by the change in US President (Clinton to Bush to Obama) and our relevant PMs constant friendship, regardless of policy.

Forget ideology the fact is they have had long enough to change regulations – get in the real world not the ideological one ….

Then you clearly didn’t understand.

Gordon Brown: “We will need to do more to make sure banks put aside more capital during the good times so that they are better insulated from downturns”. We hate him because he fails to acknowledge any blame for the current situation, and hence can’t see the irony in that statement.

why he is so hated when he is no worse and probably better as a PM than the last two?

Any evidence for that assertion? I’m trying to think about this rationally, and really struggling to come up with anything he’s done which merits such a statement (granted Major was pretty anonymous and presided over a complete break up of the Conservative party, but what did he actually do himself which was so awful?) I’m basing my opinion here not just on the last 18 months, but also the previous 10 years – I’ll point out here that this isn’t with hindsight, as I was critical of his policies at the time (whilst everybody else on here was still in the Labour love-in).

Sarkozy was (right wing) flavour the month not very long ago. Now he is on the floor popularity-wise. Big mistake to be in charge when a seemingly endless run of prosperity goes through the floor, totally against the expectations of the whole world.

But to answer the real question, we are now voting based on appearance. It’s Kennedy syndrome – young, slim, full head of hair. Pick all three. Russkies of course don’t get a choice, as ever.

I don’t hate him but just thought there might be a better person around to do the job. So until the next person is in place I am afraid we are stuck with Gordon Brown.

It’s odd here in New Zealand we have a new PM John Key, who is universally liked, well pretty much compared to Helen Clark (Labour) – there was quite a lot of optimism once he was elected, which i must say is a refreshing change to the cloud of pesimism that always seems to hang over UK politics, trouble is in the UK thou, who you gunna vote for, the only one i ever liked was William Hauge oh and Paddy Pantsdown cos he could swim up a torpedo pipe of a submarine and had an eye for the ladies.

It may be a global thing, however the UK (according to the IMF et al) is particularly vunerable.

Do you think that could be because the UK relies too heavily on financial services for income? – I can’t remember what happened to our manufacturing, gas, oil & coal industries

No, really, I can’t

lol. A post about Gordon Brown and it takes 8 posts to blame Thatcher. Not bad going.

I have worked with Gordo on a few occasions and he has always been nice, friendly, and quite professional. Probably nice enough but carp at his job. Some of the hatred must be a lot of the bad press he receives. He also has a comedy face so most photos make him look a bit stupid. This must make an impression over time.

On the flipside are there many big Brown supporters? Thatcher always had, and continues to have despite the usual tone on here, a lot of support so why’s that? I wonder if Brown isn’t perceived to have done much right? Not saying that’s fair. Things did go well for some years after Labour got in but they were over spending then so what can be expected of them in these times?

It’s odd here in New Zealand we have a new PM John Key, who is universally liked, well pretty much compared to Helen Clark (Labour) – there was quite a lot of optimism once he was elected, which i must say is a refreshing change to the cloud of pesimism that always seems to hang over UK politics…

That’s what a lot of people in the UK had in 1997. Then they decided to illegally invade an oil rich country just because their best friend in America happened to have a score to settle, despite the biggest ever public protests against it.

Joe

I can’t remember what happened to our manufacturing, gas, oil & coal industries

No, really, I can’t

12 years of government obviously isn’t enough to do anything other than chuck money at the public sector.

yup – 30 years of destroying it means it’d be a very long road back to a more balanced & diverse economy – I don’t think I’ll ever see it.

I’m afraid I think he is hated because he is ugly, awkward and has a pompous and boring speaking voice.

He deserves some fairly stern judgements on his performance, but as TJ said in the OP, the hatred is more visceral than that. I think it’s to do with what he looks like. Blair actually looked quite pleasant, and Major just looks gently berkish, harmless and a bit comical. Brown looks awful: the jowls, the wonky eye, the bad hair, the solid fatness, the nose-picking, the awful casual clothes.

Neil and Christine Hamilton are hideous as well. Very, very easy to vilify because they are so unattractive. Archer by contrast always manages to look better.

That’s what a lot of people in the UK had in 1997. Then they decided to illegally invade an oil rich country just because their best friend in America happened to have a score to settle, despite the biggest ever public protests against it.

well i don’t think we are going to be doing any of that – do you! mind you we could always invade fiji and pinch their ice creams.

On the flipside are there many big Brown supporters?

There were before he became PM, when the economy was doing well.

Not as fanatical as Thatcher’s of course – but he had a lot of respect for his “Iron Chancellor” reputation.

I think his dourness used to be viewed as strength of character, until he proved otherwise with his ridiculous flip-flopping after becoming PM.

There were before he became PM, when the economy was doing well.

Certainly there were but wondering about now. I do remember many commenting on the increasing amount of debt being built up by people and suggesting that might be a bad thing…curious that….

All you hate-spewers are pathetic. It’s time you put down your daily rag and started thinking clearly and objectively about the problems and why people do the things that they do. He’s just a man trying to serve his country. Incompetent, maybe; but not the Satan some seem to think. Because that would be just ridiculous.

It’s just ovine bandwagon-jumping half the time anyway.

People in this country (not speficially anyone on this forum) really need to GET A F*CKING CLUE. This eagerness to pass judgement on that which they know absolutely jack sh*t about is true social poison.

ridiculous flip-flopping

Politicians can never win. That just isn’t fair. If you say one thing everyone slags you off, if you say the other everyone slags you off anyway. If you change your mind, you’re weak; if you don’t, you’re foolish and stubborn. People just DON’T F*CKING THINK!

:(

Incompetent, maybe

It’s that together with a complete lack of self awareness (that he has ever done anything wrong) which is the problem for me. Don’t go accusing me of jumping on the bandwagon when I commented whilst he was Chancellor that his policies were unwise.

Apart from the damage he has wrought on the country by squandering billions on an unreformed public sector and his total inability/arrogance to either see when he is wrong or admit it its his pathetic insincere smile that he developed when labour spin doctors told him he should smile more that really makes me want to give him a slap.

uponthedowns – Member

Apart from the damage he has wrought on the country by squandering billions on an unreformed public sector

Piffle – the public sector suffers from historical massive underfunding hence the problems with it and Labour has reformed most of it for the worse.

When the PM thinks that Jade Goody’s death is a matter of national imporatnce and worth commenting on, then surely the man has lost the plot !

So Labour have been a negative influence on the public sector then?

I’m not even going to scratch the surface on Gordon Brown. New technology is constantly infringing on our human rights. Our right to freedom, go figure how bad its going to get now that a Government has realised what it can get away with in the name of ‘counter-terrorism’.

Ontop of this no one voted for Gordon Brown. No one.

Ontop of this no one voted for Gordon Brown. No one

did he just turn up one day at parliament & tell the bouncer he was a MP – & he believed him & let him in?

D’you reckon the Tories will get rid of all the surveillance etc?

Ontop of this no one voted for Gordon Brown. No one.

To be strictly accurate, 24,278 did actually.

Whilst researching that, I’ve found the real reason people hate him

They voted him in as a MP. If the question was posted to that sample section of voters on ‘should GB become PM’ – how many do you think would still agree?

D’you reckon the Tories will get rid of all the surveillance etc?

Reread my post. Realisation of how much control a government can exert will continue growing in momentum no matter what government is in power in the future. Its the realisation that voters dont raise as much as a murmur in desent.

Oh, watching the Today show last week and the gags on Gordon Brown (saviour/world leader etc) had me cringing not laughing.

They voted him in as a MP. If the question was posted to that sample section of voters on ‘should GB become PM’ – how many do you think would still agree?

You need to lobby to change our whole electoral system then because that’s not how it works.
Brown certainly isn’t the first PM to get the job mid term & I doubt he’ll be the last
If people vote for their local candidate because they like his/her boss, they need to look at it again IMO

It does seem harsh to say no-one voted for him. We all knew that the idea was for him to take over from Tone and no-one in Labour seemed keen to get in the way of that so take over he did. All very strange really but hardly a surprise to anyone what happened.

Spot on Aracer.

Piffle – the public sector suffers from historical massive underfunding hence the problems with it and Labour has reformed most of it for the worse

Balderdash- look at all the cash thrown by Brown at the NHS and yet we have the disgrace of Staffordshire- if that’s not squandered money what is?

It’s that together with a complete lack of self awareness (that he has ever done anything wrong

Ah, that’s because if you own up to having make a mistake, the papers will tear into you saying ‘he can’t make up his mind, he doesn’t know what he’s doing, he’s flip-flopping, dilly-dallying’. That’s my point – the media are just raving lunatics frothing at the mouth so that we’ll buy their spume-filled garbage.

Very damaging state of affairs for the country tbh.

Plus, has anyone noticed the fact that people complain and moan about EVERY SINGLE PM? Would you like to nominate a decent competent upstanding moral sensetive and skillful PM that met with widespread acclaim?