Quagmire

********. This is no normal met 'op', they knew this would be widely publicized and discussed.

Another 5 years of Brown is a terrifying prospect, but with democracy being as broken as it is in the UK its not completely improbable. If he ramps the tax up any higher the already alarming brain-drain in the UK would become a torrent.

Yes, you will have to knuckle down to pay off debt created out of thin air, lent to your moronic peers to boost the wealth of the super wealthy. Hell of a scam ain't it.

Excellent article. He is a selfish power-hungry pig. He will say anything and do anything to maintain his authority. Even if that means wrecking Britain's economy and diplomatic ties, or giving away sovereignty to the EU without the permission of the people.

Looks like a lot of climate nonsense and socialists marching

Optimists and pessimists are all fools. I'm a realist. The direction the economy would be taking has been clear for years, so I reacted accordingly. This thread is nothing more than a cheap dig at those who got it right.

The difference between Brown and Hannan is Hannan can now see the mistakes and understands that relentless spending and borrowing cannot continue. Brown, as Hannan pointed out is simply unwilling to listen. Again, this speech was important regardless of the man who delivered it or his past. Its clearly making newdman quite uncomfortable, the truth hurts and slowly its creeping out into the mainstream (the speech has 844,929 views now). Thats some serious spinning there! So typical of the labourites on here, they attack with such venom when Gordon is criticised. Don't you realise its Gordon who is blaming everyone else? It started in America, irresponsible banks..

wow - what would you consider to be "substantive content"? He's provided an accurate critique supported by facts and discussed why Browns "solutions" are wrong. You just don't want to admit that a tory is right.

I didn't accuse you or Hilltop of being an apologist, but the other two definitely are. Are you trying to suggest that speeches like Hannan's shouldn't be made? Short on solutions? It seems he described part of the solution very clearly: If you need some help with that: cut taxes and reduce spending in the public sector. I'm sure you will agree with me that the public sector is full of pointless quangos and projects. As for it being just a "well-crafted speech" I disagree. This is a new level of criticism that has been rightly and belatedly aimed at Brown and his government. Its being reported everywhere: Chicago Sun Times Spectator The broadcast media isn't carrying this one, the internet is, which means the people rather than editors are supporting this story. You are letting your dislike for the conservatives cloud your judgment. Hannan's speech had to be made by someone, anyone, right in front of Brown.

Notice that every New Labour apologist post fails to provide a counter argument and attacks the messenger, or those that agree with his view. They have no valid argument left, their government has failed pathetically (again and in much the same manner as last time). Daniel Hannan is right, Gordon has lied to the electorate, spent too much, taxed too much and left Britain in a very vulnerable state. Hannan laid out the facts in front of Gordon and all he could was giggle - he has crippled Britain for gods sake. newdman, NiceLilEarner (PatPrimer?) - give it up. Gordon has failed on an epic scale and Hannan is quite rightly calling him on it, something Cameron should have done months ago.

The BBC was just trying to get "on message". The problem is there is no message as the government is out of options. It will be fun watching New Labour, the BOE, the BBC et al trying to provide 'leadership' over the next few months, the truth is the games up. There is no way to avert disaster now.

He's trying to deflect blame from the bankers. The way I see it, the bankers were the gamblers placing a bet in the casino of borrowers - you don't blame the casino when you lose all your money do you? Bottom line is, banks can 'create' money - yet they have still managed to make huge losses. The bankers were greedy and wildly incompetent. Unfortunately everyone else picks up the tab. Michael Lewis is an idiot and is certainly not telling it like it is.

answered your own question there

I don't see the problem with this google thingy, they have done much of New Zealand with it already. Its quite useful for scouting out landmarks near a destination. Its a static image that would be visible to anyone with a camera. Banning this sort of thing would be an attack on civil liberties, as it would affect any innocent person with a camera. Back to the topic - these death threats are aimed at the wrong people. The central banks created this credit boom and bust and allowed this madness to happen.

Isn't the G20 march just a climate-nonsense lefty march dressed up in antiestablishmentarianism? If it turns nasty it will be an excuse to further clamp down on civil liberty. See: http://www.putpeoplefirst.org.uk/about-us/ Point 1 I can agree with, but this just seems to be the normal 'green' suspects at work trying to capitalize on the current (justified) mistrust of governments.

She's lost the lot. This is what happens when you give an idiot command over a huge sum of money. She deserves it, she is in a small part responsible for the economic apocalypse Britain is facing.

He traded the exposed, but stable bank Lloyds TSB for his own short-term political survival back in September. It was a rushed takeover and it has Gordon Brown's grubby fingerprints all over it - he was even "bragging" about it through New Labour stooge Robert Peston: Pestons Blog In any Government previous to the New Labour regime he would have stood down. Gordon Brown is a selfish, egotistical, lying, scheming shit-bag of a man.

Can't wait to see the BBC try to tackle this one

$50 billion here, $30 billion there, and pretty soon you are talking about real money. Its crazy.

I think the risk is the "overshoot", where the printed money pushes through the deflation suddenly. What if they *need* to keep printing just to pay bills because the economy has been so savaged by QE? It could go all Bob Mugabe Zimbabwe. The situation is different to Japans lost decade for the reasons outlined by libspero, its an international race to the bottom.

99% of people in Britain don't care. This is why the government is able to strip you of rights, steal your wealth and send you off on hopeless wars. You are beaten, I pity you.

With the weak GBP and unstable markets I can see how this would make sense.

It probably made out of pig iron and will handle like a shopping trolley with a knackered wheel.

They can apply for permanent residence the way I did here, in New Zealand.

Distance from the EU. This is a tough one since no doubt they would 'punish' us somehow and I'm not even sure its possible post-lisbon. Maybe a similar relationship to Norway's - EEA etc. The EU costs Britain £55 billion+ per year. ID cards. Bin them. - theres £15 billion+ All armed forces abroad come back. Lets stop pissing off the rest of the world. Surveillance. ISP meddling, average speed cameras etc. Cut it all. Cut the crap: 'E Reach and Participation Workers', 'European Business Development Coordinators', 'Advice Development Facilitator' to quote a few Guardian jobs. Public Sector Pensions. This is a biggy. They are unsustainable. Scrap them for new employees. Will be painful as hell and would probably provoke strikes. Half those striking could probably be fired. Local councils. The waste in these institutions is incredible. Freeze tax increases. Prisons. Cut the luxuries, cut costs. Benefits. Life on benefits should be uncomfortable enough to encourage work. If this means single mums with three kids living in a two bedroom home then so be it. Subsidising behaviour encourages more of it, as we've seen. More local control in Education. Stop shutting the grammars. Stop dumbing down (don't try to deny it, I've worked in the education and seen what passes as a GCSE now). Immigration. Strict system needs to be implemented, similar to the systems in Canada or Australia. No more free movement of EU citizens. I could go on.