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Surprised he's not having another "Lisbon" moment and staying home to sort out some of his domestic woes.

OTOH maybe he's having a McAvity "awayday" to avoid taking the flak at home.

Do you think any of them really care about that now?

Never mind the carbon footprint, what about the incompetence??. How on earth was this allowed to happen?? Didnt anyone in No 10 know Gordon was going to the G8.

Its just yet more evidence that the No 10 machine is seriously flawed.

#2 ... Well said. Mind you, I dont think any of them have ever really cared about green issues. It's an area of concern like a Palestinian state or human rights violation.. they say the right words, but dont really mean them. It's a great world ... shame it's run by intellectual and moral pygmies.

I don't find it at all reassuring that Mr Brown has any say in the future of the planet. He doesn't seem to know what he is doing tomorrow.

Nick

While you are waiting, maybe you could suggest the PM starts recording some of the anwers he promised for his 'you tube' site.

He had promised to have responded to the main questions by the end of last month.

I know he isn't very good at answers, but to show himself infront or the 'you tube' generation like this is a bit daft.

The innocent youths might have been the one section of the population who hadn't yet formed a negative impression of him.

For the sake of fairness.

Was it number 10s fault they couldn't charter a BA plane? Could it have been BA's fault or nobodies something wrong with the plane they were due to use maybe?

Are you sure that plane flew from dallas texas empty, wasn't diverted from airline service having flown people in on an incoming flight? It is Sunday It might not be due to carry anyone today.

It might have been what nick is implying but the above seems to make more sense to me.

Re #6 from the-real-truth: LOL

x

The software on this board seems faulty?

is this a ploy to prove charter doesnt work and we (or rather he) need(s) blair force one after all? another PM U turn coming up??

Carbon footprint not very good?

You're not still thinking of going, are you ?

Why not stop planning the destruction of villages and viable communities. Build a huge new airport in the crumbling Midlands. Replace the boardedup, mostly deserted estates, and install a fast track train service. Has this ever been considered?

#13 mightyangela: "Build a huge new airport in the crumbling Midlands. Replace the boardedup, mostly deserted estates, and install a fast track train service. Has this ever been considered?"

I can't quite think of where you might be proposing, unless you are thinking of the Midlands of Zimbabwe, but in England the answer to your query is 'Yes'.

Of course it was stopped by vehement opposition from mainly Tory County Councils, District Councils, and Parish Councils in the surrounding rural areas. Not to mention the usual rural mafia, of course.

#14 Jimbrant

Thanks for replying to an honest question. No thanks, however, for the sarcasm in paragraph 2. It doesn't become you.

megapoliticaljunkie@3

BA lost a 777 in that landing accident. Which is the usual type the government leases from BA. That might be why they couldn't lease an aircraft from them. Rather than No.10 forgetting to ask them.

#15 mightyangela: "No thanks, however, for the sarcasm in paragraph 2. "

Blimey, we are touchy! You might ponder your own "...crumbling Midlands. Replace the boardedup, mostly deserted estates, ..." if you object to sarcasm. I took that for such, since your description of the Midlands is hardly reality, except in a few very limited areas.

The airport proposal was for Rugby, by the way - just up the road from me - effectively to replace the existing airports at Birmingham, East Midlands, and Coventry. I happened to think it was a good idea in spite of the concomitant "destruction of villages and viable communities".

18 Jumbrant
Apology accepted, didn't realise I was stepping into your manor. I was thinking more in the lines of those sad estates seen on TV around Bradford.
And we are not touchy - if I was I wouldn't dare enter this forum!

I don't suppose there's any chance they haven't booked a return flight for him?

PLEASE!!!!

#18 mightyangela; Just a couple of corrections:

1) I didn't apologise, because there was nothing to apologise for.

2) Bradford is not in the Midlands, and it doesn't sound as if you have ever been there. A five minute drive and you can be in wild, open country with only the peewits (probably lapwings to you) for company. I was born and grew up in a village in the Dales which is part of Greater Bradford. And to repeat, it's in Yorkshire, not the Midlands. That was unforgiveable, and makes me touchy.

#21 Jimrant

I wrongly imagined you apologised for your preconceived notions that I was using sarcasm. You admit that you " took that for such, since your description of the Midlands is hardly reality, except in a few very limited areas." You really should be careful when you make assumptions, don't put your own thoughts into other people's words.
Anyway thanks for letting me know an airport was considered and turned down.
In conclusion you originally accused me of being "touchy", but now admit that I made you "touchy". A classic Freudian Transfer!!

#21 mightyangela: Wonderful! You make your patronising assertion that I should not make assumptions, while in the preceding sentence you say that you "wrongly imagined.." ie you assumed!

I will deduce from your comments and lack of knowledge of your own country that you are from London. Note that I say 'deduce' and not 'assume'. I have no preconceived notions in this, and neither did I in my earlier comments; my notions were arrived at on the basis of what you said, and did not precede them.

As for being touchy, you will find that any Yorkshireman who is accused of being from the Midlands will respond similarly. There is nothing Freudian about it - it is largely a jokey thing, as I would have expected you to have spotted.

Is there any truth in the rumour that the new British Embassy in HARARE is costing ten million pounds?

I believe it is reaching completion.

Makes a mockery of all those spun words about Mugabe.

And for that matter , anyone attending the G8 from the UK.

#22
you will find that any Yorkshireman who is accused of being from the Midlands will respond similarly.

There, now you are speaking for ALL Yorkshiremen? Naughty!
You come over so cross and dour, that I didn't spot a jokey thing. Please lighten up
and be happy.
I wont continue this debate because it is becoming too personal, you deducing from whence I come, and me believing your are rather cross.

Of course Brown is relaxed, he doesn't have to engage with reality for a while.

NOVOSIBIRSK, SIBERIA sounds very exotic. The original Stalin was exiled to Siberia before the Russian Revolution.

Any chance of leaving our Mr Bean version there to cool on the tarmac? He can continue to relax while we get on with repairing the damage he and his petit-politburo have wreaked.

"1752BST: NOVOSIBIRSK, SIBERIA" G Brown "surprisingly relaxed" I hope you are not implying 'tired and emotional' as was a previous G brown!

Look these 'leaders' and their advisers have little actual grasp of anything scientific or indeed numerical, but they do like to strut their stuff and we expect to see them doing it.

I hope we see a reversal of the biofuels policy as it seems that this is responsible for at least part of the rise in food prices.

The idea that we can take any action as a united World is wishful thinking, but not a real prospect.

Trying to to put a cap on fuels usage by using price cripples the economy so why not ration it and keep the price down - same effect on consumption but it will keep industry and transport running and reduce inflation and hence interest rates?

"Update 1752BST: NOVOSIBIRSK, SIBERIA ..... Gordon Brown looking surprisingly relaxed"

I'm not surprised.

1. All those miles away from his critics and Glasgow East.
2. He's past the gulas Bliar's mate Putin offered to lock him away in unless he perpetrated the 10% tax con.

Sounds like you're enjoying yourself amongst friends.

Who's paying for this little trip, then?

I think you need to get back quickly and sort this blog out. Everyone has gone barking mad. jimbrant and MightyAngela are conducting a tiff in full view of the blogoshphere, EWelshman is confusing a planeload of politicians and journalists with 'friends', ScepticMax in confusing Novosibirsk with Samakand (Novosibirsk - Exotic?) and DisgustedDorothy is explaining why Mr.Tsangvari had to take refuge in the Dutch Embassy - ours, it seems is still a building site.

The G8.

Medvedev and Brown will tiptoing round each other on the offchance that the former is serious about improving relations with the latter, Merkel will be looking on wondering why she is not the centre of attention, Sarky will be wondering why his wife is the centre of attention, Burlesconi will be on the lookout for a cheap TV station, Harper will be on the lookout for a duck's leg to prop up his North American buddy Bush who will be trying to work out where the others have hidden his going away present. Meanwhile Fukuda will be handing out the sushi and topping up the sake.

And then somebody will go and spoil it all by saying something stupid like . . Zimbabwe - or Iraq, Iran, Palestine, Darfur, oil prices, climate change. RELAX! It will all be in the communique. You can read it on the Newsnight homepage - if you are not too busy sorting your bloggers out.

Relaxed? of course Brown's relaxed - he's half way around the world, locked away with people who have to be polite and just having a general chit-chat about world affairs, it will make him feel really special - these are the days as PM he dreamed of

Brown gets to play leader away from the harsh reality of the fact that he is the most unpopular PM since...i'm not sure if it's even Eden anymore

Nick
"Update 1752BST: NOVOSIBIRSK, SIBERIA"

Was that so Mr Brown could have a summit briefing from the Arctic Monkeys about global warming in Siberia?

But then I suspect that he would know one if he saw one!!

#30 .... think it's probably Spencer Perceval now.

Sorry. Bradford is in the Midlands? There is an army of flat cap wearing whippet bothering pigeon fanciers on their way to sort you out Angela.

Re the airport in Rugby, it is a good idea, but instead of trashing hundreds of acres of nice countryside, why not just build it on Rugby or Northampton, they're both horrible places

Ah yes, yet another reason why this country needs a proper PM/Royal transport aircraft. All the other leaders turn up in their Armed Forces' prime VIP transport and we charter a foreign plane that can't even do the the journey in non-stop.

Doesn't exactly look good does it. Yet another Brown mess up to cancel the A330 that was going to be bought by the RAF for this purpose.

Update 1752BST: NOVOSIBIRSK, SIBERIA.......Gordon Brown looking surprisingly relaxed.

He would be. He's back in a country that's run the way he'd like to run this one.

Re #30 from histon4europe:

Well put.
Ramsay MacBrown?

Re #32 from pat the cat:

There are certainly uncanny similarities.

Wasn't Spencer Perceval the last PM never to lead his party into a general election?

Perceval's exit was somewhat more spectacular than I would wish on The Supreme Leader, though.

#33 Bradshad1

Thanks, pal. I'm shaking in horror- I think Jimbrant has trained his pigeons to aim straight at me! Splosh - that was a bullseye!

Any chance that the broon charter plane can scoot over Afghanistan on the way back so that they can use up the last of their stingers taking potshots.

Actually he probably wants to be careful down that way or the ill equiped Brit soldiers down there may take pot shots using their ground to air stuff if they have been allowed any.

Re #34 re Jordan D:

They plan these things so long in advance that he could have bought APEX tickets for him and his bag carrier.

threnodio @29 wrote:

"I think you need to get back quickly and sort this blog out. Everyone has gone barking mad."

Tut, tut. For someone so cynical (not that I disagree with your portrayal of the pointless G8 summit) methinks you perhaps lack a sense of irony:

Novosibirsk is exotic in the same way that Gordon Brown is a Great Leader.

The great Bernard Levin once suggested a notation called ironics.

#38 By Me!

Just to warn the flat- capped pigeon fancier, that I have now installed boomarangs onto his birds, so the splash will return whence it came.
Have a nice day!

On the contrary, ScepticMax, the irony was not lost on me. I am afraid you fell victim to my wider sense of irony. The blog has gone barking mad precisely because there is nothing sensible to say.

A bunch of ne'er-do-wells descend on Japan for a couple of days in the forlorn hope that the resulting communique will reassure us that they have covered all bases. The irony is that we are expected to take them seriously.

The communique, you will be relieved to know, was agreed in advance and is safely stored on a laptop which was last seen in the buffet of the 6.18 out of Victoria. But DON'T PANIC. The backup CD is in the post.

P.S. (ScepticMax) If Levin referring to musical notation, the combination of scherzo with con indiffrenza (Bartók, Quartet V, mvt 5) should suffice.

Roughly translated, I was only joking but, hey, who gives a damn?

Re #43 threnodio:

amen

Come and join the fun on Nick's new cookery thread

34. At 08:58am on 07 Jul 2008, Jordan D wrote:
Ah yes, yet another reason why this country needs a proper PM/Royal transport aircraft. All the other leaders turn up in their Armed Forces' prime VIP transport and we charter a foreign plane that can't even do the the journey in non-stop.


There are over 20 Hercules C130 based at RAF Lynham. They are good enough for the boys and girls of the armed forces. Should be good enough for Gordon Brown and his lackeys.

threnodio @43 + 44:

Mea culpa.

I guess it comes from having spent too much time rebutting humourless Guardianista types....

Spenser Pervical was not the last prime minister who never faced the voters as prime minister. I think Neville Chamberlain has that distinction.

Like Gordon Brown, Neville Chamberlain had previously been Chancellor of the Exchequer. And like Gordon Brown, Neville Chamberlain was not a successful prime minister, losing office despite a large working majority in the Commons.

Meanwhile, have you seen the menu for the G8 summit? Our leaders are certainly not leading by example!

Re #48 AnotherOldBoy

Thanks for your correction to my #37

You're absolutely right, of course. Like many Liberals I probably know more about Jo and Austen than Neville. Despite having read a lot of the history of the '30s that Chamberlain's he only sticks in the mind for his shuttle diplomacy and "peace in our time" while Baldwin's handover to Chamberlain is hardly ever mentioned.

The list, then, of PMs winning and/or facing the electorate since 1935 is:
Churchill: 1945, 1951
Attlee: 1945, 1950, 1951
Eden: 1955
Macmillan: 1959
Douglas-Home: 1964
Wilson: 1964, 1966, 1970, 1974(x2)
Heath: 1970, 1974
Callaghan: 1979
Thatcher: 1979, 1983, 1987
Major: 1992, 1997
Bliar: 1997, 2001. 2005
Brown: ????

Re #48 AnotherOldBoy

Re the menu, just read it now on the new thread - still nothing new from Nick.

Wonder how big Gordon's doggy bag was?

PS to my #49 - A more useful list?

Sitting PMs facing the electorate since 1935:
Chamberlain: never
Churchill: 1945
Attlee: 1950, 1951
Eden: 1955
Macmillan: 1959
Douglas-Home: 1964
Wilson: 1966, 1970, 1974(2nd)
Heath: 1974(1st)
Callaghan: 1979
Thatcher: 1983, 1987
Major: 1992, 1997
Bliar: 2001. 2005
Brown: ????

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