大象传媒

"That will do Gordon Brown's political standing at home no harm at all"

You wait until the papers get their hand on the government's expenses. The G20 will soon be forgotten as it has no direct relationship with the man on the street. However when they read politicians claiming hundreds of thousands of pounds in expenses, then there will be outrage against the government

Brown will regret not sacking Smith

"That will do Gordon Brown's political standing at home no harm at all"? C'mon, it's a one day wonder and the newspapers are tomorrow's fish and chip papers.

The general media consensus seems to be to let Brown have his day basking in the glory and why not? He put a lot of hard work into it.

But a forensic examination of the fine print is already revealing a different take on events and no doubt that will drip out over the next few days and in particular it will be laid bare in the up and coming Budget.

For the moment though it's a message of 'hope' on a promise and the danger for Brown is that it could deliver a false hope.

Voters could see this as a 'con' and a 'swindle' when it dawns on them this $1 trillion isn't real money nor is it new money. Just more of Brown's smoke and mirrors accounting.

He could well end up facing the wrath of unforgiving voters on this on top of everything else

I don't think the world leaders know what they're doing, you know.

That will do Gordon Brown's political standing at home no harm at all.

...........................

Peopple have long memories, Nick. I'd be very surprised if he went up in the ratings polls very much at all.

Hi Nick,

May I suggest an addendum to your copy...

"... and how resplendent our Great Leader, the man who saved the world and now acts as its financial supremo, looked in his powder-blue tie, coiffured hairdo, off-the-shoulder worsted, newly-acquired glue-on fingernails..." [you get the idea]. "That famous drop-jaw now reaching skyward, with lifted, confident eyebrows and half-closed eyes - to some, apparently dismissive and arrogant but, to me, stragely engaging like pools of..." [better stop there]. "Never since he accepted office outside Downing Street has he looked so, well, utterly dishy."

Let's face it, Nick - it would be totally within the sentiment of the piece you have already written.

See you in the pub.

It's all a house of cards. Read Fraser Nelson's analysis of what it actually means on the Spectator site:

Nick,

Its nice to now see your true feelings for the man and his party, but we all knew that anyway, didn't we.

As for Chancellor of the World?

Two things Nick.

* We all know its much easier in life to spend money than it is to try and save it. Gordon Brown personifies this.

* self-obsessed - adj. The act of being constantly preoccupied with the thought of yourself and everything in this world that involves you or should involve you. A self-obsessed individual is someone who just can't help thinking and talking about themselves.

Enjoy his moment Nick, for this country has already seen through egocentric Prime Minister.

This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.

A meeting held on our soil and some very rich, very out of touch guys agree to agree for once. And the host gets some nice thank you notes from those who attended. And some plaudits that seem... excessively partisan from a few quarters.

I am always a little intrigued as to where these vast sums of money are coming from... and going to. And while the global financial industry is probably a critical part of my way of life, some salaried, index-linked pol handing telephone directories to some salaried, indexed-linked banker looking after the odd dodgy dictator we flog arms to is not quite getting me as damp around the nethers as some 'journalists' and headline-writing sub-editors around the MSM. Maybe you had to be there. Which most of us in the real world were not.

Just whose pensions pot is this amount 'Gordon' is 'giving' on our behalves coming from? You can't sell what you don't own, and in this regard the credibility of the self-serving politco-media establishment is pretty much shot in this household at least. I can still vote one lot out every few years, at least. Not too sure how I deal with the rest.... yet.

Hi Nick,

open for business at last then are we.

I think that more attention should be paid to the interview which Lord Mandelson gave to Channel 4 News last night. In particular in respect of the questions relating to the IMF. Who exactly is voted to the IMF, who are these people. I thought it interesting when pressed by Mr Snow to answer questions about whether or not our country will have to go to the IMF. The response was based on the fact that according to his Lordship that there will be less shame attached to having to go to the IMF.

Did or did not our country have to go to the IMF and the shame that that brought, well don't worry. When we have to go again there will not be so much shame. It would appear to me that when we had to go to the IMF in the seventies what we were doing was to attempt to save the jobs of workers and we paid the price. Well when we have to go to the IMF in the future we will be able to plead the moral high ground in that we spent the money to save the jobs of our workers. Notice the amount of money which will soon be announced as going to the various car companies who are building cars which nobody needs, or wants.

Nick,

may I suggest that your readers look up the person who is the head of the World bank, a Robert Bruce Zoellick. People can make their own judgements as to they really do want a new world order. If people think that there is a problem with Dafur then look up the problems of the Chad Cameroon Oil Pipeline Project which supplies China with much needed oil. Where did the funding for the pipeline come from, surely not the World bank.

A small country not only leading the global debate but getting better than expected results from the world's top 20, well done the Prime Minister and the team of Civil Servants who made it possible. What an achievement, normally these leaders couldn't aggree on the time of day.

Could David Cameron have down this? I don't think so, when he cannot even get his own party around a table and aggree a policy on Europe, or on bank regulation (John Redwood banks should be unregulated) the list of unresolved major issues goes on and on

.......and Gordon is the man who once said "I was never very good at Maths"

'Nuff said.

Nick..

"That will do Gordon Brown's political standing at home no harm at all."

..and what politicl standing would that be then,Nick?

Reviled by the majority of the British people..obsessed with his own standing on the World stage,whilst British domestic problems take the back seat...bankrupting the Electorate...heading a bunch of corrupt MP's and Ministers....almost certainly taking the Labour Party into the political wilderness for a generation..etc etc etc.

Yeah...he couldn't do himself any more harm if he tried to.

This is no doubt a non-pc comment, but a moment's reflection about that frontier kind of Anglo-Saxon of capitalism that is - justifiably, in my view - decried by Merkel & Sarkozy should, in the UK at least, be aimed at Celtic capitalism of a Scottish variety. Brown; Darling; Blair @ Fettes...

This illusion of the G20 working together is such as sham. China and India's only concern is to prop up our system long enough for them to bleed the rest of the money from us. If we have increased consumer confidence, we buy more imported goods from them. More money leaks away to the East. Our factories close down - we can't compete with Chinese and Indian labour costs and their outright dismissal of safety and environmental regulations that make our goods less competitive. If we don't form a tight union with the EC and perhaps the USA, China will continue bleeding us all dry until we collapse. We have to stop importing from them if we want to preserve our way of life. We have to keep the jobs and the money within the EU. I know that our wealth is an artificial construct based on a high wage economy and predicated on keeping countries like China and India poor, but I don't care about globalisation. I don't care about fair. I don't want my kids to have to face a life of bankrupt desperation because our leaders were too ignorant or cowardly to realise the brutal truth of the matter. It's them or us. There's not enough pie for all of us and it's insane to pretend that there is, or that it will be equally shared out. If our leaders want to smile and wave, or squabble amongst themselves as the new world powers help themselves to the last slices, then I for one do not support it. I don't want to see another trillion dollars disappear into their coffers, and that's where it will end up. We may well lose the battle but why must we surrender before it's even started?

This must have been the most expensive summit never to achieve anything.It was a cynical exercise in attempting to raise the profile of a discredited prime minister on the strength of his sychophantic fawning over the American president.To say that this made Brown look any less of an incompetent is stretching the truth. The meeting achieved nothing that was not already availiable ,was dressed up as a diplomatic triumph and relies entirely on promises from people who do not have the resources or intentions of keeping these promises.

Whilst I usually think the 大象传媒 does quite a decent job with impartial reporting I have to admit that recently Mr. Robinson's blogs have been increasingly leaning towards a party political broadcast service

I agree that the G20 summit has gained ground in reaching a common way forwards in making more funds available to the IMF, but what does this mean to me? In a word - Buttons

What I want to know is this: What will my pension be worth when I retire? (the answer at the moment is: Nothing) I'm not bothered about house values needing to increase constantly as I bought mine to live in; not as a cash cow

What are my prospects for work in the coming 5-10 years? These are the questions I want answering. We need to look to our own country first and sort out our own problems before getting onto everyone else's

How on earth are we going to pay back the 1 trillion pound debt (not counting the immense black hole that is the public sector pensions deficit) that we need to borrow for this mess?

Let's face it: Cuts will need to be made, it doesn't matter what flavour of party gets into power - they have an almost impossible task ahead of them. I would prefer if our government got on with the job in hand of trying to cut some cost. I'm happy for spending to continue if the money goes to public infrastructure, but it won't: It will be wasted on ridiculously complicated vote-buying gestures

This thread title is like a red rag to a bull for most people. The G20 meeting doesn't change Gordon Brown's record and his standing one iota. The man is clueless and brought us to the very edge of bankruptcy. Nothing that happened yesterday can change that!

鈥淭he cheerleaders for this budget speech were, though, not Labour backbenchers but world leaders. They have been full of praise for the prime minister - not least the man who's still the most popular politician in the world: President Obama鈥�

...they would hardly say otherwise in the circumstances.

As for Brown鈥檚 standing back home, when the press turn their attentions back on Lord Myners dubious evidence and Baroness Scotlands refusal to investigate the hospitals with worse death rates than Stafford it will soon be forgotten.

This was a side show the main event is still played on the home stage.

Firstly, the main decision to inject into the IMF.

All this money trawling around the world is virtual money. What comes around goes around - except perhaps for CHINA.

I understand that China did not release its money in the same way as the rest of us did?

Was this meeting really one huge smokescreen to get China to release One Trillion to the IMF?

That's all right then they all said.

If you go to America you cannot find any merchandise that is not mostly made in China. They (and we) have lost a huge amount of their manufacturing to that continent.

Now, about Gordon's bounce yet again in popularity.

Firstly, those leaders do not have to live with him as we do! They are kindred spirits to some extent because they are all trying (ostensibly!) to do the best for their countries and probably all getting some degree of brickbats from their public. I hear there is criticism growing of Obama in the USA now - "he is too laid back" etc.

So in the popularity stakes the public here have rumbled him, don't like or trust him, and won't be surprised if his new deals go belly up.


Don't get me wrong. I do hope this G20 resolves the issues but I think there are just too many strands to bring together, too many issues to reconcile and as we are all human and not robots the future is far from certain.

I have just read the excellent piece by Fraser Nelson, thanks for pointing me in that direction Dogbyte.

The 大象传媒 is doing its sycophantic best for a discredited Labour leader and an utterly bath bunged Labour Party.

I wonder at your lack of shame , though I must say the thumbnail sketch makes one look like a cowardly schoolboy.

Chancellor of the World Exchequer

Does this mean that in five years time I can expect to hear the phrase: "it started on Mars"?

LippyLippo, before this year the world's economy had grown for 60 consecutive years. So, it isn't a case of dividing up a pie - the pie is growing. And closing borders to trade would only shrink that pie. I'm wondering who China will sell its goods to once we have collapsed?

Also, can I say Nick that I have always found your blog one of the most insightful and, yes, unbiased on the web. I wish that some of the comments here would stop retreating behind accusations of bias, rather than arguing their own points of view.

This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.

So Brown managed to get the others to agree a 1trillion fund

I have news for you nick. That doesnt even cover the UK's debt let alone the rest of the world.

Once again Nick shows his independent reporting.... NOT. Come Nick this 1 trillon tell us is it new money or just Gordon doing his maths again again & again!!!! No wonder the public accounts are all over the place... they cant add up.

Nick
"But it's nonetheless a historic event that the world's 20 most powerful economies have signed up for these reforms - because they represent the death knell for the Anglo-American doctrine that economies flourish when financial firms are left alone to do as they please. "

From Robert Pestons Blog.

So Brown lost the battle and yet is claiming the victory, How typical.
If I remember my Grrek history this is known as a Pyhric victory, one where you get absolutely slaughtered

I think like most people I am now of the opinion that the whole point of Nick's blog is spinning for Brown and NU Labour. In the past few weeks this has become quite incredible, Smith a victim of the system, Brown the saviour of the world, He's done it.....He's done it! , I would expect the 大象传媒 Political Editor to take a much more balanced view, and on top of that he's not even big enough to contribute to his own blog and face up to the criticism.....

I agree with Nick that this meeting will certainly have done Broon no harm. In better times he may have seen a significant bounce in his ratings. In the current climate, it will be swiftly swept away on headlines of economic crisis, sleaze and authoritarianism.

Most of the comments to Nicks blog show the extent of Tory sour grapes.
They cant get their heads around the fact that world leaders support
Browns solutions and in doing so expose the lack of experience of Cameron
and his team.Even Germany and France have at last accepted Browns ideas
to get us out this global mess.

#23:

Nice one! 'It was a Universal problem started on Mars and it will need universal solutions!'

On further reflection I am being too kind here (above).

It was undoubtedly a fait accompli, was it not?

How can you expect those hundreds or however many, coming here, having a jolly on expenses, sitting down for a few hours and then coming up with the goods?

It is a conspiracy, as I have said all along. It was planned months or even years ago. The only thing that has happened is that probably China is stumping up the trillion - how can all these bankrupt countries do so?

"This is the day that the world came together to fight back against the global recession, the day the world declared in one voice: "We will not go quietly into the night!" We will not vanish without a fight! We're going to live on! We're going to survive!"

I got confused between Gordon Brown's speech and Bill Pullman's speech from Independence Day at some point there. I point out that this is not an actual quote, but they splice together nicely don't they?

I wonder if that was one of the films the US president gave to Gordon?

Anyway, my point is basically that Gordon Brown is being a tad melodramatic, don't you think? And we are talking about a very real and serious financial crisis here.

We're talking seriously high on the stilton factor.

I was thinking of doing a parody of the sort of response you would expect from the regulars on here, but I see that many of them have already beaten me to it with their own self-parodies. Central Office has obviously been busy.

My last word - I promise!

Gordon (Bush and Bush Senior) arranged the chaos so they could fix it.

New World Order in economic terms will be swiftly followed by New World Order in political terms, survellience on unprecedented scale, lack of freedom as we know it. This rubbish on climate change (and to some extent the "war on terror") is all designed to frighten us. And it has hasn't it? Frighten us into being submissive.

Stand by. Not much time left.

Today I am going to be nice to Mr Brown. It is not his fault that he thinks he is omniscient and the saviour of the World economy. Whilst Mr Blair was the nimble winger, side-stepping his failures, Mr Brown is the rolling prop forward and all his doubtless mistakes just seem to bounce off him. Why is that? I think that the feedback loop is broken - the media basks in the celebrity of the event and does not bother with the detail whilst the opposition just seem to roll over when the govn come out with a load of tripe to cover up their failings. In his world Mr Brown must think that he IS saving the world.

All this galls me because Mr Brown is in a large part responsible for the current ills. This I cannot forget and will not forget in the difficult decade ahead. If I was Labour I would get the new broom out quickly, get rid of the has-beens and get an ethical code laid down to reconnect with the people and get snouts out of the trough. Any "bounce" from the G20 will be short lived.

Another $1trillion to save Gordon's 'reputation'. That's what this is all about.

And it won't solve anything.

This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.

I think Nick is right to say it is a political and diplomatic triumph for the UK and therefore the PM. If the tories were in government none of this would have happened because they believe this is the wrong approach to take. Gordon is right on one thing -they are isolated amongst the G20 nations. It is always important to listen to dissent from the majority view but I have a sneaky feeling that they (the tories) are wrong on the issue of the fiscal stimulus we have had. I do not believe we can afford to do anymore though.
To all those asking about where the money comes from check out the Guardian web site there is an amusing article on where has all the money gone -it explains a lot. Basically money = confidence and the whole point of this meeting was to increase confidence so therefore for that reason its beeing seen as a success. Witness the stock markets increasing yesterday.
However, the future of this government will be decided on British issues and not much has changed there. I will wait and see what the economy looks like next May (or when the election is called), examine all of the parties policies closely and make a choice on what I feel is best for my country -I think this is all we can do. After all 12 months ago no one really expected things to get as bad as they are now. 12 months from now who knows what will be happening -whoever gets in one thing I do know is that I will be paying more income tax at the higher rate and am relaxed about it. The important thing is that we all have jobs and the economy recovers.
I notice no 7 above talks about self obsessed -of course they are -they are politicians they all are self obsessed! Isn't it in the job description.
Mr Moe I agree with you partly about the expenses when they are published but I don't think its just the Government we will be annoyed with. I think there will be a lot of hidden bombs in the opposition expenses as well. No party will come out of it well and David Cameron and Nick Clegg will have just as much explaining to do. That's why David Cameron wants a quick fix to a new system and raised it at PMQs last wednesday

This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.

This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.

24 danlee

Yes,thank goodness, it's your view of the world economy which will win, unless we go back to foraging / subsistence farming.

15 Westkent

Don't be fooled by the Eurojokers, their banks were just as much involved as 'Anglo-Saxon' ones, more in some cases, and it's their system as much as ours, except our version has fewer brown envelopes. Convenient for Sarky and Merky to say 'eet ees ze folt off ze eenglish' to their own electorates, presumably in their own languages.

Good point about Scottish banks, though, and I suppose Northern Rock is almost Scottish!

What about UBS, Lehmans, Fortis etc...? Yes, those Swiss-NewYorker-Belgians have got a lot to answer for too.

#1 - mr moe

'Brown will regret not sacking Smith'

Perhaps he can't. Perhaps nobody else is daft enough to run with the poisoned chalice that that monstrous dinosaur, the Home Department, has become. Kiss of death for all politicians. Does not matter to Smith, of course. She is going nowhere after this.

I like Frank Skinner's comment in today's Daily Mail, that Brown's lovestruck adoration of Obama reminded him that Brown's natural place is as a sidekick to a charismatic leader with sticking out ears.

I still cannot get over the ghastly face of Brown as he was leering at Obama in their first press conference - the image puts me off my food.

China might be helping put up a trillion dollars, but they know that they'll get it back and more. They know that once confidence returns in the West, then we'll only be buying goods that they (the Chinese) have manufactured. They are simultaneously propping up their own economy, staving off unemployment, and encouraging the West, through its buying power, to carry on buying Chinese-made goods. Our money will eventually end up in their hands. Then what? Do it again until all our money is theirs? No. We have to draw a line in the sand and wean ourselves off cheap Chinese and far-Eastern goods to save our own jobs and lifestyles.

Nick,

"There was an attempt to glide over the fact that the countries here did not agree to spend more - or indeed to borrow more - to fund another fiscal stimulus, though they certainly didn't rule it out."

Wow - was that the best spin NuLab could come up with? Dammned with faint praise, springs strangely to mind.

This bunfight cost more than even Capn. Darling claimed the DBS needed to remain an independent mutual, and however forgetful the voters in the rest of the UK may be, that will not be forgotten in Scotland [and especially in Kirkcaldy & Cowdenbeath and Edinburgh South West] where this may be not only the final nail in Duff Gordon's political coffin but also of the UK as a unitary state.

Post or reactive moderation for all except CBeebies, please!

PS: BTW, Why wasn't this thread open for comment yesterday evening?

#31 roncrowhurst

Most of the comments to Nicks blog show the extent of Tory sour grapes.
They cant get their heads around the fact that world leaders support
Browns solutions and in doing so expose the lack of experience of Cameron
and his team.Even Germany and France have at last accepted Browns ideas
to get us out this global mess.

.............................................

World leaders may say they support Brown in front of the cameras, but the reality will be if, and when, they actually come up with the goods. There is a criteria to be met before any monies will be granted. Merkel wants to be re-elected later this year, and Sarkosy is deeply unpopular with the people of France at the moment. I really wouldn't count your chickens just yet.


As for getting us out of this global mess - it was Brown who was instrumental in getting us into this mess in the first place. If he had listened to the IMF when they warned him (several times) about the state of the world's finances, we'd all be a damned sight better off then we are now.

The realists in the Labour Party are not looking for an election victory which they know is beyond them rather they are looking for an appropriate "peace with honour" exit strategy for Browm. The G20 will be spun to provide Brown with the appearance of greatness before he stands down "spent" with his efforts to save the world. A caretaker leader will then be put in place with the hope that the election defeat is not a landslide for the tories. During the next Conservative administration will be the time the new leader to emerge .

"However, with this budget - like them all - it's best not to judge on the day and better to wait a while and see how good it looks then."

True; I'd say wait until 2010 for the next election results, because then the 大象传媒/labour spin will be shown up for what it is.

The uk public are not amused I suspect by the architect of our destruction making things increasingly worse and having that architect given a totally free ride by the media organisation that we all pay for out of our own pockets. And to make matters worse, the man was never elected in the first place.

I could go on, but the 大象传媒 coverage is so fawning/skewed towards Brown that I wouldn't know where to start.

This is *not* new/real money, this is just more borrowed/printed money.

There is only one way out of this, and that's to let people keep more of their hard-earned money in the first place, eliminate non-productive government waste/costs, and have tougher lines on the bailouts (perhaps bothering to read the contracts would be a good start, Gordon) - borrowing/printing money is not the solution; it'll only work for a couple of months (if at all) and puts you in a worse situation than when you started.

35:

And your considered comments on the current situation are ......................................?
I thought as much. It's easy to criticise opponents carte blanche, much more difficult to provide constructive arguments as to why you disagree with individual points.

@31 Ron
"Even Germany and France have at last accepted Browns ideas
to get us out this global mess."

No they haven't. There was no fiscal stimulus.
That puts the G20 firmly on Camerons side.
But why let the facts get in the way of a good spin.

I think, Gordon brown got what he exactly wanted from this G20, Well, I have to say that all credit goes to super hero who brought all G20 leader to one point? Remember back in few months ago even Obama wasn't convinced to take global action to reslove this global problem, which is spread out by US. Good sign so far , Hope it's begining to end this crisis.

This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.

15. At 09:24am on 03 Apr 2009, Westkentview wrote:
This is no doubt a non-pc comment, but a moment's reflection about that frontier kind of Anglo-Saxon of capitalism that is - justifiably, in my view - decried by Merkel & Sarkozy should, in the UK at least, be aimed at Celtic capitalism of a Scottish variety. Brown; Darling; Blair @ Fettes...



This comment will also be unfairly deemed as non-pc. In my opinion, neither Brown nor Obama can qualify as Anglo-Saxons (not that I see that as a disadvantage). The only person who can claim Saxon heritage is Merkel. Obama, can possibly be Anglo-Saxon on his mother's side. What a lot of nonsense!

#31 Most of the comments to Nicks blog show the extent of Tory sour grapes.

even sadder that you equate everyone who critices Brown as a Tory? Every Tory, Lib Dem and half of his own back benchers are fed up with him and his self indulgence. Brown gave up his socialist principles years ago along with his NuLabour cronies and he gets as much criticism from them as he does the right.

37 Wurzel

That's the one! Knew someone would put what I thought into words. Nice one.

The thing that struck me about all this was that nobody at the G20 seemed to mention the root causes of the problems (ie too much debt by people who couldn't afford it, and too much debt by governments). That was at the root of all of this. The regulation should have caught those problems but didn't because the regulation wasn't being managed properly, so even the regulation failure was just secondary.

Now, if the root cause isn't solved, then all this is just throwing good money after bad because the underlying problem of too much bad private/public debt is still all there, and the leaders are still telling everyone to borrow as much money (private and public) as they can.

Do any of the G20 leaders know anything about economics, or even understand the basics of how the value of money works?

Alistair Darling just about got it right this morning when he said that The G20 should not be undersold. He added that it it should not also be oversold which is Gordon Brown's stance. On balance it's a good thing that it happened but it won't solve all the problems created by the greedy bankers, the reckless individuals and the profligate, turn the other eye politicians.

Some criticism of Nick's impartiality is a bit stiff here. I mean, without reading between the lines you get the following criticisms of Brown.

- Typically chasing headlines
- Obfuscates over the failure to achieve the original objective
- Cannot be taken at face value

He's basically saying that Gordon Brown is a two-faced self-publicist, if I'm not mistaken. Of course, that would normally be implied by refering to him as a "politician"...

This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.

Nick
The Spectator has done an analysis of the money. Might just be worth a read, you can then update your blog to reflect the reality of what the East London "Gordonfest" really achieved. Summed up by that old Eric Morecambe comment "not a lot".

@ 31...

"Most of the comments to Nicks blog show the extent of Tory sour grapes.
They cant get their heads around the fact that world leaders support
Browns solutions and in doing so expose the lack of experience of Cameron
and his team.Even Germany and France have at last accepted Browns ideas
to get us out this global mess."

X'cuse me..but where in all this are 'Browns solutions'?

All we heard from Brown before this summit was 'Global fiscal stimuli'...Well,where are they?

The 'funds' for the IMF are not real..they MAY be available to the poorest countries..do they have any impact on the UK,other than our own possible need for the IMF?..which,incidentally would put us in even more hock than we are already in.

I've no doubt Brown will get a short bounce..and he may even be tempted to go to the Nation..but the bounce will be very short lived when the electorate realise that they've been sold down the river...again!

btw..seen the FTSE this morning..it's down again!

#24 danlee1001

Whilst Duff Gordon, over the previous months, has spouted rhetoric against protectionism, the World Trade Organisation recently pointed out that 17 members of the G20 were actually putting up anti-competitive barriers.

This factor will not help to rekindle the economic recovery, no mater how much cash you stick in the kitty.

A number of posters have said that as the G20 outcome is analysed it will be seen for what it is - an expensive talking shop.

One such analysis is below, the rest will follow as the G20 starts to deliver nothing tangible to those being hit in the UK by the depression:

Dear Nick,

Is this 1 trillion new money or a rehash of past pledges?

Does your (HP)source know if there is to be a budget this year? The word is out that GB is about to lauch a quick election before the budget is out, is that the reason why is has been delayed?

What do you think Nick, are you allowed to question this?

To call an election before the budget is one way to hide the true fiscal problem this country has.

Xxxx

#36 flamepatricia

Like your comment and it's started me wondering if maybe you are right.

I've long held a feeling that all the world leaders are squabbling about is 'us' because without 'us' they have no money. If we refuse to work they have nothing. I've mentioned on another blog that the G20 wasn't to sort out anything it was the 'ultimate jollie' to make us believe that everything is fine - look we are smiling - sort of thing. And so back to work you people ......

The bottom line of this rather expensive, "must be photographed with Obama as often as possible," shindig is that for the man on the Clapham omnibus it won`t change a damn thing.

All this will be forgotten by the weekend as we have the media funeral to get through of Jade Goody, which will knock all of this off the front pages. Just goes to show the relevance and importance of the G20 meeting to the life of the ordinary mortals in this country doesn` it.

Several people have commented about Uk and the IMF. First we had we had a total denial of any need of a loan from the IMF. Then we had a maybe but rather improbable. Now the real PM (Mandy) says there no shame in us going to the IMF. Just what is going on? Are our receipts out stripping public spending and by how much?

No doubt what we have been led to believe was good for the world will turn out to be another of Brown`s duplicitous master pieces. But lets give him the benefit of the doubt at the moment. When the fine print has been unravelled in a few weeks time the truth will out - just in time for the budget and the May elections. Entertaining times ahead for all.

Brown being Chancellor of the World wouldn't be all bad.

Just think of massive advances in space travel that we would have to make so we could travel the universe finding ever more wealth for him to destroy on global scale spending binges.

It is always nice to be able to spend more money - ask Mr Brown or Mr Obama.

Regrettably it is not their's to spend. Most will be borrowed (and some printed).

Then the lenders want the money back - with interest! - putting the countries in a worse position than before.

Just remember - each bubble that has collapsed and rescued by borrowing has just resulted in a larger one that has needed even more borrowing. It's called exponential boom and bust. The strain on the economies paying back these debts will cripple them even more - unless we can get China to write-off 1st-world debt!

#40 wirral

I'm in agreement with you on the confidence factor, that's the main aim of these world conferences. I think that most of the participants know that there is very little that they can effectively achieve on a practical scale: It simply is not possible to manage the world economy centraly - so the other option is to inspire confidence in each economy seperately and then let the cumulative effect take over. Which was probably the main goal in any case

I do think that the G20 summit achieved this - however I don't think that simply adding funds to the IMF will actually help increase trade: Only confidence can do that. If we get confidence from this meeting then it was worth it. Time will tell......

The issue over MP's expenses is across all parties, I don't think even the hard-core supporters of any political party would be so brash as to claim their party is whiter than white. They are all guilty in some ways. What do need is transparency of governance that we don't have today. I am quite happy for an independant body to decide MP's wages and also expenses, but these should be in line with what the public want. ie receipted expenses and an end to claims for 2nd homes etc

Am not sure about the tories yet. In all fairness they can't make statements about public finances when they aren't allowed to see the books. I wouldn't expect to see any commitment or direction from any opposition party until the election has been announced. I don't really go with the 'do-nothing' tag, you can't do anything until you are in power. We shall see what they have in mind in the election manifesto - until then no-one really knows how Mr. Cameron will shape up. Again: We shall see!

More smoke and mirrors - this time from the G20 and what difference will this make for the people who are struggling all over the UK.

Atleast we can rest easy in the fact that there is extra money over at the IMF for the UK when we need to go calling!

All we saw yesterday was a final communique which was big on promises but very short on specifics. One example is the new regulation. I agree with regulation for these hedge funds which are raping the world but we didn't hear any details out of the G20 as to how exactly this is going to happen.

Gordon Brown is still banging on about how they are making a difference and offering "real help" to small businesses and people struggling with mortgages. Can someone tell me where all of this help is???

I'm a small business owner myself and in the past 6 months new clients have been non-existent. So far we have been lucky enough that our existing customer base has been stable. If one of our customers should take a turn and go down we will be going down right behind them. Crash has been harping on for 6 months about help for small business and I can say right here and now that on April 3rd, 2009 there is absolutely nothing out there for us. If anything our experience has been they put more brick walls in front of you rather than really helping a small business grow.

I read the papers and follow the news daily. I`ve yet to see a single person or small business owner on the TV or in an interview in a paper or on the internet who has said that they have actually been helped out in this crisis by these so called Govt policies. On the other hand, I have seen many who have lost their homes or businesses and said that the banks or govt offered nothing at all.

I'm not saying the Govt should be in the business of bailing out small businesses but will Brown and his ministers please stop harping on with cheap sound bites about help that is just not there. Say what you mean and mean what you say. How can we put any faith in any of these people at this stage and take them as genuine while they`re loading up on expenses claims. The Govt need to stop insulting our intelligence.

mister Nick Robinson,

listen up, please, this piece is not worthy of you - making fun of the Prime Minister should be the preserve of the usual suspects on here - sarcasm is the lowest form of wit in any case, has nobody told you that? - it's like you're back in the Young Clowns or something

This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.

Nick

How is it you continue to worship the halo around Gordon Brown that only you can see?

When are you going to become a true reporter?

This summit has been nothing but an expensive farce for the British Tax Payer, in the short term covering the cost of hosting it through to the long term burden the new saviour of America and his side kick Gordon Clown have foisted on us.

This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.

'Madonna loses adoption bid'
Expect a pronouncement from number 10 before the day is out.

Before you get too carried away Nick with your idol GB, this is in the Daily Telegraph, as you seem to be getting caught up with the GB spin.

"Let's just remember, this is money that is being made available if it is needed, as a loan to the IMF. It is not money that is handed over immediately, it is money that is made available to increase the crisis facility that allows the IMF to intervene where countries are in difficulty."

Who said that? Yup, Gordon Brown, barely a fortnight ago.


Chancellor of the World?
In 4 years time when he saving the solar system, will the problems have been caused by the "Universal" crisis?

This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.

#56 le roi des voleurs
"Every Tory, Lib Dem and half of his own back benchers are fed up with him and his self indulgence."

Fair comment, except that you forgot to mention the home rulers who also despise his policies and hate his ersatz Britishness almost as much.

Post or reactive moderation for all except CBeebies, please!

Please ... no more ... blurgh!

Oh dear...


Ok, #49 labourwipeout, I did have something to ... say in regard to your comment...

Ok, the metaphorically sickening thing rather than the physically ... sickening thing is this: Gordon Brown needs his comeuppance.

If he "dumps" the electorate before they dump him, it'll be the most sickening thing... since .... sorry... blurgh!

BLrugh!

So sick... sorry...

Your analysis mr robinson and general pro tory tone seems to have as usual, a serious attempt at undermining Gordon Brown and distorting his ACTUAL feelings and hopes at the G20............Gordon Brown has never been a headline seeker and has no wish to be "Chancelor of the World"..he DOES want to try to help his country progress well in this worldwide recession............Rediculous tory brownie points with BIASED political reporting is something that shouldnt happen.

So what good did the G20 leaders do allowing the financial crisis to happen in the first place. It seems to me that Teflon Brown has been in an awful hurry to put right what he messed up in the first place.
Think how quickly you and I work to put something right we have done wrong.
Not even Sarah can save you next time Gordy boy.

This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.

Now that the beanfeast has concluded along with the absurd street demonstrations which were largely pathetic; can we get back to real politics?

Thanks to policies of the world-enhancing Mr.Brown the UK is now three trillion pounds in debt.

How are we going to deal with this millstone? Discuss.

I cannot read the communique from the G20 without a sense of dread. It seems to be about spending a few hundred billion here and another billion or ten there.

Where is this money?

Are our problems actually that big?

How was this allowed to happen?

Can the people who allowed this huge bust to happen actually resolve this?

Is humanity a sane species? First define sanity.......

It just had to be a "trillion" for the soundbite didn't it..!! So where's the money coming from, and exactly where is it going, when & how?

G20 was *always* going to be a so-called "success" - despite Sarkozy's empty rhetoric, none of this bunch of special friends were ever going to rock the boat and be seen to be out of kilter with the rest of the world.

Half of them were obviously star-struck and appeared completely bewildered, and on the whole cock-a-hoop just to have been invited and actually be there!!

...and then the WAGs - what on earth is all that about? Nothing to do with anything - just a big glitzy show, designed to latch onto those shallow enough to be impressed with "celebrity". Nauseaous & very, very sad.