Comments on: Mr Brown should curb public spending, not go begging for cash from sovereign wealth funds

By: Rose

Rose — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 15:26:19 +0000

I should like a lot more discussion on the bombing of Serbia. This was carried out by a Democrat president and therefore not subject to the media criticism a Republican would have got. A. Campbell told our media the war was prosecuted because there was an humanitarian crisis, and that was swallowed. But it was the NATO bombing which caused the big crisis: 100,000 people fleeeing (an appalling spectacle which did not initially happen in Iraq), and could be said to have been precipitated by the KLA tail wagging the NATO dog - that is to say, make things really nasty with a few outrages here and there, and the US and UK will come in, as they did in Bosnia, and we will get the settlement we could not possibly get in peacetime. It could be said that by giving Blair and Clinton such an easy ride over Kosovo the media led Blair to believe the trick could be repeated in Iraq and that he persuaded his new friend GWB of this, rather than the other way round. Alas, it was a Republican president, and the Democrats and their friends in the media will happily set the world alight to get their man back in the White House.

What I should like to know is why NATO was abused in this way in the first place? What was the real reason Clinton wanted to bomb the Serbs? Was it to distract attention from Monica? Did Madeleine have some reason in her past? Why did Blair do it? Was it really just an ethical foreign policy in its first stages? Whatever the reason they didn’t sort anything out, and we are still expected to be responsible for what happens next.

Reply: I agree there should be more discussion of this.

By: Adrian Peirson

Adrian Peirson — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 12:42:54 +0000

Not widely Known is the fact that The Bank of England is a Private Company Owned by Rothschild. When the Govt Spends it does so by Borrowing from the Bank of England.
We, the Public service the Interest charged by this Private Company, via Taxes.
If the Crown Printed and Coined its own Money (Preferablt Gold, Silver, Platinum ) then there would be no Interest Owed saving us Billions in Taxes.
This scam, was one of the reasons behind the Gold Sell Off, the country is being Gutted by Our Global Elite and their Westminster Puppets.

http://www.stopthelie.com/chapter_1_money_is_power.html
http://www.stopthelie.com/chapter_8_how_they_do_it_-_how_we_stop_them.html
http://www.healthfreedom.info/Federal_Reserve_Fraud.htm
http://www.propagandamatrix.com/makow_banking_cartel_is_the_cause_of_humanitys_woes.html
http://www.prosperityuk.com/prosperity/articles/monftp.html
http://www.planetquo.com/The-Law-Is-An-Ass-And-You-Are-Made-Of-Straw

By: John Wrexham

John Wrexham — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 01:22:48 +0000

dear john redwood,

Just remember what Gordon Brown always says about guardianship of the economy under New Labour ‘ No return to boom ( housing inflation, public debt, private debt, balance of trade deficit) and bust (Northern Rock, govt IT schemes, tax credits, the housing market, final salary pension schemes, NHS trusts, the Olympics delivery authority….)

Thinking of Robin Cook, he did at least resign over iraq, when Blair stopped even pretending to have an ethical foreign policy with his ‘45 mins’ and the dodgy dossier, so at least the ginger one tried to be ethical, unlike our ‘wear my beliefs on my sleeve’ ex-prime minister.

As for the public sector, i work there and what it really needs is leadership from the top with public service ethos at its core. instead it has adopted the worst habits of the private sector ie short termism, focus on profits rather than service, increasing pay differentials, golden handshakes, while devaluing the qualities of the public sector: service to all according to need, not being run by bean counters, being a vocation and altruistic professionalism. what the public sector needs is the qualities of the private sector but these can’t be introduced by decree from Downing Street nor by overpaid consultants.

By: mikestallard

mikestallard — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 22:04:14 +0000

One of the major triumphs of Brown while Chancellor was to pretend that Ken Clarke had left him an empty treasury and a badly performing economy. Not surprisingly, everyone believed this rubbish.
Old School cannot be that old, can they. Otherwise they would remember.
Also, of course, you are quite right; the “ethical foreign policy” was exactly as you describe it. Including the fact that it was Mr Major who started off the peace process (also not acknowledged by the Labour incomers.

By: Bazman

Bazman — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 21:30:34 +0000

Must come down to countries not having friends only interests.
Not an excuse for Google and other Internet companies that sold out though.

By: Neil Craig

Neil Craig — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 15:27:31 +0000

To be fair to Cook what he said was that foreign policy should have “an ethical dimension” which is not guaranteeing complete, or even substantial, purity.

Then he told Parliament that the majority of killings in Kosovo were being carried out by our genocidal KLA friends not the Serbs & followed this up by calling bombing hospitals to support this genocide “humanitarian bombing”.

Thus while he can be accused of not living up to his standards the suggestion that he chose overly high standards is unfair.
Reply: He did not always make this subtle distinction when questioned about his “ethical foreign policy”. It was spun as a contrast to the previous administration which by implicaiton was deemed unethical. It was spun hard as a new age of enlightenment.

By: Bexie

Bexie — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 12:30:57 +0000

John,

Have a look at the latest free market foundation comment on South Africa, it is interesting in that they publish figures that show the cost of paying people to sit on their backsides and do nothing. In short there is a direct link between high welfare and low growth, meaning the cost of rampant socialism is less cake to redistribute, supporting Dr Tame’s theory that ultimately socialism is self destructive.

(link http://www.freemarketfoundation.com/)

By: Iain

Iain — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 11:21:58 +0000

“Today sees Mr Brown in China trying to act as a super salesman for British business. It is a relatively harmless use of his time, forced upon him by the dire straits of the UK economy under his policies.”

Actually I think its quite worrying, for Brown has gone to China to sell British assets to the Chinese States sovereign fund. Are we mad? For it must be madness to sell our assets to a totalitarian state. The real problem is that China has an undervalued currency, yet no one in the British state seems to be bothered with it, yet its that undervalued currency which is hollowing out our economy, and giving them the resources to purchase our assets.

By: old school

old school — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 10:34:11 +0000

Bit rich for John to dismiss the government’s foreign policy as unethical, when he was a Cabinet minister during the Arms to Iraq scandal.

I don’t remember the economy being that robust during the early 1990s either, in fact we’re we in recession?

Lastly John, are you proposing we were wrong to go into Afghansitan? Or that we should pull out?

Reply: The Conservative government never claimed to be running an ethical foreign policy - we aimed at a realistic policy based on an analysis of the UK’s intersts and powers. I did not recommend anything about Afghanistan. Post ERM in the 1990s (a policy recommended by Lib/Labs) tthe economy performed wlel.

By: Stuart Fairney

Stuart Fairney — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 10:23:37 +0000

It is at least gratifying that someone is mentioning the desperate plight of the economy with huge balance of payments problems, and structural public debt brought on by massive over-spending in an expanded public sector. The BBC seem happy to ignore this (focussing instead on pointless conjecture about Britney Spears etc etc ad nauseum) but even they won’t be able to ignore it for much longer