perhaps if Gordon Brown had had to stand in a proper leadership election, his party might have had a chance to put him under the spotlight. these coronations never seem to work: Michael Howard was hardly a great success, except in comparison to his predecessor. while with the liberals, Ming Campbell did not really have to compete as everyone saw him as a caretaker and then they soon got bored with waiting for him to handover so booted him out. meanwhile david cameron and david davies both helped the conservatives by debating the issues out in the open, rather than in dark corners as the current govt party is doing.

I must say that of the left I too have always had some respect for FF. But, how on earth did he fall for GB’s could-be, maybe, sometime-or-never, partial U-turn, at least for some and for some part of, the 10p debacle? Did GB bribe FF? Blackmail? Perhaps just flattery – surely he can’t have been fool enough to take GB at his word?!

Reply: I did not compare FF’s qualities with my own – I was asked a difficult question and foolishly answered it. There are many differences between Frank and myself.

Patrick, its a very similar situation to the one Ronald Reagan inherited from Jimmy Carter, a bloated public sector and stagflation. Reagan was brave enough to take the axe to the many wasteful ’services’ at the time, even though he knew he would have to take the flak because it meant job cuts. However it was necessary and a similar approach is needed here, the state sector has grown so large it will act like a millstone around our economy. David Cameron needs to adopt the spirit of Reagan and get out that axe.

Don’t fancy PM Cameron’s job of shrinking the public sector monster much either! This country is going to be in the sh*^ for years to come. At least our overlords in Brussels have our best interests at heart.

What’s the address of the Canadian High Commission again? Job and housing market in Vancouver look great.

United we Stand.

We are badly paid and only work 35 weeks a year.

I just cannot see it happening. Gordon Brown’s premiership is mortally wounded. Those around him are too drunk on power to administer the ‘coup de grace’.

And the Tory party can only benefit from his continued presence.

A bleak outlook for the rest of us outside the gates of Parliament.

I might even say that Mr. Brown struck me as the man among Labour ranks most similar to John Redwood. I wonder who JR would regard as the man or woman on the opposite benches who most shares his own qualities (if not his politics)?

Reply: Frank Field

http://lettersfromatory.wordpress.com

Even if the Labour party commit regicide and depose Gordon, there is no-one in the labour party with the skills to recover from this mess. The country has been too deeply damaged: economically, socially, educationally and structurally. Even if a Conservative government takes radical action and goes through central and local government and all the quangos to rip out the waste and dead wood, it will take a decade for the scars to heal over. The Labour party has demonstrated repeatedly that it has no concept of proper management. The sooner they go the better.

Yes, I wondered about this too, Wales and Liverpool are both areas where the pay differentials between teachers and the average private sector workers make teaching a very financially, as well as personally rewarding, career option. I read the median wage in Liverpool is about £15,000 pa without pension benefits.

I believe that if the full pay package is considered, in the North especially, teaching is an excellent choice; full sick pay cover, no weekends worrying about whether you’re going to be laid off or where the next job is going to come from; and the cream is the pension (that you just can’t buy in the private sector), even if you put 20% of your salary away for thirty/fourty years you can’t buy a final salary guaranteed pension. The continuous funded training without worrying about who’s going to do your job whilst your not there is also advantageous and if you’re ambitious there are avenues open to regularly progress. When you can take regular holidays, have your pay fully covered in the event of sickness, have job security and can relax and spend your net income without worrying about pension security in the future, even though the job can appear undervalued it has it’s benefits too.

Reply Persimmon

However, it seems to me that Brown will hang on to the job, spending his way out by hobbling us with debt forever.

He is a socialist after all.