…I wonder, did they think to ask those polled “Do you know what the G20 meeting is all about” with a choice of 5: “not at all; not much; a bit; a fair bit; completely”?

It’s a bit like polling the passengers of plane that’s falling out the sky on whether they think the second-order state space model inside the autopilot chip has been augmented satisfactorially…

Same with expenses… asked whether they are prepared to pay top quids to get the most talented people from all walks of life, they’re going to get a contrasting response from asking whether they think the trough’s wide enough for the besuited snouts of the current crop, when 56% would rather have lower monthly rent or mortgage bill; and 69% are feeling a bit skinter than they were anticipating they would this time last year.

“The same applies to MPs… but not by that much. 34% think their own MP is abusing the system, with 38% thinking their own MP does not. 28% didn’t know.”

…which correlates more or less with those who voted for; against; and abstained in your average constituency, doesn’t it?

Surely the only meaningful conclusions you can draw from this poll are that Most people don’t really understand what the G20 is all about; and because they don’t understand it, it doesn’t affect how they’ll vote; and most people are unhappy about their own finances, and don’t take kindly to the perceived preference for blinkered self-catering projected by some MPs.

The fact is he screwed up. He (and I would have done the same) rode the runaway train thinking he would be able to stop it when he wanted to…..well he couldn’t

This was not a man in charge who was let down by liars and bad advisors, this was a man who took arogance to a new level and who sees power as the end game.

At the end of the day Gordon Brown was the biggest “Free Market Capitalist of them all” and now he is the worlds most powerful petulant school boy behind mugabe

Unfortunately, he believed people who either lied or didn’t understand risk. (so did everyone else)

The last quote is absolutely correct!

Oh really, is that so? :-

“I want us to do even more to encourage the risk takers” (Gordon Brown, Mansion House speech, 17 June 2004)

“Last year we set out radical proposals for changing the way we regulate: minimising the administrative burdens of regulation;and ensuring that the realities of regulation, as you experience them on the ground, are transformed — by moving away from the
old blanket approach, of 100 per cent form-filling and 100 per cent inspection that is inefficient and wasteful of your time, to a new approach based on risk… And I believe, too, we should consider how we can continue to extend our risk-based approach, applying the concept of risk not just to the enforcement of regulation, but also to the design and indeed to the decision as to whether to regulate at all… And we will
take the fight on deregulation to Europe.” ( Gordon Brown Speech to the CBI, 5 June 2006)

“And I want to work with you so that over time we apply the concept of risk not just to the enforcement of regulation, butalso to the design and indeed to the decision as to whether to regulate at all.” ( Gordon Brown Speech to the CBI, 15 May 2007)

and for good measure:-

“The FSA’s risk-based regulatory approach is praised around the world and regularly cited as a key strength for the UK…Some observers have urged us to go further and proposed disclosure in hedge fund portfolio positions to regulators in some sort of
register. Like Callum McCarthy, I strongly believe this would be counterproductive. ( Ed Balls Speech to the FSA regulation conference, 23 April 2007)

“If the City is doing well, we are all doing well. When it prospers, we all prosper”
(Ed Balls Guardian, 3 November 2006)