It’s been an extraordinarily bad few weeks for Mr Brown. I can’t actually remember the last bit of positive press, or even of genuine policy, that he managed to get out.

Even today, his government’s faintly ridiculous announcement about introducing a ’skills check’ for single parents has been buried by news of more Labour sleaze, leading to the resignation of the impossibly young-looking ex-nurse Peter Watt, who was the party’s general secretary.

With the infamous lost discs, the floods, bluetongue, the ongoing saga with H5N1, the high price of petrol, the Northern Rock scandal, and so much more all obscuring the message, he’s in a bit of a pickle.

Yet, before he came to power, commentators may well have suggested that it was exactly this sort of baptism of fire that would give him a boost - after all, he’s always seemed to be excellent in a crisis. But it now appears that he’s pretty crap when he’s in the middle of the crisis himself.

If he continues to crash his way through crisis after crisis, announcing ridiculous policy after ridiculous policy, then the next government of this country will be Conservative.

Given Mr Brown’s lacklustre performance, I foresee a winter of discontent - amongst the Labour Party, at the very least - and Mr Brown’s position as PM may not seem such a given by the time it’s over.

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It may not be official yet-but winter is here in middle Michigan.
The last couple of weeks have seen the daily lows below freezing and many of the highs have also been too low to allow water to flow.
As a result we have a blanket of snow and ice covering this beautiful area.
The small critters and birds which have deemed not to head for warmer climes gather at my back door for their food handouts. It has gotten to where they will actually scream and knock on the windows if I do not feed them when they expect breakfast and dinner.
As soon as I get my printer working again I am going to print and post a sign on the back door which will read “Department of Critter and Bird Welfare”.
With all the snow, sometimes wet and heavy, my Internet service went out a couple days ago.
I have always said everyone should have at least one shortwave radio at home-and a portable one, also-don’t leave home without one.
With the IInternet not available I turned on my Drake R8a and listened to the world news the old fashioned way.
The BBC no longer broadcasts to North America, but I got a transmission via Radio Australia as clear as a local station. I also got news from Radio China, Radio Cuba and the old country, Canada.
Many of the major shortwave voices are now silent, but there are still several on the air.
Governments can pull a lever and cut off Internet service any time. But the world band shortwave services have resisted attempts by hitler (I refuse to use a capital letter for his name) the Communists, and various other regimes to keep out the truth (or at least what other nations believe is the truth).
If you don’t have a shortwave radio, go get one. You really don’t need a several thousand dollar unit (though it is nice to have one) to listen to world band broadcasts. A decent portable can be had in the $100 range. For $400 you can own the Grundig/Eton E1, which is about the best portable around.
My wife got me one as an early Christmas present and the only problem is she says I spend more time with it then with her.
Internet was back the nest day, but I never missed anything because of the shortwave radio. Had the power gone out I still would not have missed anything because of battery powered radios. On the better ones there is even an antenna jack so you can hook your portable to an outside shortwave antenna.
Show your other half articles about the new $15,000 Icom radio and then offer to “compromise” on one for under $1,000 (such as the Grundig/Eton E1 portable or the Icom R-75 table top). Your partner will be happy you are not going to mortgage the house to buy a new radio and you will have your shortwave.
If you hurry you can get one in time for Christmas.
Happy Holidays everyone!!

» This comment was received at 16:54 on 05 December 07

I somehow missed this…

I can’t say I own a shortwave radio, but.. at completely the other end of the spectrum, I guess… I can’t imagine life without the DAB digital radio I got a few years back. It’s a really fab product, and very well built. I love it.

» This comment was received at 21:50 on 16 December 07

This post has been referenced by another on this site:
sjhoward.co.uk » Labour hammered in local elections

[...] Last year, with respect to Mr Brown, I predicted If he continues to crash his way through crisis after crisis, announcing ridiculous policy after ridiculous policy, then the next government of this country will be Conservative. [...]

» This pingback was received at 20:29 on 03 May 08

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