Gordon Brown could be forgiven for thinking that the four horsemen of the apocaplyse are out to get him. In his first six weeks in power he has experienced an act of war, floods and now pestilence in the form of an outbreak of foot and mouth. He must be worried about an imminent outbreak of famine.But in some ways, these terrible occurences have helped him make his mark as Prime Minister. Even his opponents credit him with handling each of these crises well from a publicity viewpoint, even if the action has sometimes been lacking . He has now had three major opportunities to display his crisis management abilities, something the leader of the opposition rarely has the chance to do.
Successful politicians are lucky politicians. You can read the first six weeks of Brown's premiership in two ways. Either that he has been unlucky to have had three crises in six weeks, or that they have given him the chance to display leadership skills we had been hitherto unaware of.
The real test will be Brown's ability to manage the day to day issues on which people vote. And that is why Conservatives should not lose heart, for on those issues Brown has not so far displayed a sureness of touch. And it is on those issues which the Conservatives should launch their Summer Heat campaign against the government.
The foot and mouth outbreak is something everyone hoped they would never see again. Many farming communities are only just recovering from the 2001 outbreak. Many farmers went under and many have only just rebuilt their herds. The recurring nightmare of it happening again will be too much for many to contemplate.
It is to be hoped that this outbreak has been caught in time and that it has not spread elsewhere. Farmers throughout Surrey and neighbouring counties will be saying a lot of prayers this morning. We should all join them.
20 comments:
I believe I've already said something about the previous outbreak and belated over-compensation, so I need say no more.
It is crucial this time that we do not end up with a mass cull of millions of animals for no good reason.
Last time the government acted in an absolutley disgraceful way. I hope this time the opposition can tap into the public desire to avoid a mass cull of healthy animals.
If this foot and mouth outbreak is as bad as the last - and its not clear if the summer months - with stock spread out in the fields - will make it so. Gordon Brown's test will be the decision to ignore pleas from the short-termists in the farming industry and start vaccinating against the disease.
Foot and mouth is an economic disease NOT something that requires images on 24 news channels flashed across the world showing Dr Who - style funeral pyres being organised by The Brigadier.
The British farming industry needs to work on its branding not getting £5bn of grants for "pedigree" herds that in reality are under-weight, fattening, no particular sought at all, stock.
If the diesese spreads to, say more than 3 areas, Good farmers AND the Torry agi shadow, should be calling for vaccination.
MAFF muffed it last time - so did Tim Yeo.
In my comment above, I mean that foot and mouth is a diesese that effects the ecomomics of farming.
It is not, as the funerel pyres implied a threat to human health or indeed the long-term health of the beasts themeselves.
A report from DEFRA recently suggested that vacination should be considered in any future breakout.
It is important that the Conservative party agricultural shadow does not get influenced by the Jo Grundies in the NFU.
Modern farmers know that they have to worry about marketing and branding not hand-outs.
It's the positive spin that Brown's media friends put on everything he does, that has helped him. The BBC would give a glowing report on Brown, every time he takes a dump, if they could!
I think you'll find the famine is going to be economic and is very much on its way.
House repossessions up 30%. People's mortgages taking the largest proportion of their income to repay since Black Wednesday. The Dollar going over a cliff - but oddly the UK buying lots a US bonds. The high pound killing British industry with a modern Dutch disease caused by the waves of cash being processed from the middle east via the city. The bloated, dysfunctional and ageing but with super extra generous pension arrangements public sector.
This is all going of soon right under Gordon Brown and after ten years in charge of the economy even Labour's shameless spin machine will have problems deflecting this lot ( but they will of course try. )
It would be encouraging if so many good people we're about to suffer as a result.
Has anyone made the link yet???
Pirbright Government Research lab is only about 3 miles from the site of the outbreak. They do resersch on foot and mouth.
famine is on its way....
http://tapestrytalks.typepad.com/tapestry_talks/2007/07/bees-dying-off-.html
errrrrrrrrrrrr
I honestly didnt steal this from you but posted the very same on my blog.
Lets face it the lienig thieving gits isnt lucky, he attracts bad things.
I hope you are not intending to post anything about a drinking sesssion with two muslim carpet fitters as I am later.
Your attempts at spin vary in quality between utter drivel and fathomless nonsense.
Squeaking that Brown has been lucky at the end of a month of supreme incompetence from Cameron is pathetically weak.
No doubt it is true you would vote for a donkey as long as it sported a blue rosette.
I don't think Floods was a member of the apocalypse squad...Death, War, Pestilence and Famine obviously thought he was a bit wet...
Well, what about Boris Johnson and the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan?
All these scary things on horseback.
This Brown rushing home from holidays because of foot and mouth is a joke. The outbreak was first reported on Thursday, Brown goes off on Friday, and only after DEFRA has set up exclusion zones and nationwide ban on all movement of livestock does the clunking one return to London.
It's all spin, and the media lap it up.
I think Ralph has a good point. And if the boss of a corporation dropped everything every time there was a crisis he would look like an idiot and people would be wondering what his directors were being paid for.
There is no more need for this posturing politics than the need for Dangerous Dave to have flown back from Rwanda. I might venture to say that Gordon's action was more about making Dave look bad than actually being able to do something. And anyway, hasn't he heard of teleconferencing?
But.
The Apocalypse, as MiaS says, is the financial meltdown, the mother of all financial meltdowns. It is coming.
People earning less than £20,000 a year with mortgages, HD tellies and new cars?
It doesn't add up. It never added up and it was being financed on credit, and then credit on credit and credit on credit, financed by credit.
Its a no-brainer.
The Tory record on BSE hardly suggests that they are best placed to manage livestock disease outbreaks......
Brown is indeed a lucky politician.
There is a failed bombing attempt.
Brown goes on the tele and makes a grave statement.
"We shall stand up to... Our security services are...blah, blah."
There is flooding in Gloucestershire.
Brown goes on the tele and makes a grave statement.
"Our hearts go out to the people of... I pay tribute to the men and women of the emergency services, who...blah, blah.
Now foot and mouth! Brown can't believe his luck. He goes on the tele and makes a grave statement.
Our prompt intervention has... Our farmers have...blah, blah.
Is there anything remarkable about this? Has Brown done anything a political journeyman couldn't have done?
No. So save us the Great Leader, Serious Man for Serious Times stuff. It's doing me 'ead in.
Yes, no doubt about it - it's divine retribution on Tone and Broony.
This is however in one way the most dangerous crisis for Brown. Although the floods had a huge impact, theres not much he could do apart from look serious and promise stuff for the future.
With foot and mouth however its a lot different. The government must, must stop this from spreading. Another huge infection, on top of the floods, on top of the previous outbreak, would serious damage farming in this country.
The effect of this one can be put at the door of the government.
the four horsemen
pestilence (floods): check
war (glasgow/london attacks): check
conquest (iraq): check
and now he get news of the possibility of famine: meat shortages in britain by end of the week
i'm not normally the superstitious kind, but might the great Buddha/God/Spagetti Monster in the sky be sending us a message about Brown's premiership?
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