Monday, March 30, 2009

Hutton Haunts Labour

When you are a Labour Prime Minister you know you are in trouble when someone like Will Hutton turns on you. On 5 Live Breakfast today, Hutton described the regulation of banks over the last ten years as a "disaster" and pinned the blame for that regulation firmly on Gordon Brown.

He also maintained that Scottish taxpayers should be incredibly grateful to their English counterparts, who had saved their country from bankruptcy. He said it was a major national embarrassment for Scotland that their two biggest banks and now their biggest building society had gone bankrupt.

The biggest embarrassment for Scotland is that it was a Scot - Gordon Brown - who presided over the whole debacle.

Funny how the name Hutton is one which haunted Blair and is now doing the same to Gordon Brown.

33 comments:

Wyrdtimes said...

The time has come to drop the jocks.

English taxes for England
English law for England
Home rule for England

no longer anonymous said...

Alas Will Hutton is a die-hard Keynesian and usually wrong about everything.

WakeyWakey said...

Most of the usual Liebour suspects have gone quiet of late but we'll know the end is nigh when they start turning on each other like rabid dogs.

Plato said...

Heard him too and wondered if I was in a parallel universe.

R5 doing deflection phone-in about men who use porn rather than the probity of Honorable Members.

Anonymous said...

The BBC News is glossing over the story that Obama has just forced the Chairman and Chief Exec of general Motors to resign.

The prospect that it is probably going into administration does not seem to worry them.

It ought to worry the employees of Vauxhall.

Sixxstring90 said...

Will Hutton is constantly utilised by the BBC as a financial expert. Has he ever run a business? No. Has he ever had a real job that involves profit making? No. Why don't they ask people who have run businesses, like John Redwood or Brian Binley?

Newmania said...

The problem is that undermining the tawdry SNP allows the ,even worse, Labour Party back in.

I would not hold your breath waiting for the Scots to say thanks .

strapworld said...

Ahmen to Nolongeranonymous and Sixxstring90. I have for many years, whenever Hutton said turn left, turned right!

The man is certainly no seer!

trevorsden is right. What I cannot get my head around is this. I have a friend in Derbyshire who asked me how things were in my neck of the woods. He said his local Lotus/Merc dealers' business was up some 40%, restaurants were full every night and he had seen so many 09 vehicles on the streets. It so happenned that the Vauxhall garage we got our new vehicle from in September telephoned to ascertain if things were okay. Asked how business was he told me that new car sales were up over 35% and second hand cars 45%!!
Also restaurants around here are constantly full. One I took my family to Saturday week, the owner told me they were fully booked for the next two months!

Is this the same elsewhere? Are people just deciding to spend their savings? It is quite interesting.

Dick the Prick said...

NLA - too right: Will Hutton should be ashamed of himself. I guess vanity suits some but he went from being a sage and shifted on the supply curve to become an absolute arse. Lost all political capital.

Unsworth said...

The worm turns, then. How long before Peston, Toenails, Pienaar etc do the same? Are they really going to be so stupid as to wait for the General Election?

I think they probably are...

T England. Raised from the dead. said...

You know when your a Labour Pimeminister in trouble because your surporters can't do anything but tell the obvious truth because the spin doesn't wash any more!!

Brown is all washed out & spun dry, we all know it & Brown knows we know it :o)

Anonymous said...

Lord Hutton did not haunt Bliar, he let him off the hook. Read his report and particularly the last group of sentences at the end of the mid section. Here he gives his reasoning as to how he accepts changes to the intelligence report. This was Bliar 'Get out of Jail free card'. All Huttons conclusions flowed from this premise. It is why he got off scott free, even though guilty.

Unknown said...

Scottish taxes for Scotland
Scottish law for Scotland
Home rule for Scotland

I would not hold your breath waiting for the English to say thanks for bailing Mrs Thatcher out with the Scottish Oil money or for robbing Scotland of its young men in two world wars.

Have none of you tw ats read the papers on Scotlands oil that were kept under wraps for 30 years -

Scotland the only country to discover oil and get poorer by the day because of that big sucking thing next door called Engerland.

A bankrupt Scotland would still be a better place than the festering sore that is England, Moss Side, or Wandsworth sink estates, where no one speaks English and knives and guns are freely available where the ministers spouses wan k off on the taxpayers or the blind ministers do under table deals for their lovers maids, or where tory MP's can have wives and sons on the payroll for years and years dont you dare lecture us Wrdtimes or Newmania just be careful you don't get mugged tonight on the way home in stockbroker belt surrey.

Anonymous said...

Linda - two words for you you silly bint ... Wendy Alexander

Mark M said...

Funny, no mention of this on LabourList. Rather an interesting attempt to whip up class warfare.

Labour hypocracy on my blog today
from-the-north.blogspot.com

Wyrdtimes said...

Scottish taxes for Scotland
Scottish law for Scotland
Home rule for Scotland

All for it Linda.

Not sure what the Shetlanders will make of your oil claim though.

Go on Scotland "the Brave" vote for independence. Please, please, please set us free.

Anonymous said...

Brown is blaming the Dunfermline Building Society for its problems - but where was the regulator.

It says there is no bale out - but it is taking on the toxic assets. The taxpayer is being stuffed again.

Key bored warrior. said...

Wyrdtimes. On his blog bio has "nothing to see here move along," and is so thick he has called it "Wyrdtimes for England."

Sad Walter Mitties, who are disturbed and lonely as he obviously is, should be prevented from using the internet, and taken to treatment centres, where they will be taught to interact with humans not imaginary friends.

With regards to Scotland there is plenty to see, start here http://tinyurl.com/cvhtq9 and then move along.

Doug said...

I'm a Conservative Unionist but I get sick and tired of the constant Scot bashing. Let me be clear this is aimed at those few who comment in such manner but admittedly very rarely by Iain as well. A technical note - may I remind everyone that BOS was effectively taken over by the Halifax whose corporate officers then occupied the senior positions of HBOS (all English by the way) and the operational HQ was in Halifax not Edinburgh. Do I have to mention Northern Rock and Bradford and Bingley and even LloydsTSB who were asking for £6bn even before the HBOS takeover? It also looks like Barclays are going to use the government's bad asset insurance scheme. Are the English people in and around Newcastle (Northern Rock) being asked to give their thanks and to who exactly? To the masters of the universe in the South East (home of the political classes, the City and its traders who got out of hand in the last decade). Of course many of those traders will be Scots as well considering Scotland does do a good job of exporting people who are valued on the job market so we can blame Scotland for that as well. When will the rest of the English regions, who are also subsidised by the South East, be required to give their thanks? Of course not the whole idea is utter tripe. There's this pernicious attempt to associate Scotland or being Scottish with everything bad. Are Fraser Nelson or Iain Martin views to be summarily dismissed because of their heritage? are David Cameron's (half)? There are many voices on the right who are Scottish. Brown isn't a bad leader or a bad politician because he is Scottish. He is just bad (to put it mildly). I'd hear the same anti-English nonsense about Thatcher et al. during the eighties and nineties. By the way Scotland also deposited a lot of oil revenues that Lady Thatcher used to help keep the bills down in England - small by comparison to today's crisis but what do you expect from a country with a small fraction of the population of England. (I consider oil off Scotland as no different than London in the South East that will always be the seat of government power and the nations financial centre which makes it very much like sitting on an immovable field of black gold).

I'm all for attacking the dismal Labour government and politicians but being Scottish has nothing to do with it. I'm just waiting for Jacqui Smith to be associated with Scotland in some way to make it a perfect storm for some. I don't hear anyone noting the English nationality of other useless Labour ministers, Smith, Straw, Johnson, McNulty, Bradshaw, Benn, the Milibands, Beckett, Flint, Harman, Balls, Burnham, Timms, Purnell, Hoon, Blears, Jowell, Denham, Mandelson, Hutton etc.

The easiest way to help the SNP is to accept their premise of a nation fundamentally divided rather than a centuries old United Kingdom. And the same goes for the English nationalists as well who use exactly the same politics of grievance as Salmond does.

I have to say this when you see your heritage getting trashed week in, week out and unfortunately considerably more so from my side, the right, than the left. Any Englishman would do the same under similar circumstances.

yarnesfromhorsham said...

So lets get this straight. We have the Dumfirmline BS run by a load of Scottish idiots,we have the RBS run by a load of Scottish idiots and we have HBOS run by Scottish idiots.Also we have the PLP run by a load of cottish idiots.
Now is there a link here?

Wyrdtimes said...

A fascinating insight from the "Key Bored Warrior" - take a look at his "blog" if you will.

Can you spot his new symbol for Scotland? Yes that's right - a tartan chicken... I kid you not.

How very very apt.

Plato said...

Well that just got you two more hits Mssrs K Warrior and Wyrdtimes :)

Gareth said...

Had anyone from the right of the commentariat made those points the left would be calling them racist.

Tomfiglio said...

Linda - one of the stupidest comments I've ever read. Why do Scots pretend that their role in history since the union has been as a passive lackey of the English? Is she saying that Scotland would have stayed out of the World Wars if it had been independent? At least that would have prevented all those young Englishmen dying at the behest of that idiot Scots general, Haig.
Please, would all you whining, mendicant Celts take your independence and go? And by the way, don't assume the map of the oilfields would stay the same if you were to choose independence.

Unknown said...

An Analogy:
------------------

Dear English Football Association

As a representative of the Scottish Football Association, I would like to inform you that we wish to change the way the English Football team is managed to bring it more in line with the way our Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, is running Britain.

This will involve the following:

1. The Manager of the Scottish team is allowed to be involved with the running of the English team. However, the manager of the English team should have no say whatsoever in the running of the Scottish team. This shall be known as the West Lothian Question.

2. A sizable proportion of any money the English Football Association raises from, say sponsorship or crowd takings, shall be given to the Scottish Football Association, regardless as to whether you need it or not. This does not apply the other way round. This is known as the Barnett Formula.

3. You are not to call yourself England any longer. You will now be known as the British Regions. We, on the other hand, are still to be known as Scotland, “a proud and noble nation”.

4. Medical treatment to your players will be limited to a few treatments because of cost. No such stringent limitation applies to Scotland.

5. If your playing surfaces are flooded, then do not expect much assistance. However, Scottish pitches will be adequately provided for in the event of flooding.

6. From this moment on, the English Football Association will cease to exist. However, the Scottish Football Association will be allowed to continue to work independently.

A failure to follow these rules will see you branded as arrogant, selfish and unfair.

I’m sure you will find this to your satisfaction. After all, you seem to be happy with this state of affairs with your political system, so why not your Football team?

Yours sincerely

Mr G Brown.

PS You English are so naïve, you are being abolished and don’t even realise it.

Jon Lishman said...

Will Hutton is an extremely confused man.

Key bored warrior. said...

At March 30, 2009 12:19 PM , Blogger Plato said...

Well that just got you two more hits Mssrs K Warrior and Wyrdtimes :)

===================================

Notice the difference. One has the courage of his convictions and posts accordingly. The other (Whyrdtimes,) is a very brave Walt, when hiding behind his keyboard, and lacking in any substance.

To "bwstones" anal...ising I say please read the truth on Scotlands fiscal surplus to the UK. http://tinyurl.com/6xezse

To Tomfiglio, your veiled threats are just that. The Royal Navy got humped by Iceland (twice)when it tried pushing them around, please do not make the mistake of thinking that the Scots will be any less resilient. There has been quite enough asset stripping.

Wyrdtimes said...

Sorry about this Iain...

Look tartan chicken boy (key bored warrior) I am an anonymous blogger just like yourself.

I realise that thinking is not your strong point but click on my profile then click on "move along" and it will forward you to my occasional ramblings.

Occasional because I am busy trying to make a living but seem to be paying vast quantities of cash to keep Scottish banks/and building societies and your parasitic, methodone soaked shite hole country going.

I really should like Scottish nationalists as I want the same thing as you but I don't - you deserve each other and your wasteland.

Tomfiglio said...

Key bored warrior - not a veiled threat, just a reminder of the true position under international law without the distortions created by Labour's need to pander to the Scots. Typical Caledonian paranoia to see it that way.

I say please read the truth on Scotlands fiscal surplus to the UK. http://englandparliament.blogspot.com/2008/09/tax-payers-alliance-report-on-barnett.html

xxx said...

Taking an extremely small sample of financial institutions, finding a common link between them and then extrapolating to an entire population (in this case the Scots) is a logical fallacy.
Please Read.
I appreciate that in times of economic hardship it is cathartic to have some individuals or groups to blame and hate.

Please stop and think. These tactics were deployed in 1930s Germany with tragic consequences.

Marian said...

As a right leaning free-marketeer who is also a supporter of the SNP I would advise that the disparaging comments about Scots on these pages and the comments attributed to Will Hutton claiming that Scots should be grateful for being bailed out are just the kind of comments that are tailor made to stoke the fires of separatism in Scotland.

Key bored warrior. said...

Tomfiglio said...

Key bored warrior - not a veiled threat, just a reminder of the true position under international law without the distortions created by Labour's need to pander to the Scots. Typical Caledonian paranoia to see it that way.

===================================

Go on then elighten the shit out of me and do tell what bits of international law you cherry pick to support your racist boasting.

You know nothing of Caledonia or intenational law, which is why you are spouting the bigoted shit that passes for comment in your local.

Paranoia, now I'm sure you can do a master class in that as you have allready shown.

http://tinyurl.com/6l8tty
I said the truth not the slaverings of demented Engerlanders, with their heads up their jacksies.

Key bored warrior. said...

Tomfiglio I clicked you link it is dead like the rest of your whittering