Writing in the DT today, Brown has the audacity to demand us to develop a bit of WWII-style camaraderie and battle through the recession. Brown's problem (well, one of his thousands of problems) is that he sees money in itself as a moral institution. That there's a divine spark in the free market mechanism. And those who have a lot of money deserve a bigger say. Those with the most have the 'right' to make political decisions. The bigger the income bracket the greater the odour of sanctity. Take away the money and you remove the individual's - well, individuality. This, of course, has been seen throughout history. But we're not living in the C13th. We're living in an age where education is seen as a given, rather than the province only of the very wealthy. We can communicate with others thousands of miles away in a mere nanosecond. Everyone can aspire to becoming the leaders of nations. So to revert to the position that money equals morality sends us straight back to the dark ages. And to compare our situation now with our nation's ideological battles against the invidious far-Right extremism of Nazi Germany is positively shameful.
Brown says Britain's the best country in the world. And he does live in the best country in the world: his own. What he says goes. He's absolutely intractable. He is in the habit of always getting his own way - no matter what means he employs to get it. He'll lie, he'll cheat, he'll use spin, he'll ignore censure and criticism and plain common sense: he is convinced that he's absolutely right. Morally right. The electorate is crushed beneath the sheer weight of his ego. The only spirit it can show is by removing him from office - permanently. But herein lies the rub. Ideally, if or since we have to be ruled at all, our leaders should be a projection of our own wishes and desires; what we think would be 'good' and 'right' for ourselves and, by implication, for others. But with Brown's government we have precisely the reverse of this golden rule. He thinks of what would be good and right for himself and inflicts it on the rest of us. He listens not to our wishes; only his own. In our best interests, of course.
Hence the huge bank bail-outs whilst at the same time talking about slashing benefits - as if benefit claimants caused a £1 trillion hole in the economy. The financial institutions are worth rescuing; the people are not. Job losses? Shame, that: the government'll give you £60 a week and fine you if you don't take whatever you're given - regardless of whether it's suitable for you or not. Mortgages? Don't even dare to hope of getting on the housing ladder. If you're £30 over your overdraft, the banks see you as a risk: they've judged your character and found you shifty and unreliable and immoral. The temples of money have become the new home of religion.
'I am confident that we can steer Britain safely into the future,' writes Brown. 'Today the issues may be different, more complex, more global. And yet the qualities we need to meet them the British people have demonstrated in abundance before.' What breath-taking optimism. The problem with Brown's rallying call is that Britishness has all but been eroded by 'community cohesion', 'political correctness', the EU, eradication of our collective history, mass immigration, huge unemployment and the recapitulation of rectitude as a pound sign. And, should a Labour government be returned at the next election, I am emigrating and shall not return. Like thousands of others who have fled 'Great' Britain over the past 11 years, this administration has been a nightmare in history, not a beacon of hope, presided over by those who care solely for their own interests and convictions.