Brown's spend, spend, spend during his Chancellor's days has brought us into the current economy we are facing today. His appeal at a Downing Street meeting for the lenders to pass on cuts appeared to fall on deaf ears with HBOS, which owns the Halifax, increasing its rate on some mortgages from 6.09 to 6.59 per cent. Borrowers taking out this type of deal will now pay 46 more a month. On a two-year tracker, the rate will increase from 1.49 points above base rate to 1.99 points, giving a current rate of 6.99 per cent.

Other lenders are expected to follow Halifaxs lead.

If the Government wants the banks to lower mortgage rates to home owners - why not just offer them through Northern Rock? Everyone would rush to the Rock to get the loans forcing banks to match the rates or lose the business? Or maybe the government would then run into bigger credit crunch?

Can't understand the fuss.
Its a silly little parochial dispute about who will trash the city next. It belongs on local radio (at best) not national TV. It is about as relevant for the majority of the population as who wins the Unibond premier league.
Kens made a ball of chalk of it and so will the next, but who cares. The resident might, but thats about it. For the rest of the country, London is somewhere to avoid going, and Ken made that easier with silly congestion charges etc.
There should be more focus on the problems that face the entire country, not three failed politicains fighting to be Dick Whittington and lead a city, and its loosely affiliated tribes up the creek.
The best possible result, all round, would be no votes cast for anyone. That might demonstrate that the whole office is pointless, needless, failing and a waste of everyones time and money.

i agree hewitt.......most people in uk avoid london.

i went for 1st time in 1999 and was amazed at amount of foreigners and especially folk that cant speak english.....i booked into an establishd hotel and even receptionist could barely speak english. even getting a rain ticket i couldnt understand the guy trying to serve me.

i wont be going to london again even though it has great theatre and sightseeing. well not unless someone cleans the city up which wont happen.

boris did try to answer questions on question time.......even though some people make fun of him, i think boris cares and is actually quite intellectual....its just that in front of tv, he stumbles across words

Roll on Thursday.

BORIS FOR P.M//THE BEST FOOL{could be the BEST YET}

Great result out with the looney left and in with the lonnie right..

Well done Boris.

Good to see Gordon Brown has paid his price for his cowardice

gordon has a vision.....from his 1 good eye.....the vision is....a conservative victory.

labour incompetence everywhere in country every day till you vote me out!

why dont they increase personal allowances substantially as a simple way to help those at lower end of scale....it means you aint taxing them as such.

also, why dont gov have a rate reduction when people pay off mortgages.....so if someone takes 20 years to pay of mortgage, then they get a rate reduction as mortgage repayment is a big chunk of interest accrued.

these are just suggestions to help people that r struggling in this rip-off nation.
jes, even the poles r leaving and they been here only about 2 years.

uk is shit

as a follow on from post 12 it now looks like Diagio amounst others are looking to change domicile given Brown/Darling proposals to tax overseas earnings. This is a severe shot across the Government's bows and I can see that they have no alternative but to back down or these large Companies will take action. The Government is struggling to cover the black hole in public finances and I believe that Brown will be brought down since confidence is evaporating quickly. This in itself can create a more severe crises economically where MP's are forced to act. We need completely new people at the helm to sort this shambles out. No easy task.

Rubbish!! Irresposible American banks are responsible for this current banking crisis. Not helped by stupid moves by many British & European banks.

Gordon brown has nothing to do with it, except for the fact that:

A: He's ugly
B: He has zero charisma
C: He should never have become PM in the first place
D: He should stop trying to smile, it looks even worse.

my 10 eurocents worth

Peter

Scotty, If UK is shit, why don't you improve it by emigrating?

8-)

Must agree with you Fred, its not the UK that is the problem, its the Government that is running it. Its a wonderful country with all going for it, if only the idiots running it appreciated it and stopped trying to feed their own repugnant egos. Still its too late for that as far as they are concerned. Will they jump or will they be pushed? Unfortunately, may take a while, depends alot on domestic economy.

fred

i did leave a few years ago....but unfortunately my dads health is deteriorating lot so i returned 2 years later.
also, i think its up to british people also to help change the country....problem is 5 million have already left and multi millions of mainly rubbish have come here hearing of the great welfare gravy train.....so british people i fear is well under 50 million these days.

i think it will be a long time this time around to improve uk....its not just economy is knackered....its the widespread violence, vandalism in all parts of country.....uk is also very beauraucratic these days under brown.
also, many people have lost their manners esp the youth who have no respect for teachers, ministers etc in life......no respect for authority.

and its a filthy country too.

its number 1 for shoplifting in europe as well

The weather is terrible too!

Guscavalier, Do you mean. the "cameroon", "Dave the Lad". the "osborne" the Nonentity, or the "boris" the Clown!

It is strange how the capitalists go squawking to government to bail them out when times are hard. Also blaming others for their own inadequacies.

Fred, I will leave you to pick, Mickey Mouse would be better than Brown. What capitalists? Chancers or earners ?

Did Gordon actually feel the hurt we feel or just worried about his next pay-packet?


Gordon Brown today admitted personal responsibility for Labours disastrous election results in a round of candid interviews, and confessed he felt chastened by the losses.

In BBC and Sky television interviews, Mr Brown tried to put across two competing messages - one that he understood the pain of the electorate and took responsibility for it, but two that he is in no mood to quit and is relishing the fight ahead.

The Prime Minister took the blame for Thursday's results in a way that he has often failed to do in the past. He had no excuses, he said. He had got it wrong over the 10p tax, he allowed speculation over an election last autumn to go on too long, he sometimes spent too much time on the detail and he had not paid enough attention to selling his policies.

Mr Brown said it was vital for the Government to show voters it understood their anxieties about rising prices and to convince them it had an unequivocal and strong sense of direction about how to get Britain through a tough economic period. He acknowledged that voters were feeling worried about their standard of living and said: I feel the hurt they feel.

I believe your policy of fools rushing in where angels fear to tread.

I have yet to read the details of tory policies. Cameron's spouts remind me of the Sun's headline the contents even less.

Mind I doubt that tory party voters could understand more than that.

The people that come through this tough economic period will be in spite of Brown's existance, not because of it. The only thing he regrets is that people have finally woken up to the results of his actions. The don't do as I do but, do as I say brigade.At least with the blue mob you know what you are getting. Even in politics there is a thing called timing. What would have been the point of the tories declaring their hand too soon. Camaron will now have to declare the policies now that the spotlight will be more fully trained on his party. We all know that politics is and always will be like a game of chess except, chess is much cleaner.I never read the Sun but I read the Eagle when I was a kid.

I did not see the Brown interview

Being leader of the opposition is an easy job, that Cameron is well up to. I have my doubts that he is prime minister material. But then again, Brown isn't either.
The leader of the opposition merely has to promise free beer. It helps if he has something plausible by way of a plan to deliver it, but the promise should be enough. The prime minister has to deliver the free beer, or explain why its 2 a pint.
Lets be honest here. Boris as mayor is a wonderful illustration.
The guy is an amiable buffoon. I have no doubt he is as sincere as anyone and obviously very intelligent, but mayor? The figurehead of a once proud capital? He is more suited to being president of the clowns guild.
The reason he got elected was not his own abilities, but Kens lack of them, and the electorate getting fed up of waiting for Labour to deliver free beer.
The current state of the UK depresses me. The state of the leadership depresses me. The options available depress me the most.
British politics often uses the saying "turkeys voting for Christmas". I feel like a turkey given the choice between Christmas and banning turkeys.
For an average turkey like me, where is the vegetarian party???