Back to the future

"*With* a plan" Nick, for goodness sake!

IT WAS AN EXCELLENT SPEECH.Powerful and statesmanlike.I am in no doubt that thi sman will be Prime Minister in 18 months time.What leadership compared to Browns spin and dithering.Well done Mr Cameron

That was a very good speech. About 20 minutes too long but, still, very impressive. Cameron beats Brown hands down as a communicator.

Now, if the BTP would only change all their policies, I might consider voting for them.

I heard "man with a plan, not a miracle cure", not "man without a plan..."

Yes, Nick,

Its right back to 1979

The light brigade......on another fateful charge.....

This speech was nothing as simplistic as this 'analysis' would make it appear.

It was thoughtful - and moving. The section about the NHS brought me to tears (for very personal reasons).

It is about setting a tone and indicating very clearly an ability to lead us.

That was an excellent speech. He nailed the "novice" line from Gordon Brown.

Brilliant speech.

Anyone that properly listened to that speech has a very realistic analysis of what the countries problems are.

This was not a Labour Party style give away of laptops and nursery places to make the party faithful sea lions clap.

Cameron clearly has deep seated convictions and a true strategy.

I hope that the public open up their minds and truly listen and take on board what he has said.

It is possible to change life long voting patterns for the right choice for Britain.

Great statesman like speech. Difficult in today's financial crisis to know how to play it but he came through with flying colours saying all the right things and punctuating it with a little humour - something Crash Gordon just doesn't have.

David has the intellect, strength, stamina, and CHARACTER. This country needs him!

"man without a plan" - see NR's exact text - must be some kind of Freudian slip, no?

The back to the future comment is so relevent to today's financial crisis. The sins of the past are being revisited all around us and especially in financial markets. I've seen it before and expect I will see it again. Not exactly as it happened but with the same symptoms and similar results.

Many said the current financia crisis could never have been foreseen?

As the former Global Head of HSBC Securities Services, I am now a published author of "One Step To Danger" (Troubador Publishing). This financial thriller was initially rejected by several publishers and agents as "too far fetched" despite my quite prescient claim that the story line could one day become a reality.


The main character's description of the slump in share prices, after market manipulation by money managers and especially himself, echoes eerily this week's events:

"It was then sheer and unadulterated panic. And that panic fed panic in Wall Street. The market opened. The market slumped. It was a blood bath. There were rumours of major broker defaults. One bank had called to see the Federal Reserve. There were rumours that it was in trouble.......I looked at the news and saw the President was holding a press conference....."


That was what the book said when I drafted it in 2002 and finalised it last year. Now it is the real world and not a figment of my imagination. My imagination did not run riot; the financial world has now caught up with me!!

If he really said that he's a man 'without a plan not a miracle cure' I shall vote for him. It would be the first time, ever, that I've heard the leader of a political party come anywhere close to the truth!

So much more refreshing to listen to someone who can actually speak the English language and is proud of it. Who can spell correctly and is proud of it. Who doesn't use his speech to give throw away bribes to the electorate. Who tells the workshy they'll have to get off their backsides and get back to work.

In short someone who could represent us as a country and not be a laughing stock. Who does not represent the excess of the Blair years. Who did not ramp up government debt to the highest level in Europe.

Whose name is Cameron not Brown

Call an election.

Good speech. He made some good points, didn't make any vague promises of tax cuts to try and gain cheap votes, and struck a sombre mood. All in all very well done in these bad financial times. I wonder how many people will start posting here claiming to be long term tory supporters who want more substance?

I was only saying the other day how Zen masters acted without plans. Now, Cameron leaps on the Zen bandwagon. What can I say? Welcome to the party, pal!

Was he (cameron) serious about the Osborne speech

being the best ever shadow chancellors speech ever made??

Laugh......laugh.....laugh

Have to say as a Labourite i was massively impressed by David Cameron... He certainly has the pulse of the country and i think i've just changed my voting intentions at the next election...

I'm afraid I just can't see myself voting Labour after this speech.....

Dammit Nick! I thought I was onto something then and it was just you adding 'out' to the end of 'with'! So 'Dave' is the 'man with a plan'. I'm reminded of Wile E. Coyote: He always had a plan!

A bit too woolly and liberal for my liking, but the promise to hold a referendum on the EU treaty and the promise to go to war with educators that dumb-down and sack the kinds of people who give extra-credits for children who swear in their examination papers is very welcome.

I like the way that he wants to punish the bankers for their mistakes, instead of the way Brown is always bending over backwards to give them anything they want from the taxpayer. Cameron appears to realise that tax revenues are NOT his personal money. It is ours and we expect value for money. Value for money being something that Labour has NEVER understood.

Roll on the next election.

Nick

Nothing to say about his analysis of the failures of brown and labour?

Scared of biting the hand that feeds you?

I am sure labour will follow your line (or are you following theirs) about waving 'thatcher' around as a bogeyman.

Surely you can't really expect to get away with a contentless posting when there was so much to work with?

Yes, I guess you can - and will contine to do so...

Great speech by Cameron.

The fatally-wounded Brown bear no doubt grumbled and growled in his cave as his battle scars were agitated by prods and pokes from Captain Cameron's sharp stick.

But the real frustration for the bear no doubt was the rich harvest of honey-sweet policies which were so well trailed and which the bear knew could never be his.

The Brown bear stays wounded and not yet dead; time will take care of that.

Meanwhile Cameron prepares for office.

I thought it was an excellent speech which clearly set out the direction he would like to take the Country and what that would mean, in broad terms, for different sectors of society. Whether you agree with the content or not, at least there was content, which is more than can be said for Brown's offering last week.

I particularly liked the comment that the UK is a Country and not a TV channel (when referring to Blair's fascination with news management and the short termism that results). I do hope that was code for his intention to reduce both the head count and perverse activity of Westminster spin doctors. I want our politicians to focus upon resolving the issues rather than invest precious time managing news feeds designed to kid us that they are resolving the issues (when they patently are not).

I did disagree, at least in part, with Nick's summing up on the TV.

I don't subscribe to Nick being partial to one party or another, but I do take issue with his summing up. It seems to be predicated on a good soundbite for his news feed rather than what I personally distilled from a 65 minute speech.

Maybe being a journalist is what Nick should be accused of.

Three of the first 10 comments are from accounts that have never posted before!

They haven't been modded yet, so I'll have to guess whehter they will be pro or anti wont I...

What do you think?

I thought he did very well with his speech, and clearly spelt out a way forward.

He has identified many of the everyday problems which are the bane of everyones lives these days, which is more than Gordon Browns "we get it" government seem to have done.

Is it just me or did Nick resubmit a different topic to what was there before? Anyway, I just read the news item on Cameron's speech and I see no sign of plans for business and society that will help turn the country around. It just looks like more of the same old bogeymen. This is not a forward looking consensus for the long-term. It's just about creating enemies and scaring people. Yup, same old Thatcherism.

But "sound money" is at the foundation of genuine prosperity. We have had Irresponsible Brown spending beyond our means and now the Government is broke. Government borrowing is simply deferred taxation - either Brown should have taxed even more to satisfy his profligate spending, or he should have spent less and more wisely - it is as simple as that. It will take a Cameron led Conservative Government to put Government finances back onto a stable footing.

So he wants to be the PM of the UK not just England... Then he talked about Thatcher ..

Red rag to bull stuff as far as most Scots are concerned.

When your on the wrong road, Dave, your lost.

The man with no plan lost in another dimension.

It might make the headlines, for all the nonsense of its content.

Nick refers to Margaret Thatcher's infamous phrase (as he puts it) that "there's no such thing as society".

That quote is often trotted out to bash the Tories - and let's be honest, it wasn't a helpful comment given that it is open to misinterpretation.

What Margaret Thatcher was actually saying was that too many people were blaming 'society' instead of taking personal responsibility for things that go wrong. Society is made up of individual people.

I didn't hear David Cameron mentioned this "infamous" quote. More mischief making from the BBC?

Good speech.

It's easy to promise the earth in times of trouble. I don't trust this man at all, and neither should you.

99 @ 17

It was a good speech, no question. Brown is such a clunky communicator by comparison, isn't he?

Don't forget to check those BTP policies though, before changing your vote to them ... I think you'll find that you disagree with every last one of them.

Cameron makes a fool of himself by promising to change things at the sharp end, he thinks he can change the whole country in a day. Just who does he think he is? And furthermore, why would anyone want to be reminded of Margaret Thatcher? Good grief.

Just when I thought I couldn't despise this rosy cheeked plastic pillock anymore he goes and brings up Thatcher. A malodorous reminder of why the party of greed, exploitation and privilege shouldn't ever be let anywhere near government again. Brown may be hopeless but almost everything that is wrong with the world today can be traced back to the original Thatcher / Reagan axis of evil.
BTW, did anyone else get their hopes up when they read the phrase 'evoked the memory' applied to the old boot?

Number 13 says - "Call an election"

Who?

The BBC? Cameron? Tory Bloggers United?


They can't.
Get your head around our political system please.

Probably good enough for the Labour-lites to move over to Conservative-lite.

Nothing more though.

Fantastic speech, Brown will know now his days are numbered.

Brown will have been watching it in his bunker, keeping his head down until Thursday, waiting for the bailout plan to be approved so he can take credit for it.

It's been Cameron leading the way for the past week, he seems genuine leader (PM) material. Labour have no idea what to do next.

Feels familiar? You make it sounds as if Cameron has moved the Tories to the right, and Brown has moved Labour to the left.

I don't believe either of those things has happened.

What a speech!
Even Roy Hattersley had to clutch at straws to find anything to fault He was looking a bit fed up today. No wonder.
Cameron answered all his critics and gave us a way forward. Something everyone must be crying out for at the moment.
I wonder how many 20 plus people would like to be called novices let alone a 41 year old professional like Cameron.
Gordon Brown has well and truly shot himself in the foot.
The Tories are showing themselves as fully committed and ready to take on this shameless labour lot.
Now it just can't come soon enough.
I'd rather have pain that will get better under the Tories than never ending pain under Labour.

Same old, same old. Anyone who bases their vote entirely on a leader's speech in a comfy party get together should have their vote taken away.

The man's an empty vessel. If the electorate votes in a Blair Mark 2 then the country's going to be in an ever deeper mess - the only way is down...

Brown's been disappointing over the past twelve months but he's still a more sound leadership option than Little Boy Blue, regardless of what the Tory groupies on this blog and Nick Robinson might think, once they've finished their much-needed cold showers.

Personable bloke, decent speech, reasonable message. But it's a sheep in wolf's clothing. Elect the tories with a big majority and we'll see a lurch to the right.

Notice not much talk about europe? He's all over the centre ground until you get EU policy and suddenly he shows himself to be the reactionary he is deep down.

In an age where power and money is shifting east the idea we can continue punching above our weight internationally without being a central part of the EU is a joke.

"That was what the book said when I drafted it in 2002 and finalised it last year. Now it is the real world and not a figment of my imagination. My imagination did not run riot; the financial world has now caught up with me!!"

Well John, it was not very difficult to predict was it? When the entire economic model can be boiled down to the Federal reserve only exists to lend money (created from nothing out of thin air) into circulation at interest, without ever creating the interest, except by more credit, then that is an inflationary bubble waiting to burst. It is, by design, a system that is unsustainable and bound to collapse.

In simple terms, a society has 10 people. each one borrows 10 units of currency and goes away for a year. At the end of that year they each have to repay 11 units, (10 plus the interest on the loan). The extra unit(s) were never lent into circulation. So several members of that society are forced to borrow more in order to survive, or be foreclosed.

It is a fatally flawed system and MUST crash. It should be destroyed and replaced with a system that works for everyone, instead of JUST for the tiny elite of the elite of the global banking families.

As for Cameron's speech, it was very good indeed.

How depressing. I just saw a speech full of cynicism and spin and with American levels of nausiatingly fake sincerity that *almost* makes me wish for Tony Blair back.

I didn't see a single thing that wasn't pitched around a calculated sound byte. I suppose at least he's good at sound bytes while the current incumbents aren't good at anything but still.

I guess this means 5 years of Tory snouts back at their rightful troughs.

Well, its sounds like he recognises the overall finances are a mess and he's prepared to resolve the situation - makes a nice change to hear a politician who says I can't fix this by spending my way out of this with your money ..
In contrast to Brown I could at least imagine voting for Cameron - and you cannot imagine how tough a decision that is having lived in a Yorkshire mining village during the last Miners strike ..

This was a very thin comment from Nick Peston and not worthy of his normal standard.

It was a masterful speech which caught the public mood precisely. It was eloquent and full of insight. It also drew up important policy principles.

Without a doubt it shows he has the stature and depth to be the next Prime Minister.

He will get my vote and probably that of my namesake too!

Correction to my previous comment #29

I've looked at the transcript of David Cameron's speech just published, and I see he did indeed mention the phrase "no such thing as society".

So Nick was right - my mistake!

Cameron said: "No-one but the Minister, nowhere but Whitehall, no such thing as society - just them, and their laws, and their rules, and their arrogance. You cannot run our country like this"

Sorry Nick, for my mistake.

However, I do feel my point about Thatcher's "infamous" phrase often being taken out of context is still valid.

After this speech there can only be one reason to vote for the present government led by Gordon Brown:
"You got us into this mess you get us out".
The problem is that with my knowlege and experience of him over the last 10 years I wouldn't trust him and his "Government of Irresponsibility".

For me I really liked David Cameron's bit regarding the response to a letter, forwarded by him on behalf of a patient, to Alan Johnson about a complaint about the NHS - that's exactly the kind of faceless nasty uncaring bureaucracy most of us have to live with every day

Cameron is still a Blair

But he is more dangerous.

He does not lead a party that is about freedom, he leads a party that wants to preach to us about how we live (and who we live it with)

The Tories fired the starting gun of our economic woes in the early eighties

I see nothing that is really about stopping it - just patching up the problems with noble but useless words.

RobinJD

Forget an election LETS HAVE A COUP

Terrific that he's so in favour of responsibility. So, elsewhere in his speech, then, we see an acceptance of his party's, and in particular Thatcher's, responsibility for creating a financial climate in which greed was good; a trading climate in which ever more fictitious forms of commodities - futures, options - were traded ever more extensively; a regulatory climate which left money-makers (not wealth, just money) to make their money without keeping an eye on them; an industrial climate which deliberately and systematically downgraded actual production of material goods; a social climate which, because it was all about the money, eroded values such as respect, community, knowledge and, yes, experience. We see all that also in this speech about responsibility... uh, don't we?

For once in a very, very long time, a politician stopped spinning facts and just spoke his mind. It was a engaging monologue from someone who 'gets' it, that instinctively knows this country's problems.

The sense of injustice in what Labour have got wrong clearly came through and in a very measured tone.

We all know they've screwed up and despite their 'experience' they don't have the competence; it's time to change.

It was an excellent speech and a very good insight into a real political visionary. With the talent in the Shadow Cabinet, maybe the future might not be so bad.

Cameron has put the last nail in Prudence Dithering- Brown's political coffin.

To be asccused of being a novice by a man of experience who has overseen the largest govermnment debt this country has ever experienced with no way of getting it down; and that is before we load in all Private Finance Initiative costs is a joke worthy of court action!.

Oh if it was only numbers but this is serious that could be lost under the lies of statisticts dear boy!.

Prudence Dithering-Brown has overseen in partnership with Reverend Blair, a lamentable decline in this country's well being and we will be saddled with the debt hangover and payments thereof for years to come with little sign of it shifing for generations.

If that is what constitutes experience then we should all claim we can now walk on water!!

Nick, please put the Thatcher quote in context. It was a giveaway to the left and she should have known better but the point she was making was that society is made up of individuals and we all need to take responsibility. Not much wrong with that. By peddling the "infamous quote" line you put your reputation for impartiality at risk, which is a pity.

I don't hold a brief for Margaret, in fact I was a Conservative until meeting her and I immediately went and joined the Labour party. That was a long time ago.

I haven't decided which way I am voting yet. However, this speech has given me food for thought.

It was really sad listening to the letter being read out about the person who had a terrible experience in the NHS.

But in reality, I thought it was quite sick of Cameron to use it in this way.

He talks about Thatcher in virtually every speech. Sorry, but we've been there, seen the corpses piled up in the hospital corridors and got the scars to prove the previous breakdown of the NHS under the Tories. I wonder how many hours we would need to spare to read out letters from patients during the Thatcher years.

If you all liked Thatcher so much, why did you stab her in the back and get rid of her???
I have a lot to be grateful to Thatcher, including a personally written letter, but that doesn't mean she had not made mistakes.

But, please spare us your cheap shots and salivating sycophantic clap trap.

Cameron is still the cheap opportunist, (Why didn't he stand up for the Gurkhas before?) without any substance. He is not Thatcher nor even a Blair even though he seems to try so hard.

A warm, genuine and commanding speech, just what the country ordered!

I have say I can see straight through Nick's own bias in his analysis; I recall watching him taunt Lady Thatcher, with a cheap and nasty jibe a while back after she stepped out of No 10, a frail and elderley stateswoman, having been invited back by Gordon Brown. Just like Labour, all mouth and no manners.

So I ask you to listen to the this speech on its own merits and do not rely upon this wayward analysis. The speech was remarkable in its directness and made a laughing stock of the controlling Labour nanny state they we have been forced into serving.

This man is the next PM, and not a moment too soon.

Excellent speech, I won't dwell too much on why, other people here have articulated their opinions extremely well for me.

What I would say is compared to Gordon Brown's effort last week, today David Cameron's easy and effortless delivery made Gordon Brown seem clumsy, ill at ease and contrived.

I see many Labour apologists here, already on the back foot. are hurling the cheap Thatcher ammunition. Shameful!

How long will it be, if they haven't started already, before Labour denigrate the speech with spurious allegations and cheap shots.

At long last, the country has a politician we can have faith in to remedy the shambolic mess caused by Gordon Brown lurching in a headless fashion from one crisis to the next, kidding himself and us, only he can repair the damage.

@ 40 "Brown's been disappointing over the past twelve months but he's still a more sound leadership option than Little Boy Blue"

OK I have been watching politics very closely over the last 12 months, watching a lot of political television news, from here and abroad, reading newspapers and websites from across the political spectrum and the alternative media too, yet somehow, I managed to miss any evidence of "leadership" from Brown.

Please alert me to what I missed. When has he shown any leadership, and not bottled or flip-flopped???

It was an excellent speech and deserves to be reported as such. The tide of the country has changed Nick and I really do think you have missed it. Sorry.

# 49 Gurubear

You say: "Cameron is still a Blair".

Would this be the same Blair who: threatened to take us into the Euro?
promised a referendum on the constitutional treaty and then changed his mind?
wants to introduce ID cards?
introduced HIPs?
effectively broke up the United Kingdom?

I don't think so!

I'm surprised us Brits can sit back and mock the pointlessness of the US elections whilst admitting to allow their vote to swing to the guy who gives the best speech.

The speech was technically excellent in the way in which it was delivered. However the substance was still lacking.

Moreover all that was revealed through his vague hints at policy was a deep love for Margaret Thatcher.

This isn't surprising given his experience at the Treasury in the 80's when all the reforms freeing up the Banking sector first went through.

He was right in stating that the speech would be about values; he seems to have finally nailed his colours to the mast as a true blue Thatcherite (Though I have no doubt he will alter this message when not speaking to the faithful).

However, these revelations make all his superfluous talk of 'change' and 'new politics at Westminster' somewhat hollow.

The ethereal nature of his policies is also more made more prescient through a determined drive toward market reforms and deregulation in public services, whilst simultaneously holding deregulation in the banking industry responsible for current economic problems.

The fact that he didn't address this conflict within the speech shows that although it was very well delivered, its message was a patchwork attempt at statesmanship.

The only underlying theme was that he wants to use the politics of the 80s to tackle our current situation.

Despite all his claims about Brown, it looks like Cameron is still fighting the last war.

"He does not lead a party that is about freedom, he leads a party that wants to preach to us about how we live (and who we live it with)"

No that is the labour party you are describing there. Only the labour party actually outlawed freedom of speech. Only the labour party supports detention without trail, only the labour party proposed indefinate and permanent detention without charge or trial (until the Lords over-ruled them). Only the labour party wants to build up databases stuffed full on information (that they can later sell or lose) about every single infantesimal piece of information about all of our actions in our lives, from our DNA, medical records, ID, children, to our web-surfing habits and who we e-mail, to all our travels and what we buy. They want to have everyone utterly and totally dependent on the Government. That is why they introduced tax-credits and expanded 'state' benefits in one form or another to a almost a half of the entire population.

they want us to be dependent on them completely.

Only the labour party wants to have complete and total control of everyone.

Labour philosophy is the opposite of freedom.

Interesting speech;

heavy on themes, rather than detail and a substantial critique on Labour which the pundits pre-speech suggested may be a strategic error. So a gamble and I think one that probably paid off.

However, the theme of cutting back the State in response to hard economic times is as John Prescott would say "tradional ideas in a modern setting"; but hardly ones that grasp the nettle.

It is easy to talk about cuts but much more difficult for the Tories to talk about strategic Government spending and tough regulation of the banking sector since both upset a substantial portion neo-liberal conservatives.

I wonder how many 20 plus people would like to be called novices let alone a 41 year old professional like Cameron.

The ancient Greeks used to think that anyone under the age of 40 didn't have anything worth saying, and that "a fool at 40 is a fool indeed". Osborne talks rubbish, and if Cameron hasn't changed his spots by now it's unlikely he ever will. If Brown and Darling are Plato and Diogenes, does that make Osborne and Cameron Dumb and dumberer? I dunno, but the Matrix style slow motion roadcrash of the Tories is looking more bizarre by the moment.

@ 51, "creating a financial climate in which greed was good; a trading climate in which ever more fictitious forms of commodities - futures, options - were traded ever more extensively; a regulatory climate which left money-makers (not wealth, just money) to make their money without keeping an eye on them; an industrial climate which deliberately and systematically downgraded actual production of material goods; a social climate which, because it was all about the money, eroded values such as respect, community, knowledge and, yes, experience."

That is a good description of what labour have been doing the last 11 years Roy.

Vote Conservative then The Tories repaired the economy in the mid 1990's and much of that was through increases in productivity in manufacturing and exports. That is something that Labour has reversed.

Did the novice man without a plan
raise his game?

No! the infant thatcherite blew alot of bubbles.

No one will remember this speech in a few hours.

Cameron and co have gone with the wind,
flatulence that will not linger long!

What a facile piece of analysis on a major policy speech. Shame on you.

DC may be a 'man with a plan' it was just a bit dissapointing that he didn't feel like sharing it with the rest of us.

Lots of typical PR spin - picking emotional images and taking them out of context - the NHS story being the most cynical one in my view. The man had a justifiable complaint, how to get it dealt with is a reasonable response. The example and the allusion he was making just didn't hold together.

His only solid commitments were pointless - a referendum on a treaty already ratified - so what would the vote be about?

Profoundly dissapointing - I was starting to thing just maybe the Tories had changed and might be worth a punt next election. However harking back to Maggie - sorry may work with the faithful Tory but no thanks I am still sore from the first time.

Preaching to the choir, just like Conservative conferences of old, when speeches (Thatcher, Tebbit, even Heseltine) galvanised and energised the party faithful.

Like now, there was no real need to be mindful of the electoral effects, Labour could never win...

Now that their lead seems all but unassailable, the Tories can finally tell us what they truly think and feel - and the honesty is unlikely to poison minds against them, as they might have feared.

Although a natural constituent of the party, I would never have considered again voting Conservative for as long as I felt duplicity and deceit were the order of the day, saying just what was needed to improve electability.

I still have no confidence in the integrity or competence of David Cameron, but the modern Tory propensity to get rid of the leader immediately following an election should be carried forward and we can look forward to real leadership for the Party, the country, Europe and The World...

Are Drapers Drones are marching again this evening?

Whenever somebody new appears here with only one post to his/her record I start to smell a rat.

Try it for yourselves.

After reading a post about Margaret Thatcher and Back To The Future, am I the only one that thought 'DeLorean'?

Well, I thought that was a very good, rounded speech. He used the right tone considering the circumstances, and showed he's in tune with voters concerns / interests - I for one was delighted to hear the mention about the armed forces and Ghurka's.

I'd already decided not to vote Labour at the next GE - not a hard choice really after seeing Labour and Brown consistently trying to ruin this country and the fact that we're going to end up paying for all those mistakes in years to come whoever ends up in office - in fact is anyone still considering voting Labour?

I wasn't convinced about Davey boy though - wasn't sure if he's got it in him - but after today, he's got my vote. The tories are light years ahead of the incumbent muppets.

The decent, fair thing for Labour to do would be to hold a GE asap - but we know they won't do that - there's not a decent one among them - and they don't know the meaning of fair!

Glenrothes is a typical example! Brown is so scared of losing - self self self. I wonder if we'll see this election in 2008?

Back to the future? Ha ha ha. It was more like back to the past.

You do right what you think is right, he says. Now that's a very good plan isn't it?

He showed us that YES he is a novice and he should be ashamed in trying to put the blame of the GLOBAL economic crises on Brown when Cameron himself GAMBLED with our money and lost 3.4 billion Sterling trying to buy what other countries around the world did not want. He gambled and lost 3.4 billion in 15 , minutes. Now how about that for a good lesson in financial management! Why does he never mentioned what had actually happened in those dark September days of 1992? He was the senior advisor and as senior advisor HE DITHERED to get us out of the ERM as early as July 1992, let alone in September! He keeps mentioning the National Debt when he KNOWS that the present National Debt is lower in % then what it was under a Conservative Govts.

He didn't learn anything from that mistake.
He is now posing (which is what he is good at) as if he is an expert in economic management, and he also gave us his CV. Well guess what Dear Boy Dave. Even I am more qualified then you are and I was only a Bank Manager.

He showed us that he is also livid with Labour's heavy investment in the NHS. He tried to make us forget that we had to wait for years for an operation. He wants us to forget that his party (him included) killed thousands of patients because our NHS was NON EXISTANT. He tried to make us forget that we now have 37,000 more doctors, 52,000 more nurses, and a record number of operations without anyone having to wait for months or years to be treated.

The Tories are the party of the NHS. Get out of this Island you liar!

Did he say anything whether he agrees with more regulation in our financial Industry? or is he in favour of complete de regulation as he supported before this GLOBAL problem emerged?

Did he give us any hints of where he stands? NO he did not.

More protection for depositors. Even that is wrong. What kind of a Capitalist system does he believe in. We voted Labour because Labour agrees with this mythology of less regulation and now we have boy Dave turning into a Socialist, nearing Communist.

Let's be clear about what the Irish did yesterday. They are not conforming with EU financial regulations and they might have to take back the guarantee. It also exposes Irish Banks as having less then 30% of Capital base. The Irish Banks are now more vulnerable then they were 3 days ago. This is going to backfire on them.

Cameron showed us that he is still a manipulative deceitful trained PR, a GQ magazine model who changes his tune according to the audience and circumstances.

There is a very big difference between trying your best to get elected and being able to Govern a whole country.

Did he convince me to get back to the fold.

No, and if anything I am more convinced that with Cameron at the helm, the Tories will loose the next election.

What a slippery, skilful person trained in PR!

You do right what you think is right - Ha ha ha ha! Next gaffe please Dave!

So Dave is going to do 'tough things to get the best out of the Country'.

This means that he acknowledges that the poor are having a tough time of it and the rich just continue to buy themselves out of trouble.

Dave, of course, will NOT stick to Labour's spending plans-tax credits,new hospitals,winter fuel allowances etc etc etc.

He will shove up taxes on the rich and bail us out of this global credit crunch.

After all, Dave is a leader in waiting and he knows where the cash is.

Somehow Dave, I don't think you'll go down this strategic path.

Methinks you will screw the poor, just as true Tories have always done for Centuries.

Close the door on your way out, Dave. Novices are not needed in this critical time.
I've rported myself to the Tor....moderator, thanks.

Gary

Same slippery Etonian rubbish, can we really believe that anyone who evokes the memory of Thatcher could run this counrty for all the people. Who funds the Tory Party? Big business and hedge fund managers. Yes they really care for the poor and underpriviliged don't they, thats why the country is in a credit crunch. He may deliver a speech well, but how did they get the timing of the applause so pat, were they all practising last night?

There IS no such thing as society!

The responsibility for every (in)action, (in)decision), mistake, etc., lies with individuals, not some amorphous indeterminate entity we choose to style as "society."

If there was such a thing as society, wouldn't it have a website?

"Suddenly - thanks to the economic crisis - the battle between Conservatives and Labour feels all too familiar to those who remember politics before the Blair years."

You mean when there were politics before the age of media manipulation, style before substance and endless sound bites.

So just like Brown, he had to have a lectern to make him look serious. Clearly the thing to invest in during a downturn is lectern manufacturers....

Good speech

God the mood in the bunker must be grim tonight.

Poor, poor, poor Mrs Brown!

67. derekbarker



Its almost over Derek.

Save your cyber ink and use your energy to find a job.

Do you know what, a lot of people are waiting to see who wins the election in 2010 or whenever and are deciding whether to get out of this country altogether as a result of this. Its time for change, no change and a lot of quality citizens will be off.

I say give the conservatives a chance

We need a new broom to sweep through and get Britain back to where it used to be.

Time obviously softens memories, if not just the brain. The wonderous Thatcher and her often brutal policies led directly to the misery we now have inflicted upon us by the government we voted for to replace her. Dictatorships have in the past in Europe been voted in democratically to replace rotten regimes. We should be very, very careful.

Drapers Drones are marching again this evening.

Whenever somebody new appears here with only one post to his/her record - and that one is Anti-Conservative or pro-Labour - I start to smell a rat.

Try it for yourselves.

But where are the policies? By which I mean, the policies that aren't already being implemented by Labour?

Just a couple of examples, there is already an initiative to isolate all patients with a positive screen for MRSA - this is happening now!

Patient choice - er, outcome measures are currently published on www.nhs.uk and have been for months! Patients are making choices about their treatment right now!

Do the tories have anything new to say at all? Or are they taking tips fromn Boris Johnson, currently taking the credit for initiatives commissioned by Ken Livingstone?

I will again enter a post or two but you will have to be quick or the arch referrer will make it disapear. I dont suppose you Tories care to much but our friend rollon 2010 has referred me eight times in a week if he has one ounce of courage he will admit to it he did admit to the first one but I wont hold my breath for the other seven,I cannot believe that the moderaters are letting him get away with it, he will soon have this removed he wont stand and defend himself he'll run to the moderaters again,I can only say this to him for goodness sake try to be a man.
Good bye see you in moderater land.

There was a rare slap in the face moment for me, the bit when he got an extra loud cheer for quoting a Labour MP who said there is the state and the individual and nooothinngg inbetweeeennn.

The way he delivered that was so powerful, I might go seek out a transcribed edition of the speech to quote it directly, very powerful.

Other than that, my critiscism (oh balls I can't spell that way its all rong) my only cri.. is, that, the place they were Broadcasting their values from is indeed Brummieland - identified as the poorest place in all of Britannia - there was no acknowledgement of this, no shout out to these poor people who have been his neighbours this week, he is considerably richer..no, wait, scrap that..

..He is Conservatively richer than yow.

God he really is a bloomin toff, the only mention Brummie got was it's posh orchestra!!

Wow! The speech was a success then judging by the number of people who have rushed to post negative comments.

Excellent speech, Brown has no chance in 2010!

This is the bit that struck me:

A Labour minister said something really extraordinary last week.

It revealed a huge amount about them.

David Miliband said that "unless government is on your side you end up on your own."

"On your own" - without the government.

I thought it was one of the most arrogant things I've heard a politician say.

For Labour there is only the state and the individual, nothing in between.

No family to rely on, no friend to depend on, no community to call on.

No neighbourhood to grow in, no faith to share in, no charities to work in.

No-one but the Minister, nowhere but Whitehall, no such thing as society - just them, and their laws, and their rules, and their arrogance.

This character's promising us a better yesterday. It's very easy to see beneath the veneer. Clearly the only substance is patrician, old school Toryism. Nick, you shouldn't get star struck by this snake oil salesman - let's hope he doesn't win. Goodness help us if he does - if so, I don't hold out much hope of the national minimum wage being increased, seeing more police on the streets, seeing more tax credits for working families, seeing more free computer access for children - or perhaps I missed these points during Dave Chameleon's speech.

I see the BBC News are giving the Consveratives quite a platform now. No mistaking who they think should win the next election, then.

The 1980s as an era of 'responsibility'? That's a good one. The decade of loads a money and 'greed is good' is now a Golden Era apparently. What does Cameron actually believe? He wants power, and like all ego maniacs has a charming manner. But he as no values, conviction or belief in equality or fairness. It will be Thatcher v.2 if he wins.

I don't want to swop the devil for the deep blue sea, no thats wrong, better build a boat, tides coming in, whatever it takes.

I think the only thing that matters is how Labour and their fans respond to this.

I think it would be most likely they'll try to rubbish his speech, where the mark of a true political party in power would be to remain above it.

I can't see Labour having any left with which to raise their game, so let the ridicule, half truths, sour grapes and muck throwing commence.

86 grandantidote

We don't share the same political views, and only shake hands at our Christmas football match, but I really miss your comments, and would cheerfully kick the wimp who grasses on you right up the backside.

His point on experience, how it would mean we would never have anybody new is really an argument for big political reform, highlighting yet another problem with our system.

America allows politicians to gain experience in various branches be it the Senate, the House, State Government and legislature etc. However since Britain has the elected dictatorship of the extremely powerful government, it means cabinet is the only place to get experience.

Also, using the prime minister who was forced to step down after people rioted against her as a reason against experience...not the best idea.

Purple dogzz (I think that was the name) at 5.11PM said that anyone could have predicted the collapse. Actuaslly that is not quite true and his/her analysis of the system is flawed in its simplicitic approach.

It was Nick himself, I recall, who said it was not predicatble in one of his broadcasts; and hence my response ( and plug of my book).

But the big problem is not with the Federal Reserve but with the "irresponsible" (David and Gordon again) power of money.

Governments need to recognise that they play by the wrong rules - money is global, weight of investible money is greater than national purses and the rules adopted by money managers and governments create a playing field tilted alarmingly against governments and also regulation. The latter (as indicated in my novel) regulates only those who want to be regulated.

The next crash could be at government level - the liabiliites adopted by Ireland and Belgium are frightening. And if the UK adopts similar guarantees ( and does not push them across the the banking sector to counter-indemnify -thus destabilising further some of the weaker banks) they too could be "at risk".

Cameron's speech, I agree, was excellent and his low key approach shows he understands the risks we are running.

#86 grandantidote

I hope you aren't being referred and posts removed on a pre-text. Of all the pro-Labour contributors here, your posts at least offer up decent opinion and invite similar reponses. Keep at it.

#60 DistantTraveller

I meant a Blair as in charismatic and power mongering.

Cameron is the man who:

Will create divisions between those who want to be married and those who dont

Will push us farther away from Europe till we get forgotten

Will under fund our services and bring back the Thatcherite days of Haves and Have Nots.

There are millions of us in this country who WANT close ties with Europe, WANT ID cards and want an open and free society - not one ham stringed by outmoded, Vitorian values that have no place in the 21st century.


Still, I am sure he will be popular as ever with the former National Chairman of the Young Conservatives.

An excellent speech, delivered by a fresh young man who will make a difference. Unlike the morose bumbling figure that is Gordon Brown. Incidentally Nick, where exactly did you get the impression that Cameron was adopting Thatcher's policies ? What the man was inferring was that it required her singlemindedness and lack of fear of upsetting the unions, the civil service , and parliament itself to right the ills visited on the country by nu labour, not that he was returning to her policies.