THE TELEGRAPH: Gordon Brown won't stop borrowing because he can't stop spending, says Simon Heffer.
Should anyone have doubted the truth of a well-worn theme of this column – that politicians today, as a general rule, haven't a clue what they are doing – events this week should have put you right. Gordon Brown, Saviour of the World, left an imploding Britain for a preposterous circus trip to Washington, where he met the new Messiah, Barack Obama, whose own radical plans to stimulate the world economy have prompted the Dow Jones share index to crash through the floor, taking the rest of the world's bourses with it. And then scarcely has Mr Brown's special BA jet deposited him in the Royal Suite at Heathrow (delusions of grandeur? What delusions?) than Britain finally has its long-awaited Zimbabwe moment, and starts debauching the currency. How the printing of £150 billion to pump "liquidity" into the market differs from a bunch of East End villains printing forged fivers in a lock-up under some railway arches is something we should all contemplate.
I shall deal with Mr Obama's delinquencies soon. For the moment, trying to come to terms with the damage Mr Brown continues to inflict on our country should occupy us more than enough. Rather like the late Emperor Hirohito of Japan, he seems determined to go to his grave without the slightest recognition that he has committed any atrocities, and might have cause to abase himself before the British people. I suspect the British people will force an act of abasement when they get to the polling booths some time in the next 15 months – though don't bank on it – but even then Mr Brown would be at a loss to understand what he has done wrong. >>> Simon Heffer | Saturday, March 7, 2009
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