Politics is sinking further into the gutter

LIFE AND OTHER BITS:

ARE Blair and Brown the political equivalent of Burke and Hare or Laurel and Hardy?

And if two so-called friends (and with friends like that who really does need enemies) can’t run the country how will we fare when, added to this complex mix of ego, ambition and ruthlessness, is sibling rivalry if one of the Miliband brothers takes over the failing and ailing Labour party in a few weeks time?

We can take little comfort from the claims that both Ed and David will work together, whichever is chosen for the leadership. That’s what Tony and Gordon said and look what happened to them and, as a consequence, to us.

Blair, it seems, was driven to drink by his neighbour (we can only hope he was sober when he sent troops into Iraq and Afghanistan).

Peevish Brown bullied, plotted, swore, sulked and threw things at passers-by because he wanted the top job, believing, in a fit of extravagant self-delusion that we have all paid for since, that he could do it.

Brown, in fact should have taken heed of the old “be careful what you wish for” maxim. Like the ageing Sunday footballer with bad knees and a belly bigger than his talent but who clings to the fantasy that he might yet make it into the Premiership, Brown was simply not up to the top job.

All this washing of dirty linen in public (Brown has yet to have his say) will be more catastrophic than cathartic for the Labour Party.

It exposes an atmosphere of deep mistrust, of warring factions, of media manipulation and self-obsession that further digs national politics into a deep pit of disrepute.

How Cameron and Clegg must be revelling in all this and how glad even the most reluctant Lib-Dem must be that they didn’t join hands, in some cases, bloody hands, with Labour.



WHEN it comes to drawing up a list of what gets newspaper readers’ backs up, dog poo is a long way from the bottom (sorry, couldn’t resist).

Responsible dog owners clearing up the mess after Rover or Fifi are in a minority. Most don’t care where poo is, so long as it’s not in their front room.

The council wants to bring in new rules to protect children’s parks from this steaming menace and it’s a good idea. Who, though, is going to enforce it? Who will be the poo police? Is there a rare employment opportunity there for someone with a degree in karate or who can run very fast?



FINAL WORD: The surprising thing about this week’s table of top boozers is that Oldham came in only eighth behind Rochdale and Tameside. Could this be because more of Oldham’s champion boozers are banned from local hostelries and are staggering further afield?