Autumn

Well we are nearly three quarters of the way through the year. I did not foresee the huge financial turbulence that we have just come through nor, as it happens, did many others. We are just about to start the Labour party conference and everyone wants to know what will happen to our great leader Gordon Brown. It will be a miracle if he survives to the end of the year. It is difficult to talk to anyone who is not thoroughly disappointed in him. I keep asking people hoping to finds someone who may lend him some support but my enquiries are always in vain. Despite this you hear government ministers defying gravity as it were by insisting that the public want him to continue. However this only shows how out of touch they are with the popular mood. This angers the electorate and drives the support for labour even further down.

Many commentators say that we should not change leaders in the middle of a crisis. My view is that we must as we have enough problems which merit long term solutions. A premier who is focussed only on the next election is a liability. We need a regime that will have at least two full terms. This year has seen the World become a dangerous place with confrontations likely on two fronts – Russia and Iran. What we need now is strong leadership!

The really big issue for this country is energy security. We have had ten years of a flawed policy and we will start to pay the penalty. Look out for disruption of supplies either in late 2009 or 2010.