Coalition Government and the Voter

Telegraph: Reports that the new coalition government has a 64% approval rating from the UK voter. The result of the Hung Parliament was that it forced the political parties to work together, the chance of Labour/Lib Dem pact was narrow due to the fact that sums did not march up in the House of Commons, any such coalition would survive day by day, with the a Conservative / Lib Dems Pact the Government has a healthy majority and can try to solve the economic mess that was left by the last Labour Government. One can postulate that by this time next year the Coalition Government will be hated due to the public spending cuts and the raise in taxes, but so far the UK voter is happy with the May result.

Miliband vs Miliband

BBC News: Reports on the declaration by Ed Miliband that he would contest the Labour leadership. Thus we have two brothers running for the Labour leadership, the question is what does this say about David and Ed Miliband, if two brothers cant agree that one or the other should run what does that say about their character, it is like JFK and RFK both running to be President in 1960, Ambassador Kennedy would have gone through the roof. In pure political terms does not look good, can you see RFK even thinking about running against his brother, also it opens the Labour Party up to ridicule that it is creating family dynasty for a working class party. Lets hope others enter the race and that the brothers have a real good long talk about family loyalty, also from watching Ed Miliband he had the mannerisms of Tony Blair but not the charisma, Ed Balls is from the Brown Camp of the Labour Party but least he has passion, at the end of the day a Leader has to give a Political Party passion to win.

The Clinton Tapes by Taylor Branch

16/10/09

Have just started to read, The Clinton Tapes, Wrestling History in the White House by Taylor Branch. Thus far its a page turner, thank goodness President Clinton thought ahead, as Presidents cant tape any more as their predecessors did, this book is almost like a confessional in some respects. Thus far worth the read, full review later...

15/5/2010

Have justed finished the Clinton Tapes by Taylor Branch, they are striking as they take you in to the heart of the Clinton Administration, you hear the voice of Bill Clinton, very much a confessional to a friend, that has a up and down, the author is a friend of Bill Clinton, as to if he trusts President Clinton that is much harder to say from the book. Sometimes one wishes that the author had pressed the President on different subjects but then that might have made the President more cautious with the author. If you want to understand Bill Clinton and his political philosophy this is a good book to start with, but while reading recall that the author is a friend of Clinton and his wife worked for Hillary Clinton, with those warnings this is must read book if you have an interest in the Clinton Era in the United States.