PM Podcast 30 December

Back to the world's least listened to podcast. Gordon Brown's Christmas message.

It is very broad brush, first some crazy misplaced optimism:

• We are to expect a decade of growth and prosperity. Quite where this comes from was not expanded on. Perhaps springboarding off the 200bn debt we have taken on?

Next some truth economy:

• The financial crisis hit us hard because of US housing market and our reliance on the finance sector. No mention of our banks rushing to invest in American property lending to people who had no chance of repaying.
• No standing by and letting people fail, especially the young. Nice idea, works if you are a bank - but for the rest of us the government would stand by and see your house repossessed or your business fail because of lack of loan availability.

What was not covered:

• Public sector reform is mentioned, but in all honesty it needs to be much higher up the political agenda. We are entering an era where we are going to have to do more with less. I want to know how that is going to be done.
• No mention on taxes, how are we going to keep Britain afloat in the next 5 years.

We should not be shielded from any of this, after all we are the ones paying. I just hope the election brings some of these tough decisions to the front.