Two items of news

Two items caught my ear as I listened to the radio this morning as I was getting up.

The first item was the news of Tony Blair's new book, or at least the promotion of the new book. I gather in it he criticises Gordon Brown. By his assessment Brown could never have made a good prime minister. I can't help wondering why he never expressed these views at the time of his resignation from office & the leadership of the Labour party. I appreciate before it would have been difficult to speak out without weakening the government by showing a divided face, & Brown did make a competent chancellor, but at the time of his resignation inevitably things would have to change & surely it was his duty to leave the country in the hands of someone who might do a could a job rather than one he was convinced didn't stand a chance of doing a good job. Maybe then we wouldn't have had to go through the chaos of the last few years under Brown.

To be honest I've always felt that Brown was unlucky. It was unfortunate that Foot & Mouth escaped into the cattle of this country almost immediately after his accession to power. Equally he can't blamed for the greed of the banks, especially those in the USA, leading to the onset of the recession. In more settled times I suspect he could have done a better job.

Now the election for the new Labour party leader is on. I'm not sure who I expect to win. I like Diane Abbott, a gutsy lady prepared to fight for her constituents & her beliefs, but I suspect she won't win. The rest, to me, a total outsider who doesn't take a close interest in politics, they all look pretty much the same. My bet is on David Milliband, but I'm not convinced he will make a particularly good leader. We'll soon discover the result.

The other bit of news that caught my ear, was the fact hospitals in some parts of this country have started teaching staff English as a foreign language. Apparently if you ask a nurse in one hospital for help because you need "to spend a penny", you are liable to end up being accompanied to the hospital shop, not to the nearest toilet or being brought a bedpan! I'm glad I didn't end up in that hospital!