Job for the (Scottish) Boys

I am not an early riser as many of my friends will attest. However I do try and ensure, whenever possible, that I am up and about for at least the last hour of the Today programme on BBC Radio 4.

Towards the end of last week, when the programme was dealing with such issues as, Northern Rock, political expenses and the actions of Mr.Speaker it dawned on me that all the Government ministers appearing on Today were Scottish - certainly by tone of voice. It was either Duncan McHighands or Ewan Lochness or Stuart MacSky- surely there must be one or two Labour ministers that come from say Yorkshire or Dorset or London who can waffle on in our own language about "being concerned" and " taking this very seriously" or "not being complacent" and the all time classic "I have made it clear"

However, for me, the pinnacle of political weasel words are "lessons will be learnt" How many times have we been told this, and yet subsequently, we have no idea, whether anything has actually been learnt. Roughly translated, I suspect that the expression means that a minister wants to give the impression that something will be done, but doubts that the task will be completed or that there is any money available to complete it. Certainly, its most unlikely that he/she will be in post if or when the truth comes out.

Why do we put up with it? Why is it that Governments become inept over time. I have been reading for the second time - its that good -"The Rules of the Game" by Andrew Gordon - which is a superb account and analysis of the Royal Navy leading up to, and following, the Battle of Jutland in 1916. After the engagement there was much recrimination, both political and within the Royal Navy, which in many respects suggests certain similarities to that going on now as regards Iraq and Afghanistan - questions about resources, leadership, strategy and political will/or will not. We never seem to learn. Whilst Jutland is not in the same league as say Iraq the shortcomings are much the same. Supposedly we should learn from history.

Furthermore, one of the major differences between now and say 1916 is that we no longer have, in resource terms, the materials and financial strength of the Colonies/Commonwealth to fall back on. It is, therefore, even more irritating to be told, constantly, by our Prime Minister and other members of Government, that there are "difficult decisions to be made" - this essentially can be translated into -there is not enough money to go round. Perhaps the answer is not to look at war as a political ego trip but use the money instead for more deserving and constructive purposes at home.

Returning to the Today programme, I have a lot of time for John Humphrys and got to thinking that he certainly would by one of the people I would like to meet over dinner. Any others? Well - Andrew Robson or Omar Sharif representing my bridge interests - Christopher Martin Jenkins or Ritchie Benaud, my cricket interests - Simon Barnes the Times Nature Correspondent -Iain Dale political blogger - and finally Matthew Parris.

As for the venue. Somewhere warm. Just East of Cape St.Vincent is a lovely fishing village (possible small town by now) called Sagres, where overlooking the harbour, is a restaurant that serves fresh caught lobster and local white wine. Simple but good.

Mind you, getting there from Faro airport might be a pain.

Apple Cake and Scones

Quite a busy few days. Eldest son returned from Amsterdam to top and tail a photo shot he has been involved with for the last three months or so. Allied to which, and having not seen his younger brother for some months, the latter and his wife and our grandson visited Saturday afternoon, to catch up on things.

With the prospects of a family tea Helen decided to make a lemon drizzle cake. We had enjoyed a slice of the same at Waterstones in Horsham earlier in the week, and so, helped by the download of a recipe from BBC Food, a lemon drizzle cake was made. Just one thing. The recipe came with a suggested cooking time of one hour and forty five minutes. Wrong. It should read forty five minutes. Fortunately, after about forty minutes, Helen felt that the cake had cooked enough, and it had - so it was rescued just in time.

Our grandson, who is just eleven months old, is now armed with eight teeth - four top and bottom. He giggles and laughs a lot and seems interested in everything going on around him. He has also developed, over the last month, quite a fast crawl which I suspect, by the time we next see him, will have progressed into a "stand up and balance" - before falling back down again and crawling away.

One of the projects we have in mind to do, is build a model train layout - just in case our grandson becomes interested. Well thats my story. So this morning, on a whim, after seeing an advert in the County Times, and to get some ideas, we went to Midhurst to visit the Modellers Exhibition. Models of planes,trains ships - you name it they had it. Rather crowded and very smelly.

After no more than an hour we walked back to the car, down the wide Midhurst High Street, which in part can look both rundown yet stylish. Not a place to do serious dress shopping but certainly a place where, as a local, you are likely to bump into people you know and like - comfortable, no pressure shopping.

Before returning to the car we walked across the causeway to the ruins of Cowdray House and quite by surprise we came across the lovely "The Cafe in the Walled Garden" Clean, tranquil and with lovely traditional surroundings and friendly service. We had scones, which came warm, with cream and jam of choice - presented on designer white china. The feel of "The Cafe" for me added to the enjoyment of the food. The apple cake looks good too.

Directly from "The Cafe" you can walk into the walled garden. I understand that the cafe owners have been renovating the garden for the last three years or so and you can see the tremendous amount of work that has been gone in to the design and build of the box hedge borders and plantings. February is not the best time to see the garden but you can still see its potential and the love and care that has gone into it. This is going to be a gem. Just like the apple cake and scones.

History

Rather dull couple of weeks in terms of activities. Bridge has been good, thanks to my partner, additionally I have commenced a garden sort-out - mowers started first time - followed by some borders weeded.

Have watched Brown and Darling doing their thing over Northern Rock - what a shambles. Having been involved at the outset, when the Bank of England took over Johnson Matthey in 1984 - under Bank of England rules - (which amounts almost to being locked in a room with the other clearing banks and told that we could not leave until we had come up with a solution (already shaped by BoE)) the whole NR strategy lacks any form of leadership, understanding or decisiveness. History has taught this Government nothing. Seemingly the Government did not have the courage to take command and for that we will have the NR saga with us for the next six years or so.

If NR had been left to fail there would have been some flak but no risk to £100b of tax payers money. The tax payers are now exposed to a variety of additional costs/expenditure either from trading losses, asset write downs, legal costs, litigation, redundancies and the cost of Government time. Understandably the Government should not be involved in the day to day running of NR but it will and therefore there will be an opportunity cost for that time - ie dealing with the EU or shareholders of NR or the concerns of other high street banks.

We are now where we are. Nevertheless I would like information on four aspects (1) Given that NR is financed short term how is this to be refinanced long term - on competitive basis. (2) who actually is going to want to buy NR after it has been run down (3)Based on general risk and rewards concepts what level of reward should the tax payer expect for risking £100b (4) What is the state of the NR pension fund - is there a deficit. Dont hold your breath.

For years and years bankers operated on the golden rule of matching long term lending with long term deposits - simple really.

Its not just Northern Rock, the UKs problems extend to a trade deficit, falling pound, inflation - fuel, heating, food - data losses, failing local servies. Yet New Labour think its all still fine. Is this denial or are they just living in another world.


When all the dust has settled and Joe Bloggs takes the hit, as we all surely will, our current Government leaders will all find seats in the House of Lords with the words "not me guv, it was the global economy etc etc."

If we are to learn anything of value from NR and other current issues its possibly that, should another Scot wish to become UK Prime Minister then he/she should first gain experience by running and ruining the Scottish economy.