Gordon's Gang and Labour's New Politics of the Playground

"Worse than a crime, it was a mistake". This saying might sum up many of the government's ill-advised policy ventures, not least the war in Iraq. However, these are collective misadventures, and not just the mistake of Tony and his cronies.

Until yesterday, I had quite a lot of respect for The Fabian Society, but after they hosted last weekend's love-in (as the BBC put it) for Gordon's Gang (ie Gordon Brown and his cronies), my respect is somewhat diminished.

One of Gordon's journalist cronies suggested that the Chancellor didn't identify himself strongly with the war in Iraq because foreign policy had been largely left to Tony Blair, whilst Mr Brown attended to economic and, increasingly, broader domestic policy.

Sorry, but this doesn't wash, and if the media buy into this nonsense, they're an even dafter lot than I'd reckoned on. The only good thing about Britain's involvement in Iraq, that I can think of, is that it brought about the dismissal/resignation of Mr Lifestyle TV himself, Greg Dyke.

Now, however, the "Blair Lifestyle Years", during which Cherie was advised by lifestyle guru Carol Caplin and her conman Aussie boyfriend, have been replaced by the prospect of, the equally ghastly and potentially lethal, Gordon's Gang and their politics of the playground.

The wonder is that much of the media seem to buying into this nonsense, just as they did during Blair's "Lifestyle TV" years. Get real ! The prospect of the Chancellor's "representative on earth", Ed "fatboy" Balls, sorting out the problems of the Palestinians is a non-starter.

As the rather good government minister, Kim Howells, recently pointed out, the Palestinian people have been been amongst the most subsidised on the planet. One consequence of this is the country's burgeoning population bomb, alongside its other explosive problems.

Indeed, it could be argued that the population problem of the Middle East (ie too many people, economic and environmental unsustainability) lies at the very heart of instability there. Massive - ie $billions - United States "re-construction investment" in Iraq has achieved very little.

Alot of this, by all accounts, has been syphoned off to places like the more exclusive parts of London. If Gordon's Gang want to do something sensible, let them start by tackling money-laundering at home, but let's have no more daft playground adventures please.