Were Blair and Osborne snowed in for the last three months of 2010?

Both Tony Blair and George Osborne appear to have spent the last three months of 2010 in a snow globe. Following the contraction of the British economy by 0.5% in the last quarter, both have decided to blame the heavy winter snow for this slump.

For Osborne it's clear to see where he's coming from. Afterall, there's a lot of snow up in Klosters Ski Resort. Maybe he got confused and thought that the snow capped peaks he saw out of his window in the morning was Ben Nevis. It's not like he'dt know the difference, Tories don't really know a thing about Scotland.

For old Tony though there really isn't much of an excuse. When he isn't answering questions in the Iraq inquiry then he's going round the world getting paid millions of pounds to talk at dinners or as a Middle East envoy, which always struck me as odd because it was a region he helped to make even worse than it was to begin with. Maybe it's penitence or a really bad joke, who knows.

Anyways, the shrinking economy isn't the fault of the snow, at least not entirely. For starters the snow really wasn't that bad as to bring the economic recovery to a grinding halt and it didn't last for three months. It may have had some effect in the run up to Christmas, with some people snowed in or looking outside and thinking: "Hmm, maybe not today..." No, rather than snow I blame it on poor handling of the economy by Osborne and it's hard to see it getting better any time soon.

The increase in VAT will hit the retail sector hard, a major source of income for the economy. Considering how fragile it is at the moment, increasing VAT was probably the worst thing that he could have done. Lowering the VAT rate is what helped to get Britain out of the recession in the first place and helped to stimulate growth. Despite all the cuts, there's less going in to the Government coffers in the first place, making it all a bit redundant. Thankfully it seems that Osborne is reconsidering the planned 1p increase in fuel duty due to the large increase seen already due to the VAT rise.

In addition, unemployment is ever increasing, reaching 2.5 million at last count. Consequently, people are only buying the essentials. Add to that Mervyn King, Governor of the Bank of England, saying that total take home pay would inevitably be reduced, the amount of money going into the governments coffers is getting less and less.

What Osborne appears to have forgotten is that having cuts for the sake of reducing government expenditure doesn't guarantee that the economy will recover. No economy will get better if everyone is too poor to go out and buy things. If anything, the poor will get even poorer as they take out loans they can't afford. It's typical Tory policy as the only people who'll be able to take the brunt of all this is the rich.

If this is what it's like with the Liberal Democrats watering down Tory policy, then thank God we didn't get a Tory majority...

Human Slaves In A ConDem Nation.

It's not especially pleasant to be living in this country at the moment. The political landscape, far from being an abundant countryside or impressive metropolis, is more like your local city dump. Those in power sit there uneasily, like someone who thinks they've just taken somebody else's seat, unsure on how long it'll last. Meanwhile, those who crave power act more like flies round a pile of shit; doing a necessary task but still spreading crap wherever they go.

I can't imagine being a Liberal Democrat is all that fun at the moment. After the dizzying heights of "Cleggmania" before the election, it's been an ever decreasing shit-slide of bad press from one day to the next. Thursday's by-election in Oldham East and Saddleworth, the constituency of ousted Labour MP Phil Woolas, may have seen the Liberal Democrats share of the vote increase. However, overall votes for the party dropped by almost 3,000 votes. Indeed, it's rather telling that the Lib Dems will take this as a positive. Afterall, with YouGov listing the publics voting intentions for them at a lowly 8%, it's no wonder they're glad to see that 11,000 people are willing to vote for them in the first place.

Whilst the situation for the Lib Dems is dire (and in many case, rightly so), it's hard to see any way in which the political situation in this country will change. The current Government is so appalling bad that the fact we're lumbered with them for the next 4 years at least is reason enough for me to jump in front of a bus. Ideally there would be a strong Opposition leader across the floor to hold this Government to account for some of its frankly shocking policies (more on them later). Instead, we get Beaker from The Muppets. Ed Miliband lacks perhaps all the necessary qualities important in an Opposition leader. He has no charisma, no charm, no oratory ability and no real sense of passion in what he's doing and saying. He makes Mr Bean look like Winston Churchill.

As for Government policy, well, where to begin. I'll start with the positives as they're shorter. The raising of the income tax threshold to £10,000 was an admittedly good move. The increase will see millions of the country's poorest citizens escape the grasp of the tax man, which can only be a good thing really. Then there's the proposed, much needed changes to the British libel system, which are such a complete mess it's untrue. Although quite why they need a new public interest defence I don't know, considering the Reynold's defence, so long as you fulfil its criteria, covers you just fine.

The bad, oh dear Lord the bad, really is extensive. I'll start off with perhaps the most well covered; tuition fees. This is the area that has seen Lib Dem support dry up like a puddle of piss in the desert. Despite a pre-election pledge to abolish tuition fees should they get into power (which leaked documents later revealed to be bogus as well), the Government has trebled the amount students will have to pay in order to go through University. Add to that the slashing of the education budget and a recent Home Office Tweet which invited people to come up with ways in which to cut the number of (higher fee paying) international students, there's going to be a massive financial black hole due to lack of funds. Now some might say it's unfair to level too much criticism at the Lib Dem for this. Afterall, they're part of a coalition and it's a Tory minister in charge of education policy. However, this doesn't explain why, when it came to the vote, many Lib Dems threw their conscience by the wayside and blindly followed the Tories.

Next, and perhaps most shocking of all, is the slashing of benefits for the disabled. Chief amongst these is the planned phasing out of the Independent Living Fund, which pays out around £300 per week to carers in order to ensure the people they're looking after are able to live at home as opposed to being left in a care home [BBC]. Most shocking of all is that the Government seems well aware that the impact such draconian cuts to these benefits will see an increase in suicides [Telegraph] for those people who feel they can no longer carry on with the situation in which they have been forced to live.

Then there's the Government's plan to sell large amounts of Britain's historically and environmentally important forests to private developers [BBC, The Guardian, Greenpeace]. Labelled as: "environmental vandalism" by Caroline Lucas, Green MP for Brighton Pavillion, the move could see Britain's fragile eco-system damaged beyond repair as private developers cherry-pick the best land for the development of golf courses, Centre Parcs Resorts and residential areas.

It's these sort of short-sighted, ideologically driven policies that threaten to derail this country even more than it already is. Most of them done in the name of fixing a deficit which isn't as bad as the media would have you believe.

Unfortunately for the public, there's nowhere to turn to. Labour are weak, the Lib Dem's are the Tories bitch and the Tories themselves are, well, the Tories! Should this coalition fail, and I really think it will sooner rather than later, the resulting General Election will be the most depressing thing since...the last General Election. Voter apathy will be through the roof and I can't see many people coming out to vote. The ones that do I think will be so disaffected with the main parties that fringe parties such as the Greens and (unfortunately) UKIP and the BNP may get a good look in. If not with Parliamentary seats, then certainly in councils up and down the country.

I honestly wish I knew there was a way of fixing this. If I could, I'd move abroad. Normally retreating to Europe or America would be order of the day, but with the Euro not exactly the most buoyant of currencies at the moment and America tolerating such fuckwits as Sarah Palin and Glenn Beck, those are out. Possibly Scandinavia. They tend to do things right.

Failing that, I hear the International Space Station is nice this time of year...