Peter Mansdelson - News and Satire

Jeff Randall in The Telegraph explains that

'Mandelson's memoir exposes the moral bankruptcy at the heart of the Brown government'

Some excellent points from someone who, like me, did not fall for the shiny Tony Blair and his gang of knaves. Here's an extract:

'For those of us who suggested that Mr Brown would always put his own electoral interests ahead of the nation's wellbeing, Lord Mandelson's book provides vindication. In the run-up to the last election, the prime minister demanded that his chancellor's forecasts were tailored to meet Labour's campaign needs. In effect, Mr Brown wanted the books cooked and the growth numbers fiddled to provide voters with an optimistic outlook.

"Gordon repeatedly, and often angrily, rejected Alistair's forecasts, saying they were too conservative," writes Lord Mandelson. "He said the whole Treasury approach was wrong, and insisted that orthodox methods couldn't be applied to measuring the structural deficit. If we did that, we wouldn't be able to sustain the levels of spending needed for his 'invest and grow' strategy for recovery." For invest and grow, read borrow and waste.

Mr Brown was backed by his "Mini Me", Ed Balls, in leaning on Number 11 to treat the Budget as nothing more than a tool for buying favours at the ballot box. But Mr Darling knew that if the foundations of his calculations were not solid, Britain's credit rating would be downgraded, sterling would collapse, and the Bank of England would be forced to jack up interest rates.

To his credit, Mr Darling held firm, delivering, in Lord Mandelson's view, a "commendably unspun acknowledgement that our public borrowing for the year would rise to £175 billion." Mr Brown went "apoplectic", accusing the Treasury of a campaign to build up pressure for spending cuts.

This account of political imperative versus fiscal responsibility tells us all we need to know about Mr Brown's stewardship of the national purse and why we are in such a mess (debts on course for £1.35 trillion in 2014-15). More important still, it shines a light on the weakness of those who seek to replace Mr Brown as Labour leader. Where were they when the country needed them? '

Daed Parrot report on the showbiz career of Dame Petey Mandelslime of Goy, excellent stuff, here's an extract:

'1997 to 1998 - Camp Cabinetier
In 1997, Tone Blair won the exclusive franchise rights for running all pantomime shows in Britain. Mandelslime was rewarded by Tone for her long years of subterfuge and spin by being given a part in the "Camp Cabinet" show. However she continued to indulge in her weakness for blatantly hurling sharp objects into innocent people's backs and was witnessed at the scene of the particular violent drive-by back stabbing of famous cancer sufferer, the saintly Mo Mowlem.

As the panto season progressed, Petey gained fewer friends and more enemies in the Lefty Gang show and she was eventually sacked by Tone for telling more porkies. It became known that she had lied to a Building Society in order to purchase a glamour bachelorette pad to entertain her gentlemen friends. However she failed to tell them that she had received a "loan" from a nice friendly old businessman, a Mr Robinson, in exchange for secret favours. Petey was very unrepentant but was forced to leave the "Cabinet" show by Gordo's friends.'