If you think you can bear to listen to it then the podcast is available
here (mp3) or the full transcript
here. To save you the pain of listening to it all here's a few bits that stood out for me. After a few drab sentences of preamble Gordon says
If the experience of the 1990s recession had been repeated employment would be 1.7 million lower
Notice the choice of phrasing - employment would be 1.7 million lower. The government's
statistics(.pdf) show that the population was considerably lower in the 1990s resulting in less people able to be employed. It does not deal with the issue of unemployment which is on course to be higher than when the Labour party were elected to government in 1997. I've just spotted a
BBC article about this podcast which says
The UK had fared well in terms of jobs and repossessions compared with the last recession in the early 1990s, he said.
I'm not surprised that the BBC has spun these words in this way. At all.
We will reduce government borrowing
No mention of reducing the debt, just the borrowing.
in a fair and responsible way
'Fair and responsible' has become the new synonym for 'increasing the tax burden'.
and take forward our strategy for growth, with targeted investment that creates jobs and builds a modern green infrastructure for the digital age.
Green and Digital aren't easy bedfellows. One needs more electricity, one wants us to consume less.
This means a transformation of the way the financial sector is policed
I've got a great idea Gordon - lets create a tripartite system of policing with the .. .. oh, you tried that before and it didn't work very well, did it?
And we will ban credit card companies from encouraging you to borrow more than you can realistically afford to repay by sending you credit card cheques you haven’t asked for.
Oh for fuck's sake! Credit card cheques are not a the issue at all. Yes they are a minor annoyance for the majority of card holders and a few people might have been tempted to use them, but the real issue is people's inability to control their own finances. Maybe if the government set an example it might help?
We must also restore confidence in our democratic institutions.
Maybe the population would have more faith in the political system and institutions if the people elected to serve them weren't such duplicitous tossers? Just a thought.
And a better Britain means world class public services underpinned by guarantees not gambles.
So no more PFI schemes to bite the public purse in the arse then.
I can't bear to listen to any more of it. You'll have to brave it yourself.