Exactly. A way to have no policy.
Ed Balls has announced the adoption of Stella Creasy's policy of deciding Government spending by starting at zero and justifying every line item of spending. Brilliant, I love the policy - exactly the right thing to do. It should happen every time a Government comes in.
But, and it's a big but. I don't believe Ed Balls sincerity to the policy. I don't believe that he thinks that every item of public spending needs to be justified in this way. I think it is a happy diversion for every question about what Labour would cut. Remember this when Ed Balls is interviewed, the question will come "What would you cut?", the answer will come "I've announced that we will look through every existing spending decision on its merits, we will not announce our plans until we have looked through the books".
It is the perfect device in order to have no policy. So, call my cynical, but I don't believe that Spender Balls is really committed to reducing the deficit and justifying every single element of spending.
Squiffy.
Friday 28 September 2012
Lewis to Mercedes: Good or Bad
Only time will tell.
I feel a little sad that Lewis Hamilton has decided to move from McLaren to Mercedes. I know a lot of Lewis fans will also, indeed it's a little like Nigel Mansell moving from Williams to Ferrari for 1989 or Jensen Button moving from Brawn to McLaren for 2010. Feels like the end of an era, and indeed it is. The all British team (just about) is over.
It feels like the wrong decision. McLaren creates cars that wins GPs nearly every year, it knows how to win, and at the moment it has the fastest car - so why would he leave?
Look at it from Lewis's point of view, though, and you may come to some different conclusions. McLaren has not won the drivers championship since 2008 (Brawn in 2009), and has not won the constructors championship since 1999 (Brawn in 2009). This year McLaren have had the best car for most of the season, barring a few races mid-season, and yet, even with Lewis driving magnificently, Lewis is 52 points behind Fernando Alonso in the championship. Pit-stop cock ups, bad performance on wet tyres, a major mess up in Barcelona qualifying, and a little unreliability have nearly destroyed his championship.
Even though McLaren know how to win races, they are a bit rusty on winning championships - the days of 1989 are long gone. Ross Brawn has much more recent experience of running a consistent championship contender.
Look to the future. In 2014 there is a new engine formula and the Mercedes engine could be the best one and gelled with a Mercedes chassis, designed so well for it, could be the class of the field. McLaren will be a customer team and might not have so privileged access to the data. There's rumours of Vodafone leaving McLaren too, probably hastened by Lewis's departure. Mercedes has also hired some big names this year; Aldo Costa from Ferrari and Bob Bell from Renault. They could be just about to set the world alight, whereas McLaren tend to build a good car every other year.
I think it's likely that the McLaren and Mercedes offers were pretty similar in monetary terms with a little more branding opportunities at Mercedes, but I don't think this is the crux of Lewis's motivation to move. An article on Autosport struck me as very pertinent. The essence of the article is that Lewis has grown up with McLaren, it's a parent-child relationship and now it's time for Lewis to break out and become an 'adult'. A good point made was that in 2007 Hamilton was on the verge of winning the championship on his first attempt in China and was kept out on very visible thread-bare tyres. I remember shouting at the TV screen for 5 laps that he should go into the pits and McLaren kept him out. That must rankle with him, he should have definitely won that championship. We know Lewis believes he should have won more than his solitary championship.
The relationship has soured in the last few years a little. There was the lying row in Australia a few years back, and there has been friction about Lewis's use of twitter. You may call this the teen years.
Once the parent-child relationship is formed, it's pretty difficult to break free (as any child returning to the parents would know) until you leave home. And as anyone knows, you can always return home and who knows Lewis may one day return home, calling the shots, as did Nigel Mansell.
But as I say, only time will tell.
Squiffy.
I feel a little sad that Lewis Hamilton has decided to move from McLaren to Mercedes. I know a lot of Lewis fans will also, indeed it's a little like Nigel Mansell moving from Williams to Ferrari for 1989 or Jensen Button moving from Brawn to McLaren for 2010. Feels like the end of an era, and indeed it is. The all British team (just about) is over.
It feels like the wrong decision. McLaren creates cars that wins GPs nearly every year, it knows how to win, and at the moment it has the fastest car - so why would he leave?
Look at it from Lewis's point of view, though, and you may come to some different conclusions. McLaren has not won the drivers championship since 2008 (Brawn in 2009), and has not won the constructors championship since 1999 (Brawn in 2009). This year McLaren have had the best car for most of the season, barring a few races mid-season, and yet, even with Lewis driving magnificently, Lewis is 52 points behind Fernando Alonso in the championship. Pit-stop cock ups, bad performance on wet tyres, a major mess up in Barcelona qualifying, and a little unreliability have nearly destroyed his championship.
Even though McLaren know how to win races, they are a bit rusty on winning championships - the days of 1989 are long gone. Ross Brawn has much more recent experience of running a consistent championship contender.
Look to the future. In 2014 there is a new engine formula and the Mercedes engine could be the best one and gelled with a Mercedes chassis, designed so well for it, could be the class of the field. McLaren will be a customer team and might not have so privileged access to the data. There's rumours of Vodafone leaving McLaren too, probably hastened by Lewis's departure. Mercedes has also hired some big names this year; Aldo Costa from Ferrari and Bob Bell from Renault. They could be just about to set the world alight, whereas McLaren tend to build a good car every other year.
I think it's likely that the McLaren and Mercedes offers were pretty similar in monetary terms with a little more branding opportunities at Mercedes, but I don't think this is the crux of Lewis's motivation to move. An article on Autosport struck me as very pertinent. The essence of the article is that Lewis has grown up with McLaren, it's a parent-child relationship and now it's time for Lewis to break out and become an 'adult'. A good point made was that in 2007 Hamilton was on the verge of winning the championship on his first attempt in China and was kept out on very visible thread-bare tyres. I remember shouting at the TV screen for 5 laps that he should go into the pits and McLaren kept him out. That must rankle with him, he should have definitely won that championship. We know Lewis believes he should have won more than his solitary championship.
The relationship has soured in the last few years a little. There was the lying row in Australia a few years back, and there has been friction about Lewis's use of twitter. You may call this the teen years.
Once the parent-child relationship is formed, it's pretty difficult to break free (as any child returning to the parents would know) until you leave home. And as anyone knows, you can always return home and who knows Lewis may one day return home, calling the shots, as did Nigel Mansell.
But as I say, only time will tell.
Squiffy.
Thursday 20 September 2012
Forza Monza
or Force Monza!
I was lucky to be at the Italian GP two weekends ago. It was spectacular. Deep in a country park you find this incredible circuit of speed.
I managed to view the old banking - which would be terrifying in a modern car, or anything to be honest! The atmosphere was electric, the weather was hot, the tifosi devoted and action unstoppable.
Enough superlatives. It was better organised than Silverstone, you didn't need to wait more than 5 minutes waiting for a bus to take you between Monza train station and circuit, likewise on the way back. I was surprised that McLaren had a great deal of support - lots of Lewis and Jenson fans. It was great to be able to invade the track afterwards - and funny to watch guys taking away the polystyrene bollards at the first corner.
It was fantastic that Lewis won too, so shortly after his family bereavement. He was on it all weekend, and deserved the win.
A brilliant weekend. As Murray used to say, Faaantastic.
Squiffy.
I was lucky to be at the Italian GP two weekends ago. It was spectacular. Deep in a country park you find this incredible circuit of speed.
I managed to view the old banking - which would be terrifying in a modern car, or anything to be honest! The atmosphere was electric, the weather was hot, the tifosi devoted and action unstoppable.
Enough superlatives. It was better organised than Silverstone, you didn't need to wait more than 5 minutes waiting for a bus to take you between Monza train station and circuit, likewise on the way back. I was surprised that McLaren had a great deal of support - lots of Lewis and Jenson fans. It was great to be able to invade the track afterwards - and funny to watch guys taking away the polystyrene bollards at the first corner.
It was fantastic that Lewis won too, so shortly after his family bereavement. He was on it all weekend, and deserved the win.
A brilliant weekend. As Murray used to say, Faaantastic.
Squiffy.
Clegg was right to apologise
Nick Clegg has apologised for the tuition fees debacle.
Not for the U-turn, or for the policy, but for the fact that he promised to remove tuition fees in the first place. It is, finally, a moment when the Lib Dem leader has fully grown up. Hopefully the Lib Dems will follow.
For all my life, I have got used to the third party making rash promises, not tied down to the realities of possible Government. It was annoying to see the holier than thou, purer than pure attitude through the years - promising anything without a care. Safe in the knowledge that it would come to nothing. Every election they would say they would go into it to win and not talk about coalitions.
The last election taught a valuable lesson. You must have realistic costed policies. You must never make an absolute promise you are not certain to keep. As the third party your main chance is through coalitions so you need to take other party's manifestos into account. Nick Clegg has learnt this lesson, but I suspect the sandal wearers will have trouble adjusting to this, as they have to the nature of coalition (likewise the right wing Tory headbangers).
Unfortunately, I don't expect the grown up attitude to continue into the Lib Dem conference! There will be more grandstanding and unrealism.
Squiffy.
Not for the U-turn, or for the policy, but for the fact that he promised to remove tuition fees in the first place. It is, finally, a moment when the Lib Dem leader has fully grown up. Hopefully the Lib Dems will follow.
For all my life, I have got used to the third party making rash promises, not tied down to the realities of possible Government. It was annoying to see the holier than thou, purer than pure attitude through the years - promising anything without a care. Safe in the knowledge that it would come to nothing. Every election they would say they would go into it to win and not talk about coalitions.
The last election taught a valuable lesson. You must have realistic costed policies. You must never make an absolute promise you are not certain to keep. As the third party your main chance is through coalitions so you need to take other party's manifestos into account. Nick Clegg has learnt this lesson, but I suspect the sandal wearers will have trouble adjusting to this, as they have to the nature of coalition (likewise the right wing Tory headbangers).
Unfortunately, I don't expect the grown up attitude to continue into the Lib Dem conference! There will be more grandstanding and unrealism.
Squiffy.
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