The Commons Today

Cameron acquitted himself very well in the Commons today. Even my elder brother who views all politicians as the lowest form of pond life thought so, although I do not rely on his opinions as there was a time he thought Blair was good news. My one concern about Cameron's statement though was the reference to looking at closing social sites where there is evidence that they are being used to encourage criminality. The ability to do this is a nail in the coffin for freedom of speech. Something akin to telephone tapping of social sites is one thing but closure is quite another. Osborne also acquitted himself well with his statement on the economy. Balls spewed forth his usual rubbish about cuts being too fast and too deep. He really should change his tack because there is a real danger if the euro goes down the tube that we will no longer be seen as a safe haven and will have to bring forward the cuts and make them deeper. Osborne's plan must be to show solidarity with the eurozone rather than crow 'I told you so' to our EU partners so that if either the euro does implode or we have to agree to treaty changes to allow the eurozone to become a sovereign state our negotiations on our change of status can be carried out in an atmosphere of goodwill. This must be right although it is difficult to resist a smile when one learns that France is in danger of being downgraded from AAA status. It is also difficult to resist a smile when one learns that Germany's Credit Default Swap rate is today higher, albeit by a smidgen, than the UK's.