- Today is apparently the UN’s International Day for the Eradication of Poverty. I’m not sure what that means – that poverty will be over by monday?
- The Lib Dems have a sense of humour. Remix Cameron and Brown’s conference speeches on Speechbreaker.co.uk. You can make them say anything you like, and then upload the video to Youtube. A dirty and subversive little idea, but good fun for two minutes.
- Speaking of Lib Dems, MP Vince Cable is something of a prophet. Here’s a question he asked the chancellor six years ago:
Vince Cable: “Is it not true that… the growth of the British economy is sustained by consumer spending pinned against record levels of personal debt, which is secured, if at all, against house prices that the Bank of England describes as well above equilibrium level?”
Gordon Brown: “The Honourable Gentleman has been writing articles in the newspapers, as reflected in his contribution, that spread alarm, without substance, about the state of the economy… we have been right about the prospects for growth in the British economy, and the hon. Gentleman has been wrong.”
That was in November 2003, and you can read the official transcription of the debate here.
The Earthbound Report 