Fun Online Polls: Xmas decorations & Philip Hammond

OK, I shall close the fill-in FOP on Xmas decorations. By now, half of us have seen some and half of us haven't (or have managed to ignore them to the point of not even noticing them) and return to more interesting matters.
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Defence Secretary is normally seen as a very senior job, certainly more senior than Transport Secretary, so on the face of it, Philip Hammond was promoted once the totally not-corrupt-at-all Liam Fox resigned in such an honourable and dignified fashion last week. Interestingly, the defence lobbyists seem to have got their knives out for Hammond already, but hey.

Now, as it happens, Philip Hammond was originally pencilled in by the Tories as Treasury Secretary (or 'Chief Secretary to the Treasury' or whatever the exact fancy title is) but was shuffled sideways because they had to give the job to a Lib Dem as part of the Coalition negotiations. The first incumbent David Laws was booted out because of some expense-claim shenanigans and was replaced by another Lib Dem, Danny Alexander.

Despite all this, and having been made Transport Secretary at short notice, Philip Hammond seemed to a) know what he was talking about and b) be enjoying the job. I just can't help liking him and his ve-e-ery dry sense of humour (despite him being an über-Home-Owner-Ist and all, at least he was prepared to go into battle over the HS2 route).

But is it really a promotion? Who really wants the job as Defence Secretary?

I'd far rather be Transport Secretary and really achieve something - raise the speed limit on motorways, turn off the traffic lights, build a few new railway lines, allow a new runway to be built at Gatwick or Luton, cut bus fares, whatever - than be blundering around in the MoD morass, there is no concept of 'value for money' in that department, it's all about massive vanity projects and nothing to do with what really benefits the UK. As Transport Secretary, you can quietly plan out the next few years and work towards a target; as Defence Secretary you are pushed and pulled every which way, and by and large, you usually end up resigning and being hated by all and sundry.

So that's this week's Fun Online Poll: "Which job would you prefer... Minister for Defence or Minister for Transport?"

Vote here or use the widget in the sidebar.

Fun Online Polls: Xmas decorations

It strikes me that complaints about retailers etc putting up their Xmas decorations earlier each year seem to come earlier each year. Here's one I spotted in The Evening Standard two days ago.

So that's our next Fun Online Poll: "Have you seen any Xmas decorations in your area yet?"

Vote here or use the widget in the sidebar. I did see a Xmas wreath with holly and red candles in the pub' yesterday, so I voted yes.
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I normally start a new Fun Online Poll on Monday, but last week's had to be closed because Liam Fox actually [was] resigned, in case you're wondering.

The Wisdom Of Crowds [Liam Fox edition]

Ho hum, Liam Fox has [been] resigned, so I've pulled this week's Fun Online Poll.

As at five minutes ago, opinion was as follows:

Will Liam Fox still be Defence Secretary next Monday?

Yes - 57%
No - 37%
Other, please specify - 6%

So we, collectively, called that one wrong (I voted 'no' as it happens).

Fun Online Polls: Credit easing & Liam Fox

Thanks to all who took part in last week's Fun Online Poll, results as follows:

George Osborne's 'credit easing' is aimed at helping...

Commercial banks - 58%
Other, please specify - 34%
Small and medium sized businesses - 8%

There were some very good suggestions for "Other" including:

Hollando: Helping the Tory's getting elected in a few years' time.
Barnacle Bill: Gideon's only making sure he gets that directorship(s) when he leaves office.
Neil Craig: The Tory Party. In the words of Sir Humphrey not trying to do something or even looking like they are trying to do something but trying to look like they are trying to look like they are trying to do something to get out of recession.
Jer: It's just to shoot Ed Ball's fox "the government is doing nothing".
Anti-Citizen-One: Bondholders.
View From The Solent: Other - himself and Camoron
Pogo: I doubt that it will help anyone other than the Tory party with its image problem - and that probably only marginally.
Edward: The policy is aimed at helping the Tory party, as with all political policies.
Bayard: ... it looks like George is firstly finding a way to offer soft loans to his mates in industry and secondly, trying to grab a slice of the banks' action for the Treasury.
J: It won't help anyone - except civil servants assigned to administer this scheme.

Ho-hum, pretty universal condemnation there, methinks.
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This week's Fun Online Poll, inevitably: "Will Liam Fox still be Defence Secretary next Monday?"

Vote here or use the widget in the sidebar. I'll have to close it sharpish if he actually has (or is) resigned by then.

Departmental inquiry casts doubt on legendary cunning of foxes

Liam Fox - complete and utter shit - update

He said in yesterday's FT that "a Conservative government would throw support behind selling UK arms to the world by reinstating the Defence Export Services Organisation".

Which leads one to assume that UK arms manufacturers are struggling a bit. I was therefore surprised to see this in today's FT:

UK becomes largest exporter of arms
Britain became the world's largest arms exporter last year ... overtaking the US which normally occupies the top slot ... giving it a 33 per cent share of the world export market.

Wow! So maybe Nulab were doing exactly the right thing when they shut down the 'Defence Export Services Organisation' - if an industry is thriving, it's best for politicians to keep their noses out.

Liam Fox - complete and utter shit

More Indian Bicycle Marketing, this time from The Scots Git in today's FT:

The likelihood of inheriting “unpleasant, unpaid bills” at the Ministry of Defence means Conservatives must resist the temptation of promising tax cuts, said Liam Fox ... setting out plans to realign UK defence policy, shifting further away from Europe ... and opening the door to buying more “off-the-shelf” equipment from the US.

Rather than simply relying on “preferential treatment” to support a UK defence industrial base, a Conservative government would throw support behind selling UK arms to the world by reinstating the Defence Export Services Organisation, he said.

“That is why I take every opportunity, despite being an ardent tax cutter myself, to warn my colleagues that we may find a number of unpleasant unpaid bills left behind by Labour on taking office,” he said.

For some reason, the Tory Right love a) tax cuts, b) spending more on the military, and c) the USA. So he has to try and appeal to all these interests. But d'you see what he did there? He appears to have mastered Doublethink and to be able to espouse completely contradictory standpoints:

a) UK 'defence' [sic] spending is about 2.5% of GDP. The bulk of that is actually 'attack' spending, so you could easily double 'defence' spending if you simultaneously halved 'attack' spending.

b) He's trying to garner the votes of people who'd like to see tax cuts and in the next breath saying there won't be any! He cheerfully ignores the simple maths that the gummint wastes 10% of GDP on complete crap. Increasing 'defence' spending from 2.5% to 3.5% of GDP could easily go in tandem with overall tax cuts.

c) Bugger the USA. I am no more in favour of being the 51st state of the USA any more than I am of being the 27th state of the EU. Or, for that matter, the 4th state of the UK.

d) Altho' the Tories are supposed to be more free-market, The Scots Git is simultaneously calling for us to buy more weapons from the USA (yes, that would make them cheaper, but also make us pretty beholden to them for spare parts and software updates etc) and also calling for subsidies to UK weapons manufacturers, which would make them more expensive. It's either one or t'other, AFAICS, or preferably neither.

Summary: he is a complete and utter shit and should f*** off back whence he came.