But the world is a complicated and ever-changing place. And most prime ministers leave office with as much frustration at what they couldn't do, as contentment with what they could. For the world bends their will, too.
Politics in Britain is in flux. A stagnant economy, the eurozone in crisis, unemployment at its highest levels since 1994, and the country braced for a crippling walk-out by public-sector workers at the end of the month. And let us not forget: the effects of the coalition's austerity programme are only just beginning to bite. Councils, police forces and government departments that have already shut facilities and put thousands of workers on the dole have another year of savage cuts to follow.
This wasn't part of David Cameron's plan. Certainly, he accepted that the first two or three years of government would be tough; but it wasn't supposed to be this tough. The private sector was supposed to be picking up more of the slack. There were supposed to be the first signs, however tentative and fragile, of renewed and sustainable economic growth.
Well, there isn't. The Bank of England last week slashed it's growth forecast for 2012 from 2pc to just 1pc. Businesses aren't investing and households aren't spending. And still no one knows how the euro-chaos will end, and with what effect on Britain – which, let us not forget, relies on Europe for around half its trade.
There's not a great deal Mr Cameron can do about that. Even domestically, his hands are tied by his steadfast refusal to change course on the depth or speed of the cuts. Wait-and-see is becoming wait-and-worry – and in the meantime, his political opponents, including those in his own party, circle like vultures. Plan A was always to fight the next election campaign on an economic upswing, handing the people back some of the fruits of their frugality and hard work. But if there is no significant upswing there will be nothing to give.
Meanwhile the Liberal Democrats are beginning to feel just a little bit better about life. In the early days of the coaltion, they made some quite dreadful strategic mistakes. Nick Clegg – whether out of naivety or arrogance – talked up his historic deal with the Conservatives as a partnership of equals. It was, and is, nothing of the sort. Mr Clegg over-promised and under-delivered. The Lib Dems got the worst government posts and roughly as much influence as their parliamentary presence deserved – in other words, not all that much. Yet by throwing in their lot so energetically, they got the vast majority of the blame. A 'yellow shield' for Mr Cameron, pilloried not just for the things the government was doing but because it was very different from what the Lib Dems said they would do.
It took a hammering at the local elections for the party to see the error of its ways. Since then, there has been a marked shift in the way the Lib Dems 'do' coalition. They have repositioned themselves, more realistically, as the junior partner in government, constructive in their approach but willing to apply the handbrake to any policies they consider beyond the pale.
Danny Alexander – dismissed by opponents as a lightweight political ingénue – has proven a deft touch in this regard. One of the few Lib Dems with a portfolio that matters, he has accepted the reality of being in a Tory-led government with Tory-led policies, while having the confidence to slap down Conservative colleagues on 'red line' issues. When Francis Maude warned this weekend that the government could reform strike laws if the mass public-sector walk-out goes ahead on November 30, it was Mr Alexander who immediately flagged up the Lib Dems' reservations.
This is a problem for Mr Cameron. Doubtless he thought that as the economy improved, so would his party's standing. He might even have toyed with the idea of jettisoning the Lib Dems altogether and calling a snap election a couple of years down the line. There is no prospect of that now. Suddenly needs them as much, if not more, than they need him.
Anaemic growth, an anaemic coalition, restive unions and a frightened public. Mr Cameron can do something about some of those. But he has chosen his fiscal path and, what's worse, there are significant economic factors beyond his control.
A long, cold and increasingly friendless winter is on the way.
It wasn't supposed to be like this – but then it rarely is. That's just the way the world works.
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A long, cold and increasingly friendless winter is on the way for Milliband too (hopefuly) now the secret Northern Rock deal has come to light.
Voters with any sense, knew at the last election what they were getting with the selfish Tories: that they have a track record in looking after their own, greedy kind. (And it was that tawdry ilk - and assorted 'kling-ons' - that voted for them.)
The LibDems, in their naivety (hardly daring to imagine they would ever get into Cabinet), promised the electorate the 'moon on a stick', never believing they would have to deliver, and ultimately climbed into a burning bed with Cameron & Co.
I hope they - Clegg and his misguided apologists - have enjoyed their brief taste of life at the 'top table'... the voting public won't allow them to forget the disingenuous way in which they reneged on promises, and lied to the country on assorted issues.
So now, the 'Coalition' (we all know it is nothing of the kind), having flogged the dead horse '... it was all Labour's fault...' to death, ad nauseum, have now laid the cause of the UK's ills and problems at the door of Europe... who next in their litany of blame, China?
I've said it within this medium before, and will say it again: Cameron's half-ar*ed government will never go full term, how could it? And if you think the country is struggling now... you ain't seen nothing, yet.
Slightly off topic but still relevant. Did anyone watch 'Greek for a Week' on Channel 4?
It was a documentary but more like a fictional black comedy. It took three real life UK Citizens with differing jobs and put them into the Greek economy with the same job to explain why Greece is in so much trouble.
Job 1:- Hairdresser aged 53. First she was told on her arrival in Greece is that she can retire. You can retire at 53 in Greece on 90% of your salary if you have a hazardrous job. A hairdresser is such a job due to chemicals they use and close contact to customers who could be contagious AND you ahve guessed it... so are most other jobs even radio DJ's jobs are tough due to the high risk of germs being transmitted via the microphone. BTW she could retire at 50 on 90% if she had a child under 16.
Job 2:- Bus driver aged 35. All bus co's in Greece are state owned so he becomes a civil servant with a free pension. He gets a milk allowance, a bonus for turning up on time, a bonus for turning up early to get his bus ready, a bonus for making sure passengers pay, a bonus if he is married and another if he has 2 kids or more. The result of all this is that he is on a salary equivelent to £70k in the UK.
Job 3: - Orthopedic surgeon. In Greece he can be paid by NHS or more commonly by private deals. A consultation or operation is invoiced to the patient as one third official invoice and two thirds fakilaki (brown envelope to you and me) e.g. Hip replacement costing 6,000 euros is invoiced at €2k and €4k under the table. ALL doctors practice this accounting method. BTW if the taxman comes and visits you to check your books.... guess what.... you got it.... you give him a fakilaki and he disappears reporting back that all is in order.
A fakilaki is common place.... even taking your car to a state owned garage for a MOT does not escape. Your car will get its MOT but you wont get your keys back UNTIL.... you guessed it.... you pay a fakilaki to the garage manager.
And we think Britain is in a mess!
There are indeed difficult times ahead, the workforce being made redundant and taking wage cuts in the face of high inflation are testament to that.
Public sector workers annoyed at the changing goalposts in respect of their pensions are about to strike causing more misery to parents and vulnerable individuals. It is of course their right to withdraw their labour, but I fear it will cause much resentment from the very people whose support they need to succeed.
New Labour seemed determined to create as many state employees as they possibly could. These of course had to be paid for out of the taxes of the non state employed workforce and companies.
We now have a bloated public sector workforce which is unaffordable. Now is the time to reduce the dependency of the state to employ people.
With reduced public sector wages to pay out, taxes can be lowered attracting business back to our service driven economy. It's about time we made things again. Manufacturing is the best way out of this mess.
It is time to lay the building blocks for a strong economy by reducing state employment. We need fresh foreign and domestic investment- who would actually make money instead of paying inflated taxes to the treasury and employing a trained skilled workforce.
It would be nice if the public sector pension promises were honoured, alas we are difficult times and all of us have to make sacrifices
Ah..."we're all in it together".....at a time where London house prices and wages buck the Northern trend and continue to steadily rise,the rest of us Northern serfs feel the pinch...the bailed out Northern Rock bank gets sold off to a wealthy individual without any say by the people that actually bailed it out at an enormous,unenforced loss,and an estimated £100 million a year in tax is continuing to be ducked by big business-it's reassuring to know that we can still find millions on a daily basis for firing cruise missiles and fighting foolish foreign wars we can never win....and still spend 32 BILLION in replacing a pointless nuclear weapon system we can't actually fire without American assistance...meanwhile,teachers,road sweepers,care assistants and bin men are derided as "troublecausers" for daring to stand up and say "no" to this playground bully of a Tory government.
Yeah,we're all in this together....just some more so than others.
There is little confidence anywhere, with the Deficit, Euro-zone problems, the uncertainties in the Middle East (particularly with the rumblings of a war over Iran). Businesses and individuals are reluctant to spend or invest & so stock markets are at a low ebb. It's easy to criticise the Government, but not meaning to pinch Mr Cameron's saying, we are all in this together. Workers and business (and Govt opposition) should therefore try to work together. I've never seen anything like this in the last 35 years at least.
It was the election to lose. No matter who got in, we'd be in a mess.
Labour talk tough, but know they'd have had to follow a similar plan, and play to the peanut gallery in the knowledge they've no realistic solutions either.
Cameron was a fool to think the private sector could rapidly absorb unemployment, the politicians were *told* this wasn't going to be a V shaped recession. We've got at least another 5 years of this, and anyone who claims to have a fix is talking, well, Balls.
There are a few things that could be done - such as reducing red tape, and revoking the minimum wage for either anyone under 21 or anyone who hasn't got at least 2 years work, which would start to tackle youth unemployment, and forcing the nationalized banks to change the terms of the current PFI contracts which are crippling the NHS and UK education and would make the cuts less damaging.
We mortgaged the next decade on the last one though. You wanted shiny things on cheap loans underwritten by magically ever-increasing house prices? You got them. Welcome to the consequences.
Only good solution is to buy and spend in England. What worse than seeing nobody spend and for shopkeepers around Manchester going bust. You can a least promise next year to buy better. What makes the English backbone is knowing we have tough times yet finding a better solution ahead.
With reference to my previous post Some more snippets for you...
1). An orthopedic surgeon in the UK income averages £350k per annum. I wonder why all the butchers had disappered off the high street
2). Greece have now borrowed about €31,000 for every man, woman and child.. or 11,000,000 x 31,000 euros. Pre-Eurozone money loaned to Greece was at Credit Card interest rates....20% or more so they tended not to loan much and when they did they paid it back fairly sharply. Post Eurozone they plummeted to 2%. Greece went on an unregulated massive spending spree blowing most of their loans on public sector
3). Is the UK in for a shock if/when Greece goes down the pan. Probably, the UK is in for nearly 15bn which seems a lot but we are currently borrowing about this much every month to balance our books so.... not bad at all really... doh!
There haven't been any governemnt spending cuts. Research it.
If the Uk was a business,we would have gone to the wall years ago!If you compare the UK (or any democratic country for that matter) to a business then how come the main board of directors, senior and middle managers come up for a vote every 5 years? The result of which can result in ALL of them getting the sack with only a lowly set of Civil servants left to try and pick up the pieces and teach the NEW board & senior managers who come into the boardroom the day after, most of them wanting to make major strategic changes to what the previous board had exercised!
Always amazes me how the UK 'business' of £1,700 billion turnover can cope with such a change. If WalMart did this, currently boasting the largest revenue in the World at £300bn, some 6 times smaller than the UK.... they wouldn't know their a4se from their elbow