Its all going "Pete Tong"

As some people may well recognise I tend to use some of the Guardian Cartoons in my posts. Steve Bell always seems to hit the mark! Whilst this shows that "the economy will not be blown off course" (quoting George Osborne); it also shows that the Sh*t (as in George) is about to hit the fan.

I am currently in Dubai, an emirate within the UAE. The beauty of having lots of oil, and at present therefore lots of money, allows the financial problems suffered here, just as elsewhere in the world, to seem an increasingly distant memory. I flew here on an Airbus A380, a fantastic airplane manufactured in Europe, some of it by BAe Systems. Amazingly quiet, roomy and comfortable, this airplane shows what British manufacturing can do.

In another division of BAe Systems diggers normally used to break up roads and demolish buildings are breaking up 9 airplanes that cost £4billion to develop at a cost of £200million. What a complete waste of money, and at a time where no other replacement is in place, except for turning to other countries to help us defend our own shores against attack.

This comes after the last flight of another great aircraft, the BAe Systems Harrier jump-jet. With what seems as amazing haste the entire fleet of these aircraft fly no more. Another British invention and result of foresight and manufacturing prowess lies forlorn and awaiting the diggers like the Nimrods.

My grandma didn't like Margaret Thatcher (I won't say what she used to call her, rhymes with "witch"), she saw her lay waste to the Mining Industry and a raft of manufacturing industries. As we have seen, the ConDems have prevented leaders in the Steel industry in Sheffield becoming one of the world leading businesses in specialist steel manufacturing, so is it any wonder that they seem hell bent on getting rid of other manufacturing industry because it "must" be done.

Meanwhile Dave's and George's friends in the Banks laugh at us all as they collect their bonuses and know that as the rest of us suffer from a 12% average pay cut, the most expensive fuel costs ever, the highest ever food prices and a seemingly headlong rush into economic hardship they have sufficient money to see it through.

Finally, this photo of Dave in Davos with his German counterpart seems to me to show a man who is asking everybody else what he should do........ after his buddy and spin doctor Andy Coulson resigned due to him being Editor of the News of the World at a time when phone hacking seemed to be the normal way of getting scoop news.

As Citizen "Wolfie" Smith used to say "Power to the People..." Maybe we should think of those words rather than sit back and be laughed at by the ConDem Cabinet, as they go home to their Oxford homes...