What Has Gone Before, and What May Be.

2008 has gone, and personally I'm happy to see the back of it.
From a grim start on Jan 9th when I fell on my arse in the garden and crushed two vertebrae (undiagnosed osteoporosis of the spine don'tcha know) and was on my can for two months, to resultant redundancy, to the end of the year when I got my business up and running successfully, it was a mixed period in my life.
Still, a period of relative stability now seems in the offing, and that's quite encouraging.
I comfort myself that it could have been a ruddy sight worse, and that I could have been, hmm... let's see....., well, I could have been in the position of Anne Moffat MP (slugging it out with the locals of East Lothian CLP); of Tavish Scott (contrary to Caron's musings), not looking remotely like laying a finger on the SNP government; or indeed Alistair Darling, who having chucked billions at the banks, is still seeing little improvement in the situation.

Perhaps he should have told them that the cash was meant to re-invigorate the economy, not for the banks to keep for themselves.
Naive, naive, naive.

Christmas saw the birth of another Great Project, when I received one of these fancy record turntables which can let you record vinyl onto your computer hard disk and thence to your iPod, cds, etc..
So, my glorious version of Mahler's 2nd Symphony, conducted by Leonard Bernstein, can now be preserved, as can the Stokowski version of Handel's Fireworks Music, and the orchestral ((i'm NOT making this up you know) version of 'Tommy'.
I've got around three hundred albums, so I've got a pretty good idea about how I'll be beguiling the hours at the weekends this year of Our Lord 2009 I assure you.

So, what of 2008 politically?
Well, it was the year that London gave up on Scottish Labour and wheeled in Skeletor to do their work. Jim Murphy (for it is he) has given them a more effective, pseudo high level UK approach to dealing with the SNP, although in the end it comes down to the same "Union Good, Independence Bad" mantra that we've been hearing to no effect for years now.

Certainly, there will be little attempt to disguise or apologise for the hostility that London Labour will continue to show to the SNP government.

Iain Gray, who has made a better fist of leading Labour than Wendy, now has a problem.
He has to continue to try to appear like Labour's leader here, when he's effectively having his breeks nicked by the Screaming Skull of Newton Mearns.
An appearance of sobriety and prudence isn't going to be enough.
Policies; that's what he needs, and as he's already stated that his replacement for Council Tax won't be visible until 2011, we needn't hold our collective breaths on that one.

It's Labour attack dog time, with criticism but no real detail on what Labour would do if in power.

Personally, this suits me fine.

If I got one message on the doorstep in 2007, it was that slagging off the opposition was not the way to the electorate's heart.

Labour don't get this, so rather wonderfully they've been happy to have very nasty public pops at me in the local press, which is their right, and which I will defend to the utmost.

Now, what of this election thingy?
I don't think that even Darling and Brown think that things are going to get better in the next 18 months.
Yes, yes, i know they SAY it will, but look out for the following indicators.

1. Confirmed dates for withdrawal from Iraq. They've done this already.
2. Serious bumming up of the effectiveness of the banks bail out, whether supported by evidence or not.
3. Very strong, Mandelson led, campaign against Tories on the economy, and, yes, playing the 'son of Thatcher' card for all its worth.
4. Gordon abroad. A lot.
5. A 'gimme' budget.
Big release of borrowed cash for public infrastructure projects.
Short term cut of base tax rate to 10% again.
Block cash handout to pensioners.
Maybe even..... bringing back MIRAS to help out homeowners??? A long shot, but, my word wouldn't that set the moggy amid the rats with wings?
Whilst we're at it, how about a cut in NI contributions, sir?

And an election for April / May, a few weeks prior to the European elections.

Now, all this is dependant on a few factors, so this prediction is subject to events, deah boy.
But Brown will not have forgotten what happened to Callaghan when he delayed an election to the last moment in 1979, and crashed and burned.
He also won't have forgotten that he missed his chance to score big, by not going to the country in October 2007.
Now, he's in the gumbo, but it'll be thicker and nastier by far come 2010.

So, unless it's complete meltdown come the spring, i think he'll go this year.

Dear All, I know I've been away for a while, but it's nice to be back, and I'll try to be a bit more regular (hmm, could have phrased that better) this year, which I hope is happy, healthy and prosperous for all of you and your families and friends.