You have a miss placed faith in Comrade Brown, he was alongside President Blair for 10yrs destroying this great country, and you believe he could listen and change, get real. This man along with New Labour ( rebranded communism ) with the collusion of the unions have a sinister hidden agenda which if followed through will destroy this country.

Michael, Sheffield,

The words written on MrBrown's personality may be lamentable but fit well with the traits exhibited since his move to the top job, and confirm some even more lamentable comments from his own side ,before his elevation.
This is a man with a moral compass who threw the planned and considered "British workers for British jobs" into his conference speech.A man who exhibited the faliure of his humour and grace when the most expected question at a press conference could not be deflected without a patent untruth.
The man has surrounded hiself with people who offer poorer advice than the average Westminster roof slate,or as witness to his known sourness offer no advice at all and go along on his coatails.
The Prime Minister was tested but once politically by Cameron's speech without notes ,leading to a surge in opposition support and a collapse in on himself.
One needs character to lead and this man has shown us very little.

robert everitt, wolverhampton,

Mr Hames is indulging in VERY wishful thinking if he believes that "There is (probably) no other Northern Rock out there."

The current credit crunch has affected all banks on two levels. Firstly the write-downs on mortgage assets have resulted in alarming tight equity ratios meaning that some banks have had to raise emergency capital (eg Citigroup). Further write-downs are expected to be on the way. Secondly banks have found it hard to gain debt funding from the markets as liquidity dries up - this is what caused Northern Rock its troubles and will potentially cause the same problems at other small banks with large long-term lending commitments (ie our mortgage banks).

There is also a potential wave of corporate bankruptcies as consumers stop spending so freely and debt cannot be cheaply refinanced. The government will have some interesting decisions to make on which companies they wish to bail out a la Northern Rock.

Anna, London, UK

This is mostly fatuous complacency, born possibly of desperation at Labour's state. Best of all is the bit where Hames says "there is (probably) no other Northern Rock lurking out there."

Has it slipped his mind that Northern Rock itself is still out there, a festering sore that needs cauterizing no later than the end of January? At the moment the smart money is on administration followed by nationalisation - which will cost the Treasury a fortune and will almost certainly see taxes soar in the budget to pay for it. After that, the council election results may be somewhat less than favourable (10%, anyone?) - and Brown's annus horribilis may continue.

Huw Clayton, Newent, Gloucestershire,

This article really expresses the triumph of hope over experience. A serious slowdown is inevitable and with it a significant fall in house prices. That is the best hope, because if the enormous outpouring of cash from central banks to stabilise the credit crunch has is usual effect there will be a significant rise in inflation and double digit interest rates.
2008 will be a financial annus horibilis.

John, Jakarta, Indonesia

Is the theory that the Govt. cannot lose anymore Data, because they have lost it all already, supposed to reassure us?

R James, Clifton, UK

Dream on Mr Haynes. England (where all those council elections will be held) are sick to death of Gordon and the incompetent second-raters in the cabinet - I'm sure they will send an appropriate message as soon as they get the opportunity.

Donna Walker, Effingham, Surrey

Agree entirely. It will be much better for Brown - and indeed his chums. As somebody once observed 'The first duty of a politician is to enjoy a lot of travel, free of charge'. Our leaders are giving tons of money in aid overseas thereby guaranteeing a nice lot of foreign trips in 2008. (They'd rather do that than visit hospitals or open police stations or any of the other activities which mean much to the citizen at home but are desperately boring to leaders).

john problem, winchester, uk

Come off it Hames; you get worse.
Brown is, after all, Stalin , if with Beanish attributes and who wants that?

Dr J Findlater, Carnforth,

Your capacity for complacency and self delusion is extraordinary.
1. "it is extremely improbable that the next 12 months could be as embarrassing for the Government as were the past three months..."
Er, why not? Given it's track record I'd have thought it highly likely that more cock ups will come to light - I have yet to see them do anything successfully (except lie).

"The PM has the time and the inclination to learn from misfortune"
On the contrary this PM appears to believe himself incapable of error...
" The principal political struggle in 2008 will be in London The other English council contests could well be dire but these seats were last fought in 2004, when Labour managed ... 26 per cent of the national vote. It would be hard to do much worse than that.
So, Tim, all the other council elections (for the whole of England) are to you less important than who becomes the the Mayor of London? That says it all. Complacent, blinkered and in denial. Times - shame on you.

Simeon 12, Telford,

Gordon should rest on his 'laurels'. A 1 time PM. It would be best for him to follow his 'socialist' predecessor and hanker for royalties from his memoirs, speaking engagements and perhaps as a special envoy (N Korea?).

Andy, Caerdydd,

...and, of course, you win the Lottery, the Tooth Fairy finally pays up and Father Christmas delivers your entire wish list. Now, back to reality ...

eddie foster, mirthios, crete, greece