@Sk, East Sussex

"In the late 1980s inflation was 10% and interest rates reached 15%..." Blah, blah, blah

How long are you people going to delve into history like this? You are comparing apples with bananas.

Brown blew it. Period

PD, Oxford,

Ezra & SK, What colour's the sky in your world?

I don't know anyone who voted Labour last time, I dont know anyone who supports either this or the previous govt. Comparing Brown and Major is like deciding which leg to be shot in.

Basically our political system is unfit for purpose and needs changing. Trouble is it can only be changed from within and that means by the people with the most to gain in leaving it as is.

Changing unemployed to incapacity benefit doesn't help anyone but the figures but some mug will believe them.

Notice you didn't factor in council tax, income tax and NI are up and council tax is up a massive amount and this is tax on already taxed income.

lastly Brown is bereft of any identifiable talent or skill the man has achieved nothing good.

Bob, Bellfield,

Ezra has a point. It only takes a quick 'Google' to discover that the Tories produced 3 million unemployed, today the figure is 1 million with a larger population and the minimum wage. In the late 1980s inflation was 10% and interest rates reached 15%, with an average around 12%. John Major's election broadcast in 1992 stated 'so under Labour you're taxed more, you pay more and your mortgage costs more...'. in 1992 the basic rate of tax was 25%, today it is 20% and only marginally more if you include the rise in NI. I also remember my mother waiting over 2 years for a hip replacement, shoddy and understaffed hospitals and putting buckets on the stairs to catch the rain + outside toilets in many schools. As we have had the most rapidly expanding economy in the West over the last 10 years, the latter could not have been rectified without good economic management.

sk, East Sussex,

Many journalists should accept some responsibility for bolstering false Browns reputation. It will be interesting how the Mirror's Kevin Maguire will eventually justify his attacking of Brown, the man he has blindly supported for the last 10 years as Brown objectively becomes a liability both to party and country.

Demaris, Dudley,

Billions (maybe trillions) of pounds squandered on projects run by criminals and incompetents. Pilfered private sector pension funds, price of living rocketing, taxed on X, Y and Z.
Country run by MP's with no or little morals, hiding behind a PR Machine, finances in meltdown, UK Human and animal disease after disease.
No wonder Robert Mugabe (and the rest of Southern Africa) just laugh at us, we can barely deal with our own problems, we should not be telling other countries how to run their affairs,when we are such a mess.

Mark, Yorkshire,

You have visited this before Mr Hames,even before the "economic slowdown" drove another nail in this man's coffin.
May I refer you to the short list provided by Mr B Phillps ( I could lengthen it by request )
Change horses, or should I say Hippos are at home in the water now above Brown's head.

robert everitt, wolverhampton,

The big concern I, and so many voters, have is that there is even less confidence in any new potential govt's abilities to handle the economy. The LibDems offer radical ideas in the knowledge they won't get into power and the Tories are mostly trading off ill-feeling towards the GOP without offering any credible alternatives. Cameron doesn't understand economics (although Osborne is bright) and the Tories would collapse and divide within 2 years of power.This will be highlighted in the upcoming general election when there may be a (slight) disgruntled shift back to the comparatively competent NuLab but, whatever the result, it's going to be a miserable, divided nation.

For any of you reading overseas, the majority of the population do not want to string up Brown etc.. The real mood towards the economy is just a bit grey and downbeat, which is thoroughly British of us. It's just that ,phew, for a minute there (1997-2002) we lost ourselves.

Ezra Mayo, Oxford,

It's illuminating how Westminster changes from being a redundant debating chamber to frenzied chatter, hard threats, elbow pushing, drama, and even punch-ups, the moment the governing party starts to wobble. What a bunch! We should invite the UN to come in and help us get back democracy.

john problem, winchester, uk

Not sure about Miliband, he looks like the special needs kid

John Ledbury, Kings Lynn, England

BROWNS' great problem is , denied the premiership, he would keep on going about TELLING everyone how good he was at finance. He left behind a poisoned chalice, compounded by an ongoing world food shortage [ there were many warnings from 30 years ago], and tragedies in Zimbebwe and Darfur that he simply huffed and puffed about. As a PM he is found to be wanting, as are all politicians that refuse to address overpopulation!

David Vinter, Louth, Lincs., UK.

Pension Funds plundered
Gold sold at rock bottom prices
Every major project overspent by billions
Econonmy propted up by allowing banks to issue credit cards like confetti
NHS given billions with no appreciable benefit
Taxes increased on the poorest (10%)
Need I go on?

Could not run a welk stall

B Phillips, Ashford, Uk

Brown should claim asylum whilst in the US. He can cite the certainty of torture every Wednesday to back it up.

michael murphy, brightlingsea, england

Financial Meltdown

He's managing the financial meldown nicely.

joe, Berwickshire, Scotland

Not sure about this Tim. The prevailing "wisdom" used to be that any downturn would benefit Brown s he would be seen as the best guy to get the Country through troubled times. Thats not proving to be the case as more and moe people seem to be coming tio the conclusion that he has glaring deficiencies which mean he is not up to the job of being PM. I personally think its that which is proving so damaging and which is likely to be long lasting. He appears to have the opposite of the "Midas touch".

Peter Buss, Canterbury, UK