Mutt and Jeff and Gordon Brown

So Gordon Brown says he "misunderstood" what the good lady said. If that's the case, he's quick to fly off the handle over something he's not sure about. Bit like the cabinet ministers who had the rough edge of his tongue. Misunderstood, indeed!

He said this in an interview with Jeremy Paxman. Plus this - "Please believe me, I have never been soft on bankers and I am not soft on bankers now and I have been very, very clear about what the banks have got to do in the future." So clear that the banks cannot muster any backbone for self-control. Sir Philip Hampton, the boss of RBS, is so weak that he has to cave in to his ultra-greedy employees (those who get the massive bonuses). "If we don't pay our top people (appropriately), they leave very quickly," he said. So these top people have no loyalty to the bank, no loyalty to the customers and no loyalty to the country (who bailed the buggers out). All they have is a craven desire to get filthy rich by making "profits" out of illusionary money. Most of it doesn't exist. It's all in some follow-my-leader account-hopping merry-go-round. They can make nothing into something. Must make an alchemist sick!

Gordon Brown hasn't done what he should do. Instead of bawling out Mrs. Duffy, why doesn't he get those bank chiefs in and tell them that it's straight jackets not flash jackets from now on. No funny money stuff. No hedging, no betting, no ducking, no diving, no derivatives, additives, sedatives, or laxatives. Just plain honest banking.

Any chance these modern day moneychangers might be able to clean up their financial temples?

Cameron won on points and poise

David Cameron won the debate last night. Not by a mile, but he did OK. A school report would say "much improved this term!". Nick Clegg came second and Gordon Brown limped in a reasonable third. To be fair to the PM, I think he did better than some said he did.

All three seemed to get through OK. However, all clammed up on questions they didn't want to answer. Transparency has some way to go it would appear. Linked to truthfulness, of course.

Cameron was much more relaxed. Nick Clegg had moments when he looked like he was piggy in the middle. And what on earth happened to Gordon Brown's make-up. I thought Phyllis Diller may have had a hand in it.

It's still a three-horse race with several loose horses cantering along beside.

Leave Gillian Duffy alone!

Good heavens, she only popped out for a loaf of bread. Now the media is camped outside her daughter's house. These guys are like a dog with a bone. They just can't leave well alone.

We all know what Mrs.Duffy said, we know what she thinks about it. At least the Prime Minister said something sensible today, which was to forget about it all. What on earth does the media think Mrs. Duffy has to add to the story.

Look, she's had her Andy Warhol moment. For heaven's sake leave the poor woman alone! A friend says, "She can't do normal things. She can’t go to get her hair done tomorrow like she wants to. She's got to have a full police escort. I am worried for her health and I'm sure her family are too. It's changed Gillian's life."

I bet it's that bloody Murdoch and his minions. I wish he'd never left Australia!

Kinnock windbags Labour's hopes

Lord Kinnock, stoker first class on the EU Gravy Train, has come out to say that it "doesn't look like" his party can win the general election, but insists it remains "within reach". I hope the Labour Party's reach has been severely forshortened.

Kinnock waffles on to say that the prime minister has been "poisonously misrepresented by the press". If he's talking about the encounter with Gillian Duffy I think there's been zilch misrepresentation. Not a word out of place. Brown said it all himself. If it's over the past 13 years, there might have been the odd phrase or two, but that's it.

No, Labour has itself to blame for the muddle and mess. Mrs.Duffy asked him a straight question on the economy. Gordon Brown just raised his caninus muscle and gave a few platitudes and spotted that her use of red in her clothing was a good sign. Then he got into the car and revealed himself as he really is.

I think it was summed up quite nicely by Brown's biographer, Tom Bower, when he said yesterday on BBC News that "Gordon Brown has never understood the working class of England". So face to face with a representative of the species and he's spun off his axis bigtime.

Who knows what will happen tonight. My hunch is that Cameron and Clegg will be relaxed, Brown will be like a cork in a champagne bottle. His body language will show him up if he lets it loose. He'd be better off grabbing the podium for dear life and keeping deadly still.

This election is now like a steeplechase with unknown nags in the race. I can see all three parties winning seats and losing them. There will be some very startled new MPs by the end of next week. And a great many startled voters.

Another poncy Labour reaction!

Nick Colbourne, who is standing in Montgomeryshire as the Labour candidate, has said he will not share a platform with the National Front (NF) at a debate for the parties in a Powys church. He refused to attend Thursday's event with "an extremist political party" saying, "I will not take part in an event that affords an airing for an extremist political party to take a completely opposite standpoint and air those views to a wider audience". So all he does is make himself look like a pompous self-righteous prat.

The people of Montgomeryshire won't be voting for this paragon of supposed political virtue. They'll probably keep their allegiance with a man who is not afraid of debating with his opponents and many times trouncing them. I'm sure Lembit Opik could wipe the floor with the NF, but I expect he will just expose their totalitarian views in exemplary fashion. He says, "Firstly, I take very seriously the importance of the church-organised event - they're always superbly well managed and raise important ethical and topical issues. Secondly, I've always said that the key to addressing these matters is to engage in proper dialogue about them. It's no good staying away just because you find the attitudes of these groupings distasteful. Ignoring them is a failed strategy, and not one I subscribe to. As we've seen with the British National Party, it's a lot better to actually have the discussion and look at the facts of the issues rather than pretending that doing nothing will simply mean they'll 'go away."

"Ignoring them is a failed strategy". Absolutely! Not only that, it allows them to appear martyred. Anyway, I don't suppose Mr.Colbourne's got much to say. Best all round he stays at home with his feet up.

Gordon Brown caught on camera - and mike!

Here's how the internet works!

It's hard being Gordon Brown in Rochdale

Gordon Brown won't be heading back to Rochdale in hurry, I'll wager. It's hard being a cowboy in Rochdale, but it's a hell of a lot harder being Gordon Brown in Rochdale!