The hounds are out for Brown and it's difficult to defend him. Whilst I don't loathe him in the same way I did Blughhh I have little pity.

His efforts to seem hip and court popularity (eg did anybody see him on tv last Sunday singing the praises of Simon Cowell and Britain's Got Talent) are pitiful. The Labour Party is a dead duck and I suppose Brown's got to take responsibility but I also think he's right when he says "If I didn't think I was the right person, leading the right team, I would not be standing here." He's the best of a pathetic bunch.

I will simply remember him as the chancellor who abolished the 10% tax rate band. The socialist who robbed from the poor to give to rich, rather than the man who cost Labour the next election, or the man who brought the country to its knees, or the man who saved the country from oblivion depending on your point of view.

Let's be honest the last 6 years (Iraq war onwards) have been no better than the last 6 years of the last Tory government but if it's any consolation I am sure the first 6 years of the next Tory government will be worse again. They don't normally need an excuse to run down our public services but this time they've been handed one on a plate.