Comment from the Pulpit

Well, who do you think is to blame for the current credit crunch? I am sure that we all have our different views as to who is to blame and the degree of culpability by the sectors involved.

I am sure that the vast majority of us consider that we are in no way whatsoever to blame for the current state of affairs. However, let us examine that a little bit further and also look at how we might dig ourselves out of this frightening economic recession. Some of you may recall from my previous Pulpits that I have criticised the way in which our local council, or most importantly MPs, are elected. It is no wonder that some of the short term popularity decisions they make fail totally to take into account the Country’s long term objectives, when you consider their backgrounds. Very few voters have any say in who should be elected, and as a consequence both political parties parachute their favourites into safe seats, and we are now seeing decisions being made by politically and career politicians, many of whom have no practical, commercial or manufacturing experience, often joining the government direct from either trade unions, polytechnics, universities or quangos.

Would it not be far better if the general public were able to demand that MPs had certain experience in industry or commerce before standing for election. In my opinion we will never be able to rely upon the financial judgement of an MP who has never been in a position, whereby he or she has earned the money to pay either the weekly or monthly salaries rather than always relying upon the state to make those monies available.

Having commented on where we are, how are we going to get this former great trading nation of its knees and back on to its feet? You can listen to politicians and bankers all day long and read mainly misleading statistics, but unless attitudes change, starting at the top, we will not recover. A good starting point is that first of all we should do away with many of the nanny state, politically correct/red tape restrictions, which hopefully will change people’s attitudes towards life.

There is no shame in finishing a race, even if you come last, if you have given your all. As we have seen from the recent Strictly Come Dancing, whilst there can only be one winner, the majority of couples that have danced have all been competitive (except for one certain person) and have basically come out as better dancers and competitors.

This country now needs leaders with courage, flare and ambition with the ability to employ likeminded persons whom, even if they have not been outright winners, are still competitive and are prepared to support inspirational leaders. There is no place in business today for people who take the attitude well it does not matter if I do not win because winning is not everything, which then sends out a negative signal and a defeatist attitude.

In addition, we need to remove all the “yes men” who now appear to be running virtually every government department, paying homage to the man/woman above them, expecting their right hand persons to do likewise who then live in fear of their jobs and, subsequently, afraid to criticise, whilst the dead hand of the state remains firmly on the tiller as this great Country continues to decline.

This is not what Great Britain or indeed the UK is all about, and we need no further evidence than the recent generosity of the general British public who supported the Children in Need appeal and raised more funds this year than ever, using an old fashioned word called sacrifice to make monies available for this worthy cause.

I, like many other people in business, do not think that the government’s economic cure is to continue spending what we do not have, has in the first place contributed to where we are now and it is hard to see how this flawed thinking will re-energise the economy.

We have recently witnessed the arrest of an MP by the anti terrorist squad which seems more akin to the behaviour of Mr Muggabe and if the pound continues to decline, Mr Darling will probably be ringing him for the name of his printing company to produce bigger and more worthless notes.

Finally, moving on to the World scene, it is amazing that the American public’s choice of voters came down to Senator John McCain, a 72 year old, with his Honky Tonk Mum as his Deputy, whilst the eventual winner claims he is going to change the World. That really worries me, as indeed does 2009, but I am sure that the British resilience will pull us through for yet another year. In the meantime I wish you all the very very best for what is going to be a most difficult and demanding 12 months.

Peter O’Hara

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