Me, Harriet And Fixed-Term Governments

Harriet Harman was on Question Time last night telling us that the MSG is considering a move to fixed-term governments.

There's been a lot of talk about this in the last few days, and people from all three main parties are backing the idea.

I personally don't like it. I think it forces the government to manage the economy even more than they try to anyway - "We must make sure that we're spending loads of money by Point X because we know that's when the election has to be". I'd prefer to give them some flexibility to go to the polls when they want to. There's very little evidence to suggest that Prime Minsiters have, in the past, abused their consitutional right to call an election whenever they want (although admittedly Brown obviously considered it). And I don't buy the arguments about the uncertainty about timing being a bad thing, either.

But on the upside, it does give me an excuse to post a couple of pictures of my all-time favourite Labour politician (not that that's saying much). One thing is simply beyond argument - she's a good deal better-looking than her predecessor.

She can come and look at my swingometer any time.