Brown a month in - verdict?

The sycophantic and uncritical British Press claim Brown's first month in office has been a real baptism of fire - really? Where is the fire. Two unsuccessful terrorist attacks and a lot of heavy rain. My sympathies are with those affected by serious flood damage - but surely they should be asking why when as Chancellor Gordon could have prevented much of the damage by freeing up money to build flood defences, did he not do so? Gordon has not yet been tested in a real crisis - an earthquake, a successful terrorist attack or even a major flood with serious loss of life - for example if the Thames Barrier was overwhelmed.

For all the talk of change, nothing much has changed - and nor is it likely to. The Blair legacy continues - we are still in Iraq, ID cards remain, the West Lothian question remains unanswered and the European Constitution is still being pushed through the back door without even a cursory thought of holding a referendum. Real change would be a prime minister that genuinely wanted to listen. I am still astounded how many can so easily forget what Gordon did to our pensions - we are living longer and having to make do with very much less while inflation sores. So many say, but he was a good chancellor - then why do we all feel worse of? Because we are - as a result of stealthily indirect taxes. Income tax is only part of the story.

Real change would give people real choices and reduce the insidious and relentless mountain of red tape. Are you happy with the latest suggestion that the Revenue should be able to take money directly out of our bank accounts? I for one am not, not least because the number of errors the revenue make are legendary! Real change would deliver a tangible result- and in health we see just the opposite - Gordon has condemned us to yet another review. I am not sure he knows how to improve public services - if he strings it out long enough maybe no one will notice!

I think we need to give those political commentators and moaning Minnnie's in the party a lesson in mathematics. It is simplistic and quite wrong to read the two bi-election results and conclude that the Conservatives did badly and the Labour Party did well. If you look at the facts, particularly the change in each party's share of the vote since the General Election, Labour lost 7.2% of its share of the vote in Ealing and 14.4% in Sedgefield. By comparison, the Conservatives gained 0.9% in Ealing and 0.1% in Sedgefield. Our vote held up while Labour's fell The winners from Labour were the Liberal Democrats but if this pattern were repeated at the next general election, the Conservatives would have 281 seats, Labour 243 and the Liberal Democrats 93.

Mr Brown is not going to just walk the next election - whenever it is called!