The Conservative Party has published its Planning Green Paper. I have been privileged to have early access to drafts of this paper and am delighted with its emphasis on localism and handing power back to communities. Here is a link to the Conservative Planning Green Paper
Who is the odd man out? and, more important, WHY?
1 Lord Stevenson: former chairman, HBOS
2 Sir Fred Goodwin: former chief executive, RBS
3 Andy Hornby: former chief executive, HBOS
4 Sir Tom McKillop: former chairman, RBS
5 John McFall MP: chairman of Treasury Select Committee
6 Alastair Darling: soon to be former Chancellor of the Exchequer
7 Gordon Brown: soon to be former Prime Minister and a former Chancellor
8 Sir Terry Wogan: former presenter of Radio 2's Breakfast Show
You're probably thinking Terry Wogan.............
And you're right.
However, the reason may surprise you ......
Terry Wogan is the only one out of this motley crew who actually holds any formal banking qualification.
I asked a friend's little girl what she wanted to be
when she grew up. She said she wanted to be Prime Minister some day. Both
her parents, Labour supporters, were standing there, so I asked her, "If you
were Prime Minister what would be the first thing you would do?" She
replied, "I'd give food and houses to all the homeless people."
Her parents beamed, and said, "Welcome to the Labour Party!" "Wow...what a
worthy goal!" I said. I continued, "But you don't have to wait until you're
Prime Minister to do that. You can come over to my house, mow the lawn,
pull weeds, sweep my drive and I'll pay you £25. Then I'll take you over to
the shop where the homeless guy sits outside. You can give him the £25 to
use towards food." She thought that over for a few seconds, then she
looked me straight in the eye and asked, "Why doesn't the homeless guy
come over and do the work
and you can just pay him the £25?" I smiled and said, "Welcome to the
Conservative Party."
Her parents still aren't speaking to me.