Today’s Guardian also has a lovely little freebie in the form of a pamphlet reproducing Roosevelt’s famous “We have nothing to fear but fear itself” speech. Whilst the tome is familiar to all those who find these things interesting, it is the foreword which drew my attention. The author? You’ve guessed it, Gordon Brown. Two paragraphs leapt out as I perused his comments;
“Roosevelt was addressing……a nation of closed banks, shut down factories, shattered confidence and millions without hope or work”
and
“Roosevelt did not offer a detailed programme. The old order had collapsed; the old certitudes were as bankrupt as the countless companies that had gone under. Roosevelt did not know exactly what to do. He would try a policy and, if it failed, try again until he found something that worked.”
Now I’m not a believer in crystal balls, but I think Gordon has been gazing into his! If you substitute “Roosevelt” with “Brown”, then you have an economic and political picture that many of us envisage will emerge with Brown at the UK helm. Stick this in your diary for 3 years hence, and we’ll see who was right!
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