Across the pond

……despite what you read, listen to, or see, on the media. He has simply moved his place of work to a beach in East Anglia, which is British, but as British as roast beef. Not New Labour. Definitely not old labour. Definitely Conservative, with a few Lib Dems.

And, instead of refreshing himself, and doing some serious thinking, he is spending his time planning his relaunch. And, even while on holiday, taking lots of new initiatives.

He is trying to get out of the hole he is in. But by digging. So the more he does, the deeper he gots buried in the mud.

If he was on a real holiday, he would be getting away from it all. And finding some healing from the savage wounds he has suffered from the media, the Labour Party, and increasingly his own colleagues.

Because much of what is happening is not his fault. Both the US, New Labour’s favourite ally, and Britain, are facing a nasty recession. Which harms Labour voters, but much more than those Tory voters, who have bumped up their salaries to astronomical levels, under the rule of Blair and Brown.

Brown needs time for reflection. But he is so charged up, that he is not reflecting.

And is his holiday resort he is not moved to do anything else.

Southwold is a pleasant place. But it is not very exciting. And it is not breath-takingly beautiful.

It is the sort of place the comfortably off middle classes used to holiday in the days before EasyJet.

If Brown had gone to Blackpool, he might have been able to lose himself on the Big Digger.

And he might have met a few Labour voters, who would tell him where he has gone wrong.