It is not lost on me that, at a time when our country is in economic meltdown, our soldiers are dying on the front line, unemployment is rising at a phenomenal rate and businesses are going bust every day, our government is just not interested - Note: I have excluded ‘Swine Flu’ because this is just a convenient distraction for our government.

Instead, they are intent on squabbling like spoilt school children. Little wonder we are in such a mess, each and every one of them should be ashamed. Headlines no longer deal with the issues that concern the public, instead they are dedicated to those within the Labour party that seek to criticise or defend New Labour and/or Gordon Brown. Whilst I am all for the discredited New Labour machine going into self-destruct mode, I am concerned that it is happening whilst they are still in government, it is akin to sending a text message on your mobile phone, whilst travelling at over 100 mph on the motorway.

It is clear to me, that only now, have Labour diehards realised that their social experiment has been a failure, both in terms of policy and implementation. Instead of bickering, they should call a general election for the sake of the country and let the people decide who is fit to get us through this mess. But no, they couldn’t give a toss, they choose to fight each other rather than concentrate on what they were elected to do…run the country. Their selfishness clearly knows no bounds.

To save the party arguing the toss for the next 12 months as they desperately and unashamedly hang onto power, let me explain why they failed, in simple terms, that even children can comprehend. Now I will not get into the detail of whether or not the policies were right because this is neither the time, nor the place. However, the failure can be simply put, it is not about the plan, it is all about the implementation. New Labour came up with a vision, a plan for the United Kingdom and instead of placing the very best people in charge of these plans, they resorted to cronyism. The decision on who would be responsible for implementation of New Labour’s grand vision was determined on reward, not merit.

Government is not the place for ‘on the job’ training. Take for example Jacqui Smith, how can a background in teaching economics at a high school qualify her for the position of Home Secretary? Or Alan Johnson, before entering parliament, he was a postman and then a full-time union official, so how is this going to help him run one of the 3rd largest employer in the world, the National Health Service? David Miliband is now Foreign Secretary, yet before entering parliament, he was a researcher for the Institute for Public Policy Research. How does this qualify him as the best person to represent our interests on the world stage? Even the Chinese questioned Ed Miliband over his “qualifications” to lecture them on climate change, his response was that as a politician, he was in effect, charged with selling the concept.

Take Gordon Brown for example. Some may think that he had some sort of financial background, an accountant perhaps, or a financial analyst. But no, this man who was to become our Chancellor of 10 years, had no such qualifications, little wonder that he lead us into the biggest economic crisis in 60 years. Gordon Brown was a Rector of the University of Edinburgh, after that, he was employed as a lecturer in Politics at the Glasgow College of Technology. From 1980, until he was elected a member of parliament, he was a journalist at Scottish Television, later becoming an editor for current affairs at the same television station.

As for Tony Blair, his background prior to becoming an MP is so scant, it is not worth mentioning, so I won’t. Little wonder then that this government of ,very little talent, has had to spend £billions on consultants throughout their term of office. 

It never ceases to amaze me how, in politics, ministers are offered position not based on merit, but based on loyalty. If the private sector were to resort to such cronyism, it would fail miserably, instead, with a few exceptions, the private sector employ the best people for the job, based on experience, knowledge and ability. No so ministers. If those in the private sector fail, they are fired and replaced with someone else that can do the job. Not so ministers, they are normally forgiven, occasionally moved, but rarely sent to the backbenches.

The internal squabbling of New Labour is lamentable, but it is also dangerous. The public are not stupid, they can work out that if the party, including government ministers are fighting amongst themselves, then they are not fighting for us. If the party had any sense of self-respect, they would admit that they had lost the plot, lacked any direction and had demonstrably failed the British public and in doing so, offer the people of this country the opportunity to decide on their future as well as our own. They won’t of course, because now, more than at any time in our history, MP’s of all parties are in denial of the fact that they are elected to serve, not rule. And chief amongst this philosophy and belief are members of the Labour party.

Regular readers of my rantings will know that I have argued strongly against a windfall tax on the energy companies, which I felt was, in effect, a tax on enterprise. I also arguedthat Ofgem should either do its job or if doesn’t have the powers, then it must be provided with them, given they appear to be acting as the energy companies lapdog, not its regulator.

However it is a two way street, the energy companies were quick to announce large scale price increases, in virtual unison, yet they are deliberately vague about when the prices will come down, even though wholesale prices are now precisely what they were, before we had to accept price hikes of around 40%. Apparently at their regular meeting Energy Minister Malcom Wicks and Energy Secretary Ed Miliband “demanded” that prices should be brought down. But the boy Ed, and that excuse of a minister Malcom Wicks, accepted assurances from the energy companies that they would “bring prices down as soon as they can“. Pathetic, weak and completely unacceptable, the ministers should be completely ashamed of themselves, that is not progress, it is the energy companies telling government ministers to bugger off and the minister accepting it, the ministers should be sacked, here and now.

Energy companies argue that the reason prices have not fallen already is that they purchase at ‘forward’ prices, fair enough, I can completely understand this logic, however, it also means that they know exactly when the new prices will kick in, so to tell government ministers and for the ministers to accept, that they can only provide a vague indication is nothing short of a scandal and a con.

Energy is an essential service, not an optional commodity that the people of this country can elect not to purchase, therefore, any company choosing to invest in our energy sector should act reasonably and responsibly at all times. That is the nature of the investment, a guaranteed flow of business whatever the economic picture, in return for a measured and consistent return for investors. Clearly they are not acting responsibly and that is why a regulator was put in place, but Ofgem is nothing short of pathetic, either in terms of their leadership and/or as a lack of meaningful powers, either way, they are a complete waste, in their current form, of taxpayers money. The only other support the public can expect is political pressure from the energy ministers, but Ed and Malcom could not negotiate their way out of a paper bag, they are nothing short of useless. Sending boys in to do a mans job at a time when the cost of heating is going to be critical to the well-being of millions of British citizens is so shameful, I genuinely cannot express it in words.

Gordon Brown should replace Ed Miliband and Malcom Wicks, here and now and replace them with people that will negotiate hard, not act as the industry’s whipping boy. The energy companies have be told, that they must produce evidence of what their current wholesale prices are and when they expect them to come down, the they must be ordered to provide an immediate and proportional reduction in consumer energy costs. If they fail to do so, they must be informed that they will face future price caps and/or a windfall tax, for any amount that exceeds their previous years profits. Ofgem must be given the powers and a management team that is willing to regulate the industry, not capitulate. I do not believe in state intervention, however, if the energy companies will not play ball and legislation won’t work, then we must nationalise this industry. It is simply too important to ignore and the public most certainly deserve better than Messrs Miliband and Wicks representing our interests.

Without wishing to be melodramatic, the reality is many people will freeze this winter because they can’t pay their energy bills, by abdicating their responsibility to the public, this government and their ministers will have to ask themselves whether they did as much as they could have done in the circumstances. By their current record, I would argue they have not.