Reading the Pulse

The row over Sir Fred's pension rumbles on.

The latest to join the ranks of nay-sayers is Harriet Harman, deputy leader of the Labour Party and right-hand populist to our dear PM. Following the general dismay at the size of Fred's (and I feel that, as he has had such an impact on my life I am entitled to be on first-name terms)pension and, no doubt concerned that Labour ministers knew what his contract contained last year but failed to mention it to anyone at the time, she appeared on TV full of wrath and stated the following:-

"And it might be enforceable in a court of law, this contract, but it is not enforceable in the court of public opinion and that is where the government steps in."

Is it? I'd always assumed that the job of government was, well, to govern. That means taking some decisions that are legally correct but that may be unpopular with the great unwashed. This government, it seems, would rather stick pins into it's collective eyes (maybe it already has - that would certainly explain its lamentable blindness to pertinent facts) than appear to be 'not-listening'.

The problem with this, and it amazes me that no-one in the media seems to have picked up on it, is that walking down this pin-blinded alley is incredibly dangerous. We've seen what happens when the masses take things into their own, somewhat grubby and illiterate hands. We have paediatricians being attacked because tabloid readers don't understand the difference between child doctors and child molesters. No doubt if Harridan Harman was in place at the time she would be calling for all these foul paediatricians to be lynched, as that is clearly what the public demands.

The problem this government has is that in the current crisis they feel they must be seen to be doing something. That translates as they must be seen to be doing anything.

Headless-chicken mode seems to be the order of the day.