I'll Tell You What We'll Do, We'll...Erm, I'll Get Back To You Sometime

"Hello, we'd like to know if you are poor"

Talk about tailoring your words for different audiences. Harriet Harman addressed the TUC Conference earlier today & declared that "the overarching influence in inequality was the issue of 'where you live, your family background, your wealth and social class'." (http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2008/sep/10/tradeunions.labour ).

And what does Harman propose in order to tackle the problem? A "National Equalities Panel".

Yes, a panel, which, the Guardian report states, will "undertake a year-long study to provide an 'authoritative' analysis of the gaps between rich and poor in the UK."

So after eleven years of the New Labour project, the answer to something which has been left to fester on their own watch is to appoint a panel of the usual middle class professionals to issue a report next year, which will then gather dust in a Whitehall storeroom.

And Brown still wonders why he's in for a kicking at the next election!