Arden_Forester

For freedom of expression. #unionist #libertarian #conservative. Free trade advocate. Positive Brexit. Retweets not always agreed with but found interesting. 😍

[Arden_Forester @Arden_Forester]

@RachelReevesMP This makes absolute nonsense unless you pay the banks huge sums to reopen branches or you get them to charge us through the nose for the 'benefit'. Plus would you insist they reinstate bank managers? Truth is banks not that much interested now in retail banking as it once was.

[Liam Halligan @LiamHalligan]

As a young political correspondent in the mid-1990s, for The Financial Times, part of my job was to get to know and to understand the big beasts of the Labour front bench in the House of Commons.

It was clear that the Tories were in for a hiding, and Tony Blair's party would form the next government. So the views of the shadow cabinet were frankly of far more public interest than those of serving ministers - and the FT's coverage reflected that reality.

That's how I came to know and respect Alistair Darling - Chancellor of the Exchequer from 2007 to 2010 - who died today, aged just 70.

Formerly a left-wing firebrand, Darling was the epitome of New Labour - in the sense that he came to accept that UK elections are generally won and lost on the centre ground, and voters were unlikely ever to hand a radical left-wing Labour government the keys to Number Ten.

As such, Darling and his front-bench New Labour colleagues tempered their views and their rhetoric, while retaining their determination to implement reforms which they felt would make Britain not just a more prosperous, but also a fairer society.

From the 1997 landslide onwards, successive New Labour governments were characterised by increasing antagonism between the "Blairites" and "Brownites" - and their respective retinues of spin-doctors and advisors.

Instinctively closer to his fellow Scot Gordon Brown, Darling was nevertheless the only really senior New Labour politician who was able to move between and broker deals between the Blairites and Brownites. This was a mark not only of his political and diplomatic skills, but also the wide respect for his judgement across both camps, the broader political and media class - and the public as a whole.

Darling served as Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Work and Pensions Secretary, Transport Secretary and Trade and Industry Secretary. But he will be remembered for his role as Chancellor f the Exchequer during the 2008 financial crisis, during which he was widely and rightly seen, at a time of enormous economic and political danger, as a voice of calm reason.

Darling was pivotal in shaping and implementing the rescue plans, in the UK and elsewhere, which were far from perfect, and the implications of which we continue to live with to this day, but which probably made the best of an extremely difficult situation.

The importance of the positive role the UK Chancellor played at that crucial moment for the UK economy, and financial markets across the world, is accepted and endorsed by a broad range of politicians and scholars - again, rightly so.

Political legacies are complex - and much will be written about Darling's contribution to UK public life over the coming weeks and months, not least by me !

I disagreed with Alistair Darling on some issues - but the written and in-person discussions I had with him over many years were always cordial. And the interviews I did with him were always willingly given and graciously conducted - including one for Channel Four Dispatches during lockdown, when we were both wearing masks, standing in the snow in the garden of his home in Edinburgh, making sure we were at least two metres apart!

Darling put forward his ideas politely and coherently – and, despite his political seniority, he was always willing to listen to and engage with opposing views as well.

This is an aspect of our public life - the art of disagreeing agreeably, constructively, without spite or rancour – that was very much in evidence when I became a journalist almost 30 years ago.

These days, alas, we seem to have lost that noble and important art of agreeable disagreement - something that I will always associate with the memory of Alistair Darling.

Alistair Darling (28 Nov 1953 – 30 Nov 2023)
R.I.P.

[Arden_Forester @Arden_Forester]

@gaza_report I don't suppose he's very good at turning the other cheek.

[Arden_Forester @Arden_Forester]

@Casumptious I'm surprised this republican wants to get into the same shot as the King. Humza is a strange dude at the best of times.

[Arden_Forester @Arden_Forester]

@MickFitz8 @brit_battleaxe @GBNEWS Well how would you get civil servants to do their jobs if they appear to those in charge that they are failing? I agree politicians ultimately carry the can but are you suggesting hopeless civil servants can stay in post regardless? These guys turned up with NO facts whatsoever.

[Arden_Forester @Arden_Forester]

@Isacw1979 @RonEng1ish @RishiSunak Exactly. They are causing a public nuisance. Plenty of laws to deal with them but the police never seem that bothered to use them.

[Arden_Forester @Arden_Forester]

@RonEng1ish I take it NYPD officers have had suitable training. New York City has long been a 'sensitive' city but with Hamas supporters joining in it's now more a tinderbox meets a powder keg.

[Arden_Forester @Arden_Forester]

@AvivaKlompas Pity Ellis Island is no longer in operation.

[Arden_Forester @Arden_Forester]

@bobmca1 The last person in that toilet will be Ursula herself.

[Arden_Forester @Arden_Forester]

@JustineClaire65 He's not really said anything the Iranian authorities would disagree with. The only thing is a gun is a bit modern for him I suggest. Saudi Arabia prefers a sword of heavy steel.

[Arden_Forester @Arden_Forester]

@FirecookieJulie Does he know any limericks?

[Arden_Forester @Arden_Forester]

@bobmca1 Aged 42? He hasn't just written a book, has he?

[Arden_Forester @Arden_Forester]

@GiftCee Agreed. It's a pity we don't have a similar phalanx of Scots MPs that we once had. Now we have a bunch of grumpy republicans who care not much about Scotland and nothing at all about the United Kingdom.

[Arden_Forester @Arden_Forester]

@top1percentile @RichardWellings I imagine next time I fly to get dirty looks from certain people. Ever since 9/11 flying has become a chore rather than a fun thing. One time I could go down to Crazy Billy's, buy 6 bags of booze and bring them back no questions asked (at least on TWA). 😉https://t.co/yWM5dygJZb

[Arden_Forester @Arden_Forester]

Former Chancellor Alistair Darling dies aged 70. He was one of the good guys in Labour. This comes as a bit of a shock. https://t.co/wuVrw8Q5NO

[Arden_Forester @Arden_Forester]

Indiana Catholic women’s college now accepting men who identify as women. https://t.co/KxG9g19K2Z

[Arden_Forester @Arden_Forester]

@brit_battleaxe @MickFitz8 @GBNEWS Problem lies with the civil servants mainly. They are supposed to work in accordance with government policy. These two clowns are plainly out of their depth. Trouble is firing mandarins is pretty well a hopeless task as they are sitting in a rock solid position. More's the pity.

[Arden_Forester @Arden_Forester]

@ArchRose90 Adam Boulton is becoming a tad pretentious. He can also be rude and vulgar .https://t.co/LncPGXP01b

[Arden_Forester @Arden_Forester]

@MyriamFrancoisC Problem with EU is all its genuflecting to Napoleon's way of doing things. So much for freedom. I'm not in favour of banning anything or anyone apart from known terrorists, spies and avowed enemies of the King. Even republicans are free to spout their stuff and so it should be.

[Arden_Forester @Arden_Forester]

This gruesome @ukhomeoffice twosome shrivelled and shrank like lab specimens of managerial ineptitude as they were grilled by MPs. Dame Diana normally most patient of saints said it was 'really disrespectful to the committee' the witnesses were so clueless.https://t.co/sEtsb7ye9L