Recalling the good old days

8:47am Tuesday 15th April 2008

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IN DIFFICULT times, people often look back to what they see as better days, and to the leaders they wish could reappear and save them from present troubles.

So it's not surprising that a national newspaper is busy giving its readers free DVDs telling the story of the Thatcher years. Mind you, some people have been heard to mutter that things were a lot better under Tony Blair, and he's only been gone a few months.

I suppose we would know things were getting really bad if people suddenly started pining for the good old days of John Major. But then, he and his original Chancellor, Norman Lamont, only presided over a little local difficulty with the exhange rate mechanism. Gordon Brown and Alistair Darling are facing a potential world economic crisis, which seems a little more daunting.

Mind you, there is another slightly worrying thought here - just how much do Chancellors Lamont and Darling have in common? They certainly have one striking physical similarity, which is a shock of white hair and very dark eyebrows. I saw Lamont in the flesh when he was still Chancellor, and he really did look like a cross between Bela Lugosi and Grandpa in The Munsters.

Darling isn't so obviously a candidate for a part in a horror movie, but one of his recent pronouncements was much more scary than any screen monster. When he said the world was facing the biggest shock to the economic system since the Great Depression of the 1930s, we should have been very afraid. Either the Chancellor has lost his grip and is wildly exaggerating, or he isn't, and that's even worse. Right now he sounds like a very confused member of the Dad's Army cast, not knowing whether to cry "don't panic, don't panic", or "we're doomed".

Speaking of lost leaders, Thatcher was ousted because it was thought she had stayed on too long, and some think Blair clung to office at the expense of his "legacy" - unless, of course, the timing of his departure was based on the desire to land Gordon as firmly in the mire as possible. Perish the thought.

* ONE man who got his departure exactly right was former England rugby union captain and manager-to-be Martin Johnson. His final year in international sport saw England win every game in which the team sheet read "M Johnson (Capt)" - including a record win over South Africa, unique home-and-away victories against New Zealand and Australia, a Six Nations Grand Slam, and finally the World Cup.

Once he'd got his big mitts on the cup, Johnson called it a day. In contrast, head coach and Easingwold School old boy Sir Clive Woodward stayed put, and presided over a slump in fortunes before quitting. His last act in rugby union was to take the Lions on an unsuccessful tour of New Zealand, before moving to the much happier world of Olympic sport.

* FOLLOWING the public relations disaster of the Olympic Torch procession, the Chinese ambassador to Britain, Fu Ying, wrote an article revealing the shock and disappointment felt by young athletes from her country who witnessed the London protests.

Her piece was a measured plea for understanding; she is, after all, a professional diplomat. But it failed to even acknowledge that the fundamental point at issue here is whether Tibet is part of China or an independent nation, which didn't make me particularly hopeful for a just and humanitarian settlement of the situation.

Also, while I have no wish to cause distress to young Chinese athletes, I'm afraid if their nation is aspiring to global superpower status they may have to get used to getting a bit of stick. The Yanks have been on the receiving end for at least 40 years, and we Brits have had our fair share of being the world's least favourite people. Sorry, it goes with the territory.