On the sunless side of the street

Brown is generally useless at PMQs but yesterday he was, surprisingly, on top of the game. Cameron, normally the master of these occasions, appeared to be waving a badminton racquet in the air.

Well, what do we know. Brown seems to be at his happiest when things are miserable. Misery gives him some sense of purpose. We saw this side of him when the banks were in meltdown; his personal gloom lifted as it descended on the rest of us. Now that he is in desperate personal straits, the sunny and confident side of his personality comes out for another airing.Smith

The situation he finds himself in is largely of his own making. If he knew how to manage (rather than bully) people he could have demoted Hazel Blears and Jacqui Smith and kept their loyalty. But that it seems is not Brown's way - his is to undermine, to demoralize, to harangue, to bully, to belittle. The worm does turn.

As the Guardian pointed out yesterday, Brown will achieve nothing even if he lasts another year. However good the ideas are nobody will listen. He may be happy that the world appears to be against him because this will reinforce what he has always believed about his relationship with a world that doesn't understand him. It makes me wonder why he went into politics. You might think that this is one area of life where the ability to understand other people was a prerequisite.