So, an alternative to all the US-centric Obama/Romney threads in R&P at the moment.
The Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, was on hand to dish out medals at the Men's 400m medal ceremony at the Paralympics today. Funnily enough, the mere mention of his name and the sight of his face onscreen was enough to get the entire stadium of 60,000 people collectively booing and jeering. Thankfully those boos turned to loud applause for the athletes themselves, but still... managing to piss off an entire stadium just by your presence is no mean feat.
For those who don't know, Osborne is the Conservative Chancellor for the Conservative/Lib Dem Coalition, and has been the architect of some frankly brutal austerity cuts in the name of "cutting the deficit". Of particular note, he has been responsible for some incredibly harsh cutbacks to disability benefits, meaning thousands of disabled people around the UK are now at risk of losing their only source of welfare.
My first question to you Escapists is: who in the blue fuck thought it would be a good idea to get George Slashing-DLA-Is-My-Middle-Name Osborne to present medals at a sporting event centred entirely around disabled people?
And secondly, is this a sign of Osborne's popularity in general? Britain has had its fair share of crap Chancellors, but I cannot think of any in recent memory whose very presence is enough to summon mass booing and jeering. Is this a sign that Osborne may well be on his way out? After all, if driving the UK back into recession, squashing GDP growth, and slashing taxes for the wealthy while raising taxes on the poor isn't enough of an indication that you're pretty crap at your job, the sound of 60,000 people booing your very name sure as shit should be a pretty clear message.
It's pretty clear that Cameron doesn't like to get rid of friends he's given Cabinet positions too, no matter how unpopular they become (just recall how long it took for Liam Fox to get the boot), but how much longer can he justify keeping Osborne in? He's pretty much failed at everything he set out to do, has made the UK economy worse than when he took office, and is now subject to mass booing at the very mention of his name.
CAPTCHA: hello, watson?
Indeed Capthca. It doesn't take a Sherlock to realise something needs to change with the Chancellorship.