Brown says "Sorry" - a rearguard action

Here is a little story about my personal life. Bear with me.

When the young Weasels were young, Wynona Weasel and Wycliffe Weasel were occasionally naughty. "Go up to your room, Wynona/Wycliffe, and do not come down until you are SORRY!" said I.

Wynona, a girl with spunk and principles, would take hours to come down the stairs, and then it was one by one and then you had to meet her half way up the stairs. If Wynona did not feel sorry, she was darn well not going to say it, just to get an easy ride.

Wycliffe Weasel, on the other hand, quickly worked out that in order to return things to an even keel, and in order to carry on with his affairs, discovered that saying "sorry" was the passport to immunity. Weasel the boy regarded pragmatism to be the best choice. (Today Wycliffe Weasel has no less a strength of character or moral values than Wynona, but he sees things differently.)

Brown will say what needs to be said, not because he means it in any moral way, but because is "prudent to do so" at this stage of the game.

It is, in Gordon Brown's failing arsenal, a rearguard action in the war of words.

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