Can review announcements continue at a weekly rate in 2008?

The above story from the Westminster correspondent of the Bloomberg news agency focuses attention on a growing practice of the Brown government that could develop into an issue – the practice whereby almost any challenge that they face is met by the announcement of a review.

The journalist, Robert Hutton, is now keeping a tally which, as of this week, has reached 31 since Gord and his gang took over the running of the country on June 27th.

Clearly reviews are a necessary piece of government policy making. The problem comes when the perception is created that they are a substitute for decision-making which is why the Bloomberg tally could start to become an embarrassment.

For it will feed the growing opposition rhetoric about Brown being “..a ditherer who cannot make his mind up about anything” – which could be a damaging charge. The comment by the LSE’s Tony Travers, above, “evidence-based policy-making is a good thing, but you’ve got to have the policy-making” is quite damning.

From a betting perspective this would seem to be a good basis for a spread market. What will the Brown review count, as measured by Bloomberg, be in 2008? It will certainly feature in the PBC “Political Forecaster of 2008” competition which is being drawn up and will be launched during the holiday period.

Hat-tip to Michael White’s blog for picking this up

Mike Smithson