The people of Iran particularly in recent years have shown that they deem participation
The people of Iran, particularly in recent years, have shown that they deem participation in public affairs to be their right, and want to be masters of their own destiny. The patriarchal structure and discrimination against women, particularly in the Islamic countries, cannot continue forever.
Some Muslims, under the pretext that democracy and human rights are not compatible with Islamic teachings and the traditional structure of Islamic societies, have justified despotic governments and continue to do so. To disregard women and bar them from active participation in political, social, economic and cultural life would, in fact, be tantamount to depriving the entire population of every society of half its capacity. Women constitute half of the population of every country. As the election looms, this is Mr Brown’s real problem: for all his prudent management of the economy, Labour’s flawed political strategy may overshadow his economic achievements..
The money has flowed in, but there has been too little reform and too few improvements. In the classrooms, on the wards, on the roads and on the railways, there seems little to show for the Labour government’s six and half years in power. For Mr Brown has made it is his political mission to save the National Health Service and the other public services through an unprecedented infusion of cash.And the suspicion is growing that all this taxing and all this borrowing has been to little avail. His record suggests that he’ll probably get away with it.What will be worrying Mr Brown, however, and giving him even more sleepless nights than his infant son, is not so much the borrowing figures for this year or next, but the nagging fear that his whole strategy may be unsound.
It must pain Mr Brown greatly to see his financial prudence violated by his neighbour’s adventurism, whatever the political ramifications.If Mr Brown is wrong about growth, then he will face the sort of “tough choices” he often talks about in his speeches. He could try to borrow more, but might well then find interest rates rising. Such is the level of personal indebtedness in Britain that any sharp rise in rates would have a devastating impact on spending; it could conceivably induce a recession. If he cannot borrow much more, then Mr Brown would have to resort to yet more tax increases, or trimming some of his ambitious public spending plans – both of which are politically hazardous. Mr Brown will be hoping that such a crunch can be delayed until after the election, probably in the summer of 2005, and that a combination of stealth, creative accounting and yet more optimistic projections will see him through until then. The Liberal Democrats’ Vincent Cable shrewdly said yesterday that the extra money the Chancellor had allocated to Iraq and Afghanistan will run out next September if it continues at the current rate of £200m a month.
