CITY AND SUBURBAN
What Gordon Brown needs is a soothing holiday beside a Dulwich birdbath
CHRISTOPHER FILDES
Knneth Clarke was a Chancellor who knew how to go on holiday. He and Mrs Clarke (and sometimes Mrs Clarke's mum, too) would pile into the family saloon, pick up the duty-free cheroots and trundle southwards. He felt no urge to learn what was going on at the office. He particularly did not want to know that a Cabinet col- league was staying in the next village. No shop-talk around a Tuscan pool for him. A holiday was a holiday. The Treasury won- ders whether this word is in Gordon Brown's vocabulary. There is talk of a dash to Cape Cod but he would have to hurry back to go abroad again. In September he has meetings that will take him as far as Hong Kong. He is caught up in a hectic round of news-making, some genuine, some factitious. He had trouble this month finding time for his budget, and it was a rushed job, as became apparent. Now he should give himself and his staff and the rest of us a break, and if he wants a destina- tion I can recommend the leafy charms of Dulwich. Eddie George is holidaying there this week — he lives there — and the two of them could have soothing chats around the Georges' birdbath. It would be worth breaking Kenneth Clarke's rule, for some soothing needs doing.
Previous page
