News

Howard's Way.... a weekly column from the Rt. Hon. Michael Howard QC. MP. 

3 January 2008

Despite the wonders of modern technology, newspaper deadlines are very demanding. So while I am writing this before Christmas you will be reading it when 2008 has got well and truly underway. So I hope that nothing disastrous will have happened between now and then makes these words look utterly ridiculous.

It is fair to say that the new year will be full of challenges.

It begins with more financial and economic uncertainty that we have been used to for some time. The consequences of the global credit crunch are likely to be far-reaching and we are all going to be affected, one way or another.

This crisis started in the United States and its ramifications are world-wide. But only one country has suffered a run on a bank – ours. So it is not surprising that just before Christmas, the Prime Minister and the Chancellor of the Exchequer said that the Financial Services Authority should have spotted the Northern Rock problems sooner.

This is not the only challenge we face on the domestic front. Healthcare and education will continue to be in the thick of controversy and all politicians will be grappling with the complexities of reconciling our fine words on the need to protect the environment with realistic policies which will help to secure that objective.

Abroad, too, there are many conflicts which will need to be confronted. Iraq continues to be an unhappy land. Afghanistan still poses a potential threat to the West if the Taliban and their ally, Osama bin Laden regains control. And the Middle East remains a seething cauldron of unrest.

So there is much work for Government to do – and for the Opposition, which must hold them to account.

No doubt there will be many surprises in store. My hope is that we look back in a year’s time and find that we have come through rather better than expected. I certainly hope so.