it's been a while since I got political

But I can’t resist responding to this:

Prime Minister Gordon Brown has said he understands people’s “hurt”, in the aftermath of Labour’s worst local election results in 40 years.

Mr Brown told the BBC it had “not been the best weekend”, adding that voters were worried about rising petrol and food prices and utility bills.

“I do understand this and I feel the hurt that they feel,” Mr Brown said.

Do you really Mr Brown? Do you really worry about whether you can afford to fill up the car to get to the job that pays you £3.90 a day after you’ve paid for childcare? Are you sure that you feel the pain of rising utility bills – do you actually pay them, living in 10 Downing street, which is after all, offices as well as a flat? Are you sure that you are concerned about the price of every day items, given that you can charge many of them on expenses?

Do you understand that removing the 10p tax level while replacing the money in tax benefits that many ppl can’t bring themselves to claim because of the incompetence of the agency involved means ppl standing in supermarkets looking at food they can’t afford?

You know, I don’t think you do. Because you are paid £187,000 and your two houses are rent free, so you aren’t feeling the pinch of disappearing mortgage deals either. You probably haven’t noticed that while the base rate has been cut, credit cards are currently raising their interest rates, and I doubt very much that you stress about the credit card shuffle or wake in the middle of the night as you suddenly remember a bill you’ve forgotten.

Mr Brown, please don’t say that you feel our pain, you haven’t got a clue.