Following John Prescott's broad hint on TV recently, it is widely expected Tony Blair will soon give the date of his resignation, when Gordon Brown is likely to take over.
Little attention, however, has been paid to the problem of who will take on Brown's job. It will be hard to follow him as he is undoubtedly the most successful Chancellor we have ever had.
An indication of this is to be seen in the recent figures on how rich the country actually is.
In the early Nineties, the whole country was valued at £2.6 trillion.
By the end of 2005 it had nearly trebled to £6.01 trillion and rising. Clearly, we have never had it so good.
However, much of this is due to the value of property. When one recalls in the early Nineties almost one million people lost their homes to "negative equity", one can see the importance of the question posed.
The continued success of our economy will be a crucial issue at the next election as people still vote with their purses and wallets.
-RG Jenkins, Hove
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