Still doing the right thing...

Following my deeply involved discourse analysis of Gordon Brown's response templates, I've picked out a few examples of where GB's reasoning boils down to "doing the right thing".

On 42-day detention without charge - "We have made a judgment, after looking at all the evidence, including the evidence from the police and security services, that this is the right thing to do."

On availability of prison places - "we will make our decisions on the right thing to do about early release."

On detention without trial, while purporting to support civil liberties, when in fact sprinting in the opposite direction of anything resembling a pro-civil liberties agenda - "surely the right thing for a Government to do is to respect the civil liberties of the individual by avoiding arbitrary treatment"

An on basically anything else the government are doing - "We make the right decisions at all times."

At least Colin Powell had pretty pictures when the US argued for invading Iraq. Please Labour, can't we do better than this?

Doing the right thing

Has anyone else noticed how Gordon Brown has lost his capacity for providing a valid justification for anything he and the Labour party are doing?

At practically every prime minister's question time, when stuck for a truthful/honest/valid response, he engages the following foolproof template answer; "we did X, because it was the right thing to do". No other explanation needed, apparently. We no longer require reasoned political debate, bipartisan discussions or meaningful compromise; we can now do things simply because we say they are the right thing to do. Certain African despots could learn a lot from our Gordon.

Now this is an exceedingly flexible template for Gordon. It is not just in defense of the litany of poorly-conceived Labour policies where he can wheel this one out, as he has on the 42-days detention bill and the abolition of the 10% tax rate. No, he can also used it to defend the actions of others. When asked by David Cameron why Geoff Hoon was writing thank-you letters to Keith Vaz regarding the detention bill, what was Gordon's response? That's right, Geoff Hoon was merely thanking Keith Vaz for doing the right thing. Again, no details needed. And Mr. Brown had the gall make this response repeatedly to parliament.

If Gordon Brown believes so strongly in his current policies, shouldn't we get to hear the sound, logical reasoning that has led him to want to implement them? Is it enough to say that 42 days is the right number of days for detention, without any further justification? Surely we deserve better than this?