Gordilocks back in the day
Well I should have listened and taken advice... Tiscali suck. I was impressed at the speed and efficiency with which they took all my money and account details off me. I hoped this was evidence of what more there was to come. At this rate my router should have flown through my bedroom door and set itself up before making me a cup of Earl Grey and a sandwich, but as much as it pains me to say it, nothing has happened.
Of course this has made blogging difficult, and I want to sincerely apologise to all you good people out there (and Professional...) who read it regularly and contribute to the debates views which I throw into the cockpit that is blogging chaos.
Well, well done Gordon.
I know I haven't blogged too much on Gordon Brown. If you remember I wrote an article in support of him after our Scottish Labour's Aviemore conference, and since then I haven't really been very sure what to make of him. But yesterday he reminded me why we as a party loved him so much.
He was in a difficult situation yesterday (and I'm not saying that wasn't his fault), and as a result he had to take risks. For those of us hoping for a big policy announcement, disappointment was shared, but it was never going to be an election- esque speech. Something people always loved about Brown was the way in which he never spoke negatively of others. I remember his first speech as party leader only made one reference to the Tories, in a line about opportunity being for all not just for some. But yesterday was different.
He had a few things he needed to do. He had to;
- Draw a line between Labour and the Conservatives
- Acknowledge that mistakes had been made
- Be open and transparent as a person
- Reinforce that the action the Government was taking was right
- Remind the party and the public why they loved him so much
- He achieved all of these things.
He achieved all of these things.
The most important of these the top one. There is a choice at the next election. A clear choice between right and wrong.
He reminded me why I joined the party, and why I am so sick of Scottish political debate. A debate so far withdrawn and disengaged with the actual issues facing society, our great country and our world.
This is about the big boys now.
3 comments:
You love me really Matt. It’s always good to have your political thoughts challenged – stops you getting too dogmatic about anything. Really you shouldn't let political criticism get under your skin mate - it's a rough old business sometimes and a thick skin is essential.
Brown put in a very good performance on Tuesday, but I fear it was a year too late to start defining the narrative of his premiership in the public mind.
He should have been doing that last autumn instead of letting election talk run rampant.
I'll elaborate - after the on/off election fiasco of last autumn the Tories have been able to ruthlessly define the Brown narrative as being drift and dither, indecision and incompetence. For months on end I never saw a Tory on television go through an interview without using some or all of those buzz words to describe the government. I'll wager that if you did a word association survey in the street on Gordon Brown those would be the most common answers.
There was an interesting item on Newsnight the other night showing a focus groups reaction to Brown - the vast majority professed simply to have given up on his premiership. It’s now beyond a situation where people are just disagreeing with what he is saying – that would be retrievable. We’re in a situation now where they’ve just stopped listening. I struggle to see how that position can be retrieved.
That's where his problem is - he can still reach the political erogenous zones of the party, but the party will vote for at an election anyway. It’s much more difficult for him to be heard outside the confines of the party. The “hall outside the hall" is becoming a much emptier place.
It's sad really, as David Cameron is almost certainly going to win the next election by default, and quite possibly with the sort of majority that could keep Labour in opposition for a decade or more.
Incidentally, Brown may not be one for speaking negatively about others in public, but his reputation for harbouring private vendettas and revenge against those that cross him is well founded - I don't think it's coincidence that one of the Sundays got fed the story about David Cairns misusing his Parliamentary air miles last weekend...
I'd love to comment on the main topic for your post but was distracted by the serious error you've made. Immediately go to your telephone, dial Tiscali and cancel your contract with them. Like you I was impressed with their initial efficiency. This is short lived. Within one month you will have intermittent service and within 2 months no service at all (a very common issue for Tiscali customers). They have no UK based technical support so there is no way for them to fix any serious physical issues with their service, therefore it takes them 3-4 weeks to get in a contractor (meanwhile you still pay for having no broadband service). Back out now while you still can!
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