Liberal Burblings

Archive for July, 2006

I just happened to spot Saturday’s Financial Times in a newstand. Not my normal reading. There was an interesting front page story on Rupert Murdoch’s view of David Cameron.

Previously, the spin was that Murdoch thought Cameron was the best thing since sliced bread.

Now, when asked what he thinks of Cameron, Murdoch says “Not much”.

He adds: “He’s totally inexperienced. He’s going around the country making speeches which . . . must be hugely upsetting to a lot of his older followers”.

I also notice that Tony Blair is jetting off to address the News Corporation clan gathering at Pebble Beach. It seems that David Cameron has not been invited.

Foreign office minister Kim Howells has said about the attacks on Lebanon:

With every passing day of hot, clammy weather I have become more and more like Test Cricket umpire Steve Bucknor. I move very, very slowly.

Today’s downpour was such a relief! I don’t think I have ever greeted rain with such enthusiasm.

I bought a Panama hat a few weeks ago. I needed it to do an impression of Hercule Poirot at Newbury Carnival. It then came in handy for my visit to Lord’s for the joyous first day of the first test against Pakistan.

Since then it has been an absolute Godsend. When you are like me and have to pay a search fee to the barber, protecting one’s bonce from the sun is all-important.

This morning was a classic. I did one of my dawn raids on the tradesmen’s bells of Newbury to deliver leaflets. While the air outside was cool, the air in the stairways of the blocks of flats was terribly warm and close. So much so that I had to take the unusual step of having cold showers between bundles!

Like everyone else, I am horrified by the latest outbreak of violence in the Middle East. I pray that it will end soon.

After viewing the Northern Ireland troubles from the sidelines for many years, I learnt not to try to suggest who was to blame or “who started it”.

One thing is for sure, the only place that the strife will halt is round a negotiating table.

It is remarkable to remember that there was a glimmer of hope in the Middle East with the Oslo Accords in 1993. It seems that the deterioration in the situation can be tracked back to the assasination of Yitzhak Rabin in 1995.

The Northern Ireland troubles went on for years and, to some extent, still rumble on. But what brought relative peace to Northern Ireland was some old-fashioned give and take, and endless tense negotiations.

We could all go on for years blaming people on all sides for the Middle East strife. But at the end of the process, all sides will have to swallow their pride and sit round a negotiating table with their enemies.

Let’s just hope that no more innocent people lose their lives before this inevitable meeting.

It was wonderful for Ming to get a decent period of exposure on Newsnight last night.

I thought he made his points with real passion, conviction and eloquence.

He answered the questions from the audience very fully. At the end you could see many of them nodding in agreement with him.

In particular, I thought he brilliantly put forward the party’s position on tax and the environment.

It was clear from the piece that Ming is a man of substance and passion.

Rob Fenwick has assessed Ming’s performance. He says:

“But ultimately Ming ducked the crucial question that two audience members alluded to – the Liberal Democrats may have a popular message, but the public aren’t at all sure about the messenger.”

Do give Ming a chance, Rob. How did the audience get the message that “the Liberal Democrats may have a popular message” if not from the messenger? He came across as passionate and serious (as you concede). How on earth does he answer the question about the “messenger”?

He has three options on what to say:

1. “Yes, I am an old git but I get paid well” – The Self-Destruct option

or

2. “I am wonderful, my wife loves me and all my friends think I am a brilliant communicator, so yah booh sucks to you and let me read to you what the Telegraph said about me only two months ago, and I quote…….(snoring heard from man at back of audience)” – The Iain Dale option

or

3. Get on with it and answer the substantive questions about policy.

He took the third option.

Rob goes on breathlessly: “All eyes will be on Charles Kennedy. A natural party President, he used the role as a springboard to the leadership once before. Will he try it again?”

If he does, I hope he is well when he does so this time.

A manager moved into a new job but didn’t have time to do a handover briefing with their predecessor. So they had no idea what to do in the new job. Fortunately, while searching their new desk they found three envelopes marked “1 – open now if things are dire”, “2 open later if there are still problems”, “3 open later than that if things really get bad”.

So, with things indeed looking dire, the manager opened envelope 1, eager for advice. It said:

The manager followed this advice. It worked exceedingly well.

However, after a few weeks the problems continued and the “blame the predecessor” routine was wearing a little thin.

No worries. The manager opened envelope 2 which said:

So the manager took that advice and went around saying he had a plan to fix things and, indeed, detailing what that plan was.

A few months passed. The problems continued unabated. People were getting a little cynical of the “I HAVE A PLAN” routine, so the manager resorted to envelope 3 and opened that.

It said:

It does seem that John Reid is a dab hand at this old “three envelopes” routine.