tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23400750.post4574138424925581365..comments2023-11-03T11:32:01.540+00:00Comments on Thought Experiments : The Blog: A Lesson in Political Science for GordonBryan Appleyardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08276787058430388582noreply@blogger.comBlogger14125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23400750.post-91247623769955218292007-12-04T12:20:00.000+00:002007-12-04T12:20:00.000+00:00Plato said:One of the penalties for refusing to pa...Plato said:<BR/><BR/>One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23400750.post-40374311707333659972007-12-04T11:42:00.000+00:002007-12-04T11:42:00.000+00:00i think that aside from Brown's total lack of char...i think that aside from Brown's total lack of charm, he just plain doesn't like people at all, in any way. If he was basically good-hearted and fairly bright and organised and lacked charm, he'd still be okay. It's that he's manifestly an ogre - an ogre without charm is no good to anyone.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23400750.post-41242217998577515112007-12-03T23:16:00.000+00:002007-12-03T23:16:00.000+00:00Nige, Ted Bundy had lots of charm and almost talke...Nige, Ted Bundy had lots of charm and almost talked the judge round against the death penalty.<BR/> It shouldn't be the main thing in politics. Blair's charm allowed him to get away with tonnes of shit that most other PMs would have been held to account for.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23400750.post-4641964040339881332007-12-03T23:09:00.000+00:002007-12-03T23:09:00.000+00:00Things can change pretty rapidly in politics thoug...Things can change pretty rapidly in politics though. He might just be inexperienced with the job right now and will take time to come into his own.<BR/>He personally strikes me as a nicer guy than Blair. Unfortunately he has dreadful charm so he's doomed to be torn to shreads no matter what he does.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23400750.post-88212626896921649492007-12-03T16:35:00.000+00:002007-12-03T16:35:00.000+00:00Sorry Nige, Blair does look a class act next to Br...Sorry Nige, Blair does look a class act next to Brown but his performances have been vacuous, his answers evasive. To really enact radical change and make things better Labour had to piss off loads in their constituency in the NHS, Public Sector Unions, and education. They didn't. Blair was boldest over Iraq, Kosovo etc. Domestically they have been inept. Ten years, billions wasted, some Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23400750.post-34000572197141449032007-12-03T16:02:00.000+00:002007-12-03T16:02:00.000+00:00What do we see in the mirror?We finally see the en...<I>What do we see in the mirror?</I><BR/><BR/>We finally see the enemy who is most like ourselves: <I>homo lupus homini</I>Selena Dreamyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11629908887644614404noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23400750.post-46030842012167776082007-12-03T15:53:00.000+00:002007-12-03T15:53:00.000+00:00The problem to me is that they haven't done much e...The problem to me is that they haven't done much else besides being politicians. Hence everything is media driven, tactics rather than strategy. However, when you read a letter like this, http://econlog.econlib.org/archives/2007/11/senator_xs_amaz.html, you understand that the little sods are just not as good as Cameron's somewhat posher sods are. And, as in Priestley's The Inspector Calls, itAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23400750.post-20890772395805343182007-12-03T15:17:00.000+00:002007-12-03T15:17:00.000+00:00'I won't make things worse,' is not much of a slog...<I>'I won't make things worse,' is not much of a slogan, though I'd vote for it.</I><BR/><BR/>So would I. And I think it may prove to be a quite catchy slogan in time.<BR/><BR/><I>happily, he'll never now be elected.</I><BR/><BR/>WRT, politics, one of my guiding principles is "Never say never." (Others have alleged this is but a manifestation of my jaundiced eye, principle not being remotely Randyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03071928294799081845noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23400750.post-163235803192115212007-12-03T14:56:00.000+00:002007-12-03T14:56:00.000+00:00For me the whole hideous Brown thing has reached s...For me the whole hideous Brown thing has reached such a pitch that, inadvertently catching The Blair Years on TV last night, I found myself thinking hmmm maybe he wasn't so bad after all... At least he didn't duck and run every time there was trouble, and try to shift the blame on to underlings - he saw every crisis as one more hole to charm his way out of - and he managed it for a heck of a Nigehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13314891387515045404noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23400750.post-58240475784601756432007-12-03T13:41:00.000+00:002007-12-03T13:41:00.000+00:00Stock in this wierdo may be falling through the fl...Stock in this wierdo may be falling through the floor, but there's no sign as yet that the political elites sense an end to New Labour's fantastic splurging of cash - the quangos, consultancies and first-class expenses up and down the land, as well as the billions spent on buying up clients and buying off trouble. It's just a sordid scandal but waddya expect from politicians, right?<BR/><BR/>Markhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06074816573442173758noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23400750.post-66148717910209149642007-12-03T13:21:00.000+00:002007-12-03T13:21:00.000+00:00No, not perfect but then again I'm not saying I ca...No, not perfect but then again I'm not saying I can be a leader. If you want to get into the fray and the position you need more than weasel words to sustain you. That's Brown's undoing.Richard Havershttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15309594787689405779noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23400750.post-89488168782624029362007-12-03T13:10:00.000+00:002007-12-03T13:10:00.000+00:00Politics is a crucible of live-for-today intemper...Politics is a crucible of live-for-today intemperance and corruption. If Brown was totally unprepared for the resulting hullabaloo, the forcefulness of the attrition directed at him personally, not least from fellow politicians, has been impelled no doubt by political jealousy. A minor indignity, no more, in the context of the recurrent waves of Scottophobia which run through English society.Selena Dreamyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11629908887644614404noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23400750.post-9086327454870547792007-12-03T12:24:00.000+00:002007-12-03T12:24:00.000+00:00At first he seemed reassuringly unsmiling, after 1...At first he seemed reassuringly unsmiling, after 10 years of that deranged and manifestly insincere and meaningless grin.<BR/><BR/>He now looks perpetually angry and gripped by a kind of incapacity for human contact. Exactly the opposite to Blair and in its way as disturbing.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23400750.post-56467632874844515112007-12-03T11:15:00.000+00:002007-12-03T11:15:00.000+00:00I posted the following on my blog back on 12 May 2...I posted the following on my blog back on 12 May 2007 - it makes interesting reading.<BR/><BR/>Listening to Gorgon's speech last night while driving home I was struck by two things. First off, why if everything has been so good under New Labour is he about to change the way he runs the country.<BR/><BR/>- He promised a new constitution that would "protect the Union"<BR/>- One of his first pledgesRichard Havershttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15309594787689405779noreply@blogger.com