Tony Blair or Gordon Brown?
I don't mean the silly little stories - like Blair claiming to have seen Jackie Milburn play football, - Bl;air would have been under two at the time, or stowing away on a plane. I mean a calculated attempt to deceive, to gain political advantage by an untruth.
They were both guilty at times with the same lies, - detailing spending by pretending spending in a year was the accumulation up to that year.
Peter Oborne, in his book "The Rise of Political Lying, claims that NuLabour subscribed to various philosophies from which it developed the ideas of narrative and discourse, that it became so full of its own sense of destiny that it felt that truth was what it proclaimed to be truth. Blair was found out m any times, - most people feel that but for a senile judge of careful manipulation he and his small group would have been found guilty of lying to parliament and to the people over the "weapons of mass destruction". At the very least there were phrases at variance from those in intelligenmce reports. Very often he was "dug out" of pits by his loyal fixer, Alastair Campbell, by various means. Many of these are listed by Oborne.
Gordon Brown has his own way of avoiding the truth. He is able to reel off long lists of statistics in order to batter or deceive any questioner. Careful examination of each reveals that they are often not what he pretends. He has a series of different techniques, very often comparing data from two periods which were assembled on different bases, or ignoring other comparisons which demolish his case, - the classic example is his constant claim that our economic growth rate was the highest in ....., but in not allowing for the vast number of immigrants he neglected to mention that both out growth per hear and our productivity were falling and not very impressive. The fact that from early on he insisted on calling expenditure "investment" however current and wasteful it might be. Investment normally suggests a long term benefit, rather than a mere outlay.
Of the two Blair's porkies were probably bigger and more serious, but Brown's have been with us for 11 years now and collectively and incrementally may be just as important.
Would you trust either?
Which has done more damage?
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2 comments:
Neither.
The Press has done the most damage to politics in our country. By far!
And Oborne, bitter and so full of personal hatred, is one of the worst.
The free press have their own political agendas. So they twist & turn every piece of information to suit themselves. And incrementally the gullible in the populace come to believe that the press must know something that the rest of us don't.
They attack politicians relentlessly and mercillessly, forgetting that a little respect here and there might be more deserved. After all, the politicians have been elected by the people. The press are paid by their political masters for their vitriol.
But the fine line between questioning and criticism was crossed with regard to Blair on a personal basis as well as political long ago. His traducement seemed to know no bounds. Thus he let loose with his "feral press" speech on the power of the "viewspapers".
Attacking judges as "senile" is a serious consequence of this poisoning of the well of politics. No-one, unless they agree with us, can be trusted.
And obviously(!), no one in their right mind, could have come to the same conclusion as this respected gentleman.
And how do WE know so much? When do we question our sources? When do we ask how they are so better informed than the decision-makers? When do we ask the press how often they sat in on important political meetings, so full of knowledge of "the truth" are they?
Never.
We accept what suits our own agendas.
Unquestioningly.
I was not a Labour voter, but Blair stood head and shoulders above ALL of them - press and politicians - as a good man, and on OUR side.
I think he still does.
The press don't fool me.
Isn't it odd that blairsupporter feels the same as most Tories, - that they have had a rough deal, and that they are the objects of prejudice? They also feel that they still suffer from bias at the Blair Broadcasting Corporation, now renamed the Brown Broadcasting Corporation.
In fact the press was sown up by Blair and he had a 5 year honeymoon. Most of the newspaper editors had been dazzled by Blair and subscribed to The Project. Of the major dailies, only the Telegraph was not completely sold on him, and even they wavered.
I'm afraid it was the war, and the obvious lies in all areas that the original poster refers to that gradually eroded the affection.
Oborne may have his own agenda, but he gives references for everything he quotes. Blairsupporter may like what he writes, but he needs to demolish a very well constructed case.
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