Angels and demons

Opine

[oh-pahyn]

–vb/ to hold or express an opinion.

[Origin: 1575–85; < L opīnārī to think, deem]

Text Box: And yet the public are tired of an increasingly tired-looking government. The angel has vanished - the real bravery and vision is not being communicated. Instead little bits of mud begin to stick, and the vision is clouded by a shoddy myopia of short-term dogfighting, which damages faith in politics altogether. Every political party needs a hatchet-man, if only to keep it one step ahead of the opposition who without a doubt have one too. Exactly why, however, Mr Brown was indulging Damien McBride or the equally malicious, disingenuous and perpetually bedraggled Derek Draper is a mystery. Alistair Campbell was spot on: the strange thing about all of this is that it was so very amateur. It doesn’t address the Conservatives’ main weakness. They are not dangerous because of their beliefs. They are dangerous because they have no beliefs, beyond believing that being in power is good. There is no unifying ideology, no sense of purpose or values. This was an attempt to hit the Tories where nobody cares. In the process Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dumber have cast a good cause in a bad light, and drawn attention to its potentially fatal core weaknesses. The synthetic row over expenses, and its knee-jerk and potentially damaging response, will hobble the government even further. At this rate the only thing the Conservative Party need do to win the next election is sit on its hands, say nothing and do nothing – not difficult if you believe in nothing. The government sorely needs to stop chasing its own tail, and the man in charge needs to give his people a vision. If he doesn’t, Labour’s own demons will be its undoing. comment@opine-blog.com See also: Taking a leak Karma chameleon The Battle of Clarke’s drift Ukraine if you want to

21 April, 2009

Angels and demons

In the event it wasn’t so much the substantive differences over Europe, or the reputation for cold-blooded destruction of communities and individuals which they inherited from Mrs Thatcher. What did for John Major’s administration in the public mind was sleaze.

The current Labour government has taken some of the boldest and bravest decisions of any post-war administration. It has faced near-cataclysmic global economic meltdown with renewed self-belief and an unwavering determination to do the right thing.

The leadership, unafraid of gargantuan debt figures, strode forth armed with the conviction borne of a generation who bore the harsh Hobbsian realities of Mrs Thatcher’s ‘every man for himself’ decade.

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