Sunday, July 25, 2010
Our eternal apprenticeship
… never expect success, because every victory is provisional, merely one step, never the final one. Politics is a never-ending apprenticeship, requiring one to adapt oneself to the fact that other people are different.
That is its reward, the discovery of the diversity of humanity.”
That quote is from ‘An Intimate History of Humanity’ by Theodore Zeldin. (page 134 in my edition) A book for summer reading for perplexed supporters of part of a coalition?
Labels: politics
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Thursday, June 04, 2009
Small steps in great matters
One of the lessons I picked up from my parents life experiences is that if you don’t take a interest in what is going on around you, other people will make the decisions for you. And you may not like the result. So at 4am preparing for a Good Morning drop I remember Belsen (My Dad was one of the Liberators) and my mothers resistance unit blowing up the tracks of a railway in Nazi-occupied
And thanks to all of you out there doing your own tiny things.
Labels: European Elections, politics
Friday, April 18, 2008
Dunwoody political memories
It is to the discredit of the House of Commons that she was not elected to the Speakership at the last contest for that post. Who can doubt that she would have been a much better protector of the rights of ordinary MPs ( and the courtesies due to them) than the present incumbent.
And as she said in 2005, Parliament is the last defender of the rights of all citizens. We really miss having a speaker with that instinctive feel for the constitution.
She and her then husband Dr. John Dunwoody (at one time touted as a future Labour leader) were both elected to Parliament in the 1966 Labour landslide, she for Exeter and he for Falmouth and Cambourne. And thereby hangs a long political tail. John Dunwoody was made a junior minister, partially to dampen his critical backbench activities, and as a consequence was unable to give proper attention to his marginal seat. He probably knew he would lose - at the 1970 general election he failed to attend an important public meeting, sending instead an aide with a tape recording to play to the assembled voters. This rather reduced his standing in Labour circles and the comments on this possibly influenced his decision to withdraw from parliamentary politics, turning down the opportunity to become candidate for Plymouth Devonport. Selected instead, and victorious for Labour in 1974, was another political doctor, one David Owen of diverse later fame.
Gwyneth Dunwoody also lost her West Country seat in 1970, setting up a favourite political pub quiz question on husband and wife MP pairings. She stuck to the political route and in 1974 became the member for Crewe and a long-term thorn in the side of slippery political operators of all persuasions..
My condolences to her family.
Friday, February 29, 2008
The art of being noticed - a reflection spurred by the date
Not exactly gimmicks but clear pegs onto which you can hang the political frames you need. That’s a skill we may need to develop especially in a party dependent on guerrilla tactics from time to time. Not to mention FOCUS writing....
By the way- question to younger people – does the literary reference to ‘1984’ still have the portentous gloom it had for my late-1940s born generation?
Labels: campaigning, politics, publicity
