Oh how the rich and famous must rue the day that some bright spark, somewhere in the Far East thought that it would be a good idea to combine the new mobile phones with the equally new digital cameras and produce a device which could be used for both talking to your friends and also sending them pictures. The first device capable of doing this was released by Sharp in November 2000 but only in Japan. It finally really took off around the world in 2003 and the rest is of course history. How would the gutter press manage without it? Journalists might have to get off their fat arses and actually do some leg work, similarly with the broadcast media. 'Send us your pictures,' says the banner at the bottom of the screen. 'Because that means we don't have to send anybody out to do the job for us,' it doesn't add. In many ways investigative journalism has become lazy. The internet is flooded with images, many of which are posted entirely out of context, and opprobrium is heaped on those presumed guilty before being found innocent in a complete subversion of our much trumpeted legal supposition. Wrong doing seems to be discovered either as the result of an accident or as the result of malicious behaviour by those who seek to profit from exposing it. I suppose we should see it as yet another victory for free market capitalism: free market justice. Hoo-bloody-ray.
David Davies astounded the entire world by revealing that rather than spending the summer working out what Brexit means (other than Brexit of course) he has been having a bit of a break and still has no plan A, never mind a plan B. Is this what Mrs May wants? Or will he be made to sit on the naughty step because she doesn't believe that the dog ate his homework. There are three of them on ministers' wages all doing lots of bugger all, while in the background the evil Hunt is hacking the head off the NHS.
As expected the PLP have voted to scrap the reforms brought in by Ed Miliband which allowed the leader of the party to appoint his own shadow cabinet and it will be putting a motion before the NEC calling for an electoral system instead. This will have to be voted on by Conference so nothing is going to happen just yet. Clive Betts, the MP who proposed this claims it will help to heal the rift in the party by allowing the anti-Corbyn MPs a chance to serve in the shadow cabinet. As many of those likely to be standing were already in Corbyn's shadow cabinet, before they resigned in order to attack him, this seems unlikely to heal many rifts. Why should they now find it possible to work with him now when before they all bleated that it was impossible to do so? I suspect that this time they hope to isolate Corbyn by not voting for John McDonnell and Dianne Abbott. Traditionally however the leader has been allowed one or two discretionary appointments and so they may not succeed. We shall have to see.
Meanwhile back at the Front the lame duck was appearing on Radio 4's World at One today, answering questions from the public. I forced myself to listen the the while bloody bang shoot, and what a performance it was. As an audition to RADA it might just have passed muster. We had everything, contrition, sympathy, sorrow, nostalgia, everything except straight talking honesty.
Mr Smith started as he intended to go on. When asked a straightforward question first off, he immediately laid into 'Jeremy', and totally failed to answer the question, preferring instead to talk about what he wanted to say. Every bloody politician since the Thatcher has done this. When asked a question they are taught to ignore it and instead treat the paying public to a display of rote learning worthy of a spelling bee. When is the hapless Smith going to realise that the public is sick to death of this sort pf behaviour. It was precisely this which has led to the present disconnect between ordinary people and politicians. This is why we frequently hear a chorus of 'They're all the same'. They may not be but they sure as hell sound the same. When is he going to realise that one of the factors which makes 'Jeremy', as he likes to call him, so appealing to so many people is that he appears to listen to the question and also appears to answer it.
With Mr Smith as well it really does seem a case of the lady doth protest too much, both in his assertion that he only abstained on the welfare bill because of shadow cabinet collective responsibility and that he is not metropolitan and has remained true to his South Wales roots. Both of these are certainly open to question. The shadow cabinet to which he was referring was that of Harriet Harman who was an interim leader. Had he really felt so strongly about the subject he could have easily have chosen to vote against the bill rather than merely abstaining. It may not have affected the outcome but it might have won him a few brownie points if he really is as much of a left winger as he claims to be. As it is he just seems to be another yes-man in a suit, albeit rather daringly without a tie. Is it just me or does anybody else think men in dark suits without ties just look like travelling salesmen on holiday? The sort of person who feels uncomfortable out of uniform but who wants to appear somehow casual and daring. Could you imagine him in jeans for example? Sorry this is getting personal and I really don't want to get started.
The claim about remaining true to his South Wales roots doesn't really stack up either. To hear him speak you rather get the impression that his father was a miner or something fighting Thatcher on the front line. Well this is not quite the case. His father Dai Smith is a leading academic, a professor and until quite recently Chairman of the Arts Council of Wales. He also worked for the BBC, strangely a couple of years later Owen also landed a job with the corporation, before leaving for a couple of nice lucrative jobs as a lobbyist. His first attempt at becoming an MP took place while he still worked for Pfizer, but he finally managed to win a seat in Pontypridd in 2010, turning a safe Labour seat into what was effectively a marginal, winning by only 2,785 votes a drop of 25.7%. To be fair to him he did do quite a lot better in 2015. While he would like you to think that he is just a local lad at heart what he doesn't tell you is before winning his seat he lived in a rather nice house in the Surrey village of Westcott which is now worth in excess of £1 million according to Zoopla. That's absolutely fine by me, but please Mr Smith don't try and pretend you're just an ordinary Joe from Barry. You're not.
It's rather like your claim that a massive influx of refugees has put pressure on schools in your constituency. According to The New Statesman "Smith noted that his wife is a school teacher and that schools in their local area are under pressure from 'significant numbers into South Wales of people fleeing the Middle East'".
Last year, there were:
- 476 surplus places in Rhondda Cynon Taf's primary schools
- And 715 surplus places in Rhondda Cynon Taf's secondary schools
- Hardly any pupils didn't get their first choice school
- Just 2.1% of Rhondda Cynon Taf's residents were born outside the UK
- The number of foreign nationals living in the area is actually falling
- Between April and June this year, Home Office figures show Rhondda Cynon Taf settled just 18 Syrian refugees
Smith's constituency is in Rhondda Cynon Taf, in case you hadn't already guessed.
Mr Smith, I doubt very much that you are going to win, and if you do it will be as a result of vote rigging on a massive scale, which will have been done not by you, but certainly on your behalf. If you continue to snipe at your opponent and insinuate that he is somehow unfit for the job, tell half truths to bolster your left wing credentials and talk in rote learned sound bites, how are you ever going to unite the party? As far as the supporters of your opponent 'Jeremy' are concerned you are just more of the same old same old. They are heartily sick of the same old same old, have you not realised that yet? You claim you are only standing against 'Jeremy' with a heavy heart because it is the only way to unite the party. In what sort of looking-glass world does an act of betrayal and disloyalty unite anything? You steadfastly refuse to take any responsibility for the split in the party. Are you for real Mr Smith? Or are you just another ambitious politician squirming up the greasy pole? The refreshing thing about 'Jeremy' is that he self evidently isn't.
No comments:
Post a Comment