Comments
Why should Brown and Cameron apologise for being seen to pay tribute to the war dead?
2009-11-22 11:12:38
Having taken a potshot at David Cameron for hiring a personal photographer, I suppose I ought to be pleased that this has landed him in a spot of bother.
But I'm afraid I cannot get wound up over the complaint by Westminster Abbey that Cameron and Gordon Brown had their pictures taken without permission in the Field of Remembrance on Armistice Day.
That this is a prominent story on the news this morning, complete with apologies from Downing Street and Mr Cameron himself, merely underlines the extent to which an anti-politics and anti-politician mood has taken hold.
Anyone who cares to take a whack at the politicians - in this case someone at the Abbey - will get a ready and supportive audience in large parts of the media. If they can weigh in with the charge that they are indulging in 'a photo opportunity', even better.
Gordon Brown is the Prime Minister at a time UK forces are engaged in war. David Cameron is the leader of Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition. Far from being asked to apologise, I think they are entitled to say it is entirely appropriate that they should make such visits and pay such tributes at this time of year. It is also appropriate that the public get to know about it.
And given the various parliamentary and other events to commemorate the World Wars, notably the Cenotaph ceremony, and the extent to which the issue of Afghanistan has dominated public debate of late, neither man is really in need of the additional coverage their visits to pay tribute may have yielded.
In fact there has been more coverage of them this morning already, as part of the 'apology story', than there was at the time. How long before it becomes 'Poppygate'?
On the polls, and particularly the one showing the Tory lead cut to six points, they merely underline what I have been saying here for months - the Tories are not home and dry. If Labour get their act together properly - on defending the record, taking the attack to the Tories and winning arguments about the policy agenda for the future - the game is still on.
Because whilst lots of people may cite lots of reasons for not wanting another Labour term, there is no great enthusiasm for the Tories.
There is also a growing fear that beneath the surface of Cameron's presentational skills, (without doubt better than Michael Howard's and Iain Duncan Smith's) his Party is fundamentally unchanged. Right-wing, out of touch with the way most people live, run by an elite, and ready to run the country for an elite.
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Speaking up for ParliamentPublish date: 2009-05-20 11:44:17
Peace in the Middle East - yes he canPublish date: 2009-05-19 09:37:35
Breaking news - one frenzy at a timePublish date: 2009-05-18 10:34:30
Getting a good look at Vince CablePublish date: 2009-05-17 09:36:55
How do you solve a problem like Silvio?Publish date: 2009-05-16 09:32:21
It was the internet wot won itPublish date: 2009-05-15 10:04:57
There now follows ... a good whack at CameronPublish date: 2009-05-14 17:21:28
They got their kit off - so you get your cash outPublish date: 2009-05-14 07:41:11
Expenses row must not obscure Tory intentions on minimum wagePublish date: 2009-05-13 16:12:08
We love you Burnley, we do ... what a nightPublish date: 2009-05-13 02:37:17
A tweet cannot express the wonders of TGVPublish date: 2009-05-12 08:48:31
It's Mind week - Get it off your Chest with me and Stephen FryPublish date: 2009-05-11 06:29:15
Hate the Mail, love ObamaPublish date: 2009-05-10 10:04:00
Burnley 1 Reading 0 - a biased reportPublish date: 2009-05-09 21:26:32
MPs expenses - time for party leaders to meet againPublish date: 2009-05-09 09:50:19
Should happiness replace prosperity as national goal?Publish date: 2009-05-08 08:43:23
Musings from a sleepless nightPublish date: 2009-05-07 07:33:49
Darren Fletcher - an injustice that has to be rightedPublish date: 2009-05-06 09:52:29
Maggie's legacy not as great as she thinksPublish date: 2009-05-05 08:33:02
Here's hoping Cardiff is metaphor for CameronPublish date: 2009-05-04 09:38:30
More Mr Benn and Co pleasePublish date: 2009-05-03 10:03:00
Going Fourth with JPPublish date: 2009-05-02 18:25:41
Journalism - print first, think laterPublish date: 2009-05-02 09:10:01
In praise of two poetsPublish date: 2009-05-01 10:26:36
JP hits the road againPublish date: 2009-04-29 18:52:11
My night with Eddie IzzardPublish date: 2009-04-29 10:53:25
Explaining the 50p top tax ratePublish date: 2009-04-28 09:22:53
George Best and Martin McGuinnessPublish date: 2009-04-27 09:02:35
Cameron confused over indepdendence and impartialityPublish date: 2009-04-26 12:20:56
Guide ro Marathon running part 2Publish date: 2009-04-25 11:01:34
Good signals on coal and the OlympicsPublish date: 2009-04-24 10:45:28
Tips for the London MarathonPublish date: 2009-04-23 17:29:27
Missed the Budget, saw why it matteredPublish date: 2009-04-22 23:09:31
Football good, politics bad. AllegedlyPublish date: 2009-04-22 00:00:24
The Great Wall gets greaterPublish date: 2009-04-21 09:55:22
Two sides to police storyPublish date: 2009-04-20 11:39:54
Budgets, Balls, billionaires and Susan BoylePublish date: 2009-04-19 12:31:45
Do muscles have memories?Publish date: 2009-04-18 09:44:44
Bring back standing at footballPublish date: 2009-04-17 14:50:22
When Facebook friends fall outPublish date: 2009-04-16 12:29:16
Guardian sightings and the email and bath plug agendaPublish date: 2009-04-15 11:32:16
The spin is all in the prismPublish date: 2009-04-14 09:22:41
A setback, not a crisisPublish date: 2009-04-13 12:55:19
The real lessons from Damian McBridePublish date: 2009-04-12 10:49:47
Will English always be the dominant language?Publish date: 2009-04-11 10:02:02
On the pipes and what makes a ScotPublish date: 2009-04-10 11:06:20
John Prescott lazy? NO WAYPublish date: 2009-04-09 09:11:31
David Frost is seventyPublish date: 2009-04-08 08:48:38
The Speaker, BBC2, tonight and tomorrow 8pmPublish date: 2009-04-07 14:25:31
Obama, colds and being woken by Korean missilesPublish date: 2009-04-06 11:59:24
When a call matters more than protocolPublish date: 2009-04-05 11:33:42
Green Cities Champions LeaguePublish date: 2009-04-04 10:19:53
Could Cameron have delivered the G20 deal?Publish date: 2009-04-03 10:11:59
Of Benn and BonoPublish date: 2009-04-02 08:21:16
Memo to Sarko - allez vite a LondresPublish date: 2009-04-01 08:46:17
Happy April Fool's DayPublish date: 2009-04-01 01:44:05
Eurostar, Le Monde and a thought for the G20 sherpasPublish date: 2009-03-31 09:17:22
Why Kevin Rudd made an impactPublish date: 2009-03-30 10:24:41
Pre-G20 hype matters less than post-G20 processPublish date: 2009-03-29 13:17:28
The Damned UnitedPublish date: 2009-03-28 10:37:04
A hobby horse, a plug and a bit of sportPublish date: 2009-03-27 10:22:23
Cloughie - he had a lot to be big-headed aboutPublish date: 2009-03-26 09:38:36
A sad sight of the old fearing the youngPublish date: 2009-03-25 17:03:07
Post-modern, post-structural, or bullshit?Publish date: 2009-03-25 08:18:02
Learning the right lessons from ObamaPublish date: 2009-03-24 08:53:15
Lazy Dave needs to keep an eye on lazy KenPublish date: 2009-03-23 11:16:14
Farewell favourite restaurant, hello hometownPublish date: 2009-03-22 08:18:09
Dave, Danny and have the Tories really changed?Publish date: 2009-03-21 08:55:13
Life beyond Dover ...Publish date: 2009-03-20 10:11:21
My friends in The New Statesman - Fergie, Fiona, Tony, Sarah, Kevin, 'Dacre,' and a great GB idea for the G20Publish date: 2009-03-18 10:38:22
Iraq, Iran, GB, Obama and diplomatic chessPublish date: 2009-03-17 10:07:13
The Age of StupidPublish date: 2009-03-16 08:27:13
Is all change good?Publish date: 2009-03-15 10:00:06
The pressure of being a post-modern sex godPublish date: 2009-03-14 10:00:55
Cameron still hasn't sealed the deal with businessPublish date: 2009-03-13 09:21:49
Stand up for social workersPublish date: 2009-03-12 08:31:17
Surely Malcolm Tucker could have told Armando Ianucci ... You can't spin a spinnerPublish date: 2009-03-11 10:58:25
Start of a new approach from Labour?Publish date: 2009-03-10 09:54:12
A peace process still strongPublish date: 2009-03-09 08:21:05
Day of destiny for the real footballer of the yearPublish date: 2009-03-08 09:21:06
Private advice to Peggy Mitchell - the leaked note in fullPublish date: 2009-03-07 08:17:21
Boris, the Tories and the tummy-tickling poodle pressPublish date: 2009-03-06 09:49:37
A day in the life of the self-obsessed TV reporterPublish date: 2009-03-05 07:55:47
GB - good speech, well deliveredPublish date: 2009-03-04 19:31:05
Notes on the environment, a role in EastEndersPublish date: 2009-03-04 10:58:56
She may be my 'wife' but it is time to rebut!Publish date: 2009-03-03 10:52:59
Some speeches matter more than othersPublish date: 2009-03-02 12:04:45
Mental health and the Carling Cup FinalPublish date: 2009-03-01 09:08:17
Inside the chocolate factoryPublish date: 2009-02-28 10:23:59
GB on the G20, JP on Jeremy KylePublish date: 2009-02-27 09:14:36
Charity and the credit crunch, please give generously!Publish date: 2009-02-26 08:55:12
Why oh why are the Tories not home and dry?Publish date: 2009-02-24 09:44:59
Me, Dermot and ten top songsPublish date: 2009-02-23 10:02:19
Names round-upPublish date: 2009-02-22 08:43:39
What's in a name?Publish date: 2009-02-21 09:58:14
Editing the New StatesmanPublish date: 2009-02-20 11:42:36
Salute Peter M’s proper use of the F wordPublish date: 2009-02-19 09:58:58
Labour's communications challenge for the NHSPublish date: 2009-02-18 10:34:39
In praise of KeighleyPublish date: 2009-02-17 14:33:57
A night at the EmiratesPublish date: 2009-02-17 00:06:51
When marriage is testedPublish date: 2009-02-16 13:36:35
Spare me the myths and the whiningPublish date: 2009-02-15 13:29:50
Dave Cameron - is that all there is?Publish date: 2009-02-14 11:11:55
Boris Johnson: F is for ...Publish date: 2009-02-13 07:55:10
The Cameron vacuumPublish date: 2009-02-12 14:48:33
Lincoln, Obama, Blair and the 24 hour media culturePublish date: 2009-02-11 10:28:47
Eighteen interviews later ...Publish date: 2009-02-10 19:24:45
Time to talk about Time to Change on NewsnightPublish date: 2009-02-09 22:47:49
So that’s what they mean by online community?Publish date: 2009-02-08 12:12:51
First blogPublish date: 2009-02-05 15:23:57
Alan Quinn
2009-11-22 19:42:27I've been out today canavssing for Labour in my neck of the woods. Worringly for the tories there is not the anti government feeling there was in 1997, many people are quite happy and when prompted they all agree on one thing: Labour has made a difference on the NHS and education.
Game on.
Em
2009-11-22 18:38:17I was listening to Archive on 4 which talks about AC and Malcolm Tucker this week. I love "The Thick of It", but as someone interviewed for the show said, one wonders what kind of negative effect the show has on the electorate. Politicians shoot themselves in the foot with the expenses scandal but the unrelenting press and other media portrayals contribute in creating a perception that government is rotten at the core. I'm not for censorship but it's an interesting idea to keep in mind. How does culture nurture cynicism and apathy?
Any London papers could publish Hogarth's vitriolic drawings today and they'd feel more or less contemporary -- except Hogarth showed how all sectors of society were diseased whilst we refuse to acknowledge this fact for ourselves. There's a disconnect in this age of individuality and individual rights, for we the public refuse to take any responsibility whatsoever for the state we're in. This Labour government is very much of the people and by the people (most "regulars" folks in a British government ever possibly) and it is ludicrous to perpetrate this belief that your average MPs is a Faustian reptile whilst the rest of us are so hard working and so generous and live a squeaky clean life.
To assign any responsibility back to the people isn't the same as taking the Tory line, i.e. abandoning the poor as means of waging war on poverty, but holding a mirror back to the rest of society isn't something politicians should get away with. We should never ask of politicians, or anybody else, what we don't demand of ourselves. But we don't. In a strange way, I guess this is why politicians would rather apologise even when they are not in the wrong.
Any animosity behind the photo-op, whether it was staged or not, is more revealing of the critics than of Brown or Cameron or any PR person behind it.
Vivat crescat
2009-11-22 17:48:13How long before we have a "Brown Should Apologise for the Floods" headline? Bet they're working on it at the Sun.
Paul Lee
2009-11-22 16:10:53Re the shift in the polls: maybe the realisation that a Right Wing, Australian Oligarch is again attempting to influence British political history is having the opposite effect.
Bryan Marsh
2009-11-22 15:12:14I wonder if the poll lead is in part explained by people deciding to think for themselves rather than be told what to think by newspapers and TV pundits. Hope so
Mal Kelly
2009-11-22 15:11:24Watched Cameron on Marr, apologising. I'm with you - what does he have to apologise for? He is a high profile politician paying his respects at a time people want to see those respects being paid. It is like the whole Wootton Bassett tributes and the constant refrain that people do not want politicians there. Politicians represent people, and deserve more respect than we are prepared to give them.
Helen Branson
2009-11-22 15:09:19Had to root around a bit to find the story. Usual Sunday paper rubbish which because it is on front pages, the news feels they have to cover as well. Pathetic non story. Politicians as you say caught between rock and hard place. Like if Gordon had not gone to Cumbria, they'd have said where is he? If he had not paid tribute other than at the Cenotaph, why not? They should just get on with their jobs and understand the press and telly will whinge and whine whatever they do
Hazico
2009-11-22 14:04:45I agree wholeheartedly with your comments today Alistair.
I think parts of the media are just there to entertain rather than inform- politics has become trivialized.
Much like so called reality TV and all the trivia we are fed with in glossy comics....it's all so boring, and to my mind distracts from the real issues that the public could actually contribute towards...
Who benefits from all this? Presumably those that are profiting financially- it's big business I guess.And the public do love celebrity gossip- or do they?!
I agree- the public at large need to wake up and see how they're being manipulated!
I think communities need to redefine their own agendas- not be led entirely by external forces in the media/internet etc.
Watching Andrew Marr's excellent(?) Modern History of Britain on the BBC makes me realise how much society has become individualized, and less passionate in shaping politics...we are all sat like couch potatoes in front our TV's or PC's- not getting in amongst it in our own communities.Somehow I feel we need to reconnect as a society to bring about positive change- not just rely on politicians or the media to set the agenda.
Watching the Obama campaign was very inspiring and food for thought...also the We Love the NHS backlash to Daniel Hannan's total misrepresentation of our health service.
"People power" sometimes works!
Mark 'Elvis' Wright
2009-11-22 13:47:34The public may be anti-politics at the moment but they are also anti-spin.
Many people disbelieve ANYTHING that comes from the mouth of ANY politician. Not good for a Conservative party that has yet to convey its message or general policy narrative to the public at large.
So, yes, labour need to get their act together. But don't make it look too good!
wavingfree
2009-11-22 12:59:41The Bullington Boys running the country? Not for me. BBC South Today gloating that more shadow cabinet members are from the south, more money to be spent in the south, both I suggest at the expense of the north. Wake up everybody.
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