After GB made his speech last week, a Mr Freedland [I believe] of the Guardian, suggested that media scrutiny of the Tories was likely to step up. A two horse race is more fun to report than a one horse race. Once its had its fill of battering GB over and over again, they've turned they beady eyes to to the other corner. Finally. Tonight's episode of Newsnight was a fine example.
One point first, the financial crisis clearly overshadowed anything Baronet Osborne had to say. So it was the third slot for the Tories. And a seemingly less than relavent discussion of the day at conference. Emily Maitliss did her best to make Ossy look rather petty, in the grand scheme of things. There they were, sat in a little box in Birmingham, while in the US, congress refused a $700bn bailout. While a bank both at home and in europe faced collapse and nationalisation, and all that he could come up with was one sound bite to another. No Golden parachutes, no to taxpayers bailing out, stability, tax cuts, protect the poorest, chase the bankers for the money blah blah. The Council tax thing doesnt seem to have been quite as headline grabbing as it would have last year. And a tad contradictory. 'The cupboard is bare, debt is too high, borrowing is too high...but we'll still cut taxes'
I've lambasted the traditional media in previous posts. But one should never underestimate their power to spin for themselves, and effectively, to change perception. The media scrutiny of Labour of the past few months has been fierce, so too has the public's perception grown fiercely hateful. I give up on reading anything on Cif nowadays, its become such a cauldron on hate, its beyond any rational basis, Labour are dirt, pure and simple, stained in the eyes of so many readers.
But you do get the sense of them wanting to even things out. Tories will remain on top, certainly. The crisis won't last, and the change agenda will return. But at least we'll be able to debate things a bit more rationally. I think, partly as a reaction to Broons speech, the left or at least some of the unions have sensed it'll be better trying to change Labour in power, than fight the Tories again. Though, can't take that support for granted. Heard in the news some unionists are planning to protest at Tory conference, during DCs speech. That'll be quite a turnout if it gets on the news.
Still think its vital Brown makes further steps to sure up the core vote. The speech got us listening, now we need solid statements and policy. Stuff we can take to the doorsteps. And some moves to a least calm the waters at the Guardian. We've been haemorrhaging votes there for years. First we lost the hard left in 1994 with clause 4, then we lost the Guardianistas and the liberal left with Iraq and cosying up to Bush, then Tony lost all support after Lebanon, then the ordinary member felt slapped in the face by 10p and all those things we've brushed aside in the past. All those times we've thought, 'well, benefits outweigh costs, at least its labour' they've all come back. PFIs, selling gold, soft-regulation, 28-42 days, pensions, cash for honours, etc etc. They're all there, in the back of our minds. On the doorstep, right when we need to be 100% certain over why people should vote Labour. Its there. And we can't answer. Mix that sense of fatalism with the leadership completely failing to provide strong arguments, and causes to boast about....Crewe and Nantwich. Demoralised members + directionless leadership = 'Tory Toff' campaign.
Anyway, theres where we've gone wrong. Don't do it again. Start afresh. Get those lines of attack focused and consistent, the lines of argument backed up with principles and proven policy, give the grassroots some meat. And we can win again.
I've lambasted the traditional media in previous posts. But one should never underestimate their power to spin for themselves, and effectively, to change perception. The media scrutiny of Labour of the past few months has been fierce, so too has the public's perception grown fiercely hateful. I give up on reading anything on Cif nowadays, its become such a cauldron on hate, its beyond any rational basis, Labour are dirt, pure and simple, stained in the eyes of so many readers.
But you do get the sense of them wanting to even things out. Tories will remain on top, certainly. The crisis won't last, and the change agenda will return. But at least we'll be able to debate things a bit more rationally. I think, partly as a reaction to Broons speech, the left or at least some of the unions have sensed it'll be better trying to change Labour in power, than fight the Tories again. Though, can't take that support for granted. Heard in the news some unionists are planning to protest at Tory conference, during DCs speech. That'll be quite a turnout if it gets on the news.
Still think its vital Brown makes further steps to sure up the core vote. The speech got us listening, now we need solid statements and policy. Stuff we can take to the doorsteps. And some moves to a least calm the waters at the Guardian. We've been haemorrhaging votes there for years. First we lost the hard left in 1994 with clause 4, then we lost the Guardianistas and the liberal left with Iraq and cosying up to Bush, then Tony lost all support after Lebanon, then the ordinary member felt slapped in the face by 10p and all those things we've brushed aside in the past. All those times we've thought, 'well, benefits outweigh costs, at least its labour' they've all come back. PFIs, selling gold, soft-regulation, 28-42 days, pensions, cash for honours, etc etc. They're all there, in the back of our minds. On the doorstep, right when we need to be 100% certain over why people should vote Labour. Its there. And we can't answer. Mix that sense of fatalism with the leadership completely failing to provide strong arguments, and causes to boast about....Crewe and Nantwich. Demoralised members + directionless leadership = 'Tory Toff' campaign.
Anyway, theres where we've gone wrong. Don't do it again. Start afresh. Get those lines of attack focused and consistent, the lines of argument backed up with principles and proven policy, give the grassroots some meat. And we can win again.
