Saturday, March 31, 2007
Any Questions - BBC Radio 4
Question Time was in Southampton. David Miliband was on the panel. He struck me as quite verbose - too many words and circuitous in the extreme. When asked whether there should be a local referendum on whether a town should have a casino, he responded
"...it's Southampton local council that has come forward on a cross party basis - Liberal, Conservative and Labour - jointly supporting a Southampton casino, along with 16 other cities around the country. And it seems to me that's right. And the referendum that our questioner referred to is local election day which is only a month away and that is a chance - I mean I suppose it's difficult if all the parties are in favour of the casino it's a bit difficult to vote against it - to argue against myself - but I think the local ..."
Jonathan Dimbleby asked "How are you going to get out of that one?"
He responded with an attempt at verbal conjuring, much rambling - and not really getting out of it:
"Well I think that that - I am a believer in local government, I think we have too much power in Westminster, I think the job of Westminster is to set the framework and ensure that we don't have underground gambling, that we have properly regulated gambling but then it's up to cities to make a proposal. And that's what - actually it was 27 cities, 10 were weeded out, that left those that remained. And I think this should be a local commitment. And certainly there should be no question of the government sitting with a great big map of the UK and saying yes we should have a casino here, here and here, putting pins in but when local government comes forward and says this is an important part of our social, economic, etc., cultural vision of our city that's their job and if people don't like it they should vote them out"
Note the final phrase - we're back to where we started!
When asked if should throw his hat in to challenge Gordon Brown, Miliband assured everybody that he was "neither a runner nor rider" in this. David Dimbledy took him task and asked if he is going to stand - the well oiled words of "neither runner nor rider" came out again.
He is not a very good at verbal conjuring is he?.
I could not help feeling that Oliver Letwin, who sounded rather passive throughout, just let Miliband waffle on. He rarely made a statement to challenge anything Miliband said. Was Letwin lost in this verbosity? Was he letting Miliband dig his own hole? Was he siding with Miliband? I know Letwin, figure of fun though he is, is not adverse to the cut and thrust of politics.
"...it's Southampton local council that has come forward on a cross party basis - Liberal, Conservative and Labour - jointly supporting a Southampton casino, along with 16 other cities around the country. And it seems to me that's right. And the referendum that our questioner referred to is local election day which is only a month away and that is a chance - I mean I suppose it's difficult if all the parties are in favour of the casino it's a bit difficult to vote against it - to argue against myself - but I think the local ..."
Jonathan Dimbleby asked "How are you going to get out of that one?"
He responded with an attempt at verbal conjuring, much rambling - and not really getting out of it:
"Well I think that that - I am a believer in local government, I think we have too much power in Westminster, I think the job of Westminster is to set the framework and ensure that we don't have underground gambling, that we have properly regulated gambling but then it's up to cities to make a proposal. And that's what - actually it was 27 cities, 10 were weeded out, that left those that remained. And I think this should be a local commitment. And certainly there should be no question of the government sitting with a great big map of the UK and saying yes we should have a casino here, here and here, putting pins in but when local government comes forward and says this is an important part of our social, economic, etc., cultural vision of our city that's their job and if people don't like it they should vote them out"
Note the final phrase - we're back to where we started!
When asked if should throw his hat in to challenge Gordon Brown, Miliband assured everybody that he was "neither a runner nor rider" in this. David Dimbledy took him task and asked if he is going to stand - the well oiled words of "neither runner nor rider" came out again.
He is not a very good at verbal conjuring is he?.
I could not help feeling that Oliver Letwin, who sounded rather passive throughout, just let Miliband waffle on. He rarely made a statement to challenge anything Miliband said. Was Letwin lost in this verbosity? Was he letting Miliband dig his own hole? Was he siding with Miliband? I know Letwin, figure of fun though he is, is not adverse to the cut and thrust of politics.
Labels: David Miliband, Gordon Brown, Oliver Letwin, politics, verbal
