Some or all of these lines have been offered by Labour this morning in response to questions on what is happening in markets:
- You would not expect us to provide a running commentary (Yes, we would).
- We are straining every sinew (Why?)
- We are working around the clock (I hope not: it impairs judgement).
- We are consulting with stakeholders (Has anyone asked you? No? Me, neither. That's a lie, then. Were stakeholders in this).
- We will be talking to our partners (Who?)
- We are seeking a solution (What else would you be doing?)
- This is a fast moving situation (And other such statements of the obvious).
- I can't address hypotheticals (You can, and you should; that's what economic management and politics is all about).
And other such twaddle.
Someone must teach this crap.
That explains why I will never do media training.
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Political media training is available free on YouTube and Freeview repeats – its called “Yes Minister” and is mostly delivered by Sir Humphrey Appleby.
🙂
And I watch it still. Often spot on, unfortunately.
“The Thick of It” is good too!
I am a massive Peter Capaldi fan.
Yes Minister and In the Thick of It are of course essential. For the more arcane insights, Gormenghast was recommended to me by a House of Commons clerk when I was doing some work there. Describes a place of weird routines, traditions and roles that people have long forgotten the meaning of! I’d read it and agreed with him…
🙂
And The Circumlocution Department of Dickens’ Little Dorrit, run by Mr Tite Barnacle.
In the spirit of Yes Minister (which I personally detest because it was in my view written by people who hated Government):
– You would not expect us to provide safe running water.
– We are straining every sinew of the steaks we are eating in the slap up meals we get from lobbyists.
– We are working around the clock but not actually doing any work ON the clock you understand.
– We are consulting with stakeholders who will be plunging them into the hearts of what is left of the public sector.
– We will be talking to our partners about what free concerts and clothes we would like to receive in the fiscal year.
– We are seeking a solution to having to do anything at all about 15 years of Tory mis-rule.
– This is a fast moving situation and I was too busy watching porn on my House of Commons laptop.
– I can’t address hypotheticals because I have no imagination, and nor does Morgan.
Thank you.
🙂
It’s the neoliberal lie factory in action, which is why the majority have tuned out, because there’s nothing new to learn when you are being repeatedly lied to.
Whenever a minister is given the thankless morning round – at present – they quote directly from a Starmer utterance or a ‘Downing Street’ utterance , – emphasise closeness to US , and otherwise spout all the generalist meaningless ‘twaddle’ as you say Richard. People are switching off in droves.
BBC still letting them off the hook re – the latest examples of Gaza mass starvation and genocide
Agreed re Gaza.
Robinson had a slight go at Heidi Alexander on the economy this morning.
I note that on Gaza, 10 UK citizens who were members of the Israeli army (why? – surely not legal?) are named as being guilty of war crimes in a dossier given to the Met Plods. Be interesting to see what happens.
As for LINO ministers – they all have a USB port in the back of their heads – the better to up load the utterances and profound thoughts of the dear leader.
Cab Ministers to Starmer “so what we gonna do/say” – Starmer turns to McSweeney “any ideas old chap” – McSweeney tries to find something/anything in his life experiences as a local-gov fixer……….what could possibly go wrong in Wezzie the erm “mother of all parliaments” aka “It’s A Cock-Up” a new game where the electorate are the victims – always.
Thank you and well said, Mike.
As many as 10K? That equates to 2 or 3 British infantry brigades and about how many front line soldiers the British army can field at the moment, or possibly more.
I’m aware of American*, Australian, Brazilian, French and Dutch dual citizens serving there. Brazil has threatened to prosecute its nationals participating in genocide. *One former IOF soldier is being considered as the Dixiecrat candidate for 2028, Chicago’s Rahm Emanuel. I asked a friend who has just returned there, after more than two decades in London and some years as a Labour activist, how could someone who served another country run for US president. My friend said the spin and smear of anti-semitism would shut that debate and even shame people for asking the question.
On the way out this morning, I saw an interview with Jean Charles de Menezes’ family. There are still many questions to be answered about that, including by the police commander that fateful day and later Met commissioner, the future DPP and current PM, and the government about the rumours that IOF personnel on secondment* were involved.
*Under Blair, cooperation between British security forces and the IOF was set up. That agreement was enhanced under Priti Patel and Ben Wallace. There have long been rumours about IOF personnel being deployed in Northern Ireland from the mid-1970s onwards. At the Palestine demo on Saturday 30 November, according to a friend, ex Fed and Bank of England, on the march, some Mediterranean looking types with Middle Eastern accents on patrol with the Met hastily retreated when protestors got suspicious.
With regard to British citizens serving in IDF, this article comes from Jewish Voice for Labour (non zionist, and not recognised by Labour with several members expelled by Labour).
https://www.jewishvoiceforlabour.org.uk/article/is-it-legal-for-british-citzens-to-fight-in-israels-military/
I suspect CPS will do everything possible to fudge that case and delay/fudge a decision (under direction from whoever they are most scared of), but Michael Mansfield KC may have other ideas as he pursues the war crimes aspect for named British citizens in IDF.
I notice a growing number of articles on “front page” of Guardian feed about Israeli atrocities – which in a twisted tragic way, I find encouraging, if it means even the Guardian feels embarrassed by Israel’s behaviour (or more likely, because the editorial team are worried by growing evidence of ordinary people’s revulsion at war crimes and genocide).
With regard to British citizens serving in IDF, this article comes from Jewish Voice for Labour (non zionist, and not recognised by Labour with several members expelled by Labour).
https://www.jewishvoiceforlabour.org.uk/article/is-it-legal-for-british-citzens-to-fight-in-israels-military/
I suspect CPS will do everything possible to fudge that case and delay/fudge a decision (under direction from whoever they are most scared of), but Michael Mansfield KC may have other ideas as he pursues the war crimes aspect for named British citizens in IDF.
I notice a growing number of articles on “front page” of Guardian feed about Israeli atrocities – which in a twisted tragic way, I find encouraging, if it means even the Guardian feels embarrassed by Israel’s behaviour (or more likely, because the editorial team
are worried by growing evidence of ordinary people’s revulsion at war crimes and genocide).
The Colonel misread NOT 10 K
ten UK citizens Report https://www.theguardian.com/law/2025/apr/07/ten-britons-accused-of-committing-war-crimes-while-fighting-for-israel-in-gaza
response to Col Smithers – it is erm… 10 (ten) United Kingdom citizens.
In response to the other comments – brave chap Michael Mansfield.
I’ll just mention one other name: Gerald Bull, 1990, Brussels.
I worked with Michael once. He seemed like a good guy.
Sam Coates on Sky this morning made the point which many of us have been making for a very long time. He said that whilst the Government keeps repeating that “wages have gone up” and that “working people” have more money in their pay packets, in reality, people are not actually experiencing that. He went on to say that people are disengaging and trust in this Government is declining even further.
He is right
One of the better journalists
It is utter bollocks. Nobody believes them and the public just think they are useless! (Even some of those who were unwise to vote for them last year!)
I guess they will lose votes in the May elections/
Ah, another masterclass in ‘Ministerial Magic’—where hard facts disappear in a puff of rhetoric, and accountability vanishes like a Houdini act. It’s almost impressive how they’ve turned ‘We have no clue’ into a 10-point economic strategy, complete with buzzwords like ‘robust framework’ and ‘future-facing solutions’ (translation: ‘We’ll Google it later’).
What’s truly inspiring is their commitment to consistency. Rain or shine, boom or bust, you can always rely on government ministers to:
Deny there’s a problem.
Blame the last guy.
Announce a ‘task force’ (which will meet quarterly until the heat dies down).
Declare victory prematurely.
At this point, I half-expect them to rebrand the national debt as ‘a dynamic investment in tomorrow’s liquidity’ and sell it as an NFT.
Still, mustn’t grumble—without these daily doses of political fiction, what would we laugh at? The Shadow Cabinet?
We will move at pace and leave no stone unturned in our reset.*
*Reset = indiscernible change from before.
More contradictory nonsense from Darren Jones – a solicitor (why in a financial position in gov he has no understanding of any sort wrt money or indeed any training or qualification whatsoever – yet another example of infamous “British amateurism”?) & part time pseak your weight machine. Confused and confusing – clearly has no idea what is going on and probably needs his minders around to tell him what to say. But, he is well spoken, so that’s alright then. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SMqHjomLxhA – standby for 10 mins of utter blather
as opposed to somebody that 13 years ago told it the way it was then & the way it is now – truly epic:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q2nA2szz8dY
Thank you and well said, Mike.
I heard him yesterday morning and was appalled. He’s usually well spoken and fluent, but stuttered when challenged about Israel holding two MPs in custody.
Jones is the Blair machine’s alternative to Streeting and increasingly thought of as a better bet due to the quality that you have identified and not being as shouty as Streeting.
Speaking of amateurism, let me relay a story I heard from the tropics. The IMF spring meetings are the week after Easter. A former colony’s delegation would like to have a meeting with the British one, even social. One reason is that many, if not most, of the officials studied here (and in France as it’s multilingual), not just for first degrees, but doctorates, too. The tropical delegation has serious chops, public and private sector, multilateral agency and academia. It sounds like Rachel from complaints wants to avoid such a gathering. I hinted that, unlike them, her qualifications and experience are, to use a phrase from the other mother country, “une zone d’ombre”. I suggested that that they not waste time with our Rachel, but seek time with a serious delegation, like China’s for instance.
You may well be right.
I have attended those meetings
If they are nothing else, they are serious networking events. But no one has time to waste.
I rather enjoyed one of alternative definitions of “une zone d’ombre” – a blind spot in seismic surveillance – so they don’t know there’s been an earthquake.
Sounds just like our Chancellor…
🙂
Watching Sky News, and Reeves came on burbling about stuff that didn’t make sense (so what’s new?). And then, oh horror, Starmer comes on and spouts a load of nothingness too. They’re visiting a Rover factory. How I wish they’d go home and shut up. Rolls eyes! “Securing Our Future” my backside. Groan.
I have decided to ignore them until this evening
I have better things to do tjhan spoil my afternoon with yet anogther hi-viz visit
Do they really think most of the country works in factories?
Thanks for summarising the kind of mainstream crap I no longer hear or see, having given up on TV news and political commentary (sic) some time ago. It’s nauseating even reading it at second-hand.
I have learned more from your blog & Gary’s Economics in a year than I have in years of consuming Newsnight/Today, etc, etc – many thanks.
Btw yesterday I left a comment on Gary’s YT suggesting you join him online for a debate (after his fascinating interview with Ha-Joon Chang), and got an uptick from Gary himself, so I guess he’d be up for it if you are. Hope to see you on his channel, or vice versa.
I really must do this…
Thank you, Richard.
Further to recent talks with the City, i.e. not us the great unwashed, the government has announced: https://www.ft.com/content/3aa6175e-e246-4d4f-81eb-62d6123e4c7c, a watering down of rules for smaller hedge and private equity funds. I know one fund, Oxford University’s endowment, that has been particular concerned. I have worked with the fellow quoted in the FT.
This is absurd…
“smaller hedge and private equity funds”………or as one chapter in “After The Great Complacence” (Engelen et al) labelled them: “Alternative Investment or Nomadic War Machines”
(& for those that have not read it – an absolute classic (& written by 8 authors ). Chapter 2 was particularly “nice” “Finanacial Innovation or Bricolage”.)
Another one to read?
Umm sadly yes. I found it readable & the conclusions were spot on (no political will for proper reform).
Page 190: “however the current generation of elite reformers have lost sight of the old Beveridgean & Keynesian vision which connected apparently technical problems like social insurance with capitalisms failure to provide economic security for the politically enfranchised majority etc ). 20 pages of references in a 240 page book – so serious.
Page 191 is pretty good as well – “The Treasury was much more tolerant of Thatchers right-wing radlicalism because it destroyed primitive forms of British collectivism and simplified the tasks of economic management” etc.
That feels horribly right