Monday 17 May 2010

The UK's Brothers Grimm




Lots of talk this weekend about the Miliband brothers putting themselves forward for the position of the Labour party. David is said to be a Blairite while Ed is referred to as a Brownite (for some strange reason the page in Wiki has been deleted).

As many of you will know I have never been impressed in any way with the public performances of David Miliband. Although his party supporters insist he is highly experienced and a man suitable to be prime minister, I cannot visualise it. His demeanor is that of an overgrown schoolboy having been given the important task of being in charge of the school lunch queue.

This weekend I watched his younger brother Ed deliver his candidacy speech to the faithful and I have to admit I was taken by his communication skills and his capacity for connecting with his audience. Although he stuck to the party line he deviated to make it sound personal rather than parrot-like.

One of my non-political friends asked me if having brothers at the top of a party would cause problems. I have no idea what effect it would have. The workings of the labour party are not what I want from political representatives.

Are they the UK's Brothers Grimm? The original Brothers Grimm are famous for their folk tales from Europe and fairy tales such as 'The Frog Prince' and 'Cinderella' among many others, while the Milibands' stories to date are 'Fairness' and 'A Movement for Change'. Undoubtedly there will be more tales in the next months.

Of course the Milibands are only the first to declare their candidacies. We will have Ed Balls declaring his intention to run in the next few days along with Jon Cruddas and others. I think I will be washing my hair quite often this week.

10 comments:

Apogee said...

Not having taken much notice of either brother,and/or their abilities, I am not convinced that a reincarnation of Blair or Brown is necessarily a good idea, when you consider the careers of the originators ,Mr Blair and Mr Brown.
Look on the state of the State and ponder how this happened and who was in control.

Ponder also that the reason for a page removal is, either it is wrong, damaged, or damaging.

Hamish said...

Subrosa, only your best friends will tell you, but you're becoming a blether.
It's your blog and you can say what you like, but stuff like the following is devoid of content or style IMO.

"One of my non-political friends asked me if having brothers at the top of a party would cause problems. I have no idea what effect it would have. The workings of the labour party are not what I want from political representatives".

Mrs Rigby said...

John Smith was a good chap, it's a pity there don't seem to be any like him at the top of Labour's hierarchy

Demetrius said...

I have not forgotten their Dad. I was once at a meeting chaired by him with Jack Dash as the main speaker. This pair are bad news. Their idea of the perfect state used to be East Germany.

subrosa said...

It is interesting the Wiki bit isn't it Apogee.

subrosa said...

Well Hamish, you're free to say what you like. Strangely enough on radio this morning the same question arose. I thought it was interesting enough to mention. You don't. C'est la vie. Thankfully we don't all see a situation from the same angle.

Don't hesitate to mention again if you think I'm blethering. Positive criticism is good for the mind.

subrosa said...

Yes indeed Mrs R. We're now into a new generation of politicians in their 40s.

Someone somewhere will calculate how many of the new MPs are under 50 or 45. The majority I should think.

subrosa said...

Well well Demetrius, thanks for that. I'm sure the father had a great influence upon them with his Marxist ideas. They cover their training well.

Allan said...

You know what came to mind when you mentioned that David Millipeed was highly rated? That other highly rated New Labour polititian, Stephen Purcell.

No, I can't see it either.

subrosa said...

Neither can I Allan. It's a mystery, perhaps a Marxist one. :)

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