The coverage of Prince Harry's deployment (and subsequent withdrawal) from Afghanistan has been excrutiating.
Now, I am not a monarchist by any stretch of the imagination, but the topic has only made me have sympathy for the Prince. He is a soldier and is serving his country without any desire for special attention. Indeed, he was quoted as describing this as the most normal he will ever be. What a sad reflection on the life he is forced to live.
The nonsense spewed out by the media about it is an insult to Harry and equally to the other servicemen and women serving in horrendous situations across the globe. It is a positive sign for our country that a member of the royal family is serving alongside his countrymen - we should be leaving him to get on with the job.
Instead, he is being returned to Britain because Afghanistan is too dangerous for him. It's one of the most hostile warzones on the planet, so by definition it is too dangerous for anyone. Withdrawing him in such a public manner is humiliating for him (when his tour to Iraq was cancelled he was attacked by some parts of the media as a coward, despite his own desire to go) and an insult to the troops who are left there, and are therefore by definition of less importance or value.
We are engaged in military actions across the world, and it is vital that if we are going to send our citizens into harm's way that we provide them with support. This whole sorry situation will have done no good whatsoever, and will have caused hurt to both Prince Harry and his colleagues.
Friday, February 29, 2008
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Telling the Story
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7255488.stm
Intersting article on the BBC site about the role of storytelling in politics. It examines the impact of the "Man from Hope" story that Bill Clinton gave to the US, and which turned his polls around and led to him becoming President. Tony Blair was obviously a successful proponent of the art too. For Gordon Brown, however, it is not something that comes so easily.
Is it a skill that he needs to learn?
I think that the problem can be that policy and detail, whilst vital to the success of programmes the Government implements, is too dry and disconnected for most people in the UK. Most voters don't have the time to pore through intricate detail of policy - rather they are looking for the narrative of why the Government or party campaigning for their votes is planning to implement ideas and what their vision is for the country. People want vision and inspiration - I think they then trust the parties to get on with the indepth details of how things actually work.
Gordon Brown is successful at the intricacies, but the narrative is not yet working. And we'll be in trouble if it doesn't. I think we partly lost the election in Scotland last year due to a lack of inspiring narrative. The Lib/Lab coalition Executive had been functioning very successfully and had lots of concrete, sensible ideas for the next term. The SNP, however, were light on realistic policies (as demonstrated by how quickly they've dropped a lot of them) but provided an exciting narrative - freedom and a bright new paradise of an indepedent Scotland. Now, I'm not suggesting that we sink to their level of putting across narratives based on myths and fallacies, but we do need to look at our vision and our inspiration.
Look at the US. The presumptive nominee for the Democratic Party, Hillary Clinton, is looking on the verge of being knocked out of the race by a freshman Senator from Illinois, Barack Obama. He is light on specific policy (try reading his most recent book - lots of lovely rhetoric, not exactly much in the way of practical ideas) but he is exciting and inspiring. His narrative of 'Change' is inspiring voters, who trust that his energy and vision will be underlined by bringing in experts around him who can flesh out the ideas.
Gordon Brown is a man of great moral vision and commitment, and there is no doubt that he has a vision to make Britain a better, fairer society. He has touched on aspects of it during his time, but the travails of the recent months have forced him to become bogged down in the specifics of detail and policy. As a Party and a Government we need to overcome this and redefine our vision. We need to be strongly spreading it, demonstrating why we should remain in Government in Westminster, and return to Government in Holyrood.
A strong vision will show the paltry efforts of the other parties for the shams that they are. But if we do not share this vision, then we will suffer and Britain will take a different direction in the future from the society that we would like to see.
Intersting article on the BBC site about the role of storytelling in politics. It examines the impact of the "Man from Hope" story that Bill Clinton gave to the US, and which turned his polls around and led to him becoming President. Tony Blair was obviously a successful proponent of the art too. For Gordon Brown, however, it is not something that comes so easily.
Is it a skill that he needs to learn?
I think that the problem can be that policy and detail, whilst vital to the success of programmes the Government implements, is too dry and disconnected for most people in the UK. Most voters don't have the time to pore through intricate detail of policy - rather they are looking for the narrative of why the Government or party campaigning for their votes is planning to implement ideas and what their vision is for the country. People want vision and inspiration - I think they then trust the parties to get on with the indepth details of how things actually work.
Gordon Brown is successful at the intricacies, but the narrative is not yet working. And we'll be in trouble if it doesn't. I think we partly lost the election in Scotland last year due to a lack of inspiring narrative. The Lib/Lab coalition Executive had been functioning very successfully and had lots of concrete, sensible ideas for the next term. The SNP, however, were light on realistic policies (as demonstrated by how quickly they've dropped a lot of them) but provided an exciting narrative - freedom and a bright new paradise of an indepedent Scotland. Now, I'm not suggesting that we sink to their level of putting across narratives based on myths and fallacies, but we do need to look at our vision and our inspiration.
Look at the US. The presumptive nominee for the Democratic Party, Hillary Clinton, is looking on the verge of being knocked out of the race by a freshman Senator from Illinois, Barack Obama. He is light on specific policy (try reading his most recent book - lots of lovely rhetoric, not exactly much in the way of practical ideas) but he is exciting and inspiring. His narrative of 'Change' is inspiring voters, who trust that his energy and vision will be underlined by bringing in experts around him who can flesh out the ideas.
Gordon Brown is a man of great moral vision and commitment, and there is no doubt that he has a vision to make Britain a better, fairer society. He has touched on aspects of it during his time, but the travails of the recent months have forced him to become bogged down in the specifics of detail and policy. As a Party and a Government we need to overcome this and redefine our vision. We need to be strongly spreading it, demonstrating why we should remain in Government in Westminster, and return to Government in Holyrood.
A strong vision will show the paltry efforts of the other parties for the shams that they are. But if we do not share this vision, then we will suffer and Britain will take a different direction in the future from the society that we would like to see.
Friday, February 15, 2008
Banning of extremist cleric
I was pleased to see that the controversial Egyptian cleric Yusuf al-Qaradawi has been refused entry to the UK, although I was likewise disappointed that Muslim organisations such as the MCB reacted so negatively to the decision.
I don't think that this decision has been made from an anti-Muslim point of view. This is a man who uses his religious beliefs as an excuse for justifying terrorism and morality that fundamentally opposes the system of justice that we have in our society in the UK. He has called for homosexuals to be executed and defended the right of husbands to use violence against their wives.
The MCB has used the right to free speech as a reason why he should be allowed to come here. We have a long tradition of that right, and it is imperative that we allow our citizens to use it. However, this right does not have to extend to foreign nationals seeking to export an extremist message to the UK which is against our laws.
This counts for all extremists - it is not to do with the religion they cloak their message with, and should apply equally to white supremacists as to Muslim exponents as to any other extremist.
It is vitally important that we engage with our Muslim citizens to build stronger links and demonstrate that they are highly valued members and contributors to our society. However, this does not have to mean compromising on our judgements of what is right and wrong. Banning al-Qaradawi is a progressive decision, and one to be welcomed.
I don't think that this decision has been made from an anti-Muslim point of view. This is a man who uses his religious beliefs as an excuse for justifying terrorism and morality that fundamentally opposes the system of justice that we have in our society in the UK. He has called for homosexuals to be executed and defended the right of husbands to use violence against their wives.
The MCB has used the right to free speech as a reason why he should be allowed to come here. We have a long tradition of that right, and it is imperative that we allow our citizens to use it. However, this right does not have to extend to foreign nationals seeking to export an extremist message to the UK which is against our laws.
This counts for all extremists - it is not to do with the religion they cloak their message with, and should apply equally to white supremacists as to Muslim exponents as to any other extremist.
It is vitally important that we engage with our Muslim citizens to build stronger links and demonstrate that they are highly valued members and contributors to our society. However, this does not have to mean compromising on our judgements of what is right and wrong. Banning al-Qaradawi is a progressive decision, and one to be welcomed.
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