I was tempted to post the entire series of photos as thumbnails because there were some very interesting insights to be gleaned from his face, hands, body language. I think you are right - it was an incredibly polished performance. He glanced back at his bullet point notes on the podium I think 4 times and he was obviously very well rehearsed.
There were points in the speech where I could see he was absolutely genuine - he does believe that he has changed as a politician over the course of the campaign.
I saw him speak in Cardiff early on in the campaign and he was very polished then but in a way that to many people looks incredibly authentic. But that was in a fairly small room, this was a huge venue filled with 1000 people. So yes, I'd say that his body language was contrived a fair bit of the time.
Watching him closely while other people were speaking, he very frequently wasn't 'present', he nodded sagely and pursed his lips, clapped as appropriate but then went off on a train of thought somewhere.
He talked a lot about power, about giving power back to the people, and in a way the Movement for Change has been an action to back this pledge up, but I don't know how it translates to power in the Labour Party. Ad astra per aspera
He seems to be a decent man, but I still haven't worked out what I think is most important for the leadership election. I find it hard to trust a Blairite, but he is very persuasive as a speaker. But then again so was Tony Blair. Does Ed Miliband have what it takes as a leader, will he be more likely to bring the grassroots and and activism back within the Party? I wish I could have seen him speak in the flesh to get a better idea of him. Argh! Ad astra per aspera
If it were first past the post, DM would walk it, but I reckon that there may end up being more against him than there are against his younger brother.
The fact that Blair, most of the Press - including the Observer just now
David Miliband is the right choice for Labour | Observer leader | Comment is free | The Observer
For the top job, David Miliband is the better candidate.
are behind him and some are caricaturing Ed as a leftie - is likely to help Ed come above his brother in the preferences of those who vote for the other candidates.
My enemy's enemy is my friend and all that. "Any economic unit can emit money. The serious problem is to get it accepted" Hyman Minsky
Story-telling and parables are top-grade tools of persuasion, so I'm not surprised to see a politician using them.
What I'd really like to see is someone putting DM and the rest on the spot with some tough questions about their likely relationship with the City and with the corporations. If anyone is looking for a litmus test that's where they'll find it - especially with questions that concentrate on policy specifics and not on vague generalities. If there's any hesitancy at all around policy committments, you can be sure the rest is just stage craft.
I'm unapologetically hard-line about this because of the Blair and Obama experiences, and because it's so damn easy to be affable - and not that much harder to appear completely genuine, as Blair proved.
I remember seeing DM being quizzed on election night. He came across to me as very smooth, very professional, very intelligent, but also oddly lacking substance on specifics.
When there's no substance in the speeches there's a rea$on, yawn yada yada yada. It's just sad in 2010 to see this, but it's what the pretend left has to sell, and Miliband does it well.
But the photos are excellent, definitely. fairleft
DM is a poor man's tony blair, charisma-free. one one hand it's good not to see someone sanctimonious, but one the other, DM seems totally amoral, the 'new breed' of pol, thoroughly built for expedience, the requisite huge ego, veiled in good manners and appropriate bearing etc etc, all stagecraft.
not much to feel much either way for, low-content low fibre. as for the city, yes, nailed.
follow the money, the city is the only game left in town, politicians won't make it as far as DM without knowing which side of the bread the butter is, (and how thick it's smeared).
the guy reeks of rattery, imo. thoroughly uninspiring, creepy crew all around, brit pols are all shady as hell, bought and sold to the bone.
nu lab is a genetic mod that has poisoned the fields of idealogy, and rendered politics the lipstick on the pig of capitalism's worst finagling excesses, britain the poster boy for shallow duplicity as the new normal, mediocrity and soullessness rule, cam-clegg another prime example.
when you look back on harold wilson as good, does political history get more depressing?
expect any lab leader to back the usual dreary suspects, nuke power and keeping the city sweet, the chief ones, yawn...
what's worse, bungling buffoons like berlu, or corporate rodents like britain has to offer?
aargh, europe is doomed, between hard right and slightly less hard right, and then there's wimpy, gimpy fake left trailing far behind...
can we please move to the next level, this one sucks d.d. ~"When an inner situation is not made conscious, it appears outside as fate." Karl Jung~
the guy reeks of rattery, imo. thoroughly uninspiring, creepy crew all around
You are extrapolating from your opinions of Tony Blair. I've worked with some of DM's team on the community organising stuff and they are all good people. DM can't be accused of not inspiring people given the reaction I saw in that huge room in London.
The issue is that politics is conducted like this - with every aspect of everything a candidate does being subject to training and rehearsal and analysis of what the voters want and how to give it to them. It prevents people who want to be genuine from being totally genuine.
I couldn't be a pure version of myself when running for selection or I'd never have gained any votes, but I certainly didn't compromise my values or my relationship with the voters and that made me different because people knew they were connecting with someone who was authentic. But I didn't win because I didn't quite convince them that I was a 'politician' who was ready to be thrown into the rough and tumble world of a general election. Ad astra per aspera
It prevents people who want to be genuine from being totally genuine.
'it' being? a consensus that politics is inauthentic?
not much sense playing if the rules aren't clear...
i'd vote for diane abbott, but i think that she's probably a stooge too.
now that the libdems have sold out, not even that slime vestige of hope remains, no wonder there are so many young, disaffected people in britain. when the working class have only DM to be their champion, well it beggars belief how thoroughly gamed the whole shebang is.
your faith in the future is what i'd bet on, i wish there were choices that really reflected that, and instead of discounting authenticity from the get-go, actually valued it.
till then... ~"When an inner situation is not made conscious, it appears outside as fate." Karl Jung~
So people say they want one thing but keep on voting in something else. There are exceptions obviously but in the main those who dominate in politics are of a certain mold and cracking that involves members and voters thinking more carefully about what they value in their representatives. The 'qualities' that people vote for in selections and elections tend to favour men. Again and again and again. Ad astra per aspera
Mash the state - Prospect Magazine « Prospect Magazine
One thing Berners-Lee did have was star power. As Shadbolt puts it: "Secretaries of state and ministers were more interested in meeting him than the other way around." At a meeting with the cabinet this even brought a rare moment of humour, Shadbolt recalls. Berners-Lee was introduced by the prime minister; Jack Straw then said: "Meeting the man who invented the web is like meeting the man who first invented the wheel." Ed Miliband shot back: "And what was the wheel man like, back when you met him too, Jack?" It took a little time to restore order amidst gales of laughter.
A warm sense of humour is a very positive quality and a quick wit implies an agile mind. "Any economic unit can emit money. The serious problem is to get it accepted" Hyman Minsky
melo:the guy reeks of rattery, imo. thoroughly uninspiring, creepy crew all around You are extrapolating from your opinions of Tony Blair. I've worked with some of DM's team on the community organising stuff and they are all good people. DM can't be accused of not inspiring people given the reaction I saw in that huge room in London.
I note that a failure to inspire people was not the problem with Bliar, either. *Lunatic*, n. One whose delusions are out of fashion.
sorry to be so dyspeptic, but brit politics is what does it. (when italian politics doesn't, lol)
what's tragic is the breadth of native, regenerating idealism, forced into such narrow conduits. how to fix that unfortunately i have no idea, so i'll shut up.
ultimately energy issues are going to trump (and purify) politics, and it can't happen soon enough for my poor spleen...
then we'll see how far inauthenticity will be tolerated, and truth might return to politics. ~"When an inner situation is not made conscious, it appears outside as fate." Karl Jung~
oddly lacking substance on specifics
The first time I saw him speak in Cardiff I had expected this since the emails and manifesto materials had all been very soundbitey and vague. I was surprised by how much substance there was within the speech and how directly he addressed a number of key criticism of himself and the Labour party. He answered questions very well as a general rule, until we got to mine...
I asked how as party leader he would seek to address the lack of visible senior women officials and representatives within the party and what he would do to address the huge democratic deficit that exists for disabled people. I got a very woolly answer wrt women in the party which then had a 'and disabled people too' thrown in.
If a leader doesn't have clarity on what inequality is all about, not just in terms of income inequality (which is what he mainly talks about), then how can they seek progressive change? Ad astra per aspera
