Author Topic: Dead Men Walking? (Read 20208 times)

Geoff Reid · « **Reply #20 on:** January 17, 2010, 05:46:21 PM »

Quote from: concerned_of_Old_Town on January 17, 2010, 05:42:23 PM

I think JT left at the right time!

~~Pushed from~~ Left the SBC cabinet you mean?

Interesting you mention the delivery of the new library, I had a long and interesting conversation about that the other day, but that's for another thread...

Terry Reynolds · « **Reply #21 on:** January 17, 2010, 09:05:21 PM »

If you have any children, how are their education needs being met, or are we still up the creek, being run by a lod of erbs from Kent.......

komadori · « **Reply #22 on:** January 17, 2010, 09:13:01 PM »

Quote from: Geoff Reid on January 16, 2010, 08:56:09 PM

Interesting times. Looking forward to tomorrows Politics show.

Yawn! It was almost down to the standard of Adver uninvestigative journalism. The only interesting bit was that only 81 people in the party voted in the election of Labour's North Swindon candidate.

Quote from: kohima on January 17, 2010, 01:01:03 PM

watched the politics show, dont think it did the labour party any real good apart from the obvious planted question to the public person

Whether the question was planted or not is rather irrelevant as the question was cut, only Mr Agarwal's answer was heard and that was horribly hammed up for the camera.

Geoff Reid · « **Reply #23 on:** January 17, 2010, 09:21:15 PM »

Apologies for the video quality, I was forced to improvise capturing it...

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/qOYwAYEa7FE&hl" target="_blank" class="new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/qOYwAYEa7FE&hl</a>

Alligator · « **Reply #24 on:** January 17, 2010, 09:49:35 PM »

I agree with Komadori. The whole thing struck me as contrived, so much so that I was actually questioning why the BBC allowed its editorial standards to slip so much. I'm also not sure why the whole SBC 'red carpet' thing was relevant. The selection of a parliamentary PPC and his press conference are nothing to do with SBC. The whole premise of the report seemed to be dictated by spin doctors.

Geoff Reid · « **Reply #25 on:** January 17, 2010, 10:19:21 PM »

Yes it's obviously cut, edited, pasted, shuffled around and contrived to paint a particular picture.

I think the intent is to immediately portray Argawal as the underdog who had the door of the civic slammed in his face by bullying Tory council and was left outside in the icy winter.

Alligator asks whether it's relevant?, strictly speaking the denied-access-to-the-civic part isn't relevant at all.....unless you think what I said earlier has some merit:

Quote

I believe that Rod Bluh and his cabinet within a cabinet have given the Labour party a perfect opportunity to almost completely localise the 2010 general election debate in Swindon

Given that there is a long and well documented history of acrimony between Wills and Rods bunch I'll bet the 'Tory Council Doesn't listen/care/give a stuff about voters or their elected MP's' message will figure prominently in the labour general/local election campaign(s) and I think Argawals 'key' message in the piece gives very strong hints of this. Why would a PPC be so interested in the local council if he's going to campaign on national issues?

The only public interaction Argawal is shown having results him saying:

Quote

"So, despite reporting it to the Borough Council, you're seeing a lack of activity from the Tory run Swindon Borough Council, where they're denying that they're even aware of the problems that you and your neighbours are suffering"

I think that's where the relevance to the civic is. Had the council allowed Montaut & Argawal to have their press conference in the civic the 'out in the cold' image wouldn't work at all and the 'caring labour candidate' message wouldn't resonate. But unfortunately I think they both do work.

Not that I think PPC's or even MP's should expect to have media access to the civic for their campaigns, but was permission even sought ? I have doubts. It's even possible that Monty just said: "No, we can't film in the civic, right?", or was briefed on what to say by someone that knew how a political editor would construct a narrative around a seemingly innocuous statement.

I don't think Justin was portrayed in a good light, forgive me for saying this Justin but you came across as a tad smug and the 'Shame labour couldn't find a local candidate' quote may return to bite Robert Buckland.

I'd score that as: 1 - 0 to Victor which is disappointing

komadori · « **Reply #26 on:** January 17, 2010, 11:46:47 PM »

I'd score it as nill all, on the grounds that Mr Agarwal hamming up to the camera was so false. On the local candidate issue, I notice that Mr Buckland already seems to be repeatedly noting his residency in Wroughton.

Geoff Reid · « **Reply #27 on:** January 18, 2010, 02:41:38 AM »

Yeah, more ham than Bowyers but I still think he's earned a point for hitting the ground running with his bayonet out.

We ought to sort how we're going to score the campaigns early on?

Geoff Reid · « **Reply #28 on:** January 18, 2010, 02:48:33 AM »

Re: Bob Buckland - I owe him an apology, he did tell me months ago he'd finally found a house he liked, (and bought it), in Wroughton. My mistake.

Provocateur · « **Reply #29 on:** January 18, 2010, 08:36:48 AM »

Hmmm.. Looks like boxers squaring up for the bout, dunnit? The only saving grace for those of us who'd like to see out MPs elected on the basis of non-spin related issues is down to the Chavopolis electorate: Apart from the readers of TS, only about 0.643% of Swindon's voters will have EVER watched The Politics Show ;)

Richard Shaw · « **Reply #30 on:** January 18, 2010, 02:01:02 PM »

Quote from: komadori on January 17, 2010, 09:13:01 PM

Quote from: Geoff Reid on January 16, 2010, 08:56:09 PM
Interesting times. Looking forward to tomorrows Politics show.
Yawn! It was almost down to the standard of Adver uninvestigative journalism. The only interesting bit was that only 81 people in the party voted in the election of Labour's North Swindon candidate.

Quote from: kohima on January 17, 2010, 01:01:03 PM
watched the politics show, dont think it did the labour Party any real good apart from the obvious planted question to the public person
Whether the question was planted or not is rather irrelevant as the question was cut, only Mr Agarwal's answer was heard and that was horribly hammed up for the camera.

Yes but Komadori I believe the Tories chose their twins with a lot less than 81 votes. But this does at least show the people of Swindon that the Labour party are alive and kicking and this new bloke seems to have gone off at a canter whilst Justin and Robert seem to be wintering in the warmth of the stables.

komadori · « **Reply #31 on:** January 18, 2010, 11:00:41 PM »

I'd rather they were all still in their stables, or at least not electioneering. And it's no good being first out of the starting gate if you've either pulled up exhausted before the finishing line, or cantered off in the wrong direction.

Geoff Reid · « **Reply #32 on:** January 18, 2010, 11:31:23 PM »

True, but I quite enjoy watching them go off prematurely or half cocked. Will he be 'Viagra Vic' or prove to be a bit flaccid with a querulous voice? time will tell I s'pose.

I do get campaign fatigue but I also like to get a nice early look at em. The longer they're in your gunsights, (before polling day), the better I think.

robert feal-martinez · « **Reply #33 on:** February 21, 2010, 11:57:22 AM »

Unusually seemed a fairly balanced report for me. BBC are usually anti Tory so nothing new there.

Geoff Reid · « **Reply #34 on:** March 06, 2010, 05:57:10 PM »

A quote from Komadori in the 'Adver Breaks Its Silence' wifi thread

Quote from: komadori on March 06, 2010, 05:49:52 PM

From the rhetoric in the leaflets distributed by Labour today, it could be Messrs Tomlinson and Buckland that go down in flames as a consequence of this.

Yep.