Monday, September 08, 2008

Advice for Gordon Brown.

The Prime Minister must be feeling thoroughly p****d off after reading the weekend's newspapers. Note that despite it being acceptable to Alistair Darling, Vince Cable and Nick Robinson of the BBC, I've decided to censor the use of this lavatorial term from this blog. Standards maketh man. It must have been particularly galling when he turned for blessed relief to Polly Toynbee in the Guardian. Not so long ago she was lauding Gordon Brown as if he was the 'second coming'. On Saturday she begged him to go for the sake of the Labour Party - using the sort of verbals that Charles Clarke confines to singing in the bath behind closed doors.

Anyway, I've found some sound advice for the Prime Minister. This morning I received a Debating Handbook from the Council of Education and World Citizenship. Reason is that I'm adjudicating at the 2008 Wales Schools Debating Championships later this month. This is some of the advice that the Handbook gives to competitors.

Adjudicators will mark you down if:

You provide unclear or irrelevant arguments or points of information.

You only make assertions which are not supported with evidence.

You make a speech which is only a string of statistics.

You use dubious facts or statistics.

You use arguments without a clear structure.

You appear to contradict your partner, or provide repetitive arguments.


Gordon Brown would not do very well in this competition!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I seem to recall some advice planted in the media from Tony Blair; advice that is both apt and to the point; to wit: "Brown should go to avoid the embarrassment of a rout come election time" or words to that affect. In other words, Gordon should go to save Labour necks. He should do the honourable thing and fall on his sword, etc etc.

Sweet mother of God: GO GORDON! And this is not a line from Flash Gordon, "Go Go Flash". Take a holiday, a long holiday, a dreadlock holiday.

Borrowing the words of a well known socialist MP: "In the name of God, go!"

Glyn Davies said...

anon - I think he will need a little encouragement to do that - like an armlock and a few men in white coats.

Anonymous said...

Looks like Gordon non-Flash Brown is "at it again". This time rooting for Obama - GB denies it of course, but he's been caught with his pants down and I gather from contacts in DC that the lines have been burning to/from the British Embassy in DC. Oh what a plonker GB is! Make a good chorus line.

OH!
What a plonker
GB
is.