This is, by some distance, the most ridiculous action by a British party leader I have ever come across (and I have not forgotten that unfortunate business with Rinka).
From the Guardian website (and presumably today's Observer, though the website no longer tells you useful things like that):
Ed Miliband has commissioned a giant stone inscription bearing Labour’s six election pledges that is set to be installed in the Downing Street Rose Garden if he becomes prime minister.
The 8ft 6in-high limestone structure is intended to underline his commitment to keep his promises by having them literally “carved in stone” and visible from the offices inside No 10."Why? In God's name why?" you may reasonably ask. Here's Ed to explain:
“Nick Clegg and David Cameron have helped erode trust in all political leaders by the way they broke promises on issues like tuition fees and immigration after the last election. If I am prime minister, I will keep our stone in a place where we can see it every day as a reminder of our duty to keep Labour’s promises."So now Labour won't just have mug saying "Controlling immigration". They will have it cut it into an 8ft 6in monolith.
I wonder how Labour activists feel about that?
The poet Shelley adds:
I met a traveller from an antique land
Who said: "Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed:
And on the pedestal these words appear:
'My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!'
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.
It's made of Limestone. Which dissolves in acid rain. They are going to put it outside. In London. One of the most polluted cities in Europe.
ReplyDeleteAnd it's intended to avert the erosion of trust in political leaders.
Of course, someone truly confident of their ability to keep their Manifesto commitments would have this in a public place.
ReplyDeleteThis smacks of the kind of corporate b*llsh!t I've only ever come across when working for, well, large corporations.
Or ASDA - where every store used to have a chunk of rock with "Always lower prices" etched on it. At least they had some cause to make for their claims...