Saturday, May 03, 2008

Labour's Presentation Skills: The Medium or the Message


Labour Home is carrying a discussion on Labour's presentation skills. Interesting stuff. But surely the main issue is NOT the MEDIUM but IS the MESSAGE.

My view is that Cameron has NO MESSAGE but lots of MEDIUM. And that in a flurry of wanton and rather unquestioning triangulation we have perhaps lost the ability to ask the fundamental question to those who are Labour's direct priorities. Our mission.:

"Are you winning more than you're losing?" (AYWMTYL)

Not these mythical 8,000 or 50,000 key voters mind. The supposed beneficiaries of Labour incumbency and effort.

And for the empathisers "Are the people you want to see being helped - including your kids, your elders, your poorer neighbours, the world poor - winning more than they're losing as you'd like?"

If we allow the media and the voter at large to make almost every issue into a deal breaker and/or get back into the Thatcherly habit of being personally selfish then we are bound to lose support.

If there is an ongoing engagement and AYWMTYL is the question rather than some counsel of perfection then we can keep up the direction of travel on stability, employment, redistribution, environment, world poverty.

You cannot please all of the people all of the time after all. And if as incumbents you pretend you can - as the Tories and the Lib Dems can do in opposition - you are surely bound to come a cropper.

2 comments:

jailhouselawyer said...

My message to you is empty your bloody mail box again!

Chris Paul said...

It shall be done John boy.