WOW - John Major calls a spade a spade

[sampsonblk]

Labour's half-truths and spin are a cancer in the body politic

By John Major
(Filed: 22/02/2005)

...

The lopsided composition of the Commons has made it easier for the Government to deal in half-truths and in the barefaced daily recitation of the unbelievable until it fixes itself in the public mind as if it were true... As a result, millions of electors believe the Government "lies" as a matter of course.

...

If the facts don't fit the argument, then the facts become flexible. It is Orwellian. Words mean what they wish them to mean. Bad news is good. Up is down. Black is white. Fiction is fact. It is no wonder that, to a bewildered public, trust has collapsed.

...

The Government is now so lost to political black arts that it may never be able to find its way back to straightforward dealing.

...
http://www.opinion.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml?xml=/opinion/2005/02/22/do2201.xml&sSheet=/opinion/2005/02/22/ixopinion.html

Can't believe he didn't mention Bush. The USA is dealing with the same problem - only several times worse.

[Cooley Hurd]

1. I wouldn't count on Major to be much help to us...

...he's in with the Carlyle Group:

http://www.thecarlylegroup.com/eng/news/l5-news716.html

May 14, 2001

John Major Appointed European Chairman of The Carlyle Group

LONDON - The Carlyle Group is pleased to announce that John Major, the former Prime Minister of Great Britain, will be joining the firm as Chairman of Carlyle Europe.

In that capacity, Mr. Major will serve as Chairman of Carlyle's European private equity funds and their advisory boards. Mr. Major will also be involved in providing counsel and advice to the senior Carlyle investment professionals, now operating in Barcelona, Frankfurt, London, Madrid, Milan, Munich, and Paris. Carlyle's European private equity funds pursue and make investments in management buyouts, venture capital, and real estate.

As part of his activities, Mr. Major will serve on the boards of directors of several of the companies in which Carlyle's European private equity teams make investments.

In addition, Mr. Major will serve on Carlyle's Asia Advisory Board and will be involved with Carlyle's investment activities in other parts of the world.

Frank Carlucci, The Carlyle Group's Chairman, said: “John Major is an experienced, well-respected European and global leader. We are honoured that he has chosen to join Carlyle as he ends his political career and begins a new career in the business world.”

Mr. Major said: “I have enjoyed my time in politics but it is now time to move on. Carlyle is pre-eminent as a private equity firm and I have greatly enjoyed working with them over the past few years as a member of the European Advisory Board. The firm's strong commitment to Europe, its global reputation, and its unquestioned integrity were all factors in my decision to take on this role and I very much look forward to expanding my involvement with such a world class organisation.”
</snip>

[sampsonblk]

2. He's right about this one, though

Even a Carlyle guy can be right from time to time. But I agree with you - no help expected from his direction.

[punpirate]

3. This is just talk meant to improve the standing of the Tories...

... believe me, the Conservatives were no less duplicitous in their dealings with the public than Tony Blair's bunch have been. It was the Tories, after all, who pushed through a privatized retirement system (now thoroughly in shambles) with all the same grand rhetoric now used by the Bushies, and the Tories which began the privatization of other government-supported utilities which have greatly cost the Queen's subjects.

If you go back to 1983, and look at the facts surrounding the war in the Falklands, you'll find the Conservatives used that for all they were worth to influence an election which Thatcher was destined to lose.

This is not to say that Blair's New Labour party has not dissembled to the public--quite the opposite. In the dictionary, under weasel, it says, "See Anthony Blair."

However, John Major scolding Blair is more than a bit disingenuous.

Cheers.

[mrfrapp]

8. Subjects?

"and the Tories which began the privatization of other government-supported utilities which have greatly cost the Queen's subjects."

Please don't call me a subject. I don't insult you.

[punpirate]

9. Noted...

... some of us have a knowledge of the UK which precedes 1981, when the term "British citizen" became official.

Sorry `bout that.

[SweetLeftFoot]

10. John Major

The man saved from a Provo mortar by a gust of wind now blowing out his own contribution.

[Lexingtonian]

4. check this out (Guardian article and poll)

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=191x1989

Labour 37%
Tories 34%
Lib Dems 21%
nat parties 4%
Greens 2%

Labour is down from its running 43-32 advantage and seems to be continuing to fall. And Gordon Brown is moving past Blair in polling as well. Elections aren't called but for reasons unexplained expected to be '72 days from today'- May 5 or May 6.

This is why Dubya went to Yurup this week. To urge Blair not to bail out of Iraq despite that being the obvious recipe for hanging on to office.

[xchrom]

5. john major is using the truth

he's a thatcherite and ought to what he's talking about here.

major, while stating the obvious to us ''liberals'', is in no way a friend to the cause...but an enemy.

he should be treated as such.

[depakid]

6. Not that the Tories wouldn't have done the same

were the roles reversed (chalk it up to the pervasive malevolence of Republicans in power). Still, it's quite an impressive statement:

"How have they got away with it? They have abused procedures wherever they can; politicised a once-neutral Government Information Service; ignored conventions of straight and honest government; and deceived the public - even on issues of war and peace.

The lopsided composition of the Commons has made it easier for the Government to deal in half-truths and in the barefaced daily recitation of the unbelievable until it fixes itself in the public mind as if it were true.

Our country has never seen anything like this before – certainly not on this scale. Politicians have always used spin to put a favourable gloss on events. No party has entirely clean hands. But the difference now is that, as New Labour uses it, truth is too often turned on its head. As a result, millions of electors believe the Government "lies" as a matter of course.

If the facts don't fit the argument, then the facts become flexible. It is Orwellian. Words mean what they wish them to mean. Bad news is good. Up is down. Black is white. Fiction is fact. It is no wonder that, to a bewildered public, trust has collapsed.

[necso]

7. If I only believed that he was sincere,

and that he was prepared to deal with these and other real problems (like the international corporatist elite that increasingly controls everything) in an effective and open way. (It is no accident that the same thing is happening in Britain -- and elsewhere -- as is it here. It is the same sort of people, indeed often the very same people, that increasingly control things here and there -- and everywhere that they can. But our ultimate overlords normally stay on the limits of vision, and even when they do become visible, they obscure the playing-field with smoke and hide themselves behind masses of flunkies.)

But Mr Major is not sincere in our interests (the interests of the common citizen -- British or American -- or of the larger world). Few enough of our visible masters ever prove sincere and effective in serving our interests, and he is not one of them. And whether these masters acknowledge the true nature of this dark game or not, and whether they play to the darkness or to the light -- the real winners of the game hardly ever seem to change.

But then, how could it be otherwise, when our hidden overlords set up the board, define the rules, filter the players -- and set bounds on the play.

There is a certain sadness (and it is a great travesty), however, when our masters take the very truth that we tell (and that they have attempted to hide -- when it was in their interests) and use it as a smokescreen to cover their same old moves -- and their hoped-for new excesses.

J'accuse, Mr Major, J'accuse -- when have you shown yourself to be anything different?

And at least the entire Labour Party hasn't yet gone over to the dark side.

[BlueManDude]

11. John Major would have supported invading Iraq dude

Probably even more whole-heartedly than Blair did. Look Blair f-ed up big time on Iraq but the only reason that Bush even went to the Un to begin with was because of Blair.

You're quote "Can't believe he didn't mention Bush" shows you are clueless. This is a hit piece on British Labor party not some principled stance against political corruption. Think of Major as the UK's Bob Dole and you'll start to get the point