Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[jereboam]

For a man who's popularity is in freefall he is his own worst enemy .

Brilliant!

However, while I live, it isn't true!

[Dishevelled Den]

The conventional, and normally accepted, method of dealing with such matters is to have the body text in suitable typeface while the salutation and subscription are hand written.

This is the style adopted for the dismissal of recalcitrant cabinet ministers.

There's no reason in this instance that a hand written note should have been employed to convey his thoughts - especially when so little care and consideration were applied to its construction.

Another stunt gone wrong.

How cynical you are! 

But I think that it would be a sympathetic gesture to send a handwritten letter.  And I'll allow Gordon the benefit of the doubt for once, given his upbringing. However, with handwriting like that, discretion might have proved the better part of valour.

a sympathetic gesture to send a handwritten letter.

It shows a degree of familiarity quite inappropriate in the circumstances.


However, with handwriting like that, discretion might have proved the better part of valour.

Hence the typewritten body text


How cynical you are! 

Insofar as this present bunch of wasters are concerned - very!


benefit of the doubt for once, given his upbringing

What was that then J?


This is the style adopted for the dismissal of recalcitrant cabinet ministers.

Also the universal style adopted when communicating within officialdom - having practiced the art for longer than I care to remember.

[albitz]

He is an extremely cynical politician who never did anything for "the right reasons" in his life.
As Zulu said,another stunt gone wrong.

[Nickbat]

He is an extremely cynical politician who never did anything for "the right reasons" in his life.
As Zulu said,another stunt gone wrong.

And yet another one, judging by his phone call to the soldier's mum.

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/campaigns/our_boys/2722106/Mum-at-war-Jacqui-Janes-the-full-transcript.html

He really is a prize idiot. 

[Banjax]

where do you people get this stuff???  aah - the sun - i really hope it sells more copies exploiting a mothers grief......real nice work

[tunnie]

where do you people get this stuff???  aah - the sun - i really hope it sells more copies exploiting a mothers grief......real nice work

And the sun secretly filmed her, the phonecall, and snuck in and scanned in the letter?

The mother called The Sun, she wanted it known

[Nickbat]

where do you people get this stuff???  aah - the sun - i really hope it sells more copies exploiting a mothers grief......real nice work

Get real. No one's exploiting a mother's grief. She made the valid point that she had to listen to a coroner explaining how her son bled to death because he did not get timely evacuation and she claims, with some justification, that there is a shortage of helicopters in the field because Mr Tightwad won't equip our troops properly.

No doubt if this story had been reported in The Guardian, it would have met your approval. 

[Allenm]

I should add it was for this:

http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/Politics/Gordon-Brown-Disrespectful-Says-Mother-Of-Guardsman-Jamie-Janes-After-PM-Gets-Soldiers-Name-Wrong/Article/200911215445164?lpos=Politics_Carousel_Region_0&lid=ARTICLE_15445164_Gordon_Brown_Disrespectful_Says_Mother_Of_Guardsman_Jamie_Janes_After_PM_Gets_Soldiers_Name_Wrong

When someone looses their Son, you would expect the PM to at least use (as i do) his PC as a spell checker!

One of the mistakes i cannot understand is: greatst for greatest, thats a typo I would do on a PC typing too fast, not when writing a letter  :-/

I'll disable my 'Nickbat' mode now!

have you loost your spellchecker tunnie? 


as far as it goes, it was good of him to send a personal letter - i don't know many world leaders who would take the time, plus its a lot better than some standard sympathy template he just signs.
his handwriting is notoriously bad due in part to poor eyesight in his one good eye, which is why he uses a marker pen to write.
the mistakes are regrettable, but not deliberate.....seems GB can't catch a break - plus i would assume he has advisers to get the details like names correct

old GB - even when he does the right(write) thing he gets clobbered 

...are you sure about that bj.

This has all the hallmarks of a news seeking stunt.  How many personal notes has he written before?

As always, anything this man puts his hand to is destined to have the polar opposite of the desired intention.

I believe, and it's only from reports I have heard, that he writes to the families of every fallen soldier :-/ :-/

He does, as has every PM since Thatcher started this when she wrote personally to each familiy of the soldiers that died during the Falklands conflict.

(source; The Times, this morning)

[Banjax]

where do you people get this stuff???  aah - the sun - i really hope it sells more copies exploiting a mothers grief......real nice work

Get real. No one's exploiting a mother's grief. She made the valid point that she had to listen to a coroner explaining how her son bled to death because he did not get timely evacuation and she claims, with some justification, that there is a shortage of helicopters in the field because Mr Tightwad won't equip our troops properly.

No doubt if this story had been reported in The Guardian, it would have met your approval. 

i don't know what your definition of exploitation is, but this is mine 

i know you have a chip on your shoulder about us lefties who read the guardian or the independent or use the wrong type of computer, but i'm quite a tolerant soul and dont begrudge your myopia - its understandable  8-)

[Nickbat]

where do you people get this stuff???  aah - the sun - i really hope it sells more copies exploiting a mothers grief......real nice work

Get real. No one's exploiting a mother's grief. She made the valid point that she had to listen to a coroner explaining how her son bled to death because he did not get timely evacuation and she claims, with some justification, that there is a shortage of helicopters in the field because Mr Tightwad won't equip our troops properly.

No doubt if this story had been reported in The Guardian, it would have met your approval. 

i don't know what your definition of exploitation is, but this is mine 

i know you have a chip on your shoulder about us lefties who read the guardian or the independent or use the wrong type of computer, but i'm quite a tolerant soul and dont begrudge your myopia - its understandable  8-)

By that logic, anyone that loses a loved one and feels strongly that his/her death was possibly preventable had government policies been more appropriate, must NOT use the press to champion their views, as they will be exploited by having their views printed.

Nah, that simply doesn't stack up. 

[Field Marshal Dr. Opti]

I accept that Gordon Brown will not go down in history ......as a   great Prime Minister....I will leave that honour to Clement Attlee....... ::)and Benjamin Disraeli.....

However.......I believe that he is is fundamentally..a decent man .....trying to do the right thing.
He is not a showman.........and may well be socially inept......He is not an actor like Tony Blair...

The Sun newspaper .....is out to destroy this guy....(because they can).......shame on them....perhaps.....for a novelty they could try their hand at some objective journalism instead...... :-/ :-/ :-/

[threppence]

The letter could have been written on finest velum, in gothic script and fantastically illuminated with gold leaf and would carry the same cheap sentiment.
The fact is we are in a war, or rather a conflict, where we have no achievable definition of victory.We have put in place leadership of Afghanistan that is wholly corrupt, destroyed great swathes of major cities with little rebuilding and are suffering daily loss, not to mention the hundreds and thousands of innocent Afghans that have died.
Before you all go '4 no trumps and coronaries'  I'm not having a go at the soldiers out there, they are doing the best they can, but, they should never have been put in harms way without either proper support, if it was felt that invading 2 sovereign nations illegally  had to be done, or far, far better strategic planning, which might have given us an idea of what winning this thing would be.

[Dishevelled Den]

The letter could have been written on finest velum, in gothic script and fantastically illuminated with gold leaf and would carry the same cheap sentiment.
The fact is we are in a war, or rather a conflict, where we have no achievable definition of victory.We have put in place leadership of Afghanistan that is wholly corrupt, destroyed great swathes of major cities with little rebuilding and are suffering daily loss, not to mention the hundreds and thousands of innocent Afghans that have died.
Before you all go '4 no trumps and coronaries'  I'm not having a go at the soldiers out there, they are doing the best they can, but, they should never have been put in harms way without either proper support, if it was felt that invading 2 sovereign nations illegally  had to be done, or far, far better strategic planning, which might have given us an idea of what winning this thing would be.

I would agree partly with your sentiments T however the history of that country would suggest that any occupying force ultimately failed to achieve their goals.

Perhaps this should have been uppermost in the minds of the then Premier Blair and his Defence Secretary Dr. (without a shot fired) Reid.

It should also teach us that being the lap dog of others generally ends in loss of national identity and confusion.

[Dishevelled Den]

He does, as has every PM since Thatcher started this when she wrote personally to each familiy of the soldiers that died during the Falklands conflict.

(source; The Times, this morning)

Thank you A.

[Dishevelled Den]

where do you people get this stuff???  aah - the sun - i really hope it sells more copies exploiting a mothers grief......real nice work

Get real. No one's exploiting a mother's grief. She made the valid point that she had to listen to a coroner explaining how her son bled to death because he did not get timely evacuation and she claims, with some justification, that there is a shortage of helicopters in the field because Mr Tightwad won't equip our troops properly.

No doubt if this story had been reported in The Guardian, it would have met your approval. 

i don't know what your definition of exploitation is, but this is mine 

i know you have a chip on your shoulder about us lefties who read the guardian or the independent or use the wrong type of computer, but i'm quite a tolerant soul and dont begrudge your myopia - its understandable  8-)

By that logic, anyone that loses a loved one and feels strongly that his/her death was possibly preventable had government policies been more appropriate, must NOT use the press to champion their views, as they will be exploited by having their views printed.

Nah, that simply doesn't stack up. 

That point is much more important than many realize Nick and has resonance far beyond the confines of this discussion.