political commentator * author * publisher * bookseller * radio presenter * blogger * Conservative candidate * former lobbyist * Jack Russell owner * West Ham United fanatic * Email iain AT iaindale DOT com
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Gordon Brown Says Sorry
Sky News are reporting that the Prime Minister has said "sorry" for the Damian McBride emails. Good. It's about time. I can't deny I am astonished, but it is the right thing for him to do and we should acknowledge that.
As I tell my children frequently: "Sorry" is often too late...just don't do it in the first place! Words are cheap - it seems that 'spin' is cheaper, too... cheap, as in the adjective usually reserved for a certain type of woman, that is. Our government is whoring its integrity for votes! I will NEVER vote Labour again!! And I thought the world of school gate mums was a petty one... www.frustratedstay-at-homemum.blogspot.com
As I tell my children frequently: "Sorry" is often too late...just don't do it in the first place!Bad advice at work. Apologising is much easier than getting permission -- and allows you to get a lot more done! :o)
We should acknowledge the fact that he now recognizes he's in deep do-do. Just read Mary Riddell's article in the Telegraph today. She is a fan but now sees the mortal danger he's now in.
Sorry is the right word....... but I don't believe Brown would use that word unless he is trying to stop further investigation into e-mails inside Downing Street.
Surely we shall remember where we were this day! Put out bunting, raise the flag, take to the streets!
This day is called the feast of Crispian: He that outlives this day, and comes safe home, Will stand a tip-toe when the day is named, And rouse him at the name of Crispian. He that shall live this day, and see old age, Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbours, And say 'To-morrow is Saint Crispian:' Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars. And say 'These wounds I had on Crispin's day.' Old men forget: yet all shall be forgot, But he'll remember with advantages What feats he did that day: then shall our names. Familiar in his mouth as household words Harry the king, Bedford and Exeter, Warwick and Talbot, Salisbury and Gloucester, Be in their flowing cups freshly remember'd. This story shall the good man teach his son; And Crispin Crispian shall ne'er go by, From this day to the ending of the world, But we in it shall be remember'd; We few, we happy few, we band of brothers; For he to-day that sheds his blood with me Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile, This day shall gentle his condition: And gentlemen in England now a-bed Shall think themselves accursed they were not here, And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day.
"I am sorry about what happened. I have said all along when I saw this first I was horrified, I was shocked and I was very angry indeed."
Unmistakably Brown! It's churlish to say it, but "sorry about" and "sorry for" are two very different things. I'm "sorry about" the slave trade, but not being a wet leftist I don't think it's my fault, so I'd never be "sorry for" it.
And the second sentence is priceless for us Brown connoisseurs! I'll be damned! He's been saying this all along! Probably at the same press conferences Charlie Wheelan's been doing...
I bet his ‘sorry’ was made under duress due to his Cabinet torturing him by pulling out his bitten fingernails? Was his now famous new ‘I am a very approachable, baby kissing kind of man,’ toothy smile on his face as he said it or was it through his usual angry gritted teeth? His late apology is too late to be truthful and honest.
Here is a little story about my personal life. Bear with me.
When the young Weasels were young, Wynona Weasel and Wycliffe Weasel were occasionally naughty. "Go up to your room, Wynona/Wycliffe, and do not come down until you are SORRY!" said I.
Wynona, a girl with spunk and principles, would take hours to come down the stairs, and then it was one by one and then you had to meet her half way up the stairs. If Wynona did not feel sorry, she was darn well not going to say it, just to get an easy ride.
Wycliffe Weasel, on the other hand, quickly worked out that in order to return things to an even keel, and in order to carry on with his affairs, discovered that saying "sorry" was the passport to immunity. Weasel the boy regarded pragmatism to be the best choice. (Today Wycliffe Weasel has no less a strength of character or moral values than Wynona, but he sees things differently.)
I agree with Simon Gardner. To some extent, this has been a straw man. Brown will say what needs to be said, not because he means it in any moral way, but because is "prudent to do so" at this stage of the game.
It is, in Gordon Brown's failing arsenal, a Rourke's Drift in the war of words.
It must be a measure of my cynicism that I still fail to understand what the fuss has been about.
I thought everyone expected and assumed this sort of thing went on and is going on both here and over the pond.
Clearly I am wrong and some people don’t expect it.
I still think it’s a lot of fuss about nothing much.
Well Simon, if you think it's a lot of fuss about nothing, I'll get together with someone and together we'll knock out some choice rumours about you, disseminate them widely and then see what you think about having your personal life dragged through the mud.
Using the word 'sorry' does not constitute an apology, It's all in the syntax, as well Brown knows. He does not do apologies. How could he? He believes himself above the fray and infallible.
When he said (again) that he is doing all he can to clean up 'politics in our country' or words to that effect, I nearly destroyed yet another TV. He is un****ingbelievable.
He's good, though. Timed his non-apology (on camera) perfectly for the lunch time headlines, pushing Damian Green down the RO and Keith Vaz's rebuke of the government (funny old world, ain't it?) right off it.
You can see how Brown is just the bloke to head up a team of McBrides and Drapers in order to control, well, everything.
Will we see this "sorry" on prime time TV I wonder? Personally I believe that he has only apologised after all this time due to great pressure from his own MPs.
W have had the non-denial denial and now we have the non-responsible responsibility:
This will be a classic: "I take full responsibility for what happened. That's why the person who was responsible went."If the responsible person went, why is the "responsible" person still there?
Call me picky but has Gordon Brown said sorry for the slurs or just for "what happened"? Is "what happened" the slur emails or the discovery of them?
The line that really made me laugh though was this one: "The prime minister added: "I take full responsibility for what happens. That's why the person responsible went immediately.""
So Gordon Brown takes "full responsibility for what happens" and that is "why the person responsible went immediately". Surely if Gordon Brown takes full responsibility he should go immediately; no?
Yeah. Right. He may say 'sorry' but saying and meaning are entirely different things. I ask you, when as a little lad you'd set fire to your sister's hair because she'd been getting up your nose and your Mum had made you say sorry to her, did you mean it? Quite.
Plus anyone with Brown's record of deceit and well, epic mendaciousness, has not really got the credibility required for all of us to believe he means it.
I reckon he's doing it now to take our eyes off some other New labour debacle or opposition good news.
Anyway he's not sorry for happened but about what happened. In other words, were I being uncharitable it reads as if he was sorry that they'd been found out.
Doesn't Simon Gardner tell you everything you need to know about New Labour.
You think it's a storm in a tea-cup and it goes on all the time. Well it may have been going on all the time but we're all sick of New Labour lies, deceit and hate. Means do not justify the ends there is such a thing as decency and morals, you obviously don't see it that way.
You're an embaressment and proving to everybody on this blog why Brown's New Labour is a cesspit.
"Well Simon, if you think it's a lot of fuss about nothing, I'll get together with someone and together we'll knock out some choice rumours about you, disseminate them widely and then see what you think about having your personal life dragged through the mud.
April 16, 2009 1:12 PM"To be honest Cato, I think he'd love it.
Total lies in the smear e-mail. There is no way a possible future-chancellor would use poor judgement and pay for a prostitute and be pictured wearing stockings and suspenders. How dare Labour even suggest this!
“Well Simon, if you think it's a lot of fuss about nothing, I'll get together with someone and together we'll knock out some choice rumours about you, disseminate them widely and then see what you think about having your personal life dragged through the mud.”Leaving aside the little matter that it’s all true, that’s precisely a major reason I decided at 18 never to go into the business [politics].
If you (or your family) can’t stand the heat...
So I haven’t gone near the kitchen quite deliberately.
Chris Paul @ 4.26 What absolute nonsense. If he's wanted to say sorry he could have had 90 journos with cameras with him in minutes even if he'd been at the North bloody pole!
Given that Brown has now admitted responsibility for these letters, however indirectly, the only honourable thing to do is for him to resign. Immediately.
"Chris Paul @ 4.26 What absolute nonsense. If he's wanted to say sorry he could have had 90 journos with cameras with him in minutes even if he'd been at the North bloody pole!"
In order to ensure the widest publicity surely the best thing to do would be to put in in a letter to Nadine Dorries and mark it "private".
Having just watched the News at Six there is absolutely no doubt that the one and only reason for the 's' word was to knock Damian Green off the top headline. Pravda is colluding in spin overdrive for this rotten government. The brief package on Damian Green edited him to worst and Jacqui to maxiumum advantage. God knows how much make-up Jacqui had plastered on herself - carefully backlit as well - talking about 'sensitive' information. The damning CPS ruling was not read. Highly sophisticated news management to save a desperate government. So much for the fourth estate.
No but its time to look at other issues - like the latest barmy attempt to put us into electric cars.
Beware this is Browns latest clever idea so for that reason alone we should shun it.
But beyond that the issue is so assinine that it beggers belief that it is being given serious credence.
Rest assured it will be expensive and not just for the new electric car owner (for whom it will be next to useless as a general purpose vehicle) but for the government (ie taxpayer).
WV is 'mismia' which is the peculiar cloud of insanity the government is walking through at the moment
56 comments:
Sorry, Iain, but I don't believe you. I reckon he's done another one of his half-assed sleight of hands.
Perhaps he should write some proper letters now!
It's like talking to a naughty child!
God Almighty, what have we come to?
O tempora o mores!
Yes indeed, the ‘S’ word has been used.
It must be a measure of my cynicism that I still fail to understand what the fuss has been about.
I thought everyone expected and assumed this sort of thing went on and is going on both here and over the pond.
Clearly I am wrong and some people don’t expect it.
I still think it’s a lot of fuss about nothing much.
If he really has said the "s" word, things must be moving to the climax we so richly deserve.
As I tell my children frequently: "Sorry" is often too late...just don't do it in the first place! Words are cheap - it seems that 'spin' is cheaper, too... cheap, as in the adjective usually reserved for a certain type of woman, that is. Our government is whoring its integrity for votes! I will NEVER vote Labour again!! And I thought the world of school gate mums was a petty one... www.frustratedstay-at-homemum.blogspot.com
He 'takes full responsibility'
Oh dear, I wonder if he's just browned himself if Mr Fawkes decides to publish the rest of his stash this weekend...
And just a note Iain, you sound like Derek 'we should acknowledge that'.
As I tell my children frequently: "Sorry" is often too late...just don't do it in the first place!Bad advice at work. Apologising is much easier than getting permission -- and allows you to get a lot more done! :o)
We should acknowledge the fact that he now recognizes he's in deep do-do. Just read Mary Riddell's article in the Telegraph today. She is a fan but now sees the mortal danger he's now in.
Actually Sky News are saying that Gordon said "I'm sorry ABOUT what happened" and not "I'm sorry FOR what happened".
So close! :(
Simon Gardner said...
Do you sometimes feel lonely and isolated, Mr Garner?
I wonder if he'll say sorry for taking so long to say sorry?
Sorry is the right word....... but I don't believe Brown would use that word unless he is trying to stop further investigation into e-mails inside Downing Street.
Brown never 'normally' says sorry.
...but have any of his "advisors" got the balls to say to him "There. Didn't fucking hurt, did it?"
Apparently (according to the Grauniad) he just said:
"I take full responsibility for what happens and that's why the person who was responsible went immediately."
Now, call me daft, but did he just resign there?
Surely we shall remember where we were this day! Put out bunting, raise the flag, take to the streets!
This day is called the feast of Crispian:
He that outlives this day, and comes safe home,
Will stand a tip-toe when the day is named,
And rouse him at the name of Crispian.
He that shall live this day, and see old age,
Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbours,
And say 'To-morrow is Saint Crispian:'
Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars.
And say 'These wounds I had on Crispin's day.'
Old men forget: yet all shall be forgot,
But he'll remember with advantages
What feats he did that day: then shall our names.
Familiar in his mouth as household words
Harry the king, Bedford and Exeter,
Warwick and Talbot, Salisbury and Gloucester,
Be in their flowing cups freshly remember'd.
This story shall the good man teach his son;
And Crispin Crispian shall ne'er go by,
From this day to the ending of the world,
But we in it shall be remember'd;
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition:
And gentlemen in England now a-bed
Shall think themselves accursed they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day.
Yes and no. Politics Home has the quote as:
"I am sorry about what happened. I have said all along when I saw this first I was horrified, I was shocked and I was very angry indeed."
Unmistakably Brown! It's churlish to say it, but "sorry about" and "sorry for" are two very different things. I'm "sorry about" the slave trade, but not being a wet leftist I don't think it's my fault, so I'd never be "sorry for" it.
And the second sentence is priceless for us Brown connoisseurs! I'll be damned! He's been saying this all along! Probably at the same press conferences Charlie Wheelan's been doing...
I bet his ‘sorry’ was made under duress due to his Cabinet torturing him by pulling out his bitten fingernails? Was his now famous new ‘I am a very approachable, baby kissing kind of man,’ toothy smile on his face as he said it or was it through his usual angry gritted teeth?
His late apology is too late to be truthful and honest.
Gardner is soooo pathetic it is beyond words.
John is correct - saying 'about' is still quite pathetic weaselling. Says a lot about him psychologically.
Here is a little story about my personal life. Bear with me.
When the young Weasels were young, Wynona Weasel and Wycliffe Weasel were occasionally naughty. "Go up to your room, Wynona/Wycliffe, and do not come down until you are SORRY!" said I.
Wynona, a girl with spunk and principles, would take hours to come down the stairs, and then it was one by one and then you had to meet her half way up the stairs. If Wynona did not feel sorry, she was darn well not going to say it, just to get an easy ride.
Wycliffe Weasel, on the other hand, quickly worked out that in order to return things to an even keel, and in order to carry on with his affairs, discovered that saying "sorry" was the passport to immunity. Weasel the boy regarded pragmatism to be the best choice. (Today Wycliffe Weasel has no less a strength of character or moral values than Wynona, but he sees things differently.)
I agree with Simon Gardner. To some extent, this has been a straw man. Brown will say what needs to be said, not because he means it in any moral way, but because is "prudent to do so" at this stage of the game.
It is, in Gordon Brown's failing arsenal, a Rourke's Drift in the war of words.
An apology, followed by more lies:
http://tinyurl.com/cqdrx7Tory Bear
And just a note Iain, you sound like Derek 'we should acknowledge that'.
plato that is an awful thing to say (even though 'true')
iain i think you should ask for a 'sorry'
Here's the exact quote.
"I take full responsibility for what happened. That's why the person responsible went immediately."
Is it just me or does that seem like a contradiction?
Just read the fine print, eh?
What does Brown's 'sorry' mean. What exactly is he 'sorry' for. And why has he only now said 'sorry'?
His apology is rather thin...
If you want th efull version, I have it.
The Penguin
Simon Gardner said...
It must be a measure of my cynicism that I still fail to understand what the fuss has been about.
I thought everyone expected and assumed this sort of thing went on and is going on both here and over the pond.
Clearly I am wrong and some people don’t expect it.
I still think it’s a lot of fuss about nothing much.
Well Simon, if you think it's a lot of fuss about nothing, I'll get together with someone and together we'll knock out some choice rumours about you, disseminate them widely and then see what you think about having your personal life dragged through the mud.
Even with a half-arsed apology like that, I bet the Dear Leader had his fingers crossed!
Using the word 'sorry' does not constitute an apology, It's all in the syntax, as well Brown knows. He does not do apologies. How could he? He believes himself above the fray and infallible.
When he said (again) that he is doing all he can to clean up 'politics in our country' or words to that effect, I nearly destroyed yet another TV. He is un****ingbelievable.
He's good, though. Timed his non-apology (on camera) perfectly for the lunch time headlines, pushing Damian Green down the RO and Keith Vaz's rebuke of the government (funny old world, ain't it?) right off it.
You can see how Brown is just the bloke to head up a team of McBrides and Drapers in order to control, well, everything.
For now.
Nasty phone calls - that is beneath contempt - sorry to hear that Mr Dale.
Plod time?
How can anyone believe a word Brown says?
Will we see this "sorry" on prime time TV I wonder? Personally I believe that he has only apologised after all this time due to great pressure from his own MPs.
W have had the non-denial denial and now we have the non-responsible responsibility:
This will be a classic: "I take full responsibility for what happened. That's why the person who was responsible went."If the responsible person went, why is the "responsible" person still there?
Why hasn’t GORDON BROWN RESIGNED? Find out here!! Great blogging and well worth a read:
http://ddtaylor88.wordpress.com/
Has he said sorry, has he really?
Call me picky but has Gordon Brown said sorry for the slurs or just for "what happened"? Is "what happened" the slur emails or the discovery of them?
The line that really made me laugh though was this one: "The prime minister added: "I take full responsibility for what happens. That's why the person responsible went immediately.""
So Gordon Brown takes "full responsibility for what happens" and that is "why the person responsible went immediately". Surely if Gordon Brown takes full responsibility he should go immediately; no?
Yeah. Right. He may say 'sorry' but saying and meaning are entirely different things. I ask you, when as a little lad you'd set fire to your sister's hair because she'd been getting up your nose and your Mum had made you say sorry to her, did you mean it? Quite.
Plus anyone with Brown's record of deceit and well, epic mendaciousness, has not really got the credibility required for all of us to believe he means it.
I reckon he's doing it now to take our eyes off some other New labour debacle or opposition good news.
Anyway he's not sorry for happened but about what happened. In other words, were I being uncharitable it reads as if he was sorry that they'd been found out.
What a toerag.
Probably about the first sensible opportunity to do a "sorry" to camera actually, given the bank holiday.
Good move and the quibble about sorry about/sorry for ain't worth a candle. This is a giant leap for Mr Brown and a tiny leap for mankind.
Saying you're sorry ABOUT what happened is not the same as saying you're sorry FOR what happened.
If I break a window and sneak off, but then somebody tells me that they saw me do it, I have two options.
"I'm sorry I broke the window."
"I'm sorry you saw me break the window."
They are not the same thing.
Saying "Im sorry about what happened" is yet another wriggle. Still, at least we now know the word can squeeze out of his lips. That's a revelation.
Of course he is sorry ABOUT the emails, I would be if I had been caught out as well
Nil Point
Doesn't Simon Gardner tell you everything you need to know about New Labour.
You think it's a storm in a tea-cup and it goes on all the time. Well it may have been going on all the time but we're all sick of New Labour lies, deceit and hate. Means do not justify the ends there is such a thing as decency and morals, you obviously don't see it that way.
You're an embaressment and proving to everybody on this blog why Brown's New Labour is a cesspit.
Hmm much check the temperature in Hell.
Kind of reminds me of the bit in road to perdition where Mr Rooney is trying to get his son to apologies.
"Well Simon, if you think it's a lot of fuss about nothing, I'll get together with someone and together we'll knock out some choice rumours about you, disseminate them widely and then see what you think about having your personal life dragged through the mud.
April 16, 2009 1:12 PM"To be honest Cato, I think he'd love it.
That was a 'sorry'?
As so many things with this Goonvernment do, this put me in mind of a song...
'One Word, Too Little, Too Late'
Dungeekin
Total lies in the smear e-mail. There is no way a possible future-chancellor would use poor judgement and pay for a prostitute and be pictured wearing stockings and suspenders. How dare Labour even suggest this!
“Well Simon, if you think it's a lot of fuss about nothing, I'll get together with someone and together we'll knock out some choice rumours about you, disseminate them widely and then see what you think about having your personal life dragged through the mud.”Leaving aside the little matter that it’s all true, that’s precisely a major reason I decided at 18 never to go into the business [politics].
If you (or your family) can’t stand the heat...
So I haven’t gone near the kitchen quite deliberately.
Chris Paul @ 4.26 What absolute nonsense. If he's wanted to say sorry he could have had 90 journos with cameras with him in minutes even if he'd been at the North bloody pole!
about time we got the S word.
the smears are all false...I HOPE.
javelin said... “Doesn't Simon Gardner tell you everything you need to know about New Labour. ”Aaaargh. I should macro this. In fact I think I will.
I am not nor have I ever been Labour or New Labour.(Give me strength.)
Given that Brown has now admitted responsibility for these letters, however indirectly, the only honourable thing to do is for him to resign. Immediately.
"Chris Paul @ 4.26 What absolute nonsense. If he's wanted to say sorry he could have had 90 journos with cameras with him in minutes even if he'd been at the North bloody pole!"
In order to ensure the widest publicity surely the best thing to do would be to put in in a letter to Nadine Dorries and mark it "private".
Worked last time.
Having just watched the News at Six there is absolutely no doubt that the one and only reason for the 's' word was to knock Damian Green off the top headline. Pravda is colluding in spin overdrive for this rotten government. The brief package on Damian Green edited him to worst and Jacqui to maxiumum advantage. God knows how much make-up Jacqui had plastered on herself - carefully backlit as well - talking about 'sensitive' information. The damning CPS ruling was not read. Highly sophisticated news management to save a desperate government. So much for the fourth estate.
Simon - you are very tiresome.
Take a holiday, find a girlfriend/boyfriend or something
"but it is the right thing to do"
Don't you start. Its bad enough with him saying it.
Doesn't sound like sorry to me.
Sorry you found out. Sorry I didn't get away with it. Sorry I've lost an important member of my team.
All rather childish.
Oh dear - PR Week confirms our suspicions. Again...
That, Iain, was no apology as far as I am concerned.Not by a mile.
Time to draw a line?
No but its time to look at other issues - like the latest barmy attempt to put us into electric cars.
Beware this is Browns latest clever idea so for that reason alone we should shun it.
But beyond that the issue is so assinine that it beggers belief that it is being given serious credence.
Rest assured it will be expensive and not just for the new electric car owner (for whom it will be next to useless as a general purpose vehicle) but for the government (ie taxpayer).
WV is 'mismia' which is the peculiar cloud of insanity the government is walking through at the moment
Being the easy-going sort of chap he is, I imagine that Gordon didn't find saying sorry so difficult after all.
This picture proves it
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