Friday, October 06, 2006
The way to "declare" an interest in Blair's job?
The Times reports here on Jack Straw asking Muslim women to remove their veils.
This is really a non-story, after all who cares, provided he does not do so forcefully and provided they can refuse, then it's just a matter between the people having the meeting. So why has it been reported? Why has Straw "planted" this story?
I thought back to Reid's speech reported here where he got barracked by Abu Izzadeen. Upon reflection it seems strange that Izzadeen was able to firstly get in the meeting and secondly have a good go at Reid, who was able to respond in quite an impressive way. So was Izzadeen's presence, not perhaps planned, but maybe expected?
Did Izzadeen unwittingly play a role in helping Reid look good? The answer to that of course is yes, what is important from Reid is whether he or his officials had any part in that? For example: by not preventing Izzadeen access, in order to let Reid look strong and firm and enhance his image, remember the cameras where there.
In any event let's now look at Straw. Just as I noticed and indeed thought myself, that Reid seemed to do a reasonable job of dealing with Izzadeen, no doubt other people and politicians noticed it as well. Perhaps Straw was impressed too? Maybe he fancies Blair's job? It won't do to look weak especially with Reid looking strong in this area, what can he do? He (pardon the pun) clutches at straws and in my opinion, pulls out this non-story.
Interestingly we have a quote from a Massoud Shadjareh, (Islamic Human Rights Commission)"“It is astonishing that someone as experienced as Jack Straw does not realise that the job of an elected representative is to represent the interests of the constituency, not to selectively discriminate on the basis of religion.”"
Whilst I agree with what he's said, (as what to wear is a matter for the individual concerned and while Straw is entitled to ask for a veil to be removed, and the individual entitled to refuse, so there's really no story or issue) what astonishes me even more is that there appears (to me) to be some sort of cynical effort to appeal to "middle England" by showing "strength" against a particular group. The people engaging in this (apparent) effort aren't the BNP who one might expect this behaviour from, but potential Labour leaders, who in the past have done the most to harvest and exploit the votes of the people they seem (to me) to be bashing now.
Shame on you.
This is really a non-story, after all who cares, provided he does not do so forcefully and provided they can refuse, then it's just a matter between the people having the meeting. So why has it been reported? Why has Straw "planted" this story?
I thought back to Reid's speech reported here where he got barracked by Abu Izzadeen. Upon reflection it seems strange that Izzadeen was able to firstly get in the meeting and secondly have a good go at Reid, who was able to respond in quite an impressive way. So was Izzadeen's presence, not perhaps planned, but maybe expected?
Did Izzadeen unwittingly play a role in helping Reid look good? The answer to that of course is yes, what is important from Reid is whether he or his officials had any part in that? For example: by not preventing Izzadeen access, in order to let Reid look strong and firm and enhance his image, remember the cameras where there.
In any event let's now look at Straw. Just as I noticed and indeed thought myself, that Reid seemed to do a reasonable job of dealing with Izzadeen, no doubt other people and politicians noticed it as well. Perhaps Straw was impressed too? Maybe he fancies Blair's job? It won't do to look weak especially with Reid looking strong in this area, what can he do? He (pardon the pun) clutches at straws and in my opinion, pulls out this non-story.
Interestingly we have a quote from a Massoud Shadjareh, (Islamic Human Rights Commission)"“It is astonishing that someone as experienced as Jack Straw does not realise that the job of an elected representative is to represent the interests of the constituency, not to selectively discriminate on the basis of religion.”"
Whilst I agree with what he's said, (as what to wear is a matter for the individual concerned and while Straw is entitled to ask for a veil to be removed, and the individual entitled to refuse, so there's really no story or issue) what astonishes me even more is that there appears (to me) to be some sort of cynical effort to appeal to "middle England" by showing "strength" against a particular group. The people engaging in this (apparent) effort aren't the BNP who one might expect this behaviour from, but potential Labour leaders, who in the past have done the most to harvest and exploit the votes of the people they seem (to me) to be bashing now.
Shame on you.
Tags: Labour, Jack Straw, John Reid
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 License.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 License.
