A Tale of two Freudian slips
Martin Kettle argues in the Guardian here. that Brown's slip of the tongue at Prime Minister's questions - "We not only saved the world" may become one of the things for which he is remembered.
So it should.
But another commment yesterday which may be seen as a gaffe could be far more significant in the long run.
The comments made by the German finance minister, Peer Steinbruck, go against the normal conventions of diplomacy and may not be particularly helpful to Anglo-German relations, but they may also match the comic definition of a gaffe as an incident in which a politician voices a truth he might have been wiser to leave unsaid.
When Mr Steinbruck said of the UK cut in VAT and the atrocious borrowing implied by the British government's Pre-Budget Report that
"Are you really going to buy a DVD player because it now costs £39.10 instead of £39.90?"
and
"All this will do is raise Britain's debt to a level that will take a whole generation to work off."
he was only saying what an awful lot of British people have also been thinking and saying.
And they are right.
So it should.
But another commment yesterday which may be seen as a gaffe could be far more significant in the long run.
The comments made by the German finance minister, Peer Steinbruck, go against the normal conventions of diplomacy and may not be particularly helpful to Anglo-German relations, but they may also match the comic definition of a gaffe as an incident in which a politician voices a truth he might have been wiser to leave unsaid.
When Mr Steinbruck said of the UK cut in VAT and the atrocious borrowing implied by the British government's Pre-Budget Report that
"Are you really going to buy a DVD player because it now costs £39.10 instead of £39.90?"
and
"All this will do is raise Britain's debt to a level that will take a whole generation to work off."
he was only saying what an awful lot of British people have also been thinking and saying.
And they are right.
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