Quote of the day 8th May 2022
Nick Herbert on his visit to flood hit areas of Cumbria
Please note that the post below was published more than ten year ago on 21st November 2009 Nick Herbert MP, shadow cabinet member for the Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs, was in Cumbria this morning to see the areas affected by the flooding. He writes on Conservative Home about his visit. Here is an extract. I’ve been in Cumbria today to see the areas affected by the floods. I arrived early in Keswick where I met officials from the Environment Agency. Although the river levels had fallen considerably and homes were no longer flooded, the damage to homes had been done. And the water which had got into houses wasn’t just from the river – it was foul water which had risen from the drains. I talked to fire crews who were pumping flood water back into the river, and discovered that they were from Tyne & Wear and Lancashire. They had been called in at an hours’ notice and had been working on the scene ever since, staying at a local hotel. You cannot fail to be impressed by the...
Comments
I'd love to speak my mind on here. I'd like to say that Johnson is a liar. Because he is, we know he is, we know he lied to parliament repeatedly, and that his outrageous, flagrant lying contributed to your recent electoral defeat.
And then you use that quote from, (of all people!) Churchill, while still refusing to allow your readers to speak their minds. Or indeed to speak the truth.
Even if I routinely blocked every comment I disagreed with - which I transparently don't, as I don't agree with the comment above but didn't block it - that would not mean that I was trying to stop people speaking their own minds, as it would not prevent them posting things on their own social media channels.
We both know (but your other readers won't) that I've had many comments making that claim blocked by you.
You've never, ever, let me say "Johnson is a liar" on here - even while commentators across the political spectrum have been saying it, while some Tory backbenchers have been saying it, while 78% of Britons say he is a liar (in a recent poll commissioned by The Times).
So what's changed? The obvious shift is that you've just been defeated at the polls in part because, well, because Johnson is a liar.
I'm guessing that many Tory councillors who've lost their seats are now ruminating on whether they should have been more critical of their leader far, far sooner. Is that you too, Chris?
I do usually often block allegations that anyone, not just Boris Johnson, is a liar, because - and I have made no secret of this - I consider that allegations of lying are grossly over-used in modern public debate to such an extent that IMHO the most common form of lying is to accuse someone else of lying with inadequate justification.
It also poisons debate if it does not take place in an atmosphere of assumed good faith, to such an extent that you cannot express your opinions without those who disagree reaching for the accusation of lying as a first resort.
So don't expect that I will generally let that sort of allegation to appear here, because I generally won't.
This does not mean I am denying you free speech because there are lots of other places where you can express that view, I just don't think it is helpful to allow the comments section of this blog to be a place to trade that kind of insult.
Since I could not debate that point with you without allowing you to publish those posts, I let you get away with the allegation on these two occasions though I have also made clear that I disagree with your comments.
FWIW I don't believe that it was partygate which cost me the election though it certainly didn't help. Everyone who mentioned it on the doorstep was either someone who would never have voted for any Conservative candidate anyway, even if their life depended on it, or was still going to vote for me on a personal basis regardless of what they thought about partygate.
What killed us in the election in Cumberland was the cost of living.
There won't be a fourth time.
There is a good reason why the rules of the House of Commons won't allow MPs to call one another liars in the chamber.
I lost patience with people who are too quick to call others liars a long time ago, mostly because I became sick and tired of being called one when I was speaking the truth.
It isn't what you call bowlderisation and I do call civility which is the main driver pushing people away from taking part in political discussion drives people away from political discussion, it is abuse, of which excessive use of the accusation of lying is often the first rung on the ladder.
If you write a post which says something along the lines of "Boris Johnson said X but the truth was Y" there is a very high probability that I will let it appear here unless it is libellous or offensive for some other reason. I reserve the right to reply if I disagree.
But I remain convinced that the L word is badly over-used and I won't be letting it through again for a while. If you want to put it on your own social media outlets, that's your right.
I bet you would have great difficulty finding any active member of a political party in Cumbria, or anywhere else in the country, who would allow open season on their social media for posts accusing themselves, their party, or their party leader of lying. I doubt if you will find many who allow as many critical posts as I do.
I recall a few years ago when my then opponent in a forthcoming election started a blog and actually refused to accept a friendly comment from me congratulating him on doing so and welcoming his new blog! I am closer to being an outlier for the amount of critical or opposition comment I allow than for closing it down.