Double standards

The amount of ad hominem abuse in British politics has increased, is increasing and ought to be diminished.

For the avoidance of doubt, there are too many personal attacks coming from every part of British politics and too many aimed at every part of British politics.


As Kemi Badenoch and her team have raised their game in the last few months and both Labour and Reform have started to get rattled about it, we have seen a substantial increase in the number of speeches and posts criticising her from both Labour supporters and the leadership (less so the supporters) of Reform UK.

This comes with the territory: Kemi shows no signs of being bothered by it, even when the attacks get personal, and nor should she be. A great Conservative leader had this to say on the subject:


  









It does however amuse me the number of people on the left who manage to combine in the same speech or post and often in consecutive sentences, both complaining bitterly about how in their opinion the Leader of the Opposition is making personal attacks on someone, and also making ad hominem attacks on her themselves.

The number of left-wing politicians, nearly always white and usually male, who will post or say things themselves about Kemi Badenoch, which if a white, male right-wing politicians said the same things about Dawn Butler or Diane Abbot would have them calling for his resignation, has to be seen to be believed.

Comments

Jim said…
I get it all the time, its water off a ducks back to be honest. Ive been alsorts from a neo nazi, to a racists, a homophoibic, a protagonist of hate speach, and the best one is "literally Hitler", which I always found odd as Adolph Hitler died 30 years before I was born.
The art of actually talking and discussing matters seems to be forgotten. instead if you disagree with anything all of a sudden you are a far right racist.
in the past i have criticised parties of all colours, I think you can stand by that much if nothing else. But i have never seen government fail like the current one before. and my god i gave boris hell.
7:59 pm
Chris Whiteside said…
Yes.

I don't think that I have ever seen a government as unpopular as this one either - and I campaigned for the Conservatives in the mid-term unpopularity of Mrs Thatcher's government, in the 1997 and 2024 elections, and in the 2009 council elections when voters were spitting blood at all parties because of MP's expenses.
3:31 am
Chris Whiteside said…
The really frightening thing is that, terrible as this government is, there is at least one of the possible alternative Labour leaders who stand a chance of being PM during this parliament, and at least one of the opposition parties with a shot at winning the next election, who I am absolutely certain would be far worse. (Ed Miliband and the Greens respectively.)
3:34 am
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