(Untitled)

[caramel_betty]

Re-posted from here, mostly for my own archival purposes. The frustration of politicians trying to be something they're not within.

matgb: There are times when Ming really displays a way with words. If he could be consistently good, he'd be so very impressive.

Comments

[matgb]

Well, given I had a crash and restarted when trying to reply to this at Simon's, thanks for reposting.

I agree, pretty much completely. Just a damn shame his speech was spun out of all recognition as some kind of post election bargaining thing, when it was an attack on Labour now.

I'm fairly convinced Ming is the best possible leader for the party for the current political climate, and no one else could handle a hung parliament effectively, but I just wish he'd realise what he's supposed to be and run with it.

[caramel_betty]

I agree, pretty much completely. Just a damn shame his speech was spun out of all recognition as some kind of post election bargaining thing, when it was an attack on Labour now.

Oh yes, that reminds me.

If this were from any other party, I'd assume something like

• a moderately senior party person (but not a front bench spokesman, because reshuffles are unseemly) is asked to fall on his or her sword, in order to say something unpopular and gauge the result
• everyone else credibly denies it, unless it gets overwhelming popular support

because, well, that's how I'd do it.

Lib Dem discipline can sometimes be a bit... lacking, though. So it's hard to know if it's a conspiracy or a cock-up.

[matgb]

I definately vote cock-up, from what I've heard, Mark Littlewood was actually good at his job until this, and popular in Cowley St as well, so his 'already planned departure' was something of a surprise to most.

Was allowed to attend a staff meeting with Ming yesterday, and in person he's a really nice bloke, very good at addressing a small room, came across really well, cynical me was actually impressed.

Ah well. Know anything about database integration, import and export? that's the next project behind the scenes, their databases don't talk to each other...

[caramel_betty]

My practical experience with databases is somewhat lacking, but I know most of the theory. My main experience with data munging is with things like flat text files, using Perl to turn one set of data into another set of data, rather than proper databases.

Of course, most people in the world aren't running proper databases. They're just running computerized index cards.