Gordon Brown, Lawrence Oates and Polly Toynbee

mac

Oates was part of a group whose leader misjudged the needs of the mission (using ponderous, unreliable motor tractors and ponies and man-hauled sledges.)

Yet contemporaneously, another team succeeded in exactly the same project with an entirely different philosophy.

Food for thought there too, Alex?

cuffleyburgers

Toynbee and her so-called smart liberal friends encapsulate eveything that has gone wrong with Britain since the war, especially the fact that she is not liberal.

As with any socialist she is to all intents and purposes authoritarian, and the self denigrating social and eduaction policies that she and her ilk have foisted upon this benighted country have led to a disastrous collapse in national morale and one could almost argue a loss of national identity.

To the extent that a fraud like brown can momentarily claim some kudos by trying to reinvent it. As if some failed student union marxist could ever do that.

Which brings me to Brown.

Don't ever, ever again compare this utterly ignoble, stupid, hubristic, morally and intellectually bankrupt individual with genuine heroes like Oates or Churchill.

He is not fit to lick dog poo from their shoes.

Alf Tupper

More proof of the massive tear in Toynbee's marble bag.

What she also fails to grasp is the fact that it is not just Brown who is hated, but the entire culture in which Labour has steeped itself. The potential replacements are if anything, more detestable than he is.

They speak of the community we crave, and believe in nothing more than entry permit politics.

Unfortunately, large parts of the Tory party have been similarly soaked. Those of the electorate I talk with, find it hard to distinguish between two parties which continue to show that they have given up on the country and its people.

cuffleyburgers

Alex

I have now read her column, she is totally insane.

Even the commenters were ripping her to shreds.

Kevyn Bodman

After buying my own computer, the first political comment I made on the internet was in response to a stunning, staggering and rather stupid article by Polly Toynbee.
I read her stuff for a few months after that but don't bother now.
The articles I read were a mixture of delusion and authoritarianism.
I won't be going back.

JimBob

I've often wondered whether her actually are the longest running gimmick of the countrys most hypocritical champagne socialist, but perhaps she is simply mentally unhinged

dearieme

Part of what made Oates memorable was the background of an expedition led by a bloody fool who got irrationally good headlines. Blair?

Donna

When you say "Polly Toynbee is always worth reading", I presume you mean 'when you're in need of a hearty laugh'?

TrevorsDen

cuffleyburgers --- "stupid" THATS the word I have been searching for!

Chris

Interesting use of 'always' to mean 'never.' Still, as the man said, IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH.

JohnAnt

Brown reminds me more of Titus Oates: manipulating public opinion with scares, bullying and terrorising large sections of the population.
Polly Toynbee, on the other hand, is a bit like Tony Benn, but more fanatical and without the jokes.

seb

cuffleyburgers

Too true. If anyone's interested in some interesting writing on the authoritarian streak of the 'progressive' face of Western thinking, I recommend Jonah Goldberg's 'Liberal Fascism'.

I note from Chris Mullins diary extracts that the Kirkcaldy Autist's shambolic personal habits seem not to have changed in the slightest in decades. As student union Marxist, it was unkempt clothing and carrier bags full of speeches and notes. As PM, it's an office that is a 'complete tip', with a filing system consisting of piles and piles of, yes, more paper. No Tesco bags, but perhaps Mullin was just being light on detail.