The horror! At least Broon wouldn't lose out for being too Scottish. On Newsnight the other day they had that beardy American pollster measuring reactions of a focus group of potential voters to footage of Brown and Reid, and they responded much better to Reid. Brown's awkward manner and funny mouth tic counted against him, and Reid's tough, 'safe pair of hands' schtick went down well. (Or so I was told - didn't actually see it.)
I think if Reid did become leader of the labour party he'd do pretty well against Cameron - after a decade of Blair are the voters going to want another charismatic-but-obviously-a-bit-shallow PM? I think they may well prefer a Glaswegian brawler.
Personally, I don't think Reid is any better than Michael Howard. He's got exactly the same kneejerk tabloid approach to security, civil liberties and law+order that I find such a turn off.
Or David Blunkett... Being Home Secretary probably delivers an extreme version of the "mugged by reality" phenomenon that pushes (most) lefties to the right as they grow older.
Yes, though it's a case of being mugged by politcial realities rather than social ones. The last good Home Secretary was Roy Jenkins. A good piece in the LRB the other month said pinpointed the Tories (specifically Howard) who politicized the Home Office in this way, and that one of Labour's great failings is that they have only continued the trend.
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The horror! At least Broon wouldn't lose out for being too Scottish. On Newsnight the other day they had that beardy American pollster measuring reactions of a focus group of potential voters to footage of Brown and Reid, and they responded much better to Reid. Brown's awkward manner and funny mouth tic counted against him, and Reid's tough, 'safe pair of hands' schtick went down well. (Or so I was told - didn't actually see it.)
I think if Reid did become leader of the labour party he'd do pretty well against Cameron - after a decade of Blair are the voters going to want another charismatic-but-obviously-a-bit-shallow PM? I think they may well prefer a Glaswegian brawler.
Personally, I don't think Reid is any better than Michael Howard. He's got exactly the same kneejerk tabloid approach to security, civil liberties and law+order that I find such a turn off.
Or David Blunkett... Being Home Secretary probably delivers an extreme version of the "mugged by reality" phenomenon that pushes (most) lefties to the right as they grow older.
Yes, though it's a case of being mugged by politcial realities rather than social ones. The last good Home Secretary was Roy Jenkins. A good piece in the LRB the other month said pinpointed the Tories (specifically Howard) who politicized the Home Office in this way, and that one of Labour's great failings is that they have only continued the trend.
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