Colonial governors have tended to fall somewhere along a spectrum from amiable and bumbling to pompous but dangerous. It would probably be unfair to try to fit Scotland’s latest colonial governor, in these last days of empire, into that spectrum, although pompous and bumbling but not yet dangerous come to mind.
Moore strains for gravitas and achieves pomposity: he attempts clarity and attains incoherence. Last night, he was metaphorically hunted around the studio by a relentless Gordon Brewer, as Moore lurched around trying vainly to dodge the blows raining down on him.
The cause of his woes was his two referendums quote -his woefully ill-conceived attempt to make a decisive entrance into the great independence debate by firing a warning shot from the ramparts of unionism across the rampaging, upstart Scottish nationalist mob running around in triumph after their electoral victory. The result of this misconceived shot was to blow the hapless Moore backwards on to his arse, to the ill-concealed contempt of his masters and the delight and derision of peasants like me.
He deserved everything he got last night from Gordon Brewer, who ideally should have been masked, stripped to the waist, wielding red-hot pincers, his eyes glittering at the prospect of pulling bits off Moore. BBC Scotland should give more attention to its mise-en-scène.
Enough, enough - I’m ashamed of myself for enjoying this medieval spectacle.
And now for something completely different and unrelated – a bit of light relief from the politics …
I was always a fan of the Addams Family, both the books and the 1960s television series, and one of my favourite characters was Lurch. Here is Lurch attempting to dance.
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Sheer genius Peter
ReplyDeleteThanks, Stewart!
ReplyDeleteThis is the man overseeing the Scotland Bill, scary at the least.
ReplyDeleteHe deserves more than he got. Having said that, he really is a rather incoherent individual (it's the first time I've really heard him 'speak' much) and it shows how desperate the Tories (spit when you say that word and throw salt over your shoulder) and LibDems are in Scotland for finding credible reasonably smart people.
ReplyDeleteOne did notice that he tried to fly his union flag underwear to distract Brewer (I know he's a Labourite but I rather like his interviews because he goes for everybody's jugular) from his question and one can hear Brewer sighing in the background.
All in all, Moore was pathetic, God bless him for that.
Thanks, natha.
ReplyDeleteI watched this with my daughter, and we both remarked that Mr Moore seemed to have imbibed some Dutch courage from a, presumably, Scotch bottle. While voluble - too voluble, really - his speech is slurred, his consonants muffled, and he's got that leaning into your face posture of the typical pub know-it-all. Anyone else think the prospect of facing Brewer drove him to the drinks cabinet?
ReplyDeleteBy the way, loved the Addams Family clip - God, she was gorgeous!
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ReplyDeleteCORRECTION OF DELETED REPLY
ReplyDeleteI don't like to speculate on alcohol intake. The BBC certainly has a hospitality room for guests - whether or not they have an objective in offering drinks to participants, other than to relax them, is something of which I have no knowledge.
I have found Moore always to be like this, and I think it is more likely to be something to do with a rather ponderous style, and his general political cack-handedness. But politicians generally behave like this when they are trying to re-invent a recent reality where they said or did something they shouldn't have.
The key indicators of this are a tendency to preface statements with "Look ..." and "Let me make this absolutely clear ...", which signals their intention to muddy the water in an attempt to divert looking, and to make things anything but clear ...