Comments on: Brown’s belated apology https://jamescousins.com/2009/04/browns-belated-apology/ A (micro.)blog without a purpose. Fri, 24 Apr 2009 12:49:51 +0000 hourly 1 By: James https://jamescousins.com/2009/04/browns-belated-apology/#comment-504 Thu, 16 Apr 2009 13:57:08 +0000 http://jamescousins.com/?p=1067#comment-504 Amongst the many reasons I dropped my ambition to be an MP (along with a drubbing at the hands of a truly charismatic politician in 2001) is that I realised I actually wouldn’t be very good at it. I can’t think of any other career where sticking to a path when you realise it is the wrong one is actually seen as a strength.

I think U-turns are seen as wrong because it suggests you lack the courage of your convictions. To update the language, it’s about ‘vision’ and ‘mission’. A party will rarely change it’s overall vision for the type of country they want to create, party politics would be fairly pointless if they did because you need to have some bedrock of principle for a party to function.

However, they might change their mission, the way they think they can best get there. Like you, I don’t see a problem with that; times change, technology advances and priorities adapt.

]]> By: JackP https://jamescousins.com/2009/04/browns-belated-apology/#comment-503 Thu, 16 Apr 2009 13:35:04 +0000 http://jamescousins.com/?p=1067#comment-503 He also now looks stupid for refusing to say sorry in the first place, and then saying it now. If it was right for him to apologise (and I think it was, even if doing so whilst making clear he had nothing to do with it), he should have done it immediately.

Having said that, I don’t understand why u-turns are always seen as negative. Surely it should be a good thing if a politician is capable of realising a mistake and acting to put it right, rather than continuing with the wrong course of action?

Gordon has got what I can only term charisn’tma. Whether that qualifies as a superpower or not, I’m less sure…

]]>