Calm down dear

[Titanic]

I thought it was quite funny... and the ridiculous response of Bollx and co is even more funny.

 

[BLOCK F]

ROSM;you are obsessed!

 

[franks brother]

He should resign because he's hopelessly out of his depth, not because of an off the cuff remark. He got his facts wrong anyway, claiming that a former Labour MP had lost his seat when infact he stood down last May. The man's a f***ing joke, but he shouldn't resign over a vaguely condescending comment

 

[Stoo82]

For anybody on here debating this, to understand exactly how this will be perceived you need to look at the faces around Cameron when he said it.

Osborne looks like a baying hyena whilst Clegg looks very very uncomfortable even to the point of having to scratch an itch which body language experts say is a 'tell' of lack of comfort. It did not land well and will polarise opinion best as is clear on he where the fairly vocal Tory supporters have defended and the usually vocal labour supporters have criticised it. It's how it plays in the middle ground, and area that Clegg knows well, which will count and his reaction seems to give a view of that.

It also needs to be remembered the context that this came in. Cameron was quoting a letter by a former labour mp who is a gp, stating that his gp colleagues supported the nhs reforms. He started by referring to him as an ex labour mp who lost his seat at the last election and Angela Eagle corrected him by saying he stood down. It was at that point that the 'calm down dear' line was uttered and the barracking started.

It will be perceived by many as patronising, the leader of mumsnet has said that herself based on feedback from her members. It was a poor choice of a line and will be jumped upon as a sign that Cameron's mask is slipping. Anybody who has worked with him especially when he was at ITV will tell you that this is the real him rather that the carefully stage managed Cameron we have seen for the last couple of years. Since Coulson has left these real moments are coming more frequently.

What you need to understand is that there is a Royal wedding tomorrow and no one will give two shits about this after it.

 

[ROSM]

ROSM;you are obsessed!

Thanks - my obsession is football, my hobby is politics.

 

[ROSM]

What you need to understand is that there is a Royal wedding tomorrow and no one will give two shits about this after it.

True - Until the next time he gets riled at being corrected during PMQs. He's done it twice now and many people wouldn't have remembered him calling Balls the most annoying man in politics before easter, but it got linked to this.

 

[Stoo82]

True - Until the next time he gets riled at being corrected during PMQs. He's done it twice now and many people wouldn't have remembered him calling Balls the most annoying man in politics before easter, but it got linked to this.

As long as CMD can get Labour talking about personalities and not polices, he is winning.

 

[Dick Knights Mumm]

What you need to understand is that there is a Royal wedding tomorrow and no one will give two shits about this after it.

I think it is difficult to know which incidents will have legs and which will be quickly forgotten. I can imagine this one coming back. I appreciate not everyone (maybe not many) will see it as offensive - but to patronise halfyour voting public was not a great move. Time will tell. I can imagine a future poster campaigh though.

 

[ROSM]

As long as CMD can get Labour talking about personalities and not polices, he is winning.

Not really, a survey indicated that just under half the people at the last election (42%) admitted to making their decision at least in part on personalities. As many Tory leaning people said on here during the last term when questioned what Cameron's policies were, that he didn't need to reveal them until the election campaign.

 

[clapham_gull]

That is because Thatcher said what she thought,did her thing and got results.

Like many Prime Ministers before and after, she often said what a speech writer thought.

.. and like many other Prime Ministers her philosophy was influenced by people behind the scenes.

Did you read the post ?

I'll reiterate, yesterday sounded to me something that had been given to Cameron by a speech writer and he used it at the wrong moment. Thatcher (like Cameron yesterday) often sounded extremely unnatural when being given things to say that she didn't really understand... and there are numerous examples.

So - yesterday, wasn't for the benefit of other politicians, it was for the benefit of the wider audience. I suspect that Cameron was "advised" that saying such a thing would go down well with the viewers because they would instantly associate it with the Michael Winner advert.

.. but I can't believe an adviser is so stupid as not to advise him to use with care.

You have to extremely careful as a politician trying to use popular cultural references. They usually back fire.

 

[ROSM]

Like many Prime Ministers before and after, she often said what a speech writer thought.

.. and like many other Prime Ministers her philosophy was influenced by people behind the scenes.

Did you read the post ?

I'll reiterate, yesterday sounded to me something that had been given to Cameron by a speech writer and he used it at the wrong moment. Thatcher (like Cameron yesterday) often sounded extremely unnatural when being given things to say that she didn't really understand... and there are numerous examples.

So - yesterday, wasn't for the benefit of other politicians, it was for the benefit of the wider audience. I suspect that Cameron was "advised" that saying such a thing would go down well with the viewers because they would instantly associate it with the Michael Winner advert.

.. but I can't believe an adviser is so stupid as not to advise him to use with care.

You have to extremely careful as a politician trying to use popular cultural references. They usually back fire.

It's like the Thick of It and the Zeigeist tapes.

 

[Simster]

I think it is difficult to know which incidents will have legs and which will be quickly forgotten. I can imagine this one coming back. I appreciate not everyone (maybe not many) will see it as offensive - but to patronise halfyour voting public was not a great move. Time will tell. I can imagine a future poster campaigh though.

I think this will prove to be very prophetic. I'm confidently predicting some posters from the opposition with the strap line "Calm down dear, it's only your children's education" under a picture of him in an out of context pose, when the cuts finally take hold in 2013.

 

[public school boy]

sexist? Maybe

patronising? Definitely

would be pretty annoyed if someone spoke to me like that in a meeting or public arena

f off dear!

 

[Stoo82]

I think this will prove to be very prophetic. I'm confidently predicting some posters from the opposition with the strap line "Calm down dear, it's only your children's education" under a picture of him in an out of context pose, when the cuts finally take hold in 2013.

And 'most people' will say: 'Whats the f***ing point in that?!' as they wont understand/remember the reference.

 

[BLOCK F]

Thanks - my obsession is football, my hobby is politics.

Thank God for that.For a minute I thought it was the other way round!

 

[Dick Knights Mumm]

So - yesterday, wasn't for the benefit of other politicians, it was for the benefit of the wider audience. I suspect that Cameron was "advised" that saying such a thing would go down well with the viewers because they would instantly associate it with the Michael Winner advert.

.. but I can't believe an adviser is so stupid as not to advise him to use with care.

You have to extremely careful as a politician trying to use popular cultural references. They usually back fire.

Why would he be advised to associate himself with Michael Winner ? Who does that play well with ?

 

[Stoo82]

Why would he be advised to associate himself with Michael Winner ? Who does that play well with ?

Good point. And is Clapham_gull really sugesting that CMD is so out of touch he's never seen a TV advert?

 

[Westdene Seagull]

No it doesn't.

They may have nothing to offer at present, but these little episodes don't show that.

Well if they do have any policies then they should start highlighting them and if they don't then they should start working on some rather than wasting their time on tosh like this. It's important we have a strong opposition and at the moment we have none.

 

[Dick Knights Mumm]

And 'most people' will say: 'Whats the f***ing point in that?!' as they wont understand/remember the reference.

That depends whether Labour can keep it going or not. You may be right, time will tell.

 

[The Large One]

Well if they do have any policies then they should start highlighting them and if they don't then they should start working on some rather than wasting their time on tosh like this. It's important we have a strong opposition and at the moment we have none.

Believe it or not - it's exactly how CMD got into power.

How much mileage was got out of Gordon Brown's 'bigot' remark?