This isn’t BBC related, and I’d quite like to move on from blog posts about Jeremy Corbyn - I’m sure we all would, but I wonder what or reader(s) make of these two performances at the Oxford Union, circa December 2013.
Compare and contrast Jeremy Corbyn for “Socialism DOES work” and Daniel Hannan for “Socialism DOESN’T work”.
I haven’t watched the other speakers and I don’t know how the audience responded, but I must say I thought Corbyn seemed dishevelled, retro, and a tad geriatric, while Hannan sparkles with sharpness and acuity.
I’m not necessarily talking about the politics, it’s the charisma and the delivery that grabbed me.
I'd prefer to hear it from the Venezuelans or Spanish or Greeks.
ReplyDeleteDepends what you mean by socialism.
ReplyDeleteCertainly free market capitalism doesn't work - there isn't a single market in the world that isn't "rigged" to some extent and so is not free. Often the rigging is outside the law, but often it is within the law e.g. licensing controlling the flow of participants in the market. It's difficult to see how this could be otherwise. Even back in ancient times markets were controlled by kings and town councils to a certain extent.
If socialism is allowed to include Scandinavian-style social democracy then countries like Denmark can claim to have the best outcomes in the world in terms of health, wealth and happiness.
Also noticeable is how nasty Corbyn is despite all the pious stuff about issues not personalities firstly mocking Redwood in a naked appeal to the prejudices of the audience then leftist boilerplate anti-americanism.
ReplyDeleteHannan is a class act his speech on the day of Lady Thatchers funeral is deeply moving. Somehow you never seem to see him on the BBC...why's that? If only he was a talentless creep like Giles Fraser or Owen Jones rather than an elected politician with a gift for rhetoric.
Thank you for posting that clip, Sue. I didn't know very much about Daniel Hannan. What a perfect encapsulation of the sheer destructiveness of Socialism.
ReplyDeleteIsn`t Corbyn a nasty, venal piece of work?
ReplyDeleteAd hominem, patronising and abusive, clearly unable to argue-especially when taken on, and unprepared.
Glad you pointed it Sue-to hear the clarity and coherence of Hannan...then to hear the nasty, gormless tropes of this thick paste metal parrot of the USSR, circa 1989 was a fine contrast.
Isn`t Corbyn a nasty, venal piece of work?
ReplyDeleteAd hominem, patronising and abusive, clearly unable to argue-especially when taken on, and unprepared.
Glad you pointed it Sue-to hear the clarity and coherence of Hannan...then to hear the nasty, gormless tropes of this thick paste metal parrot of the USSR, circa 1989 was a fine contrast.