A peeve from an old British patriot......and some thoughts on Rory Stewart
Posted by John Monro on August 28, 2024, 11:33 pm
....has anyone else noted, at least in the Guardian, it's continued acquiescence to US spelling and terminology?
Today it's a headline "When August arrives, gloom sets in. How can I manage my fall anxiety?" and in the last few months, labour spelt labor on a number of occasions, and colour as color ?
Are these writers just youngsters who now call the toilet or the loo the bathroom,, say "like" several times in every sentence, , and is it just a sign of the inevitable Americanisation of all western culture, and much more tragically, it's way of doing politics and business? And am I just an old fogey for even thinking to bother and be annoyed?
I've just downloaded Rory Stewart's book Politics on the Edge", I've got up to the point where he's selected, by immense luck, as he himself admits, to the safe Conservative seat of Penrith. He describes how he walked from his home in Crieff, across the borders - some one hundred and fifty miles over six days - to go to Penrith to explore his possible constituency, sleeping under a hedge one night. He writes very entertainingly, I have to say, and as someone who loves walking, whatever his politics, we have something in common.
He reminds me a bit of another cachectic Scotsman, Alec Douglas Home, similar Scottish origins, latter definitely genuine upper class, but former upper, upper middle class, Eton education, both man of action - Home as a first-class cricketer Stewart as a walker and explorer, and similar old fashioned patrician Tory values. Both experienced hardship, Home tuberculosis of the spine and Stewart nearly killed by an dud mortar crashing through the roof of his shipping container office in Iraq.
Stewart is a man for a bygone age, which is sad for him and us, I believe, as noted above, the US inspired corruption of government and business now pervades the whole of the west. Whether you agree with his politics or not, he should still be in politics, but of course he correctly resigned as the party lurched ever more rightist and populist and left him far, far behind. .
Stewart is right up there with the worst the tories ever offered, but with the help of the media, he is one of those who has managed a complete character rehabilitation along with a silence about what he really stands for. Anyone in any doubt should take a look at his voting record while in Parliament and ditch any of the romantic notions about sleeping under hedges and walking, Dick Wittington style, to Penrith.
Lest we forget the real Rory Stewart, a supporter of US controlled Trident nuclear missiles on British soil, well, he never met a war he didn't like or vote for, from bombing Afghanistan and Syria, to the hypocritical no-fly zone in Libya and of course, the decimation of Iraq, where he played his part in the Coalition Provisional Authority who oversaw their corrupt puppet regime after the illegal invasion. Maybe as damning as anything however, is that he is now best buddies with that war criminal Alastair Campbell, yes, he of the infamous "dodgy dossier" and whose lies led to over a million dead Iraqis at the time and god knows how many since. "Ye shall know them by their friends"! Then there is Stewart's outspoken criticism of Corbyn as he often referred to the "horrifying Jew-hate in Corbyn’s Labour". That's just a lie as anyone who has paid the slightest attention to that debacle knows only too well. Goes without saying he is a staunch supporter of the genocidal, squatter state of Israel and all that "right to exist and defend itself" hasbara bollox.
A couple of other highlights from his parliamentary career:
Voted against the promotion of Human Rights and Equality. Votes that helped further the privatisation of the NHS and other industries. Voted to restrict legal aid. Voted against restrictions on the blood sucking gambling industry. Voted for tuition fees. Voted for reduction of corporation tax.
Thanks for that. Alexei Sayle on one of his v funny imo Imaginary Sandwich Bar shows has a go at him that made me laugh quite a lot, but the record here is a bloody useful retort to the Guardian-BBC image of him. Where you dig all that out from?
Excellent post. I've noted his recent anoitment as king of "the Tories who were't that bad really and now podcast and tell us all fun stories from behind the scenes". My sister in law is always mentioning "I'll have to listen to Rory about it" on the rare occasions I see her and we drift on to some political topic.
All it took was one supposed "tell all" book and lots of promotion from friendly media and a regular podcast; "The Rest is Politics" with Alastair Campbell seems to have been given the accolade as the alternative news programme that it's acceptable to watch when of course it's just Newsnight with lower production values and fewer leopard skin boots.
Very useful to have all that listed in one place; thanks for digging it up and posting. ...no amount of cajolery, and no attempts at ethical or social seduction, can eradicate from my heart a deep burning hatred for the Tory Party...So far as I am concerned they are lower than vermin.
Thanks Ed, you've done some good research, RS - not a good record then - i think I'll change my mind about the patrician Tory bit and re-catalogue him as a near neo-con Conservative, disappointing, I know, , but there you are. It was certainly worth my posting to get some informed comments like yours.
As you say, the double act with Alastair Campbell should be warning enough, - I have listened to snippets of the podcast, but I can't now even recall what they were talking about at the time, obviously I wasn't that impressed as I didn't go back for more. . .
Still, I'd like to have a long walk with the man in the border country, and see what makes him tick - I think he'd be an interesting walking companion.
He has been promoted as the acceptable face of Tory fascism by CommercialPrivateEquitybbc and the Graun but then so was Ian Duncan Smith and look what he did. If Stewart was the subject of a biopic, he would be played by Gollum.
I suspect that Graun articles have US spelling because they are written by US "interns" for free. The last working-class hero in England.
Clio the cat, ? July 1997 - 1 May 2016 Kira the cat, ? ? 2010 - 3 August 2018 Jasper the Ruffian cat ? ? ? - 4 November 2021
on August 28, 2024, 11:33 pm
