Liberty Alone

The problem is he’s often quite perceptive, but has a way with words which provokes outrage and backlash.
Take his ‘pioccaninny’ comment:

It is said that the Queen has come to love the Commonwealth, partly because it supplies her with regular cheering crowds of flag-waving piccaninnies.

That is actually quite perceptive. I read it as a criticism of the role the Commonwealth plays in British life. It is mainly used as a way for the Queen and assorted royals to get crowds of cheering flag-waving people, something which they cannot easily get at home. It is also used for the UK government to preen itself and say ‘look how popular the British are abroad’.
The piccaninny part doesn’t read as if he’s calling all people of other Commonwealth countries piccaninnies, but more as though that’s the attitude the royal family and government takes towards them, they are useful little people of no great importance. A bit of colour for royal visits. (It is also reminiscent of the sort of language we’ve come to expect from Prince Phillip).

Perhaps this interpretation is coloured by my instinctive dislike for power and growing skepticism over our role in institutions like the Commonwealth (which has the potential for immense value for its member countries), but I’d suggest that those who rail against this quotation like to take it out of context due to their instinctive dislike for all Tories.

From a political point of view, such language does reveal quite a bit of naivety and buffoonery (and not in a good way), its handing a gift to your opponents.

Its things like this lack of judgement, not the sentiment I see expressed which leads me to question Boris Johnson’s suitability for Mayor. That said, I cannot stomach voting for Ken Livingstone, a man who openly engages in the implied racism of racial politics, whose pronouncements I find far more disturbing.

For me its a case of do I use my second vote at all, not do I use it for Boris of Ken. I don’t think I’ll decide until I’m in the voting booth at all.

You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.