Political memory

[Adrian II]

Political memory

Sir - I was saddened to learn of Margaret Thatcher's problems with her memory: it is reported (December 10) that, when she finishes a sentence, she cannot remember what she started talking about. This shows that she is in a far better state of health than the Prime Minister: he apparently can't remember a single word of his election manifesto.

Ian Dougall, Bournemouth, Hants

Link (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml;jsessionid=PKYFNVY5PRORVQFIQMGCFFWAVCBQUIV0?xml=/opinion/2005/12/12/dt1201.xml)

[jimmyM]

True, all through her career she showed a refreshing consistency in remembering her hatred for miners and the poor...:san_laugh:

ah. edjecation, edjecation, edjecation, eh?

[QwertyMIDX]

Luckily for everyone involded in Politics most citizens seem unable to remember these things either.

[JAG]

The problem is Blair remembers too much of the bad stuff in the manifesto...

[Grey_Fox]

Unfortunately this is the truth of almost all politicians.

[jimmyM]

Decline towards socialism? ahem... *gestures to numerous liberal/labour governments, the germination of various socialist doctrines + movements....*

[Strike For The South]

Meh.. British politics. I have but one thing to say about your long decline towards socialism:

http://hem.passagen.se/replikant/ingsoc_paratroopers.JPG


Ah yes the ever knowing white box with the red X. The symbol of socialism these days huh GC:san_laugh:

[Reverend Joe]

Funny that the "ultimate symbol of Socialism" is just Facism under a new name. Orwell was completely inept when it came to understanding political systems, as his view was skewed after fighting in the Spanish Civil War.

[English assassin]

Orwell was completely inept when it came to understanding political systems, as his view was skewed after fighting in the Spanish Civil War

Steady on. Orwell was one of the very few intellectuals on the left who had the vision and the courage to condemn Stalin and Stalinism. The left in the UK and the west was and IMHO to a degree still is profoundly tainted by its willful blindness to the evils of the soviet system, but Orwell stood out clearly against it.

For this and other reasons he was a great man.

[Reverend Joe]

Was it, now? Perhaps as someone who has witnessed the destruction that silly unworkable idealogies can cause is a bit more qualified to criticize it than you are?

No, my point is, he didn't see Socialism or Communism. What he saw was a mix of military Juntas and anarchy. Besides, the leftists found themselves under attack just as often by their fellow Republians as the Nationalists- often, the socialist soldiers were sent forward first in an attack, so that the other Republicans could take potshots at them. (That happens to be from a primary source, a very old Frenchman who fought for the Republicans in the Spanish Civil War.)