Starmer's speech
Following my previous blog post , in which I cast doubt on Starmer's strategy of silence, especially on Brexit, his speech A New Chapter for Britain was a further opportunity to evaluate his development as party leader. While the speech garnered some favourable criticism for the announcement of a Covid recovery bond, it largely disappeared without trace. Many will be unaware of its existence. One reason for this can certainly be put down to a hostile media. However, another reason was that, to be blunt, it was dull. The problem was in the writing. Marlon Brando would have struggled to deliver it. Normally, in any well-constructed argument, the central thesis is prepared for at the top. Expectation is nurtured and the payoffs are plotted. So it was something of a surprise for this line to appear more than halfway down. And that puts tackling the climate emergency at the centre of everything we do. If tackling the climate emergency really is at the centre of Labour policy, what on e