There are one or
two well-used phrases which trip from politicians’ lips when they want to avoid
providing any evidence in support of their views. One of my least favourites is the phrase “The
reality is…”. Long experience tells me
that it’s invariably followed by unsubstantiated personal opinion presented as
incontrovertible fact.
Cheryl Gillan came
out with another one yesterday. The fact
that she’s opposing the creation of a Welsh legal jurisdiction hardly qualifies
as news, for all the prominence given to it.
Her reference to the devolution process as a “never- ending conveyor belt of powers transferring from Westminster to Cardiff”
was at least a new sound bite – better than the more usual “slippery slope”
argument. But sound bites, however good,
do not an argument make.
Indeed, making any
sort of argument for the status quo was something that seemed to be distinctly
lacking in her comments. Instead, she
reverted to another of those politicians’ phrases; it was, she said, “glaringly
obvious” that it was a bad idea.
There we are,
argument won in two words, with no need to bother with any little matters such
as substance or evidence. In truth of
course, what ‘the reality is’ and what is or isn’t ‘glaringly obvious’ will
vary according to perspective. There’s
more to political debate than sophistry.
Posts
2 comments:
John
Regretably the evidence is that in Wales the Office of the Secretary of State has been used to forcibly secure the transfer of freehold property from long term local owners to reward outside property speculators
Cherly Gillan
Cofio Cae 564 Sir Benfro
Yes we most definitely need to bring the Legal and Policing function under our control if only to stop this abuse
It is glaringly obvious that Cheryl has been neglecting Wales to concentrate on her own constituency, and opposing the HS2, a battle she has now lost. Her constituents are very angry that she has not made good on he promise yo resign her cabinet post when the decision went against her, and so too should we be in Wales. Her continued tenure as governor general is an insult to our nations. She is not intellectually fit to serve in even a Tory Cabinet, and morally she very suspect indeed, wit her property transactions and everything.
The one good ting I can find to say about her is that whenever she opposes something, it tends to add weight to the other side.
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