Politics

[Dr Gloom 22151]

what an absolute gimp

 

 

'Mockney' George Osborne backs the Briddish who wanna work

 

He has been accused by his enemies of being 'out of touch' with the working man. But listeners to the Chancellor's speech on welfare today were struck by his new Estuary English accent that saw him drop his Ts.

 

 

 

 

By Josie Ensor

3:00PM BST 02 Apr 2013

 

 

 

Speaking at a conference outside Morrisons' supermarket in Sittingborne, Kent on reforms benefits system, he seemed to have lost his characteristic cut-glass Received Pronunciation and replaced it with a noticeably Estuarine one.

 

As shadow Chancellor Mr Osborne was mocked in some quarters for what was described as a slightly high-pitched accent in which he pronounced each word crisply.

 

Today, he could be heard pronouncing 'British' as 'Briddish', 'want to' as 'wanna' and had "we have had a" as "we've'ad'a".

 

His demotic affectations led to suggestions he may have undergone vocal coaching, and drew parallels with Tony Blair who, despite attending Fettes public school and working as a barrister, started adopting glottal stops in speech.

 

In his speech, the Chancellor appeared to say of the benefits system: “Briddish people badly wannit fixed.”

 

He added: “We created a system that encouraged people to stay outta work rather than find a job. We’re buildin’ a benefits system that means ya always bedda off in work.”

He then told the supermarket staff from Kent that corporation tax had been cut to “twenny three per cent.”

Caroline Goyder, who has trained MPs, news presenters and barristers in public speaking, said she thought the Chancellor was unconsciously adopting an Estuarine accent to adapt to his audience.

She said: “Listening to the speech it sounds like he’s playing a character. It’s incredibly mockney, and you don’t have to be an expert to hear that.

“It’s unconscious, it’s what we call communication accommodation - where you sometimes change and adapt your accent to your audience, like a teacher talking to children.”

Miss Goyder, who is writing a book called Gravitas on the importance of voice in power, reviewed today's speech against footage of Mr Osborne addressing the BBC in 2007 as well as a party conference speech in October 2009.

“It is completely different to any speech I’ve heard him make before, I think even he would admit that watching it back," she said. "There are tensions even within the speech - when he’s speaking the speech-writer’s words he gets uncomfortable and falls into this Estuarine accent because he’s not comfortable with the message and the policy.

“When he briefly talks about his own children he relaxes and talks in his normal RP. It’s was fascinating to watch.”

The change was noticed by viewers of the speech.

Chris Joslin, 26, a graduate jobseeker from Surrey, posted on Twitter: “Am I imagining the toning down of George Osborne's RP accent? If he's seeking to project a 'man of the people' persona, he's failed.”

Another wrote: “George Osborne seems to be affecting a working class accent when speaking to Kent warehouse workers."

Mr Osborne, the son of a Baronet, was educated at St Paul’s in London, one of Britain’s most expensive private schools. He studied at Oxford and was a member of the exclusive Bullingdon club. His voice has lowered considerably over the course of his career. It is believed deep voices carry more authority.

Baroness Thatcher took lessons at the National Theatre to talk more slowly and drank hot water with honey and lemon to loosen her vocal chords and lower her pitch ahead of major speeches.

In the film The Iron Lady, Mrs Thatcher is shown being mocked by Labour MPs while serving as education secretary, with one bellowing: “Methinks the Rt Hon Lady does screech too much.”

 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/georgeosborne/9966717/Mockney-George-Osborne-backs-the-Briddish-who-wanna-work.html

[Christmas Tree 4827]

David Cameron wades into swamp to rescue sheep

 

 

While lambs around the country are dying because of the unseasonably-cold spring weather, one sheep owes its life to David Cameron.

 

The prime minister became the hero of the hour when he plunged waist-deep into a swamp to save a ewe that got stuck in the mud.

 

Cameron was on his way home from visiting a neighbouring farmer near his house in Chipping Norton when he heard a sheep bleating at around 6pm.

 

He discovered the ewe immersed in the muddy swamp, after she had followed her two lambs in to save them, both of whom drowned.

 

After alerting the farmer, Cameron waded into the swamp, together with his two armed police guards, and proceeded to push the ewe out of the mud to safety.

 

When I got there, David was in the swamp, waist-deep in mud, along with the two police, who had all gone in there to help drag this sheep out, said farmer Julian Tustian.

 

He was brilliant, pulling, pushing and shoving. He was covered in mud, he looked a mess.

 

Its nice to see, really - the police didnt have to do that and neither did David Cameron.

 

The ewe, which has since been nicknamed Swampy, has now fully recovered from her ordeal which happened on March 1.

 

Shes very happy, Mr Tustian said. Shes got no kids now so shes having a summer off.

Edited April 3, 2013 by Christmas Tree

[Christmas Tree 4827]

Last sentence btw

[Monkeys Fist 43069]

David Cameron wades into swamp to rescue sheep

 

 

Doesn't drown, unfortunately

[Meenzer 15721]

 

That accent man.

[sweetleftpeg 0]

I think the main problem I have with Osborne is that he's constantly dodging the live press and general public and tends to send his minions as lambs to the slaughter, like that poor lass who was sent on Newsnight.

 

Hey, he has tough decisions to make, but I really don't like the way he'll make them and then refuse to debate them with press and public and instead hide away and fuck off to private functions.

[Dr Gloom 22151]

i still can't quite believe the country is being run by these silver spoon toffs. they're so out of touch; it's like we've moved back a century.

 

i really would like to see that turd IDS stay true to his word and try to live on £53 per week for a year. not that he will, but there's an online petition kicking about for anyone's interested.

[Christmas Tree 4827]

i still can't quite believe the country is being run by these silver spoon toffs. they're so out of touch; it's like we've moved back a century.

 

i really would like to see that turd IDS stay true to his word and try to live on £53 per week for a year. not that he will, but there's an online petition kicking about for anyone's interested.

 

There all as bad as each other man! It's about getting elected / re elected. It's one big game with a few sprinkled differences to keep the troops (us) in line.

 

If you want real change the its the Di Canio route.

[Happy Face 29]

 

CT getting disillusioned

[ewerk 31207]

I think the main problem I have with Osborne is that he's constantly dodging the live press and general public and tends to send his minions as lambs to the slaughter, like that poor lass who was sent on Newsnight.

 

Hey, he has tough decisions to make, but I really don't like the way he'll make them and then refuse to debate them with press and public and instead hide away and fuck off to private functions.

 

It's probably the smartest thing he's done as chancellor. Any interviewer worth their salt would tear him apart.

[Dr Gloom 22151]

only in britain...

 

The Great British class calculator

 

Previous definitions of social class are considered to be outdated

 

People in the UK now fit into seven social classes, a major survey conducted by the BBC suggests.

It says the traditional categories of working, middle and upper class are outdated, fitting 39% of people.

It found a new model of seven social classes ranging from the elite at the top to a "precariat" - the poor, precarious proletariat - at the bottom.

More than 161,000 people took part in the Great British Class Survey, the largest study of class in the UK.

Class has traditionally been defined by occupation, wealth and education. But this research argues that this is too simplistic, suggesting that class has three dimensions - economic, social and cultural.

The BBC Lab UK study measured economic capital - income, savings, house value - and social capital - the number and status of people someone knows.

The study also measured cultural capital, defined as the extent and nature of cultural interests and activities.

The new classes are defined as:

• Elite - the most privileged group in the UK, distinct from the other six classes through its wealth. This group has the highest levels of all three capitals
  

• Established middle class - the second wealthiest, scoring highly on all three capitals. The largest and most gregarious group, scoring second highest for cultural capital
  

• Technical middle class - a small, distinctive new class group which is prosperous but scores low for social and cultural capital. Distinguished by its social isolation and cultural apathy
  

• New affluent workers - a young class group which is socially and culturally active, with middling levels of economic capital
  

• Traditional working class - scores low on all forms of capital, but is not completely deprived. Its members have reasonably high house values, explained by this group having the oldest average age at 66
  

• Emergent service workers - a new, young, urban group which is relatively poor but has high social and cultural capital
  

• Precariat, or precarious proletariat - the poorest, most deprived class, scoring low for social and cultural capital
  

The researchers said while the elite group had been identified before, this is the first time it had been placed within a wider analysis of the class structure, as it was normally put together with professionals and managers.

At the opposite extreme they said the precariat, the poorest and most deprived grouping, made up 15% of the population.

The sociologists said these two groups at the extremes of the class system had been missed in conventional approaches to class analysis, which have focused on the middle and working classes.

Methodology

 

"What it allows us is to understand is a more sophisticated, nuanced picture of what class is like now.

"It shows us there is still a top and a bottom, at the top we still have an elite of very wealthy people and at the bottom the poor, with very little social and cultural engagement," she said.

"It's what's in the middle which is really interesting and exciting, there's a much more fuzzy area between the traditional working class and traditional middle class.

"There's the emergent workers and the new affluent workers who are different groups of people who won't necessarily see themselves as working or middle class.

"The survey has really allowed us to drill down and get a much more complete picture of class in modern Britain."

BBC Lab UK worked with Prof Mike Savage of the London School of Economics and Prof Devine on the study.

The findings will be published in the Sociology Journal and presented at a conference of the British Sociological Association on Wednesday.

Researchers asked a series of questions about income, house value, savings, cultural and leisure activities and the occupations of friends.

They were able to determine a person's economic, social and cultural capital scores from the answers and analysed the scores to create its class system.

The GBCS was launched online in January 2011, but data showed participants were predominantly drawn from the well-educated social groups.

To overcome this a second identical survey was run with a survey company GFK, with a sample of people representing the population of the UK as a whole, using the information in parallel.

[Craig 6700]

I'm part of the Emergent Service Workers class according to that clap-trap calculator on the BBC site....

[Tooj 17]

David Cameron wades into swamp to rescue sheep

 

 

While lambs around the country are dying because of the unseasonably-cold spring weather, one sheep owes its life to David Cameron.

 

The prime minister became the hero of the hour when he plunged waist-deep into a swamp to save a ewe that got stuck in the mud.

 

Cameron was on his way home from visiting a neighbouring farmer near his house in Chipping Norton when he heard a sheep bleating at around 6pm.

 

He discovered the ewe immersed in the muddy swamp, after she had followed her two lambs in to save them, both of whom drowned.

 

After alerting the farmer, Cameron waded into the swamp, together with his two armed police guards, and proceeded to push the ewe out of the mud to safety.

 

When I got there, David was in the swamp, waist-deep in mud, along with the two police, who had all gone in there to help drag this sheep out, said farmer Julian Tustian.

 

He was brilliant, pulling, pushing and shoving. He was covered in mud, he looked a mess.

 

Its nice to see, really - the police didnt have to do that and neither did David Cameron.

 

The ewe, which has since been nicknamed Swampy, has now fully recovered from her ordeal which happened on March 1.

 

Shes very happy, Mr Tustian said. Shes got no kids now so shes having a summer off.

 

You still haven't answered my question about Cameron.

[Christmas Tree 4827]

 

You still haven't answered my question about Cameron.

 

A: "I dont have to answer this any more. I cant state every three weeks or three months. So 21 months ago, some of you, not you in here picked up some lines from a long interview.

 

I am at a taxi firm. If I was working in the Houses of Parliament then I would answer a political question, but Im probably never going to get there. I only want to talk about football.

 

This story has to finish. Christmas Di Tree is 47 years of age and his life speaks for him.

Edited April 3, 2013 by Christmas Tree

[Tooj 17]

So that's a no then.

[Gemmill 46032]

 

A: "I dont have to answer this any more. I cant state every three weeks or three months. So 21 months ago, some of you, not you in here picked up some lines from a long interview.

 

I am at a taxi firm. If I was working in the Houses of Parliament then I would answer a political question, but Im probably never going to get there. I only want to talk about football.

 

This story has to finish. Christmas Di Tree is 47 years of age and his life speaks for him.

 

You spelled wife wrong.

[Christmas Tree 4827]

So that's a no then.

 

So far, I would put him in the same category as Obama. You can have as many great ideas and hopes as you like, however if "the money's all gone", your pretty fucked as to what you can do.

 

Sometimes circumstances control events. I said similar to you about Ben Arfa a couple of years back. I said he could be the most gifted footballer there is, but sometimes for various reasons it just doesn't happen at a particular club or in fact a career doesn't pan out as expected.

 

So there you are, a Ben Arfa analogy for your Cameron question.

[Tooj 17]

You mean the same Obama that wants free health care access for his country?

[Christmas Tree 4827]

You mean the same Obama that wants free health care access for his country?

 

It's not quite the NHS he's proposing

 

Govt subsidies for low paid families to buy health insurance.

 

I'm sure Dave would point to his millions of poor taken out of paying tax, pension reforms for the elderly etc etc.

 

Bottom line is there's no money. Like putting Alex Ferguson in charge of Hartlepool.

[Dr Gloom 22151]

It's not quite the NHS he's proposing

 

Govt subsidies for low paid families to buy health insurance.

 

I'm sure Dave would point to his millions of poor taken out of paying tax, pension reforms for the elderly etc etc.

 

Bottom line is there's no money. Like putting Alex Ferguson in charge of Hartlepool.

 

i suppose fergie is almost as unlikeable as cameron but that's as far as any comparisons of their leadership go.

[The Fish 10966]

It's not quite the NHS he's proposing

 

Govt subsidies for low paid families to buy health insurance.

 

I'm sure Dave would point to his millions and take little notice of poor paying taxes that would be unnecessary if the uber-rich paid some tax instead of dodging it all etc etc.

 

Bottom line is he and his chums have loads of money, so he couldn't give a toss. Like putting Scrooge McDuck in charge of anything.

[Tooj 17]

http://www.thedailymash.co.uk/news/society/iain-duncan-smiths-53-a-week-diary-2013040264369

 

[sweetleftpeg 0]

I can sometimes be a little bit harsh with politicians but my wife is fairly neutral and objective. Yesterday she called Osborne a 'useless smarmy twat.' If she's resorting to insults, he must be having a shitter.

[BigWalrus 0]

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2013/04/03/rob-wilson-tory-mp-accide_n_3004865.html?utm_hp_ref=tw

[The Fish 10966]

http://www.huffingto...l?utm_hp_ref=tw

I suppose that'll be undeniable proof he's a wanker.