Lord Young tells the British public "you've never had it so good"

[Jason]

Interesting post Dandelion.

People want politicians to tell people what they want to hear. Young broke this rule. Off with his head!

 

[dandelion]

Equally he was saying some things the government doesnt want said.

 

[Jason]

Not sure of this. The govt is certainly managing PR, but I think they might have wanted a version of the Young message floated to see how it went down. They want us (a) to accept the pain because we know it is bad and (b) think it is all fine really and go out and spend. Tricky message! Young bodged it.

 

[dandelion]

thats a bit mean as a punishemnt for muffing the pr

 

[helgaleena]

Let them eat reruns of 'The Young Ones' ...

 

[798686]

People want politicians to tell people what they want to hear. Young broke this rule. Off with his head!

I wonder if telling people the truth, in a form they can deal with would be just as good?

It is like walking on eggshells though, I imagine.

 

[Jason]

I wonder if telling people the truth, in a form they can deal with would be just as good?

It is like walking on eggshells though, I imagine.

Most people have no understanding whatsoever of economics. Most don't understand the difference between a million and a billion. Many (most?) can't get their personal finances right. And most switch off when issues of economics are in the news. Last night and this morning Ireland was NOT trending on UK Twitter. But Dobby was (the house elf who snuffs it in the latest Harry Potter film). Against this background politicians resort to simplifications and soundbites. What is hard to get across is the balanced view. The UK economy has substantial problems requiring the meausres we have seen, but now we have indicated that we are willing to take those measures we are making progress and it is not all doom and gloom. If you are not asleep already I will continue!

Young got it wrong. There is a point around the heat having gone out of our property market - mostly it is stagnant or falling slightly. For the last couple of years people have been unable to get the silly mortgages. People in work paying a mortgage are paying less (though they may be sitting on negative equity and may be earning less). There is pain out there, but it could easily be a lot worse, and there are even some people doing well. Difficult message. Young bodged it. If he had managed an additional sentence saying that there is a lot of hardship for families I imagine his comments would have been considered bland and boring and would hardly have been reported. But he didn't and he broke the egg shells. He came across as out of touch and uncaring - and it is this, not the facts, that sunk him. PR is what matters, not facts.

 

[Speculator]

Young got it wrong. There is a point around the heat having gone out of our property market - mostly it is stagnant or falling slightly. For the last couple of years people have been unable to get the silly mortgages. People in work paying a mortgage are paying less (though they may be sitting on negative equity and may be earning less). There is pain out there, but it could easily be a lot worse, and there are even some people doing well. Difficult message. Young bodged it. If he had managed an additional sentence saying that there is a lot of hardship for families I imagine his comments would have been considered bland and boring and would hardly have been reported. But he didn't and he broke the egg shells. He came across as out of touch and uncaring - and it is this, not the facts, that sunk him. PR is what matters, not facts.

Young had to go because his comments are unacceptable to the BBC, the fact that most Conservative voters/sympathisers support him is irrelevent! Call-me-Dave has been working on his caring sharing image since he was elected as leader, and he won't let some privileged Tory Grandee ruin all his hard work, even if that means stepping on core party principles.

The last time the Tories were in office they raised interest rates to 15% during a house price crash. Ken Clarke was interviewed at the time and he pretty much said it's not the government's job to bailout homeowners, if they're in trouble, tough. Nobody said a word and he kept his job.

You'd never get away with such a comment now because the New Labour way of thinking has become established practice. It's not that the old school Tories are any different or more "insensitive", they've stayed the same. It's the public, they've been conditioned like Pavlovian dogs to be ultra-sensitive to anything that might offend.

I hope Lord Young gets his job back.

 

[dandelion]

But Dobby was (the house elf who snuffs it in the latest Harry Potter film).

OH God! Why did you tell me that!

 

[798686]

Most people have no understanding whatsoever of economics. Most don't understand the difference between a million and a billion. Many (most?) can't get their personal finances right. And most switch off when issues of economics are in the news. Last night and this morning Ireland was NOT trending on UK Twitter. But Dobby was (the house elf who snuffs it in the latest Harry Potter film). Against this background politicians resort to simplifications and soundbites. What is hard to get across is the balanced view. The UK economy has substantial problems requiring the meausres we have seen, but now we have indicated that we are willing to take those measures we are making progress and it is not all doom and gloom. If you are not asleep (I'm not :wink:) I will continue!

Young got it wrong. There is a point around the heat having gone out of our property market - mostly it is stagnant or falling slightly. For the last couple of years people have been unable to get the silly mortgages. People in work paying a mortgage are paying less (though they may be sitting on negative equity and may be earning less). There is pain out there, but it could easily be a lot worse, and there are even some people doing well. Difficult message. Young bodged it. If he had managed an additional sentence saying that there is a lot of hardship for families I imagine his comments would have been considered bland and boring and would hardly have been reported. But he didn't and he broke the egg shells. He came across as out of touch and uncaring - and it is this, not the facts, that sunk him. PR is what matters, not facts.

Yeah, how it all comes across is very important - giving an honest and balanced appraisal that's also acceptable to most people. Kinda difficult - I think getting truth across [in a successful way, PR-wise] is a better aim than just good PR in itself (altho maybe that is what the Gov tries to do...sometimes, lol).