Why is Mr Brown bothering to speak to the TUC?

Regular readers of this blog may have seen my previous comments on the way in which speeches feature less and less prominently in British media coverage of political communication (e.g. HERE, HERE and HERE).

As the party season gets under way with the Trades Union Congress in Liverpool, television news last night was telling us what Gordon Brown is going to be saying to them later today – and, in case you missed it, there’s plenty more on the BBC website:

In the rest of his speech, Mr Brown will also say that the government will take the "hard-nosed decisions" needed to steer the UK out of recession and towards a sustainable recovery.

"Today we are on a road towards recovery," he will say.

"But things are fragile, not automatic, and the recovery needs to be nurtured. People's livelihoods and homes and savings are still hanging in the balance and so, today, I say to you, don't put the recovery at risk."

Having opposed the measures that Labour has taken to support the economy through the recession, the Conservatives cannot be trusted to take the economy forward, the prime minister will argue.

"Don't risk it [the recovery] with the Tories, whose obsessive anti-state ideology means they can't see a role for government in either recession or recovery."

All of which raises the question of why Mr Brown is bothering to go to all the expense and trouble of going to Liverpool to repeat things that he and his aides have already put into the public domain.

The TUC, where 'fings aint wot they used to be'

The Trades Union Congress is meeting this week, but it's unlikely that you'll see as much of it as you would have done 25 years ago, when its proceedings were televised live on two channels (BBC and Channel 4).

Back in 1984, the miners' strike was still in full swing, as too was Arthur Scargill who was given centre stage to rally support from the TUC.

Granada Television were filming Claptrap (which can be seen HERE) and had sent Ann Brennan and me there in preparation for her own speech at the SDP conference the following week.

As you'll see in the following clip, there was a TV camera aimed at us as we sat in the audience and, though not visible, we'd both been fitted up with microphones. The idea was that, as Scargill was speaking, I was to show Ann which rhetorical techniques he was using and anything else she should take note of.

But we had to abandon the plan almost as soon as I'd started to speak, as the people sitting behind us in the audience were Scargill fans with some rather threatening advice along the lines of "If you don't bloody well shut up, we'll knock your f****** head in."

Not particularly pleasant at the time, but one thing I learnt from them was the pressure members of a crowd can exert on each other to toe the official party line. They didn't know what we were doing, and were assuming that I was criticising what Scargill was saying, rather than analsing how he was saying it - and therefore had to be silenced to let their hero rant on without interruption.

So the Granada team had to 'fake' it by making out that Ann and I had gone back stage afterwards for further instruction.

In fact, the second part of this sequence was shot a week later at the SDP conference in Buxton. To make it look convincing, I was told to make a note of what I was wearing at Brighton the previous week - and I've just realised that it's taken me 25 years to notice a continuity error I'd never spotted before - I'd remembered the jacket, trousers, shirt and tie, but, as you'll see when we get back stage, the TUC admission badge has mysteriously disappeared:

Einstein 'chalk & talk' competition results

Thank you to everyone who sent in so many entries that judging the competition has been far more difficult than expected.

As I was unable to separate entries (A) and (B), I've decided to award them equal first prize - so both of them will be receiving a signed copy of Lend Me Your Ears.

Entry (A) came from Oliver Coddington, who impressed me greatly with his display of mathematical bullshit, but Entry B by Chantal Jordan had to be given very high points for brevity and succinctness.

SPECIAL AWARD FOR TIMELY WIT:
Entry (C) from Andrew Tate can't really be judged on the same basis as the joint winners because it was prompted by a mistake in the original announcement of the competition, in which I'd specified a closing date that had had already passed. Once his alertness had made me correct the date, subsequent entrants were in no position to compete with his wit.

I have therefore awarded him a special bonus award in the form of a free copy of Speech-Making and Presentation Made Easy (signed and incorrectly dated by the author).

= 1st Prize (A): Oliver Coddington



= 1st Prize (B): Chantal Jordan



Special award for timely wit: Andrew Tate

If you missed the original announcement of the competition, it can be seen HERE, where there are links to the website where you can write what you like on Einstein's blackboard and to other posts on chalk and talk, PowerPoint and the use of visual aids.