Pages

Thursday 21 June 2012

Posts I delete


I tend to write these blog posts in MS Word or directly into Blogger, the choice often being dictated by the amount of editing I think I'll be doing or the number of links I intend to add. Or it's just random. What I write doesn’t always see the light of day though.

I reject a fair amount of my material, almost always after a paragraph or two. There’s something about writing stuff down that clarifies your ideas – at least it does with me. Once I put a new idea into MS Word or directly into Blogger, it soon becomes apparent if it isn’t going to work – if it ever does become apparent of course!

 Maybe it’s because this is the point where you first try to see your ideas through other eyes.

These failures happen often enough for me to know that writing my ideas down is really the only way to check them out. It’s not infallible of course – how could it be? Look at Polly Toynbee’s material.

So how do politicians manage when so much of what they say or write seems to involve their advisers and speech writers? Because those back room staff have to write to a political angle – it’s their job. The politician has to spout what’s been written for them – that’s their job.

The net result of course is known to us all. Garbage and stupidity. Some write their own material of course, especially after they have peaked and are now on the downward slope – more free to say what they think rather than what some flunky has written for them.

But they should always write their own material – they really should.

6 comments:

Mark Wadsworth said...

I hope you won't delete this post :-)

A K Haart said...

Mark - damn, too late.

Demetrius said...

I was once was instructed to write a speech for a local politican attending a regional Labour conference. To his surprise he got a standing ovation from the members of the Militant Tendency there. He wasn't very happy. The upside was that I was never asked to write another speech again.

A K Haart said...

Demetrius - QED!

James Higham said...

You're pretty prolific, all the same.

A K Haart said...

James - I don't know how long it will last though. I keep intending to cut down but they keep popping out.