Twenty warnings for Sir Keir

Twenty warnings for Sir Keir Starmer from new deputy leader Lucy Powell

Sky's Jon Craig breaks down what Labour's Lucy Powell said - and what she meant - as she was crowned the party's new deputy leader after a closely fought race against Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson.

Labour's new deputy leader Lucy Powell promised to be Sir Keir Starmer's ally.

Yet in her victory speech she criticised his government and its record no fewer than 20 times. And told him to raise his game, or else.

All we learn from this is that Lucy Powell's approach is to be more assertive and hard-nosed when pressing ahead with changes which won't work, never have worked in the past and aren't going to work in the future. More of the same but louder seems to be the message.

Powell is attempting to distance herself from failure by insisting on a need for much more assertive presentation and a greater determination to implement vague ideological ambitions. It's all too facile, tottering precariously on wobbling planks of misplaced confidence.

Distancing herself from her party leader without distancing herself from his practical and ideological difficulties isn't going to work. Powell hints that distancing herself from Starmer is enough to extract the party from failure. It isn't enough, there is much more to do.

The things which weigh heavily upon my mind are these—failure to improve in the virtues, failure in discussion of what is learnt, inability to walk according to knowledge received as to what is right and just, inability also to reform what has been amiss.

Analects of Confucius

Faith in our institutions

16-year-olds to be able to vote at next General Election in landmark shake-up which could backfire on Labour

Announcing the reforms, Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner said: “For too long public trust in our democracy has been damaged and faith in our institutions has been allowed to decline.       

“We are taking action to break down barriers to participation that will ensure more people have the opportunity to engage in UK democracy and delivering on our manifesto commitment to give sixteen-year-olds the right to vote.   

“We cannot take our democracy for granted, and by protecting our elections from abuse and boosting participation we will strengthen the foundations of our society for the future.” 

Something we have learned again from this and previous governments is how unreliable calendar age can be as a guide to the use of accurate adult language embedded in the real world. We have known this for a long time.


Tsz-lu said to the Master, "As the prince of Wei, sir, has been waiting for you to act for him in his government, what is it your intention to take in hand first?"

"One thing of necessity," he answered—"the rectification of terms."

"That!" exclaimed Tsz-lu. "How far away you are, sir! Why such rectification?"

"What a rustic you are, Tsz-lu!" rejoined the Master. "A gentleman would be a little reserved and reticent in matters which he does not understand. If terms be incorrect, language will be incongruous; and if language be incongruous, deeds will be imperfect. So, again, when deeds are imperfect, propriety and harmony cannot prevail, and when this is the case laws relating to crime will fail in their aim; and if these last so fail, the people will not know where to set hand or foot. Hence, a man of superior mind, certain first of his terms, is fitted to speak; and being certain of what he says can proceed upon it. In the language of such a person there is nothing heedlessly irregular—and that is the sum of the matter."

The Analects of Confucius

  

Wooden Horse

To govern simply by statute, and to reduce all to order by means of pains and penalties, is to render the people evasive, and devoid of any sense of shame.

Analects of Confucius


The other day, Mrs H and I were talking about people we know of our generation and their adult offspring, many of whom are now middle-aged.

What strikes us as odd, is how many of those offspring are making a mess of their lives, at least by our standards. Not a huge number of people and not disastrous messes by modern standards, but it is still remarkable how big a mess people can make of their lives.

Of course, a favourite media story is the person making a mess of their life. TV soaps and celebrity gossip are full of it, so this is fairly familiar territory for most of us. Yet we pretend that the adult world is basically well-adjusted even though it quite clearly isn’t.

Apart from endless anecdotes I’m not sure what we can say about it, but it does lead a chap to wonder if there is an effect created by too many laws and regulations, too much hectoring communicated too effectively, too frequently and too insistently. Maybe too much official emphasis on pains and penalties has made us evasive.

As B.F. Skinner said long after Confucius - punishment leads to avoidance behaviour. Well, it would, wouldn’t it? What are people avoiding as governments aim to reduce all to order by means of pains and penalties?

One obvious answer to that is self-awareness - hence the messed-up lives. We’re almost toying with a G.K. Chesterton kind of paradox here, but emphasis on personal empowerment has risen strongly during a marked decline in just that - personal empowerment. Maybe our modern emphasis on personal empowerment is the Wooden Horse, the escape attempt.

The sum of the matter

A message about the corruption of language from twenty five centuries ago. Not a new problem, but unlike Confucius we have largely forgotten to resolve it before we make decisions. To my mind this is the time of year when we should remember how much damage politically correct celebrities do to our language. It isn't confined to the political classes and the media.  

Tsz-lu said to the Master, "As the prince of Wei, sir, has been waiting for you to act for him in his government, what is it your intention to take in hand first?"

"One thing of necessity," he answered—"the rectification of terms."

"That!" exclaimed Tsz-lu. "How far away you are, sir! Why such rectification?"

"What a rustic you are, Tsz-lu!" rejoined the Master. "A gentleman would be a little reserved and reticent in matters which he does not understand. If terms be incorrect, language will be incongruous; and if language be incongruous, deeds will be imperfect. So, again, when deeds are imperfect, propriety and harmony cannot prevail, and when this is the case laws relating to crime will fail in their aim; and if these last so fail, the people will not know where to set hand or foot. Hence, a man of superior mind, certain first of his terms, is fitted to speak; and being certain of what he says can proceed upon it. In the language of such a person there is nothing heedlessly irregular—and that is the sum of the matter."

The Analects of Confucius

The things which weigh heavily

The things which weigh heavily upon my mind are these—failure to improve in the virtues, failure in discussion of what is learnt, inability to walk according to knowledge received as to what is right and just, inability also to reform what has been amiss.

The Analects of Confucius

The things which weigh heavily for me are the three stooges above. Confucius hit the nail on the head twenty five centuries ago, so are we slow learners or just thick? Too easily persuaded I suppose.

After twenty five centuries we may as well accept that Confucian wisdom isn't likely to enter politics any time soon. Peace, a functioning economy and the rule of law are the best we can hope for. Voting won't change anything because the only real power is the power of money.

Collectively we voters have lots of money but we allow too much of it to be stolen by the state and spend too much of the rest on Sky television, mobile phones and suchlike. There is no sign that this will ever change and quite possibly that's the best outcome we can hope for. 

Gripped by election fever

While we are all gripped by election fever... we are gripped by it aren’t we? Hanging on to every word?

Oh well, maybe not but it is still worth reminding ourselves about glib tongues and what they tell us. Confucius expressed it well.

Sz-ma Niu asked the like question. The answer he received was this: "The words of the man who has a proper regard for his fellows are uttered with difficulty."

"'His words—uttered with difficulty?'" he [Sz-ma Niu] echoed, in surprise. "Is that what is meant by proper regard for one's fellow-creatures?"

"Where there is difficulty in doing," the Master replied, "will there not be some difficulty in utterance?"

The Analects of Confucius

It’s an interesting quote, quite apart from its relevance to the electoral games we currently have to endure. Confucius is saying that if a chap has a proper regard for his fellows, then he or she takes them into account in what is said so there is always some difficulty, some need to find most appropriate words. 

By implication, the glib speaker doesn’t have the same level of regard for his or her auditors so the words come more easily. They are more formulaic. Admittedly this is a common enough experience, but as with many bits and pieces of practical wisdom it gets lost in the clamour of glib debate.

TV only seems to make the problem worse, creating an immediacy favouring the slick riposte over the considered, often more hesitant answer. We fall for it though - or too many of us do.

Promote the crooked...

To a question put to him by Duke Ngai as to what should be done in order to render the people submissive to authority, Confucius replied, "Promote the straightforward, and reject those whose courses are crooked, and the thing will be effected. Promote the crooked and reject the straightforward, and the effect will be the reverse."

Confucius - The Analects