30-03-2014, 04:37 PM
Peter Presland Wrote:As for Ashton, she is a C-grade, time-serving, appointed party hack. She reminds me a bit of that other 'devoid-of-charisma-and-ability former foreign secretary Margaret Beckett, though she at least had the merit of having been elected. Both are conspicuous for absolutely nothing other than parroting the 'talking-points' handed to them by you-know-who, no matter how absurd.
It reminds me a bit of an experience I had in 1967 in Shanghai. At the height of Mao's Cultural Revolution I was an engineer on a merchant ship and, on arrival alongside, the entire ships company were required to muster in the officers' lounge. We were given a lecture on the wonders of the revolution - in English - by a young, fresh-faced PLA officer. The problem was that he clearly didn't actually SPEAK English and had simply learned the 'speech' parrot fashion. It was one of the funniest performances I have ever heard - but I didn't laugh and neither did anyone else, because he was accompanied by 4 armed and clearly battle-hardened gorillas whose facial expressions and general demeanor was enough to keep everyone silent and VERY attentive indeed.
Ashton is that PLA officer and, with any luck, an increasing number of people find her likes just as funny. No 'armed gorillas' analogue - yet - but the way things are developing my guess is it's only a matter of time.
That made me smile; and is, all things considered, just about spot-on!
"There are three sorts of conspiracy: by the people who complain, by the people who write, by the people who take action. There is nothing to fear from the first group, the two others are more dangerous; but the police have to be part of all three,"
Joseph Fouche
Joseph Fouche