When Gordon Brown is involved:
Question: Will you boycott the opening ceremony of the Chinese Olympics in protest at their policies in Tibet?
Answer: No I will not be boycotting the opening ceremony, I will not, however, be attending.
Glad that’s been made clear.
Gordon ‘decisive’ Brown seems to have landed himself in the worst of all possible worlds – neither standing up for human rights (by boycotting) nor ingratiating himself with the Chinese (by attending the opening ceremony).
We’ve also had the rather bizarre spectacle of being told that this is what he intended to do all along; it’s just he hadn’t told anyone yet. It’s not as if the ceremony and who will be going has been in the news is it?
Hat-tip: Guido Fawkes
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6 Comments
Interesting definition that Lib Dems have – any meeting you don’t go to, you are boycotting. Tonight I have Planning sub-committee and a working group of the local forum; I’ll go to the planning sub-committee but that doesn’t mean I’m boycotting the working group. I’ve just got other things to do.
PS what’s “decsivie”?
Yes he is very much a dithering fool. Not making sence and he has to keep on slightly bowing the preasure on things after making a silly statement. Like on the free vote for Labour MPs on the emryos he said no then realised it may have been the wrong thing to say, so backed down a bit.
Thanks for the proof reading David 🙂
Gordon Bean’s talent for spreading confusion seems to grow apace.
Apart from this example, LDV might like to take up Gordon’s public letter today to the Jaspanese PM as chairman of the G8. I don’t know if his intention in writing was to make up for his previous cack-handedness over rising food prices, or (as so often) simply to distract the media from bad news – the High Court on Labour’s giving in to Saudi bribes and threats perhaps?
But I do know that the international agency charged with worrying about food scarcities is and has been for half a century the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation. Mr Bean forgets even to mention it in his letter. Might it just be that this is something else rushed out before anyone who knows about the matter had seen it? Or is it just that Gordon’s dithering pen struck it out of the draft?
I found the whole thing bizarre – can anyone tell us what it means – if Gordon isn’t going does that also mean nobody else will be there to represent Britain officiallly? I mean the team are going and the London Mayor, Royals, olympic committee members… So what is the purpose of the statement that Gordon’s not going to be there and … not explaining why / why not and if / who else will be there as its not a boycott or is it…? Bonkers or what?
Well I thought I saw a press conference with the Chinese leader where GB said he would attend if invited. Admittedly he may have meant the closing ceremony, or some part of the Games, but he sounded fairly unreserved to me. Which makes his subsequent ‘clarification’ sound like a climbdown or a u-turn, even if it wasn’t.