Grahams Maiden Speech
 

Backbench Business — [2nd...: 27 Jul 2010: House of Commons debates (TheyWorkForYou.com)

It appears Graham has made his maiden speech in the house of commons

Well done Graham and congratulations

Re: Grahams Maiden Speech
 

Yep, good speech Graham.

Good start.

Re: Grahams Maiden Speech
 

I have not had chance to read it yet but I have had quite a few email from they work for you showing he is keeping busy down there. Well done Graham and keep up the good work.

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Not bad (that's litotes, by the way;)) Lucky you were not elected in Canada. Here, at least half the speech would have to be in French:eek: From what I read on here, Hydburn will be well represented.:alright:

Re: Grahams Maiden Speech
 

Ya my mail box has had a good turn over, irrespective of party we've been lucky in Hyndburn as the last four MPs have been good constituency MPs

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Jack Straw has a column in today's Times, in which he identifies a dozen MP's from the May '10 intake as being rising stars (he also goes on to say that this is the best overall intake of new MP's for over 30 years). The MP's he lists include six Tories, five Labour and a solitary Lib-Dem. All, naturally, at this stage are back benchers.

Among the five labour MP's he names our 'owd mate Graham. So whether this is a good thing - or - coming from Jack Straw - the kiss of death, only time and events will tell. No doubt which shall all await Graham's activities in breathless anticipation.

Re: Grahams Maiden Speech
 

Since a 'Maiden' speech must, of necessity be anodyne, self-referential and, frankly, deeply boring, this one scores respectably on all counts. If I could be bothered to look, which I cannot, I am sure that I would find that the maiden speeches of most of Accrington's and Hyndburn's MP's over the last 50 odd years have said much the same sort of thing. Quite how Jack Straw (reported in the papers this morning) equates our Graham as one of the rising stars of the new intake is a bit beyond me (Logic has never been one of Straw's strong points), and such an admission scarcely fills one with confidence in the abilities of the rest of the New Labour seat warmers.

However, that aside for the moment, if Graham is to break with tradition and indulge in any further speechmaking, might I suggest that he uses some of his expenses to employ the services of someone who has more than just a passing acquaintance with the complexities of the english language to edit his maunderings. It is all very well to go rushing off at tangents here, trusting that members will already be familiar with much of one's abbreviated postings, but I rather fancy that standards of oratory are a deal more exacting in Parliament.

Overall 5/10: For £60 odd K per year I expected more than a precis of his Accy-Web postings.

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As an afterthought, if Graham has any real intention of making the fur fly, I would be more than happy to make my own poor language and research skills available. Drop me a PM and let's see if we can make Straw's prediction come true!

Re: Grahams Maiden Speech
 

Posted with the usual acerbic view Bob and I take onboard the points made. I thought with my blog up your 'qualified support' would have landed earlier.

Jack's endorsement was never solicited and a surprise, nay shock. Politics is more than being a silver tongue with quick wit, a lexical genius passing off as a compassionate representative.

Maiden speeches are dull and nerve racking in equal measures. Few people listen, fewer people read them in Hansard.

Having listened to speech makers who try to embellish a wide dictionary of words, I conclude it serves little purpose and infuriates at worst. There is a lot to be said of plain English and a trip to Bolsover would not exaggerate that point.

Re: Grahams Maiden Speech
 

Am I right in thinking that you had to make an appointment with the speaker to make your speech Graham

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C'mon ... it's a maiden speech, a rite de passage, not a measure of the man's qualities and capabilities ... sheesh, eh. And why this assumption, or implication, that Jack Straw has made his assessment of Graham solely on the basis of his maiden speech:confused::rolleyes:

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By the way, Bob, the English language is indeed complex .... but "MP's"! Really:rolleyes:

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There is indeed a great deal to be said in favour of the employment of plain English, Graham. The nice thing about the complexity of our language is the ability it affords the speaker to make his meaning either absolutley clear or almost impenetrably opaque. It is one of the few languages in which one is able to mask the direst insult in the gaudy raiment of flattery; in short, used well, it is the most powerful tool on earth.

I take your point about the relatively poor audience for a Maiden speech, but any audience, even of one, deserves as much attention and effort from a public speaker as an audience of thousands.

I have been to Bolsover and, apart from the castle, it is an unremarkable place. It's current MP, Mr Skinner, appears to have garnered for himself something of a reputation for calling a spade a spade and there's nowt wrong with that. One could wish that more MP's would take a leaf out of Mr Skinner's Book particularly his scrupulous insistance on being present at every session and his refusal to indulge in the practice known as 'pairing'. I could go on, but you have the opportunity to learn from the horses mouth, as it were, you could do a lot worse than spend an hour or two in Mr Skinner's company. I am also aware that he was educated at Sheffield Uni and also at Oxford, so you will need to have all your wits about you and remember what I said about the language being used to hide things while appearing to disclose them. Plain speaking is seldom as plain as it sounds. Good luck Graham, you will need it.

BTW, my offer of editing assistance was genuine.

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It might also be worth bearing in mind that an Oxford education, whilst looking rather impressive on a CV, is of little use in dealing with matters pertaining to Accrington. Digesting vast chunks of Chaucer whilst idling through the Cloisters won't be of much assistance when you're trying to work out things such as tax relief for working men's clubs.

Common sense and a firm understanding of the people you represent is of far more value on the doorstep than any official qualification.

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Yeah...ya only have to ask Mr Cameron's Pakistani Fan club to verify that!!:D

Best Regards - Taggy