Funny old thing, fashion...
A few decades ago, I was in the market for some cheap formal-wear. Thanks to some diligent, semi-random searching, I managed to find a morning tail-coat which was a perfect fit. For some reason, though, the same outfitter was quite unable to furnish me with trousers to match.
Admittedly, there was a tangled heap of remaindered trousers in the same closing down sale, but bizarrely, the remaindered coats and remaindered jackets seemed to cater for quite different body types. Search as I might, most of the trousers I unearthed seemed to cater for a 48-inch waist and a 24-inch inside leg. Not my ideal in any respect, I'm afraid... this blog isn't called 'racingsnake' for nothing.
Anyway, all this was brought to mind by the news that Mr and Mrs Brown have decided to donate their 'conference outfits' to charity. It's an interesting bit of spin. Time was, in the Blair era, when Labour were castigated for inordinate electioneering expenses on frivolities like hairdressing and designer suits. The problem is, it just doesn't seem credible to claim that Gordon has done the same. If he has, and what's on offer is a one-off Paul Smith suit, that tells us something about this gesture. On the other hand, if he's been prudent and frugal, as one might expect, then is the donation of an off-the-peg two-piece quite that big a deal?
In the 15th centiry they had a name for this... Morton's Fork.
Posted by racingsnake
@ 04:51 AM GMT+00:00
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Fascinated by the manoeuvres
I'm able to catch some of the US pre-election news nearly real-time at the moment, and am captivated by some of the moves in what can only sensibly be described as a game. For instance, in the last 24 hours...
In response to the financial crisis, Sen. John McCain announces that he's suspending his campaign so as to be able to drop everything, fly to Washington and weigh in on the most pressing current issue. An opponent notes somewhat sourly that Sen. McCain hasn't voted on anything in Congress since April this year.
Barack Obama makes a couple of observations - first, that past of the art of being president is to be able to deal with more than one thing at a time... Second, that introducing presidential [candidate] politics into a crisis such as this is apt to cause more trouble than it fixes. (In the meantime, acceptance of the proposed $700 billion bail-out seems to be on, then off again, on a daily basis).
Subjectively, McCain is looking more rattled; first the slightly unsubtle showboating about "this is so serious I'm going to drop everything and head for DC... so have a pre-election debate if you want, but I may not be there". For goodness' sake - you're not the president... you're (currently) only one senator. Legislate, or campaign... prioritise! And second, quite simply, what is going on with his left eyelid when he's being interviewed on TV? I fear for the man's health... it so often looks as though he's about to succumb to a stroke. Twenty years ago they would probably have been asking "Is this the man whose finger we want on the button?"
Posted by racingsnake
@ 04:25 AM GMT+00:00
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