Peter Rhodes on oratory, garages and things that get rigged in Russia
In the wake of this week’s gripping Russian elections (winner: V. Putin Esq), a reader tells me: “It’s a reminder that oil isn’t the only thing rigged in Russia.”
Moving briskly on, what do Donald Trump, Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin have in common? It’s the inability to finish some of the sentences they have begun. Watching them in action in this election year, you see questions unanswered, assertions unexplained (a “bloodbath,” Mr Trump?) and threads of consciousness drifting off into thin air. These three global figures may be tired, they may be losing their memories or they may be so wrapped up in their own superpower worlds that communicating with mere citizens has slipped right off their agenda.
Whatever happened to the old political gift of oratory, the art of making your point, defending it against critics and bringing your case to a clear, crisp, logical conclusion, often without any notes? George Galloway does it all the time. We may not want to hear what he has to say but you can’t deny he says it well.
