Peter Rhodes on war cries, Rwanda and a new job for Mr McFadden
A golden rule of journalism is not to use words that send readers rushing for the dictionary, especially twice in the same phrase. One of Fleet Street's finest describes Keir Starmer as “a vacillating bloviator.” I assume this means the PM has a private flying licence.
Another rule of journalism is to remember the things you get right while forgetting the things you get wrong. In April 2022 I wrote: “Something must be done about the Channel people-smuggling trade. But if sending migrants to Rwanda is the answer, I'm Ramsay MacDonald.”
Now that the Rwanda plan has been scrapped after the British taxpayer has built so many chic hotels, canteens and sports facilities in Kigali, we might see a sudden rush of cheap holiday offers: See beautiful Rwanda – now with a two-way ticket.
If Prince William were questioned, in the calm of a TV studio, about the true value of sport, he'd probably trot out the old British stuff about taking part being more important than winning. And then we saw his reaction to England's goal against Switzerland.
This was no celebration of good sportsmanship or jolly competition. It was a full-throated, red-mist, throbbing-vein war cry, the sort of kill-the-enemy roar that has echoed over battlefields for centuries as soldiers slashed, smashed and crushed the other lot in pursuit of money, honour and the hand of a beautiful princess. In that one fiery moment, HRH did well to remind us that sport, no matter how sportingly pursued, is no more than ritualised warfare.
Good to see the soft-spoken, coolly efficient and mildly sinister Pat McFadden in the new Cabinet as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. I only met him once, on a flight home from Poland, but he was good company and talked about life in Westminster frankly, thoughtfully and without a hint of ego. Mind you, we had both spent the day on a tour of Auschwitz which tends to makes us all a bit more thoughtful.
The dictionary definition of “vacillating bloviator?” It is “one who wavers between different opinions or actions while talking at length, especially in an inflated or empty way .” So nothing to do with microlights, then?
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