As usual British politics lags behind the United
States, in particular one of its arch exponents of politics Bill Clinton. Now
let me get my disclaimer out of the way to start with. I think that Bill
Clinton is a deeply flawed character with a moral approach that is at best
questionable. However he is an undisputed master politician. He perfected an
approach to questions from a panel of voters. It was revolutionary at the time
in 1992. When asked a question about what they would do for the economy the
typical response at the time was to talk about policy in the macro scale.
Clinton instead walked over to the panellist; ask them their name, what they
did, and then what problems they were facing. He then addressed the panellist
by name and then he talked about how his policies would address the panellist’s
problems. By doing so he showed great empathy and a feeling that he understood
real people’s problems, and did not just have a politician’s helicopter view of
life.
So when I was watching a politician on our local news
programme the approach leapt out at me. He was asked the somewhat bewildering
question as to what he considered a small business. He immediately addressed
the guy by name and then asked what he did. The fact that the panellist was an
idiot, Tory stooge was irrelevant. Absolute classic Clintonian politics.
By the way today is a red-letter day for dairy
farmers, the European Community wide cap on production has been lifted, it was
originally imposed to cut the EU milk lake. In practice it has meant that EU
farmers have not been able to compete in emerging markets, particularly China
and South East Asia. Apparently the Australians and New Zealanders are beating
us to it. Thinking about it isn’t it nearer and so cheaper (I am no expert on
milk economics). Anyway it means in particular that EU dairy farmers will be
able to turn surplus milk into butter etc…. Apparently Irish farmers are
partying all the way to Limerick.
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