Neil Kinnock comes from the same part of the world as me, just up the valley in Bedwellty. As a past leader of the Labour party he was much maligned as a old-fashioned socialist and as a threat to the British way of life. Some of this antipathy was based purely on snobbery - he was from working class stock and he did not sound like someone who could be taken seriously as a senior politician. The perils of having a Welsh accent! Despite having a tendency to liking the sound of his own voice and never knowingly using one word when ten were available, he was an extremely good orator and, on his best days, could hold an audience in the palm of his hands. Here are a couple of quotes from him:
Relevant to my post of yesterday: "Do something that makes a difference - because, by God, there's a lot to make you angry".
As relevant to Cameron today as it was when he was talking about the Thatcher government: "I warn you not to be ordinary, I warn you not to be young, I warn you not to fall ill, and I warn you not to grow old.
Perhaps one day we'll come to appreciate the prescience of the man?
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