Making the news today....

[Mark J]

Obama was very polished when it came to using his mouth. Trouble is, it's more than just talk that is needed from politicians.

 

 

Timon.

 

Obama was a murderer who ordered more drone strikes etc than any other US President.

 

Can't really compare him with Corbyn who hasn't actually ordered the death of anyone.

[matelot]

Thinking about it we should all vote for Corbyn. This is a forum dedicated to trees.

 

Corbyn could employ us all to plant magic money trees.

[Mark J]

Former British Ambassador Craig Murray has this to say about May.

 

"All of which underlines a thought that has been pulling at me ever since the election started. May has continually tried to pitch this as a question of who you would wish to act as the negotiator of Brexit, either her or Jeremy Corbyn. But why would anybody believe that a woman who is not even capable to debate with her opponents would be a good negotiator?

 

In fact she would be an appalling negotiator. She becomes completely closed off when contradicted. She is incapable of thinking on her feet. She is undoubtedly the worst performer at Prime Minister’s Questions, either for government or opposition, since they were first broadcast. Why on earth would anybody think she would be a good negotiator? As soon as Michel Barnier made a point she was not expecting across the table, she would switch off and revert to cliché, and probably give off a great deal of hostility too.

 

The delusion she would negotiate well has been fed by the media employing all kinds of completely inappropriate metaphors for the Brexit negotiations. From metaphors of waging war to metaphors of playing poker, they all characterise the process as binary and aggressive.

 

In fact – and I speak as somebody who has undertaken very serious international negotiations, including of the UK maritime boundaries and as the Head of UK Delegation to the Sierra Leone Peace Talks – intenational negotiation is the opposite. It is a cooperative process and not a confrontational process. Almost all negotiations cover a range of points, and they work on the basis of you give a bit there, and I give a bit here. Each side has its bottom lines, subjects on which it cannot move at all or move but to a limited degree. Sometimes on a single subject two “bottom lines” can be in direct conflict. Across the whole range of thousands of subjects, you are trying to find a solution all can live with.

 

So empathy with your opposite number is a key requirement in a skilled negotiator, and everything I have ever seen about Theresa May marks her out as perhaps having less emotional intelligence than anybody I have ever observed. Bonhommie is also important. Genuine friendship can be a vital factor in reaching agreement, and it can happen in unexpected ways. But May has never been able to strike up friendships outside of a social circle limited to a very particular segment of English society, excluding the vast majority of the English, let alone Scots and heaven forfend continentals. The best negotiators have affability, or at least the ability to switch it on. It is a vital tool.

 

That is not to say occasionally you do not have to speak and stare hard to make plain that one of your bottom lines is real. But that is by no means the norm. And you need the intelligence and sharpness to carry it off, which May does not. That is one of the many differences between May and Thatcher.

 

Frankly, if I had the choice between sending in Jeremy Corbyn, with his politeness and reasonableness, or Theresa May, into a negotiation I would not hesitate for a second in choosing Corbyn. I am quite sure there is not another diplomat in the World who would make a different choice. May’s flakiness and intolerance of disagreement represent a disaster waiting to happen."

[matelot]

I noticed you summed May's positions up too:

 

She hasn't got any!

 

Just listen to what Corbyn has to say. He wants an EU deal no matter what the cost.

 

It's bizarre, imagine going to a car dealership and saying you want to buy a car no matter what the cost:

 

Corbyn: I've come to buy a car.

Car dealership: Well you've come to the right place

Corbyn: I will buy a car no matter what the cost.

Car dealership: Ohhh

Corbyn: How much is that car?

Car Dealer: £50 billion.

Corbyn: That seems a lot, it says it cost £1000 on the windscreen.

Car dealership: It's now £60 billion.

Corbyn: Will you take a cheque?

[Mark J]

Just listen to what Corbyn has to say. He wants an EU deal no matter what the cost.

 

It's bizarre, imagine going to a car dealership and saying you want to buy a car no matter what the cost:

 

Corbyn: I've come to buy a car.

Car dealership: Well you've come to the right place

Corbyn: I will buy a car no matter what the cost.

Car dealership: Ohhh

Corbyn: How much is that car?

Car Dealer: £50 billion.

Corbyn: That seems a lot, it says it cost £1000 on the windscreen.

Car dealership: It's now £60 billion.

Corbyn: Will you take a cheque?

 

 

May: I've come to buy a car.

Car dealership: Well you've come to the right place

May: I'm not paying for ir.

Car dealership: Ohhh

May: I want that one.

Car Dealer: You can't just have one without paying.

May: Then I'll leave without one.

Car dealership: I thought you wanted a car.

May: Car means Car.

 

You obviously didn't listen to what he was saying or you wouldn't have written your daft summary.

Edited May 30, 2017 by Mark J

[matelot]

You obviously didn't listen to what he was saying or you wouldn't have written your daft summary.

 

Well why don't you educate me Mark?

 

Corbyn wants to give EU migrants the right to stay in the UK the day after he become PM. What type of negotiator gives away one of his biggest concessions without getting anything back?

 

No one apart from Labour supporters and children would thing that's a good idea.

[skyhuck]

Anyone else here Corbyn on Woman's hour? Oh dear what a shambles.

 

Why are labour offering free childcare to all?

 

Why should the taxpayer look after the children of yummy mummy's while they go off and shop?

[Mark J]

Well why don't you educate me Mark?

 

 

I think you're beyond help.

 

I don't need to go through the list you made, anyone with half a brain can find out the actual positions on these things themselves.

[matelot]

May: I've come to buy a car.

Car dealership: Well you've come to the right place

May: I'm not paying for ir.

Car dealership: Ohhh

May: I want that one.

Car Dealer: You can't just have one without paying.

May: Then I'll leave without one.

Car dealership: I thought you wanted a car.

May: Car means Car.

 

Mark, but that's exactly what people do to get a good deal....

 

Have you ever haggled over the price of something?

[Mark J]

Mark, but that's exactly what people do to get a good deal....

 

Have you ever haggled over the price of something?

 

How often do you get the thing you're haggling for for free?

 

[ame]

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