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Poor old Michael Foot, being compared to bad-enough bad-enoch Badenoch.
He was a decent man, intellectual and a formidable orator; but a leader he defintely wasn’t.
He was a talented man however I recall seeing an interview with him in a duffle coat … buttoned up wrongly , he could never have been a PM and Thatcher knew that
Pick 3 on Saturday champion 2025/2026
Someone who can’t do up their duffle coat or someone who was hell-bent on stripping society to its bare bones?
Tough choice.
He was a talented man however I recall seeing an interview with him in a duffle coat … buttoned up wrongly
He also got a bollocking from those shallow types for whom appearance outweighs intellect for wearing a green donkey jacket at the cenotaph on Remembrance Sunday.
He suffered from asthma and itchy eczema which broadcast itself as a somewhat tetchy breathlessness and twitchiness, which was rather cruelly preyed upon by his detractors.
Private Eye always referred to him as Worzel
This trial is due to start tomorrow:
He couldn’t have represented the UK on the international stage , it may sound shallow but you do have to look the part , Labour really should have went with someone like Healey however let’s be honest most just didn’t want Benn getting control ( my favourite Benn story is he did the contract for Concorde , watertight to make the French couldn’t opt out , years later when we wanted out as costs spiralled out of control we tried to get out and the French laughed pulling out said contract and the saying we don’t think so )
Pick 3 on Saturday champion 2025/2026
Talking of Concorde , watch this on a example of how to deal with the US , after the US canx the Boeing supersonic project many were against Concorde with all sort of complaints inc getting the public on board to complain on noise and pollution , enter the PR guys to save the day …. what a machine , outside space stuff the greatest most advanced machine created , it still looks stunning today
Pick 3 on Saturday champion 2025/2026
Labour really should have went with someone like Healey however let’s be honest most just didn’t want Benn getting control
Agreed, Healey should have been leader though he was tainted by the runaway inflation and necessity for an IMF Loan when Chancellor in the mid ’70s. A tough old bruiser who would have given Thatcher a hard time.
I’m sure you remember but for those who weren’t around at the time Foot’s 1983 election manifesto was described as ‘the longest suicide note in history’, by another Labour MP Gerald Kaufman, if memory serves.
Like Michael Foot, Tony Benn was another I always enjoyed listening to, despite them inhabiting a left-wing la-la land that didn’t – and never will – appeal to more than a minority of the electorate.
As for appearance it amused me that Jeremy Corbyn had something of a makeover on becoming leader: hair and beard neatly trimmed, and crumpled fawn jackets replaced with sober ironed grey ones. Though he seems to have reverted to the retired geography teacher look now he’s returned to the back benches
“As for appearance it amused me that Jeremy Corbyn had something of a makeover on becoming leader”
A sad reflection on the superficiality of modern society.
A good documentary that, thanks
‘Dear Mr. President, please could I land my noisy, smelly aeroplane in your country’ Private Eye at the time of negotiations with the USA
A tad hypocritical of the demonstrators at JFK blocking the roads with their huge fume-belching gas-guzzlers
Concorde was a magnificent piece of engineering, epitomising Harold Wilson’s embrace of ‘the white heat of technology’, though the fact that Boeing never bothered with designing a supersonic passenger plane speaks volumes, and of course no one has built one in the 60 or so years since Concorde was launched, save for the ill-fated Russian ‘Concordski’, the prototype of which crashed at an air show and was promptly cancelled.
There were only around 20 ever built, far removed from the 350 planned when devised in the ’60s
Just a beautiful plaything for the rich really. Breakfast in London, then breakfast again in New York: what jolly good fun
It did make a dreadful racket on take-off. I was staying with friends in Reading when one took off from nearby Heathrow. ‘What the hell is that’ I asked ‘It’s effing Concorde’ came the weary reply.
I’ll never forget the horror of that Concorde crash, though. We were on holiday in Greece at the time and I was even more scared than usual at the thought of flying home. I was a Michael Foot supporter back in the day ( I treasure a letter I received from him) but it did shape my political thinking in that I realised I should have supported Healey. Then again I did support Ed over David, yet another catastrophic misjudgement.
Like anything it’s all about money and as I understand it, Concorde was only able to do supersonic speeds over the ocean. That seriously limits its viability.
I have heard it wasn’t actually that comfortable either. Those with the money would probably rather spend it on a business or first class ticket on a traditional plane.
A magnificent piece of engineering nonetheless.
I was born in 77 so my interest is from bios I’ve read and docs I’ve seen , politics in the 70s/80s with the cold war background particularly interest me , Wilson is a maligned PM but looking back now I think he did a very decent job at a difficult time , he handled Nixon and Vietnam superbly , Callaghan sadly didn’t read the room , the winter of discontent was Labour’s death nell and by god they paid for it
Pick 3 on Saturday champion 2025/2026
Concorde was only able to do supersonic speeds over the ocean. That seriously limits its viability.
Due to sonic booms which can damage buildings – particularly windows – and scare the wits out of the public. Likewise, airforce jets are not permitted to fly supersonically over land, except in times of emergency.
I have heard it wasn’t actually that comfortable either. Those with the money would probably rather spend it on a business or first class ticket on a traditional plane.
Reminds me of standard (cattle) class on Cross Country Voyager trains, which always give me back ache
It could set car alarms off on take off , what a thing though , sod the noise if I’d have lived there id have watched it everyday
The Vulcan sounded evil on take off , those Rolls Royce screaming , I remember one flying over me when I was around 6 , absolutely terrified me …in a good way , sadly XH558 can only taxi now
Pick 3 on Saturday champion 2025/2026
I used to see Concorde most days when I lived in South West London. You could set your watch by it when it flew overhead on the approach to Heathrow. If I stood on the balcony outside my flat, I used to get a perfect view.
It has to be said it was very noisy. I always heard it before I saw it.
“As I understand it, Concorde was only able to do supersonic speeds over the ocean. That seriously limits its viability.”
It wasn’t able to do long haul flights. As such, no other airlines wanted to buy the aircraft. It was a great piece of engineering but a commercial failure and something of a white elephant.
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