Having used the neat alliterative phrase ‘decade of debt’ early in his reply to Mr Darling’s Budget speech on Wednesday, David Cameron returned to it in the second part of a contrast as he began to wind up his reply.
He then followed it up with another contrast between the last Labour government and this one, a repetitively constructed three-part list and a question – technically* pretty faultless, and hardly surprising that he was rewarded with a good deal of positive media coverage.
CAMERON:
[A] The last Labour government gave us the Winter of Discontent.
[B] This Labour Government has given us the Decade of Debt.
[A] The last Labour Government left the dead unburied.
[B] This one leaves the debts unpaid.
[1] They sit there, running out of money,
[2] running out of moral authority,
[3] running out of time.
[Q] And you have to ask yourself what on earth is the point of another fourteen months of this Government of the living dead?
(* More on these rhetorical techniques and how to use them can be found in my books Lend Me Your Ears and Speech-making and Presentation Made Easy).
1 comment:
Dear Max,
On speaking, I have no doubt you know your stuff. How about on visual ?
You blog header is a mess.
jottings on public speaking, presentation, conversation
and anything else that occurs to me about communication
(or life in general)
This is how I suggest you break the 3 lines - unless Big Ben still intrudes, in which case possibly break the line after "presentation"
Alan Douglas (I would have emailed, but cannot find a link) Feel free to not publish, or delete, I was really only trying to reach you.
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