balls

a couple of days ago there was an interview with ed balls in the independent. in it he said “i'm more of a risk taker. in fairness to gordon he did take big risks but he agonised about them...”

now i know the macho strain in politics makes it almost impossible for politicians not to try to be tougher than the last guy. there are times when it just comes across as not just empty posturing but also as witless.
for me this is one of those times.

as ed balls was one of gordon brown’s closes allies in the labour government i am guessing that the point of his quote is to put a little distance between him and mr. brown. ed balls isn’t going to dither, he is going to be decisive. fair enough.
call me old fashioned, call me stupid but i have to say i am quite relieved that gordon brown agonised over big decisions, that he didn’t act rashly or without a lot of thought.
why?

because leaders of parties and countries are not playing a game of cards where all that is at stake is the pot on the table and the risk just relates to the person playing the game.
perhaps the reason gordon brown (and i am guessing several other prime ministers) agonised over his decision is that he understood that the choices he made affected the whole of the population and as such shouldn’t be taken lightly.
so ed, if you happen to be reading this (and i am sure you are) if you really want to convince people that you are ready to lead the labour party stop pretending to be so fucking rough and tough, realise that politics is a game, it isn’t. trust me ed we will think much better of you if we know you are thinking about the decisions you are making and that you are giving them some consideration rather than taking a risk on flipping a coin.