Language and Oratory

I don't know if you caught "Yes We Can: The Lost Art of Oratory" on BBC2 last night (you can watch it here on BBC iPlayer if you missed it).

I'd suggest it as a must-watch for any politico (so, probably, you if you read this blog!) who is interested in how politicians shape their message. It's also probably pretty interesting for fans of The West Wing (oh, how I miss it!) with a couple of clips from the show used to illustrate points.

Here's one quote from President Bartlet on the show, used in the documentary to illustrate just how oratory works. I think it captures the point beautifully.

"Words, words, when spoken out loud for the sake of performance are music. They have rhythm and pitch and timbre and volume. These are the properties of music and music has the ability to find us and move us and lift us up in ways that literal meaning can't."

That, for me, is what a good speech does. It rises and falls with crescendo and diminuendo. It has a flowing melody and takes you on a journey from start to finish. And a good orator will use the same techniques that a musician will to maintain your attention.

Anyway, the point is, if you have a spare hour, watch the documentary. It is pretty good.

Alternatively, if you only have five minutes, you can watch this Fry and Laurie sketch with Stephen Fry using language to tie himself in knots. Kinda makes the same point (I think - if you look close enough!).

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Ferguson & McGregor banned for life

Sorry to have two back-to-back posts about sport, but that's just how it happens sometimes.

The Scottish Football Association have banned Rangers pair Allan McGregor and Barry Ferguson from playing for Scotland again after they went on a drinking session at the weekend and subsequently made offensive gestures from the bench during the Scotland-Iceland match on Wednesday.

To be honest, it won't make a huge amount of difference. McGregor has been in decent form for Rangers this season - which is why he started the match in Holland ahead of Craig Gordon - but that was only his fourth cap. Ferguson, the Rangers captain (and indeed, Scotland captain when he can be bothered showing up) has won 45 caps but prior to the Holland match had only played once in Scotland's previous 6 matches.

It also appears that Rangers have suspended both players, fined them and are looking to sell them at the end of the season. A hard-line stance from both club and country.

As a Celtic fan, I've never been a fan of Barry Ferguson - either for club or country - but these latest incidents prove beyond all doubt that the guy is not worthy of a Scotland berth. Arguably Scotland's better performances have come when he has been out injured (though recovering miraculously in time to play for Rangers at the weekend) and I think his playing time may have been limited in the future anyway with the emergence of Scott Brown as a talent at international level.

As for McGregor, he was always going to be back-up to Craig Gordon as Scotland's number one, and he was a great talent to have as a back-up. Now I guess we'll have to be a wee bit wary if Gordon gets injured.

Congrats to both the SFA and Rangers for acting decisively (for perhaps the first time ever in the SFA's case!) and banning these idiots.

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He Hadd his chance

Those of you who have no interest in rugby/ are huge Frank Hadden fans may wish to look away.

I'm pretty glad the SRU and Hadden decided to part ways.

Here is Hadden's record in charge of Scotland:

Played: 41 (plus match against Barbarians)
Wins: 16
Losses: 25

of those, 20 were Six Nations matches, with a win loss record of 6-14. We're now ranked lower (10th) in the IRB World Rankings than we were under Hadden's predecessor, Matt Williams (he won only 3 matches out of 17). But stats only take you so far. If I list our results under Hadden, you'll see why the 16 wins are even less impressive (wins in bold):

2005 Summer Tests

Scotland 38-7 Barbarians

Romania 19-39 Scotland

2005 Autumn Tests

Scotland 19-23 Argentina

Scotland 18-11 Samoa

Scotland 10-29 New Zealand

2006 Six Nations

Scotland 20-16 France

Wales 28-18 Scotland

Scotland 18-12 England

Ireland 15-9 Scotland

Italy 10-13 Scotland

2006 Summer Tour

South Africa 36-16 Scotland

South Africa 29-15 Scotland

2006 Autumn Tests

Scotland 48-6 Romania

Scotland 34-22 Pacific Islanders

Scotland 15-44 Australia

2007 Six Nations

England 42-20Scotland

Scotland 21-9 Wales

Scotland 17-37 Italy

Scotland 18-19 Ireland

France 46-19 Scotland

2007 RWC Warm-ups

Scotland 31-21 Ireland

Scotland 3-27 South Africa

2007 Rugby World Cup

Scotland 56-10 Portugal

Scotland 42-0 Romania

Scotland 0-40 New Zealand

Scotland 18-16 Italy

Scotland 13-19 Argentina

2008 Six Nations

Scotland 6-27 France

Wales 30-15 Scotland

Ireland 34-13 Scotland

Scotland 13-9 England

Italy 23-20 Scotland

2008 Summer Tour

Argentina 21-15 Scotland

Argentina 14-26 Scotland

2008 Autumn Tests

Scotland 6-32 New Zealand

Scotland 10-14 South Africa

Scotland 41-0 Canada

2009 Six Nations

Scotland 13-26 Wales

France 22-13 Scotland

Scotland 26-6 Italy

Scotland 15-22 Ireland

England 26-12 Scotland

Only 6 of those wins came in the Six Nations (England twice, Italy twice, Wales and France once each) while the "mighty" Canada, Portugal, Romania (3), Pacific Islanders, Italy (RWC) and Samoa make up half of the winning statistics. A good win in Argentina (apparently orchestrated by Sean Lineen and Andy Robinson) and a pre-World Cup win against an experimenting Irish side is hardly a record to write home about.

Yes, there have been near misses. A 10-0 half-time lead against South Africa squandered last year. Marginal defeats in Six Nations matches where, with a better bounce of the ball, we may have won. And he said the right things too.

After four years in charge though, more was rightfully expected from Hadden and Scotland, and he failed to deliver. The SRU got it right - it is time to allow someone else to have a go at making our - undoubtedly talented - side into winners.

The question is - who?

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Professing to help

You may remember the SNP's nutty professor, Chris Harvie MSP, getting into a bit of bother over comments suggesting that Lockerbie, in the south of Scotland, was a "dump" and "Tescotown" in reference to that particular town requiring some form of regeneration.

One of the first (of the many) to criticise the Harvie for his comments was South of Scotland Tory MSP Derek Brownlee, calling it an "appalling insult."

You may also remember that the Tories pushed town regeneration as part of their support for the SNP budget this year.

Interesting then, that the result of a wee survey that the Scottish Tories conducted, asking people to nominate towns across Scotland for regeneration has been announced.

The town with the most nominations for regeneration?

You've guessed it - Lockerbie.

Maybe Harvie had a point after all. Perhaps he might have phrased it better...

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