O
Oswestrian
Guest
Keir Starmer recently stated in his speech before Labour Party's conference in Brighton the following words:
“Let me quote what the Prime Minister said to the United Nations last week: “ “We believe that someone else will clear up the mess we make because that is what someone else has always done.” ” Well Prime Minister, either get a grip or get out of the way and let us clear up this mess.”
What is absolutely unbelievable is that Keir Starmer completely quoted Boris Johnson OUT OF CONTEXT. Whether he had read The Prime Minister’s speech to the United Nations General Assembly or not is irrelevant. His speech writer and his team should have checked the quote that Keir Starmer used before addressing the conference. Starmer’s Boris Johnson’s UN speech citation is in fact so out of context that is can ONLY be seen as either a very careless (and thus incompetent) oversight on his part or worse, such a blatant and gross misrepresentation of reported speech that it can only be qualified as dishonest.
This is what Boris Johnson said in the opening remarks of his 2,180 word speech. The passage quoted by Keir Starmer is underlined.
“Mr President, Your Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen.
An inspection of the fossil record over the last 178
million years – since mammals first appeared – reveals
that the average mammalian species exists for about a
million years before it evolves into something else or
vanishes into extinction.
Of our allotted lifespan of a million, humanity has been
around for about 200,000.
In other words, we are still collectively a youngster.
If you imagine that million years as the lifespan of an
individual human being – about eighty years – then we are
now sweet 16.
We have come to that fateful age when we know roughly
how to drive and we know how to unlock the drinks
cabinet and to engage in all sorts of activity that is not only
potentially embarrassing but also terminal.
In the words of the Oxford philosopher Toby Ord “we are
just old enough to get ourselves into serious trouble”.
We still cling with part of our minds to the infantile belief
that the world was made for our gratification and pleasure
and we combine this narcissism with an assumption of our
own immortality.
We believe that someone else will clear up the mess we
make, because that is what someone else has always done.
We trash our habitats again and again with the inductive
reasoning that we have got away with it so far, and
therefore we will get away with it again.”
“Let me quote what the Prime Minister said to the United Nations last week: “ “We believe that someone else will clear up the mess we make because that is what someone else has always done.” ” Well Prime Minister, either get a grip or get out of the way and let us clear up this mess.”
What is absolutely unbelievable is that Keir Starmer completely quoted Boris Johnson OUT OF CONTEXT. Whether he had read The Prime Minister’s speech to the United Nations General Assembly or not is irrelevant. His speech writer and his team should have checked the quote that Keir Starmer used before addressing the conference. Starmer’s Boris Johnson’s UN speech citation is in fact so out of context that is can ONLY be seen as either a very careless (and thus incompetent) oversight on his part or worse, such a blatant and gross misrepresentation of reported speech that it can only be qualified as dishonest.
This is what Boris Johnson said in the opening remarks of his 2,180 word speech. The passage quoted by Keir Starmer is underlined.
“Mr President, Your Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen.
An inspection of the fossil record over the last 178
million years – since mammals first appeared – reveals
that the average mammalian species exists for about a
million years before it evolves into something else or
vanishes into extinction.
Of our allotted lifespan of a million, humanity has been
around for about 200,000.
In other words, we are still collectively a youngster.
If you imagine that million years as the lifespan of an
individual human being – about eighty years – then we are
now sweet 16.
We have come to that fateful age when we know roughly
how to drive and we know how to unlock the drinks
cabinet and to engage in all sorts of activity that is not only
potentially embarrassing but also terminal.
In the words of the Oxford philosopher Toby Ord “we are
just old enough to get ourselves into serious trouble”.
We still cling with part of our minds to the infantile belief
that the world was made for our gratification and pleasure
and we combine this narcissism with an assumption of our
own immortality.
We believe that someone else will clear up the mess we
make, because that is what someone else has always done.
We trash our habitats again and again with the inductive
reasoning that we have got away with it so far, and
therefore we will get away with it again.”