I was looking back, just because I was interested, at the Rivers of Blood speech made by Enoch Powell. You can argue about what he said, and if it was racist or if it wasn't. But even if you forget the meaning of the speech. That speech was made nearly 60 years ago now. The man wrote and delivered a speech that still holds huge power, even today. The words he chose to use were beautiful and powerful. You can agree or disagree with them, but he was an absolute intellectual powerhouse. Just read this
"Let no one suppose that the flow of dependents will automatically tail off. On the contrary, even at the present admission rate of only 5,000 a year by voucher, there is sufficient for a further 25,000 dependents per annum ad infinitum, without taking into account the huge reservoir of existing relations in this country - and I am making no allowance at all for fraudulent entry. In these circumstances nothing will suffice but that the total inflow for settlement should be reduced at once to negligible proportions, and that the necessary legislative and administrative measures be taken without delay."
The oratorical skills are on a completely different level. Now here's Churchill delivering a fucking masterclass
"Turning once again, and this time more generally, to the question of invasion, I would observe that there has never been a period in all these long centuries of which we boast when an absolute guarantee against invasion, still less against serious raids, could have been given to our people. In the days of Napoleon the same wind which would have carried his transports across the Channel might have driven away the blockading fleet. There was always the chance, and it is that chance which has excited and befooled the imaginations of many Continental tyrants. Many are the tales that are told. We are assured that novel methods will be adopted, and when we see the originality of malice, the ingenuity of aggression, which our enemy displays, we may certainly prepare ourselves for every kind of novel stratagem and every kind of brutal and treacherous maneuver."
Here's a Starmer speech
"Doreen, thank you for your kind words. Thank you for everything you’ve done for criminal justice. Thank you for everything you’ve done for our party. I’m so proud to call you my friend. Thank you, Doreen. And conference, let me take this first opportunity to thank my brilliant shadow cabinet and shadow Lords team for everything that they have done in the last 18 months. Thank you so much, colleagues.And Louise Ellman, welcome home. This hasn’t always been an easy conference. Sunday was particularly nerve-wracking, but then the results started coming through, Arsenal three, Tottenham one.
Conference, before I start, let me tackle the issue of the day head on. If you go outside and walk along the seafront, it won’t be long before you get to a petrol station that’s got no fuel. Level up? You can’t even fill up."
One of these days I think I'll see if I can do a statistical comparison of these two. But the difference is patent. Keir sounds probably at least 20-30 IQ points below Powell in comprehension and breadth of vocabulary. There are only 60 years between these speeches and yet our politicians have fallen so far. You listen to him, Johnson, Sunak, May etc. They sound like fucking retards. It's like comparing Dickens to Stephen King