The Standard Of Debate Is Rising..

Just watched Rory Stewart on Peston. He spoke really well and made quite a sensible plea for trying to continue with the May deal going forward. Christ, I think he's possibly even beginning to win me over. Were it not for the citizen's assembly nonsense I'd be even more swayed. Perhaps the memes are working. I'll stick with my hopes that Leadsom gets the job for the time being though, even if it is looking like she has little support at present.

Today I also watched the following debate in the House of Commons between Stewart and Rees-Mogg over human rights. It's from a few years back, but it was my first viewing of it.

(Jacob Rees-Mogg and Rory Stewart

Debate Human Rights)

It was a truly fascinating watch. Made me proud to be British. Both men spoke excellently. The discussion was over whether parliament should be the ultimate lawmaker in the land, or whether it should be subservient to wider European and international human rights agreements/rulings.

On balance I very much came down on Mogg's side. I won't go into the topic in detail here, but ultimately it is a question of who makes the law. Even if there is such a thing as a truly moral and logical set of laws who decides if that is correct or not? And with what authority? Ultimately parliament has to be sovereign and answerable to the public. It's a social organism that constantly evolves and adapts to marry practical (political) needs with collective moral sentiment. Judges in their wisdom alone are not enough.

Stewart made a very powerful argument though. I felt quite inferior. I wish I could speak a fraction as well as these two men. It really is a testament to a proper education I guess. I think standard state schooling should attempt to emulate the public schools in this regard. Difficult though that would be.

Currently there's simply a complete lack of focus on public speaking in standard state education. Perhaps this is the way it's supposed to be. Maybe such a focus is supposed to be the sole reserve of the "leadership" class.

I remember my own schooling. I left with excellent GCSE results, but truly awful social and speaking skills. Being the quiet, studious child in the class meant that my verbal skills were very much suppressed. I think for many people it's the same. With school tending to offer a choice between being sociable and being academic. It's very difficult for both sides of the personality to flourish in such an environment. Plus teachers tend to want their children to be quiet. It's what good, well behaved children are supposed to do.

Also, there are repercussions if a school gets poor maths or English results, but no one's really checking or measuring the speaking ability and confidence levels of the children. So standard schooling probably tends to be a bit self-defeating on the whole.

Another factor is the prejudice towards those that are privately educated. Like in the discussion regarding Margaret Thatcher a few posts back, where I noted the antipathy towards the Conservatives that the left are inculcated with. Similarly many normal and lower class people tend to hate or decry the Eton brigade, and dream of destroying that "privileged" way of educating children. This attitude however stops people from lower down the social ladder from learning from and admiring the benefits that come with such an education.

Being working class myself I don't take joy in stating this, but the difference in both education and intelligence between those on the Tory side of the House of Commons and those on the opposing benches seems quite stark at the moment. I really can't imagine such a debate as the one above taking place between two politicians from any other party.

Then again though, there are plenty of normal people out there in Brexit-land making the exact same argument as Jacob Rees-Mogg, with the exact same logic. Just with much less poetry and eloquence.