John Cole - As It Seemed To Me

When we cleared my Dad's house, there were a few books that I wanted to read before passing on or tossing out. One of these was an early biography of Tony Blair, before he became Prime Minister, which I haven't posted about, and there is this one, 'As It Seemed To Me' by ex BBC political correspondent, John Cole, who was a regular fixture on TV during the eighties and early nineties. So much so that the satirical TV programme, Spitting Image, parodied him.

His memories are interesting, though quite dry. He clearly is a decent guy who doesn't want to offend and treads lightly when he is in disagreement with something, for example Thatcherite policies. There is a really interesting section in which he divides politicians of all persuasions into two groups. One for whom "events fortify their original political creeds or prejudices" and others for whom their dogmas are refined or modified by experience. He clearly prefers the latter category.

It is also interesting looking back at the huge difference between the 1970's and the Labour (and to a lesser degree Conservative) attempts to deal with double digit inflation, having to negotiate incomes policy with the unions on an ongoing basis and compare that with the issues under the Thatcher governments who applied a monetary solution to economic problems, causing immense hardship in certain areas, and didn't try to reach an accommodation with the unions but instead defeat them. The difference between the two periods is even bigger for me due to my associations with each era. Bushy sideburns, glam rock and flared trousers in the early 1970s. As I was young is it all a bit 'grainy' in my memory as well as on the re-runs of the TV quality from that time. By the time we get to the 1980s it is straight jeans, post punk, even New Romantic dress sense, big shoulder pads and a sense of sometimes absurd fun and pretension.