“The colour and flavour of politics, the human dynamics, and the absurdity of it all frequently gets lost in the grind of daily news coverage”
- Author James McLeod
James McLeod has been The Telegram’s political reporter for
the past eight years. As such, his job is to report the hard news – nothing but
the facts!
If covering the news is akin to
writing the first draft of history, McLeod’s Turmoil As
Usual: Politics in Newfoundland and Labrador and the Road to the 2015 Election is the second draft.
McLeod
is not some armchair pundit, or anonymous social media commentator. He has had the best seat in the house over the period he writes about and has earned
the right to pass on some riveting commentary.
I
loved his writing style – full of wit, sarcasm and lots of clichés.
Unshackled
from the restraints of daily news coverage which the author states “can be
frantic and hard boiled, and it can obscure the larger narrative”, he builds on
the narrative of the stories he has written on over the period from the fall of
2011 up to the 2015 provincial election.
McLeod provides a not too particularly
flattering (or totally unfamiliar) portrait of the serious business of
politics in this province with balance, nuance and multi dimensionality. It is refreshing, brutal and depressing.
He offers an intellectually honest, frank assessment of the key events, actors and outcomes of a particularly turbulent period of time that produced five premiers (and one premier designate), caucus revolts, four party leadership contests, controversial public policy debacles and the emergence of an unparalleled financial crisis.
I particularly liked how he offers
alternative approaches that politicians could have used to explain thorny
issues like Bill 29, Dark NL, the NDP caucus revolt and the Liberal’s failure
to be accountable about fundraising. For
example, in Chapter Six “Power Crisis”
he offers a translation of what Kathy Dunderdale said, what she meant to
say, what people heard and how she might have approached it better.
His
dismissal of nuisance leadership candidates and the NDP as a political force
are sure to ruffle some feathers but he calls it as he sees it. More often than
not he is right on the money. The truth hurts!
As an opinion journalist, he helps readers think about the news, events,
egos, missteps, hypocrisy, the role of fundraising, the intellectual bankruptcy
of the province’s political parties, shallow ideologies, shifting allegiances
and the shell game which characterizes politics in this province.
For those of you that live outside the political bubble, he offers
astute glimpses of how democracy really works here. The desperation to cling to
power, the machinery employed to wrestle power away, the insincere talk of
transparency and accountability and the herd mentality of donors, particularly businesses.
Frankly, as entertaining as some of his anecdotes are, this book is a damming indictment which exposes the
democratic deficit that exists in Newfoundland and Labrador.
Not only is the emperor shown to have no clothing, the entire court is
naked as well.
After reading this book, I understand why 47% of eligible voters stayed home in a supposed " change election."
After reading this book, I understand why 47% of eligible voters stayed home in a supposed " change election."
Pick it-up,read it and discuss it.
I promise you will not regret it.
I promise you will not regret it.
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