I'm not sure about Ed Miliband yet, he seems OK from what little I've heard of his speeches but then again Blair sounded OK in the beginning. In the press today he claims to be taking Labour down a new path, away from the Blair-Brown era; a new generation, new thinking, new politics, but then they all say that. What intrigues me is that according to the Guardian he's a "Jewish Atheist" which I assume to mean an Atheist of Jewish heritage (although why that would be different from a non-Jewish Atheist I'm not sure?) and he's the first party leader who's a father but not married, this is encouraging, he clearly doesn't pander to tradition.
What with Clegg and Miliband officially non-believers and Cameron only paying it lip service that's 2 out of three of our top politicians batting for the rational team and one on the fence, all this and not a goose step, Gulag or cultural revolution in sight, how strange?
7 comments:
A Jewish atheist, eh? thanks for this post as I didn't know that. I have lost all interest in Labour, new or otherwise, these days though (except for moving Tony Blair's memoir into the Crime section).
E, you're just a rebel! :)
Hi Steve
Being Jewish means, among other things, that his family escaped from the Nazis. That's pretty relevant, I reckon. From the non-religious Jewish people I know, they also still tend to have a respect for Jewish customs, even where they don't necessarily believe in the religious underpinnings.
cheers
Gary
...although, being the good ex-scientist I am, I did some post-facto research.... Always do the research afterwards to prove you were right in the first place!
http://uk.reuters.com/article/idUKTRE68Q0WN20100927
His Dad was a Jewish Marxist, so he had two good reasons for getting away from the Nazis.
Ed's mother is non-Jewish so, under some interpretations, that means unless he converted to Judaism he wouldn't actually be Jewish.
Sorry, banging on now... While Ed's a father but not married, Lloyd George was at least one party leader who had a child by a woman who wasn't his wife. Allegedly so did Palmerston, who seems to have been a bit of a raver.
Hi G, labels shmaybles :)
I think its good that he's got a different perspective derived from a somewhat unusual family history, he might talk some sense on immigration and the EU, slightly less hysterical perhaps.
Oh and "ex-scientist", you can't get away with that, once a geek always a geek!
G, I read today that Ed is saying he will get married and always wanted to get married but just hasn't got around to it.. (never heard that one before Ed :)
Reading between the lines he's probably been getting some stick from the future Mrs Ed, but I wonder if he's now in that horrible situation now where you can't buy her flowers because she complains you never buy her flowers?
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