STEERPIKE
JIM MURPHY
A thought occurred after watching Jim Murphy's performance on the Politics Show (North Britain version), when Glen Campbell gave Murphy's backside the cleaning of its life, just who he (Murphy) reminded me of, not just in physical appearance, but manner, speech and aura.
Steerpike is a character in Mervyn Peake's Gormenghast series, a ruthlessly ambitious kitchen boy, he is the definitive Machiavellian schemer full of inate native cunning, ruthless and willing to justify any and all means to reach his end.
Peake described him as follows:
If ever he had harboured a conscience in his tough narrow breast he had by now dug out and flung away the awkward thing - flung it so far away that were he ever to need it again he could never find it. High-shouldered to a degree little short of malformation, slender and adroit of limb and frame, his eyes close-set and the colour of dried blood, he is climbing the spiral staircase of the soul of Gormenghast, bound for some pinnacle of the itching fancy - some wild, invulnerable eyrie best known to himself; where he can watch the world spread out below him, and shake exultantly his clotted wings.
His body gave the appearance of being malformed but it would be difficult to say exactly what gave it this gibbous quality. Limb by limb, it appeared that he was sound enough, but the sum of these several members accrued to an unexpectedly twisted total. His face was pale like clay and save for his eyes, mask-like. These eyes were set very close together, and were small, dark red, and of startling concentration.
Now that to me sums up Murphy both physically and his persona. There's a lugubrious quality to all that Murphy says and does that suggests that there's something dark lurking beneath the surface of his supposedly optimistic words and gestures.
Of course I could be completely wrong and Murphy is a lovely decent chap or perhaps not...
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7 comments:
Spot on fella. It is the way of the Labour party these days. Full of over ambitious wannabe's , devoid of character and lifeskills. Hoping from one third sector job to another constantly groveling for powerup the greasy pole. Just look at the article on milliband in the times or my "blog analysis" of dugdale on my blog :-)
They would sell their children for a chance at power. The very people who should not have it.
Just look at Murpy, Revolutioery communist turned right wing governor general of Scotland. Willing to go down in history as a toom tabard too his own people. Putting ambition and his own pretence ahead of his peoples wants.
Piss in their tea I say!
Murphy 'gives me the creeps' as we used to say as children.
"Just look at Murphy, Revolutionary communist turned right wing governor general of Scotland"
Spot on Juan, anything for power even if it slaps your own principles in the face.
what inerview with glen campbell?
I missed it - any link to it
WE all deserve some weekend entertainment
and dont start me on Murphy - a Mossad plant recruited in pre Mandela south africa for certain - but i'm saving the details for my own blog.
Look out for my "life and times of Jimbo Murhy" coming soon. Might set it to music - any suggestions of suitable tune? The Israeli national anthem or the old South African one would be too crude I reckon for this sophiticated operator - i jest not - it would be a mistake to undderestimate him - Labour's best man in Scotand now by quite some way. And if you think he's a cown look at his achievements - NUS (when his party was introducing fees) , wins eastwood against all odds, holds it with an inceased majority, leapfrogs an entire generation to get the SoS job. Won Glenrthes, yee nats, won glenrthothes, however dubious the tactics and the ballot box arithmetic.
Mossad don't recruit idiots.
Aye we can
Music - how about the optimistic "They're coming to take me away, ha! ha!" or "Tie me kangaroo down, Sport" as his only chance of a sex-life.
There you go 'Aye We Can' It'll probably vanish at midnight.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00hlh9n/The_Politics_Show_Scotland_15_02_2009/
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