"There is progress taking place, growth is better. We're only talking about two years there"
About this Quote
Progress, growth, better: John Prescott stacks three warm words on top of each other and hopes the pile looks like an argument. The line has the unmistakable sound of British retail politics in defensive mode, where language isn’t used to illuminate reality so much as to sand down its sharpest edges.
The specific intent is simple: shrink the timeline, soothe the audience, and reframe impatience as unfairness. “We’re only talking about two years” is a tactical downshift. It asks voters and journalists to treat criticism as premature, even if the complaint is precisely that two years have been wasted. By narrowing the window, Prescott also dodges a more dangerous comparison: the longer arc of the government’s promises and the public’s memory.
The subtext is managerial: governance as a process story, not a results story. “There is progress taking place” is passive, almost self-executing, as if improvements are happening off-screen regardless of who’s in charge. “Growth is better” is revealingly non-committal; it doesn’t say growth is good, or sufficient, or evenly shared, just “better” than something left conveniently unnamed. It’s triangulation in miniature: concede that things aren’t perfect while insisting the direction of travel should count as success.
Contextually, this fits Prescott’s role as Labour’s blunt instrument and mood-setter: the guy deployed to calm nerves, lower expectations, and keep the coalition of supporters from splintering. The rhetoric works because it’s not trying to win an argument on facts; it’s trying to win on patience.
The specific intent is simple: shrink the timeline, soothe the audience, and reframe impatience as unfairness. “We’re only talking about two years” is a tactical downshift. It asks voters and journalists to treat criticism as premature, even if the complaint is precisely that two years have been wasted. By narrowing the window, Prescott also dodges a more dangerous comparison: the longer arc of the government’s promises and the public’s memory.
The subtext is managerial: governance as a process story, not a results story. “There is progress taking place” is passive, almost self-executing, as if improvements are happening off-screen regardless of who’s in charge. “Growth is better” is revealingly non-committal; it doesn’t say growth is good, or sufficient, or evenly shared, just “better” than something left conveniently unnamed. It’s triangulation in miniature: concede that things aren’t perfect while insisting the direction of travel should count as success.
Contextually, this fits Prescott’s role as Labour’s blunt instrument and mood-setter: the guy deployed to calm nerves, lower expectations, and keep the coalition of supporters from splintering. The rhetoric works because it’s not trying to win an argument on facts; it’s trying to win on patience.
Quote Details
| Topic | Optimism |
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