Tag: parliament

Sarcasm: The tricky trope

In yesterday’s Prime Minister’s Questions, Jeremy Corbyn said ‘I hope that the Prime Minister is proud of her record…’ Most native English speakers would know that this isn’t what he meant. In fact, Jeremy Corbyn doesn’t care whether or not Theresa May feels pride in her record. However, he is pointing out that she shouldn’t be proud. Sarcasm; plain, simple and scathing.

Jeremy Corbyn could have said ‘I hope the Prime Minister is ashamed of her track record’, however, he clearly thought that sarcasm was more effective. Sarcasm can be a nasty way of telling someone off, and if it’s done publicly in a way that patronises your opponent, then you definitely get bonus points from your party.

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A visit to the Folketing in Denmark

Last week I went to Copenhagen to visit the Folketing, the national parliament of Denmark. It is fascinating to see the many similarities and differences between the Folketing and the British parliament in Westminster. I was amused that the ‘Father of the House’, which is a role given to the longest serving member of parliament, is a title used in the Danish parliament as well as the British one.

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The Scottish Parliament

Following the recent election in Scotland we were called by the Scottish Parliament to run a series of training courses for the newly elected MSPs. The training course covered the basics of political speechwriting from the maiden speech to parliamentary debating. We had over 35 MSPs attend the courses from the SNP, Conservative, and Green parties. Continue reading “The Scottish Parliament” →