David Cameron - "YOUR COUNTRY NEEDS YOU" - Speech to Tory Party

[Kantor]

Nice clickable video of the speech, with transcript (51 mins):

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-11489470

Slightly facetious analysis of speech from a BBC analyst who is attempting to be funny and occasionally succeeds (don't worry, he did it for Ed as well):

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-11489208

Nick Robinson being irritating yet somewhat sensible:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/nickrobinson/2010/10/appeal_for_nati.html

Condensed version (3 mins)

My Thoughts:

• Oh dear, he said Thatcher was the best peacetime PM ever. I'm inclined to agree, but most people aren't.
• The new Tory logo (the Tree with the Union Flag) is really beyond creepy. It looks like the BNP logo.
• I like the repeated attacks on Labour. They deserve it.
• Good justification of budget cuts.
• Nobody understood what the hell this Big Society thing was or why they should be a part of it, so this is beating a dead horse, but it's fundamentally a good idea...a little like Communism. It'll never work. People aren't going to pay you taxes, work a full time job and then organise community-run universities in their free time with no incentives.
• LordKitchenerLol (for those who didn't know, Kitchener used the phrase "Your Country Needs You" 25 years before Uncle Sam)
• He was a little emotionless at some points, but when it really counted, he did put some passion in (like when he was talking about the Lockerbie bomber)
• Good, though slightly positively-spun summary of what the Conservative Party (er, coalition) has managed to do in three months.
• Reasonably successful attempts to convince the Conference that Nick Clegg isn't a deluded moron, he's a deluded moron who knows when to shut up and do as he's told.

I voted for 2. I liked the speech very much; it was far more entertaining than that dross he spews in front of the public, but he really needs to shut up about this Big Society thing. It's not happening, really.