Bruce Anderson uses it well

From the Spectator 23rd May 2015
"Most of those involved in politics, including pollsters, are partisan and obsessive. They can remember how they voted in that Little Piddleton parish council by-election 20 years ago. Ordinary people — no, that sounds patronising — real people: that is not right either. Politicos, though odd, are real. But sensible people do not spend all their time thinking about politics. They are wondering what to have for supper, where to go on holiday. They are worrying about their children’s progress at school. Then a pollster breaks in on them. So they politely turn their attention to lesser matters."

Cartoon from the Spectator.
Photograph from the Independent.

This is the third decent usage, Peggy Seegar (correcting John Wilson), Andrew Neil (adroit recovery) and now Bruce Anderson. Perhaps I should have a congratulatory postcard in addition to the original critical design.

#37 Katya Adler, BBC R4 news

BBC R4 News @ 18:15
A report on elections in Spain by Katya Adler.
"The economy is on the up but ordinary people say they don't feel the benefits."

Image from Twitter.

Audio clip

Sue Perkins 19th May

Dilemma, a BBC Radio4 show where comedic panelists discuss tricky situations humorously.
I expect it was being used ironically, so no postcard.

Image from the BBC

Audio clip

Farage OF

BBC R4 News 8pm I'm fairly certain I heard Mr. Farage using the phrase "ordinary folk", but that news broadcast is not available for playback. Same for the nine o'c news - they have have programmes either side, but not the news.

Len McClusky OWP

Said on 5 live on 17th, reported on R4 Today on 18th @ 7:51.

Audio clip

#36 Double Lammy

David Lammy, Labour MP and prospective mayoral candidate on Sunday Politics today, twice in one paragraph. 41 mins in.

 "I am standing here in my aunt's house, a home I have known all of my life. This was a house built by the GLC for ordinary people to get on the ladder. My aunt worked as a nurse alongside my family. London is rigged (?) for ordinary people these days, you can't get a house, you can't get a council house: we built forty last year. We need new ideas for a new London. That is why I want to run for Mayor."

Image from the broadcast.

Audio clip here.

#35 Jon Trickett on DaPol

15th May, Jon Trickett on BBC2 Daily Politics discussing the Labour Party's failure and how they can recover support. 26 mins in.
"Ordinary people's lives are not being satisfactorily resolved" and "the quiet desperation of their ordinary lives"

Image from the broadcast.

Audio clips, #1 #2

[I have just worked out how to record, edit and link audio clips. I expect I will only add them occasionally.]

Len McClusky ROP

BBC2 Newsnight 14th May 14 mins in.
The Unite union's leader Len McClusky discussing Labour's election defeat.
"We keep Labour in touch with real ordinary people at grassroots level."

Image from the broadcast.

Denis MacShane Higher Person

BBC R4, Today, 13th May @ 6:50
Prince Charles and his letters to Ministers.
Denis MacShane, once a Labour minister (jailed for expenses fraud) and with experience of such letters, was brought in to discuss how they were dealt with. He said that they were given to the 'best drafter' for a reply, just as with letters from any "higher person" such as the Archbishop of Canterbury or the Chief Rabbi. He later referred to "persons of status".

This is included for contrast.

Image from the Guardian.

A bumper crop

No slacking with the election over, three spots in an hour:

• Andrew Neil saving himself from a postcard on a recording of today's Daily Politics
• Norman Smith (BBC) twice on PM
• Simon Walker (DG IoD) three times on Drive

#34 Simon Walker (IoD) three times in as many minutes

Simon Walker, Director General of the Institute of Directors, used the phrase three times in as many minutes when discussing strikes and proposed trade union legislation on Radio 5's Drive.

[on public sector strikes] "the whole economy can be brought to a standstill and that really hurts ordinary people and they're the ones I'm concerned about too."

[teachers were balloted then called a strike] "two years later causing massive inconvenience to an awful lot of ordinary families."

[public sector strikes again] "ordinary people are really being frustrated and denied their rights."

2 hrs 48-50 mins in.

Image from the IoD

Audio clips, #1 #2 #3

Andrew Neil, Daily Politics, doing it properly

The seemingly tireless Mr Neil describing the new intake of SNP MPs, "my guess is that they will come from pretty ordinary (in the good sense of the word) backgrounds".
Appropriate usage, no postcard.
9 mins in

Image from the broadcast.

Audio clips, #1

#33 Norman Smith on PM

On BBC R4 PM, Norman Smith assistant political editor describing Cameron's opening remarks to the first cabinet meeting following the election, "... the Prime Minister setting out what he hoped will be his core message which, as we heard, is trying to say the the Conservatives are now the party of working people and their mantra is blue collar Conservatism ... all political parties by-and-large say they are  on the side of ordinary people. Mrs Thatcher was the original housewife battling for the ordinary family and Gordon Brown and Tony Blair were invariably talking about hard-working families ... it's what politicians do, they talk about standing up for ordinary people ... it's a bit trite".
16 mins in.

 Image from the BBC

#32 Tim Gordon, LibDem advertising

The LibDems, having been buried in the election, are trumpeting their post-election recruitment numbers. A message from Tim Gordon, Chief Executive of the Liberal Democrats, states,

"As a member of the Liberal Democrats, you get a say in our policies and vote for our leaders. It was one of our ordinary members, Elizabeth Jewkes, who came up with the idea of the £10,000 tax threshold that has meant a tax cut for 24 million working people. An idea that’s gone from the front of our 2010 Manifesto, into Government, straight back into your pocket."

This is patronising.

Image from a LibDem blog.

World War 2 in Colour

Channel 5 series.
The narrative on first episode uses ordinary people 4 minutes in.
No obvious candidate for the postcard.

Jo Brand OVot HIGNFY

There was a special version of Have I Got News for You, recorded the morning after the election and broadcast in the evening (one of the production staff walked onto the set twice during the recording to pass on the news that Clegg and then Miliband had resigned). In discussing Clegg's last day journey from land's End to John O'Groats, Chair Jo Brand stated that he was "meeting ordinary voters, at least the ones who didn't know he was coming".

Not quite enough for a postcard, in fact the main reason for this post is to include a snap of the sweetest kitten you'll ever see, featured with the headline Gary the cat has eyebrows that always make him look confused.

Images from the broadcast.

#31 Nick Raynsford on BBC R5

Radio 5, 8th May, 7:55pm, more election coverage, now discussing possible new Labour leaders.

Andrew Neil, "Give me a name."
Nick Raynsford, "Andy Burnham has made an important contribution as someone who speaks a language that is understood by ordinary people. Chuka Umunna has clearly got great potential."

Image from his web site.

#30 Julie Elliott acceptance speech

I stayed up until around 4:30 (watching mostly BBC1) when Boris' result was being announced and the TV decided to upgrade its channels. I only noticed one occurrence during that time.

The first two results announced were from Sunderland. The second result was for Julie Elliott, Sunderland Central. Her acceptance speech included,

"The result in Sunderland tonight is clear. People want representatives that stand up for working people and their families, to put the interests of ordinary people first".

Images from the BBC coverage and from Ms. Elliott's Twitter page.

R4 The Media Show Ordinary Voters

Radio 4 at 4:40pm
The Media Show introduced by Steve Hewlett, this week, the programme's web page states,

"Steve Hewlett is joined by some leading political journalists; Michael Crick from Channel 4; Patrick Wintour from the Guardian; Andrew Grice the political editor of the Independent, and Isabel Hardman from the Spectator. They discuss how easy, or not, it's been to get access to politicians, why press conferences are now few and far between, and why the growth of social media is making advisers ultra-cautious in their media management strategy."

Contrasting the previous Question Time from Leeds, where real people expressed their frustration with politicians, with the over-managed media coverage, Andrew Grice suggested that our representatives should be "more open to ordinary voters in future".

No postcard as it is outside scope and, in this context, appropriate.

Image from The Independent.

April summary

The Feb-Mar summary is here. In April we had:

19. Apr 01 - Arnie Somogyi (R4 Extra)
20. Apr 06 - John Wilson (Front Row)
21. Apr 07  - Giles Dilnot (Daily Politics)
17b. Apr 07 - Sturgeon again (Scottish Leaders' Debate)
22.  Apr 11 - James O'Brien & 23 Will Self (Newsnight)
10b. Apr 13 - Bridget Kendall again, (Today) while James Naughtie and Justin Webb come close
24. Apr 15 - Nigel Farage (manifesto launch)
24b. Apr 16 - Farage (Today) and an OWP from Marco Biagi
25. Apr 26 - Tim Donovan (Sunday Politics)
26. Apr 30 - The Sun (reported on R4)

Near misses:
James Naughtie and Justin Webb come close (Today)
Rachel Reeves "small people and small businesses" (PM)
OWP from Marco Biagi (R4 News)
OWP from Ken Capstick (R4)
Recycled Radio on Money - unidentified OP (R4)

And the Manifesto Analysis


Analysis of sources

Source	Users
Andrew Marr Show	Ed Balls, Kristin Scott Thomas, Caroline Flint,
Big Questions	Kunle Olulode
Daily Politics	Frances O'Grady, Jonathan Isaby, Carole Malone, Shabana Mahmood, Giles Dilnot
Front Row, Radio 4	John Wilson
Moral Maze	Ed Mayo,
Newsnight	Evan Davis, Peter Kellner, James O'Brien & Will Self
PM, Radio 4	Bridget Kendall
Radio 4, 6 o'clock News	Nicola Sturgeon
Radio 4 (non-specific)	David Graeber, Michael Sandel
Radio 4 Extra (non-specific)	Arnie Somogyi
Spectator	Adam Nicolson,
The Sun	editorial
Sunday Politics	Caroline Flint, Tim Donovan
Today, Radio 4	Justin Webb, Bridget Kendall, Farage
Other:
Scottish Leaders' Debate	Sturgeon
Manifesto Launch	Nigel Farage

#29 IDS TWICE on Daily Politics

The Daily Politics hustings programmes, where Andrew Neil confronts a group of party spokespersons on a variety of issues have not been terribly interesting, but today's on benefits was a great show.

Iain Duncan Smith has come close to a postcard before with  an OWP on 29th March. Today he sank to two "Ordinary People"s on a single show:
The first at 13 mins on the subject of befits caps did not make much sense, but included the phrase, "when most ordinary people can't afford to pay their ...".
The second at 48 mins, in response to (fellow OWPer) Rachel Reeves' comment on living standards, "our economic plan has delivered to ordinary people".

Images from the broadcast.

#28 Claire Fox, Ordinary British kids

A rare catch on LBC, Nick Ferrari's Breakfast Show discussing Islamic fundamentalism and the Texas shootings spoke to Claire Fox of the Institute of Ideas who used the phrase "ordinary British kids". 5th May at 9:14.

Images are difficult to come by. There's not one on the Wikipedia page, nor on the Times or Guardian articles cited at the bottom of that entry. The image shown is from the Twitter account that may or may not be she.

#27 Rafael Behr ordinary folk

Westminster Hour, BBC Radio 4, Sunday 3rd May, Carolyn Quinn discussed pre-election events with a panel including Rafael Behr of the Grauniad who stated that "Conservatives have also had difficulty persuading people that they are really on the side of ordinary folk". 14 mins in.

 Image from the Grauniad.

#22b James O'Brien

In the last of the series of Friday Night addons to Newsnight, James O'Brien used a similar introduction as on 11th April, referring to "what everyone else is still calling ordinary people". He might well have done so on the intervening show(s) too, but I didn't see those. No second postcard.

Image from the closing sequence of the show.