Sunak asks a homeless man if he works in business

Well I watched it and it was the most staged PR stunt which went horribly wrong. The homeless centre was nearly empty and in the background you can see the security guard checking who comes in. So the homeless ex-finance worker was chosen to promote Rishi's economic policy. "When finance does well we all do well" Only if the place was as filled with the homeless as it usually is it would be absolutely obvious that that isn't true. And then the press chose to subvert the event. PR disaster!!!

I am not "us" Dickens. I would feel slightly worried about anyone who thinks they are.

The strangers reference was about people on GN. Do you really think anyone will influence the extremists on here? I just keep trying to give a reasoned reply while not tolerating the most extreme comments. They are my replies. I am not trying to influence anyone. On a really good day I will learn something worth knowing and that makes these threads worth-while.

MayBee70

Daisy Anne didn’t imply that the man wasn’t thoughtful and interesting though.

Thank you MayBee. As far as I can see this is a PR stunt. If Sunak wanted to understand homelessness - and many will be homeless but not accessing this facility - he should consult those who care for the homeless and those who have lived homelessness. He is unlikely to learn anything when he surrounds it with the glare of publicity.

DaisyAnne

But the bias came from both directions. I am sure you will recognise that the press is, overall, biased to the right. The reporting didn't sway me. I can't talk for others but I didn't read it. I just watched the video. I don't care if it does or does not do me any favours. Why on earth should it matter what strangers think?

I don't really get this.

The press, as you say, is mostly biased to the right. It uses any and every opportunity to criticise, condemn, and frequently, vilify, the Left and Labour.

Putting it in simple terms - if we are Left or Left-of-Centre, and want to see a more equitable and capable government in power, then people, the voters, have got to be persuaded that the Left and Labour are a viable and credible party, with a bit of integrity and honesty. And I don't think that's achieved by mis-representation of events by the more Left wing media. Because the Right wing media, and therefore its readership, will simply see us as indulging in "typical Tory-bashing" for the sake of it - twisting things to suit our 'woke', 'looney-leftie' agenda, and simply not take Labour or the Left seriously.

That's what I mean when I say it doesn't do us any favours. And those strangers that you don't care about are the voting public, many of whom already have a dim view of the Left, and they, and the media that speaks to them, will pick up on these discrepancies in reporting, and magnify them to use as yet another opportunity to vilify the Left.

Sunak did not - out of the blue - simply just ask a homeless man if he was "in business", as the reporting implied. Context is everything.

I don't know why you can't see that.

I found a reference for the OP. However, as I have explained, my view was based on the video. Is your conversation just about attacking me NotSpaghetti? Am I such a threat to you thinking for yourself?

Daisy Anne didn’t imply that the man wasn’t thoughtful and interesting though.

Daisy - this was your thread.

Initially you implied it was based on LONDON, Dec 24 (Reuters) which doesn't include the video as it happens but does include the name of the man Sunac was talking to. I'm assuming this is it?:
www.reuters.com/world/uk/uks-sunak-criticised-asking-homeless-man-if-he-works-business-2022-12-24/

Later you said you had just watched the video. If so, why mention Reuters?

Maybe you watched a shorter video that chops off the first part of the conversation?

There are too many people cross about this incident without any context it seems to me.

Maybe we should try to give a more complete picture where we can.

I like nuance.

Also,
Having worked with homeless people (true I've not been homeless myself) I do know many are thoughtful intelligent and interesting people just like anyone else.
And not all homeless people are rough-sleeping.
And not all are jobless.

It's suprisingly easy to become homeless if something goes wrong in your life it seems to me.

DaisyAnne I agree it’s very strange to keep banging on about a misheard name, like, so what? I misheard it as Steve when listening to local radio commenting on it.

You really are very strange volver. I misheard a name. So what?

Why ask if I know if I have learned anything new or relevant when I have have just said I have not, only others opinions.

I really feel very sorry for you.

I just watched the video.

But you got the content of the video wrong. You got the details of the conversation wrong. You got the chap's name wrong.

Have you learnt anything new and relevant now?

Dickens

DaisyAnne

I still do not believe that he understands most people's lives. I accept my bias will make me lean in that direction. Maybe some of you, who leapt to his defence, are swayed by your own bias.

Where does your information come from? Mine comes from watching it on video where he is using a homeless centre as a PR opportunity. That will, I accept, seem reasonable to some.

He asked if the man worked in Finance, to which Steve replied, "I'm homeless". I felt Steve sounded taken aback by the question. However, we will all have an interpretation of this. They did follow this with a chat about both of them having once worked in Finance. Fairly obviously, that had different outcomes for each of them.

His ability to empathise seems to be the issue. To empathise, you have to have some ability to understand. This event was similar to Sunak having difficulty paying for petrol having filled up someone else's car. Presumably, he is used to getting his on "account". I think these stunts show him to have very little understanding when trying to use other people's lives.

The Tory client media did a speedy job of, shall we say, realigning the facts. Dan Hodges of the Mail charged in with "I'm told the place where Rishi Sunak was helping out doesn't just provide support for those who are currently homeless." ... but this man was homeless. Sunak had promoted the visit as one where he could hear specifically from the homeless.

I feel there is a gap in any possible comprehension and empathy. Maybe I have leapt to a biased conclusion. Maybe, some of you have. I shall wait to see. But Sunak in election mode, trying to glad-hand those in poverty will, I feel, not be pleasant watching.

I still do not believe that he understands most people's lives. I accept my bias will make me lean in that direction. Maybe some of you, who leapt to his defence, are swayed by your own bias.

Having "leapt" to his defence - on this occasion, because I've never defended the man previously - I can assure you that I'm convinced he doesn't understand most people's lives, and that many other Tories don't either.

What I do understand is that the reporting of this incident was swayed by the bias against him - to make it look as if he'd apropos of nothing simply asked the man if he worked in business. Which wasn't the case, was it? So it's not so much defending Sunak as condemning the media.

Sunak is hardly going to - with his background - become a sudden champion of the poor because he's helped out a homeless people's charity, He's Tory through and through. He was put in this awkward position - and agreed to it - but carried out a perfectly civil conversation with a homeless man which the media has twisted to look like something it wasn't.

And that doesn't do the critics of Sunak (me among them) - justified as they are - any favours. It just looks like Tory-bashing simply for the sake of it.

What I do understand is that the reporting of this incident was swayed by the bias against him - to make it look as if he apropos of nothing simply asked the man if he worked in business. Which wasn't the case, was it? So it's not so much defending Sunak as condemning the media.

But the bias came from both directions. I am sure you will recognise that the press is, overall, biased to the right. The reporting didn't sway me. I can't talk for others but I didn't read it. I just watched the video. I don't care if it does or does not do me any favours. Why on earth should it matter what strangers think?

I am unlikely to change my views unless I learn something new and relevant. So far I have not; I have only heard others opinions.

I think it pointless to expect politicians to 'understand' other people's lives. How can they? It's a meaningless expression I think RS shows more empathy than many members of his party.
What RS needs to do and what his predecessors should have done is appoint competent ministers, surround them with an experienced and competent civil service, give them an adequate budget and leave them in post for long enough to understand what they need to do and get on with doing it.

The terrible problem is where, now, are these people esp potential first-rate ministers to be found. This is what the opposition should be concentrating on.

DaisyAnne

I still do not believe that he understands most people's lives. I accept my bias will make me lean in that direction. Maybe some of you, who leapt to his defence, are swayed by your own bias.

Where does your information come from? Mine comes from watching it on video where he is using a homeless centre as a PR opportunity. That will, I accept, seem reasonable to some.

He asked if the man worked in Finance, to which Steve replied, "I'm homeless". I felt Steve sounded taken aback by the question. However, we will all have an interpretation of this. They did follow this with a chat about both of them having once worked in Finance. Fairly obviously, that had different outcomes for each of them.

His ability to empathise seems to be the issue. To empathise, you have to have some ability to understand. This event was similar to Sunak having difficulty paying for petrol having filled up someone else's car. Presumably, he is used to getting his on "account". I think these stunts show him to have very little understanding when trying to use other people's lives.

The Tory client media did a speedy job of, shall we say, realigning the facts. Dan Hodges of the Mail charged in with "I'm told the place where Rishi Sunak was helping out doesn't just provide support for those who are currently homeless." ... but this man was homeless. Sunak had promoted the visit as one where he could hear specifically from the homeless.

I feel there is a gap in any possible comprehension and empathy. Maybe I have leapt to a biased conclusion. Maybe, some of you have. I shall wait to see. But Sunak in election mode, trying to glad-hand those in poverty will, I feel, not be pleasant watching.

I still do not believe that he understands most people's lives. I accept my bias will make me lean in that direction. Maybe some of you, who leapt to his defence, are swayed by your own bias.

Having "leapt" to his defence - on this occasion, because I've never defended the man previously - I can assure you that I'm convinced he doesn't understand most people's lives, and that many other Tories don't either.

What I do understand is that the reporting of this incident was swayed by the bias against him - to make it look as if he'd apropos of nothing simply asked the man if he worked in business. Which wasn't the case, was it? So it's not so much defending Sunak as condemning the media.

Sunak is hardly going to - with his background - become a sudden champion of the poor because he's helped out a homeless people's charity, He's Tory through and through. He was put in this awkward position - and agreed to it - but carried out a perfectly civil conversation with a homeless man which the media has twisted to look like something it wasn't.

And that doesn't do the critics of Sunak (me among them) - justified as they are - any favours. It just looks like Tory-bashing simply for the sake of it.

Margs

Has it ever been documented that Marie Antoinette responded to the desperation of the starving serfs/peasants with "well, let them eat cake"?

And which coutier was brave enough to point out to her just how bad things were?

She was slightly mis-interpreted - she said let them eat brioche, which isn't cake.

One up for the Guardian. They had the clip on line a few days ago. I was half expecting Sunak to find the man a job. It did reinforce the fact that there are many homeless people on the streets of our towns and cities and the need for more shelters.

Trying to be a man of the people is not easy for politicians and I didn't find Sunak's attempt at conversation quite as cringe-making as people like Rayner have tried to weaponize it. I think Sunak is out of his depth as a PM which is rather less than I would say about his predecessors Truss, Johnson, May and Cameron. The sooner the Tory circus goes the better and Labour need to come out with key policies on the economy and opportunity, not to mention relations with the EU.

It wasn't "aimed" at anyone in particular Siope. Why would it be?

Siope

I am refraining from sarcastic comments.

Glad that somebody is.

volver

^Maybe the presenter needed a clearer voice.^

There was no presenter. The man told Sunak what his name was.

Are you sure you've watched this properly?

Haven’t watched it at all😃
It was on my local radio station.

If that’s aimed at me, DaisyAnne: I saw it live days ago. I merely posted the photo as confirmation of Dean’s name.

I have, so they tell me, a three-month wait for an appointment to fit my hearing aids. I have just listened again and, now someone has said the name I can hear "Dean". Apologies to Dean for getting it wrong.

Those who didn't bother to see it live but went by what the newspapers say will have got it from someone who had a chance to check with "Dean" himself. I am, therefore, not apologising to those who didn't bother to see it for themselves. Being led by the nose by the right-wing press (or any press) is not to anyone's credit.

I am refraining from sarcastic comments.

Maybe the presenter needed a clearer voice.

There was no presenter. The man told Sunak what his name was.

Are you sure you've watched this properly?

I heard it as Steve Mollygo 😂 and am def not ready for hearing aids yet.Maybe the presenter needed a clearer voice.
I’d like to think Sunak would take an interest in his case and be helpful and give him a hand up out of a homeless and jobless life.

Rishi Sunak was serving breakfast at a shelter in London when the man, named Dean, asked him if he was "sorting the economy out".

www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-64087160?empty_empty&same_name_as_other=123&Echobox=1671923755