Here’s Danny Finkelstein explaining the difference between narrative in politics, and spin:
This form is not the spinner’s way of looking at the world. This is the actor’s way of looking at the world. This is the way of looking at the world that says you progress and explain who you are through action. So this idea of narrative, far from being the empty creation of public relations experts, is really about the doing and the action and transforming characters through action and not simply telling. It’s the antithesis of public relations spin.
Last week’s ‘crisis’ begins to look grubby and tawdry compared to the DUP’s parliamentary coup last night. What tells you it was real politics in action is the number of hares it has set off running. Iain Dale notes that the SNP are rubbing their hands at some of the goodies that may now be coming their way.
Words are good and sometimes warming, but in context of Northern Irish politics they too often prove deceptive. Actions are the only reliable measure of the underlying political realities.
Mick is founding editor of Slugger. He has written papers on the impacts of the Internet on politics and the wider media and is a regular guest and speaking events across Ireland, the UK and Europe. Twitter: @MickFealty
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