2022 has given Jonas Gahr Støre a cruel spin in opinion polls. In the Vårt Land opinion poll on 20 December, the Labor Party received only 14.6% support.
On Sunday, Jonas Gahr Støre has the opportunity to travel with the old woman.
Nettavisen’s podcast Ness created Nyttårstale bingo cards for their New Year’s Eve speech – if you think Støre is a master of rhetoric or a prince of mists, you can print the bingo cards and enjoy.
If Støre says the things that are in the boxes, you can check them. If you get four in a row, in a row, or diagonally first, he just yells “Bingo.” Bingo cards can download here:
Doubt
At 19.30 Støre will give his second New Year’s speech as prime minister. Prime time on NRK offers him a golden opportunity to win people’s hearts once again.
PR-nesKing Hans Geelmuyden thinks Støre’s speech could be important, but doubts it will be.
– The Støre government is dividing the Norwegian people both with politics and with rhetoric. The Norwegian state cuts its claws into 60 percent of Norway’s gross domestic product and owns the world’s largest fund with NOK 12 trillion. The Norwegian state is awash with money, as Norwegians queue outside the poor house. Despite this, the government pursues a policy that makes the state richer and Norwegians poorer, with higher electricity prices, more expensive food, higher taxes and duties, and higher interest rates. This is unacceptable. If Støre had better ideas, the New Year’s speech could be important.
– One of his most important
Kjell Terje Ringdal, a rhetoric expert and associate professor at Kristiania College, believes this will be one of Støre’s most important speeches:
– Speak against the wind, to the 85 percent who don’t vote for him. At the same time as he courts them, he must also incite, and preferably excite, those who still vote for him. He must touch the opposition he encounters, at the same time he must not give the impression of complaining or whimpering,
More important things
– Speech is important, but the price of electricity, interest rates and the job market in the coming year are more important, says Nils August Andresen, director of Minerva.
However, Kristin Clemet, leader of the Civita think tank, doesn’t think the New Year’s speech will be particularly important:
¬ All the New Year’s speeches are noteworthy, but I don’t think they affect the Prime Minister’s party support. The Norwegian New Year’s speech tradition is too ritualistic for that.
Philosopher Harry Frankfurt wrote the book “On bullshit”. There he describes bullshit as a language whose purpose is to persuade, and where it doesn’t matter if what he says is true or not. In Norwegian, bullshit in this sense is often called slang and evil tongues have believed Støre to be such a masterand they baptized Jonas Gahr Støre to a prince of the mists. It’s a term that neither Clemet nor Ringdal seem to agree with.
– I don’t think the description is accurate. But the reason this image is used could probably be that sometimes it’s not clear what is actually meant, says Clemet.
Not the prince of the mists
– Mist prince is no longer a suitable term for Støre, says Ringdal, and elaborates: – Three or four years ago, Støre came to terms with himself rhetorically, and now he has become intelligent. By nature he is an intellectual. His professional language discusses, accepts reservations and perhaps carries with it mental notes. This looks bad on TV. It is now much clearer and linguistically more accurate in target.
Geelmuyden is more critical of the Prime Minister’s rhetorical skills.
– Støre communicates like a civil servant, and always with reservations. In the end, we don’t understand what he or the Labor Party mean. Støre is the number two man who was number one. He did a good job advising Gro Harlem Brundtland in his day and was a good foreign policy adviser to Jens Stoltenberg from 2005 to 2012. Number two is loyal and obedient, but a leader must set course and mobilize for new policies. We have a new policy, but people don’t want it. Støre does not mobilize anyone.
Geelmuyden believes Støre’s previous New Year’s speech was a long disclaimer and fears the same will happen again.
– In his summary of December 20 of this year, Støre started like this; “Everything starts somewhere. A date. And then comes all this other stuff.” He blames Russia’s attack on Ukraine. I expect the same disclaimers in the New Year’s speech; War, the energy crisis, and rising interest rates. It all strikes “on its clock” and nothing is the fault of the government.But if this is the case, why doesn’t it give Ukraine duty-free agricultural products and create a generous fund for the reconstruction of the country, introduce a two-price system for electricity and adopt a budget A narrow state?A manager doesn’t complain.A leader finds solutions.
– Støre is only a prince of the mists from time to time. But he often talks about events at a distance: he “hears” that there is a crisis, when he should say: there is a crisis. He will talk about the war, the energy crisis and maybe the interest rate. What he says probably won’t be as stupid as his detractors want, but it also won’t be enough to reassure the party and voters, says Nils August Andresen.
Then we’ll see if anyone does bingo on Sunday at half past eight.
