‘Proportional representation is the elephant in the room,’ said a caller to Nicholas ‘Nicky’ Campbell’s show on Radio 5 Live last week. But is it? There are rival elephants. Yesterday’s men, from Michael Heseltine all the way down to Alastair ‘Ally’ Campbell, have – with yawning predictability – all reached for the same image in relation to Brexit. Others agree:
‘While Brexit dominated the last general election campaign — resulting in a majority for Boris Johnson’s Conservatives — this time it is the elephant in the room, says Tim Shipman, chief political commentator for The Sunday Times.’ – Times web edition 23 June 2024
‘It is not so much the elephant in the room as the big fat hairy mammoth. Brexit is the most consequential thing the Conservatives have done since the last election.’ – Andrew Rawnsley, Observer 9 June 2024
And here are some alternative pachyderms:
‘no political leader has yet mentioned the elephant in the room – public sector pensions.’ – Neil Record, Daily Telegraph 8 June 2024
‘In Britain’s election, growth is the elephant in the room.’ – Economist 6 June 2024
‘The elephant in the room is taxation and nobody really wants to talk about it.’ – Benny Higgins, former chief executive of retail banking at Royal Bank of Scotland, Herald 22 June 2024
‘For Labour and Tories, tax is the elephant in the room.’ – headline, Sunday Times 9 June 2024
‘Climate change is the elephant in the room at this election.’ – Richard Steer, Building 25 June 2024
‘Amongst concerns about the economy, education, the NHS and so on, the decline of the natural world is the elephant in the room.’ – Peter Shirley, Birmingham Post 20 June 2024
‘Homelessness is the elephant in the room.’ – Nick Richards, Norwich Evening News 20 June 2024
‘Mr Farage also says legal immigration is the “elephant in the room” that neither Mr Sunak or Sir Keir want to talk about.’ – Sky News 30 May 2024
‘While we welcome genuine refugees, mass immigration is an elephant in the room that is not being addressed.’ – Martin Costello, independent candidate in Swindon South, Swindon Advertiser 4 June 2024
‘It is turning into a very strange election in that the elephant in the room is the collapse of public services, pretty well across the board, coupled to a seriously dysfunctional taxation system. The electorate can see the elephant while major politicians resolutely look the other way.’ – Gabrielle Pickard-Whitehead, Left Foot Forward 22 June 2024
‘Inevitably those whose business it is to make and promote civilian nuclear power, punt a rather selective case during this election. However, the civil nuclear lobby’s case has a very irradiated elephant in the room.’ – letter in the Sunday Herald, 23 June 2024
‘While it is commendable to try to continue with the childcare expansion set out by the Conservatives, it is a poisoned chalice. The elephant in the room is that the current childcare system is not working.’ – letter in the Guardian 12 June 2024
‘social care – the biggest electoral elephant in the room.’ – Kate McCann, i 30 May 2024
‘Rising demand [in the NHS] coupled with staff shortages could thwart the plans, alongside the “elephant in the room” of potential further industrial action.’ – Kate Pickles, Daily Mail 29 May 2024
‘The health service accounts for almost £4 in every £10 government departments spend day to day. It’s the £168billion elephant in the room.’ – Wes Streeting, Daily Telegraph 29 May 2024
‘Gaza, which has been the elephant in the room for Starmer over the past eight months, when the leader appeared to support Israel’s complete blockade on Gaza and failed to call for a ceasefire.’ – New Arab 17 June 2024
‘Other massive issues that affect everyone – climate, social breakdown, crippling inequality, housing – are just absent. One friend said it was not so much that there was an elephant in the room as there was no room left, only elephant.’ – Mike Small, National 23 June 2024
Lion & Unicorn 