EU referendum, brexit and the aftermath

I thought Milliband did really well

Agree, it got people’s attention if it didn’t get the PM’s attention, people are responding positively to Ed.

I can’t agree that Ed Miliband’s speech was a Ciceronian tour de force of rhetorical flair. Rather it resembled a League Two striker rolling the ball joyfully into an empty net. It’s just that compared to the current Prime Minister, it looked like Beckham from the half-way line.

https://twitter.com/CountBinface/status/1305779140545728513?s=19

I thought Miliband did really well, made points that Boris had to choose between being either stupid or corrupt in his (lack of) answer.

In substance, yes. In style, no. Unfortunately, in rhetoric it's more about the sizzle than the sausage (as some comedian recently said somewhere about stand-up comedy). Miliband pulled just about every wrong register; it was a classic case of playing to your own supporters and throwing in all that silly nonsense like 'I'd happily give way' or 'he's a details man'. He should have stayed serious and grave. He came across as someone who really wanted to perform, and couldn't. Some of it he might have got away with if he'd mastered the basics of public speaking in terms of intonation, timing, and using his voice, but he hasn't. All Johnson had to do was sit there like a slightly deflated tennis ball and look indignant.