Emotional Dignity
by Graham Davies

During the dark early days of the Credit Crunch last year, Gordon Brown almost seemed to thrive. He has a talent for presenting with appropriate dourness when things are at their bleakest, while maintaining an image of personal strength.

We saw even greater depth to this aspect of his character in the House of Commons yesterday. The words he chose to say about the death of Ivan Cameron, and the way that he said them, showed a man who could present with emotion while, crucially, keeping that emotion under control.

The words were simple and the sentences short. His tone was so restrained that he could could have been speaking to an audience of one person and not six hundred. Bearing in mind that his audience were fully aware of his own past loss, he only brought in the gentlest of hints that he knew the something of the pain the Camerons were going through.

It was a masterfully sensitive performance.

If you ever have to do a similar speech, remember this: choose your words so carefully that you are proud of them. Then during delivery, focus on the words rather than the audience.

This is one of the few situations when that is good advice....because concentrating on the words themselves allows you to show emotion, but without letting that emotion control you.