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What is a bigot?
Except he forgot he was still miked up (for Sky News) and made a few choice comments about the previous ten minutes meeting Mrs Duffy and others. First he called the discussion "a disaster" (to the surprise of just about every media commentator), then cast around for someone to blame — alighting on one of his long-term staff — and then uttered what appear to have been fatal words for the Labour party in this election "She's just a sort of bigoted woman".
Now, as many have pointed out, the dictionary says bigot means someone with utterly fixed opinions, ie. isn't the same as 'racist' which some commentators appear to be trying to equate the accusation with. But either way, Mrs Duffy — in her own words a life-long Labour support and someone who would be voting for that party — had put her questions very politely, and Gordon hadn't really answered them. But after trying to blame everyone else Brown finally went on a mea culpa trip, it seems more for the comments being heard than the comments themselves.
So he apologised on BBC Radio 2. Then on all other media. Then went back to visit Mrs Duffy at home and apologise again. Then wrote to Labour activists to apologise again!. Methinks the gentleman doth apologise too much! Instead of saying sorry — and meaning it — and getting on with things so that the story died with the news cycle — hopefully to get replaced by something else asap — he kept it so alive that it is still leading the media's election coverage more than 24 hours on.
When I first saw the clip of the event I tweeted "I don't believe what Gordon Brown says either. I am therefore also a #bigotedwoman by his standards. Good! #election2010" When I made that tweet I had only seen the 'end' part of the meeting between her and Brown (nothing about immigration) and it appeared that Brown's outburst was over her simply disagreeing with him. And I very much disagree with him too …
But then a friend of mine —
elmyra (Milena Popova) — made a post about how she felt about the discussion around this event reproduced by The Guardian, and including my tweet.Personally, I am very strongly against any attempt to ostracise anyone who has come - legally - to this country. I welcome them with open arms and - personally - would be fairly happy with an 'open door' policy (like water, population finds its own levels in a given area). But it didn't hit me from what I saw of that initial meeting between Ms Duffy and Mr Brown that there was anything more than a simple polite query:
She wasn't antagonistic in any way in asking a question to which no party has properly answered (I'm ignoring the BNP of course) and is - quite clearly - something a substantial number of Labour voters have concerns about. Unlike others on her estate interviewed subsequently she wasn't that rabid nor - it appeared from what I could see and hear - was she being 'anti' european, more querying that it appears uncontrolled. I didn't hear a "flocking" comment, though how that word is interpreted very much depends on the listener. After all, a Vicar talks about 'their flock', meaning those follows of their religion attending their church.
People coming to the UK from the EU aren't 'immigrants' per se, they are part of the European Union of which we in the UK are an integral part and, just as much as they can come here so many British go 'there' too.
But the coverage … Well Labour leaders have said "he is only human" so often I almost start to think there may have been some question about it, and many have said they are releived that Brown wasn't as over-the-top as he sometimes can be. Brown and other Labourites have all stated "She is not a bigot" so should we take that at face value, or is that too something they denounce in private to each other?
Some have even said "we all do it" to which my comment is "no we don't!" but that he held an opinion in private directly opposite to that he openly stated unprompted moments before is, in my view, reprehensible. If the microphone hadn't been forgotten by him (which I note happened again earlier today) then there would have been no apology of any kind. This is a petard of G.Brown's making and no-one else.
If you hold an opinion then you shouldn't be afraid to be public about that opinion. Especially if you are a politician asking people to trust their future and that of the country in your hands.
29-Apr-2010 14:44 · Add Comment · Trackback ·
tags: politics · Labour · 2010 general election
tags: politics · Labour · 2010 general election
I'm against the "Broadband Tax"
From news.bbc.co.uk …
So this Government is insisting that it will pass this terrible idea — to tax every owner of a telephone line in the UK £6 per year — before the next election. Well, at least, I guess that means we can forget about a late Autumn election, but there is nothing otherwise good about it.Since Margaret Thatcher privatised BT over twenty years ago, the provision of telecommunications services — which includes Broadband as well as telephony — has been the remit of private companies: not the state.
Yet here we have the government demanding cash from just about every person in the country — including pensioners and others who may have no interest in 'getting online' — in order not to provide a service themselves, but to give a profitable, commercial business that money. Directly.
This is not only wrong as a point of "what is 'tax' for" but also fails to recognise that the multiplicity of organisations which can deal with telephony and broadband services have the profits available to connect up the areas currently by-passed, indeed they will have to connect to them if they are to seek to increase their income and profits, purely as a matter of business practice.
So lets not see a tax imposed on all which would only benefit commercial operators.
23-Sep-2009 14:24 · Add Comment · Trackback ·
tags: Labour · law · politics · tech
tags: Labour · law · politics · tech
ID Cards fail
This is the ID card that the Labour Government insist is fully and absolutely secure.
This is the ID card that the Labour Government insist will protect us all from terrorists.
This is the ID card that the Labour Government insist will stop people accessing services they have no right to access.
"Yeah, right."
06-Aug-2009 14:33 · Add Comment · Trackback ·
tags: Labour · no2id · politics · state v society
tags: Labour · no2id · politics · state v society
Re-shuffle?
David Miliband — stays as Foreign Secretary
Jack Straw — stays as Justice Minister
Lord Mandelson — stays at Business
Ed Balls — stays at Schools
Ed Miliband — keeps with Climate
Shaun Woodward — remains at Northern Ireland
Jim Murphy — stays with Scotland
05-Jun-2009 16:08 · Add Comment · Trackback ·
tags: politics · Labour
tags: politics · Labour
Brown's Mandate
More government porn
From news.bbc.co.uk …
This time, instead of putting a porn subscription on the bill to be paid by tax-payers, the Home Office's site on counter-terrorism linked to a Japanese porn website! It just goes to show that you should always check the accuracy and currency of sites you link to — according to the home office the original site at that domain had gone offline and the domain bought by another company and, er, 're-purposed'. Oh dear...06-Apr-2009 20:12 · Add Comment · Trackback ·
tags: Labour
tags: Labour
I still have a soft spot
From www.totalpolitics.com …
Ken is someone I 'grew up with' in many ways; first his stint taking over the GLC and then more recently his founding of the GLA. I always thought it highly amusing that where County Hall — the seat of the GLC — was directly opposite Westminster, City Hall — where the GLA was eventually based — was well out of sight of the Houses of Parliament, over by Tower Bridge. Indeed, being on the opposite bank of the river to the Tower of London there were moments when I expected someone to shout "Off with his head!"
Now, in an interview with the doyen of Tory pundits, Iain Dale, he is letting us know he isn't out for the count and intends to stand again for London leader.
I cant — quite — decide whether to wish him well. That he has done (or tried to do) many good things in his time at the GLC and GLA is beyond question so far as I am concerned. Whether he should be welcomed back for a third bite of the cherry I'n not so sure.
19-Mar-2009 11:43 · Add Comment · Trackback ·
tags: Labour · London · politics
tags: Labour · London · politics
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