O/T Gordon Brown's bigot remarks

[Christies Child]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/ ... 649174.stm

[Keith]

Gordon Brown has said he is "mortified" after being caught on microphone describing a voter he had just spoken to in Rochdale as a "bigoted woman"

The key bit was "being caught". Still, it's nice to know what he thinks of members of the public...

"I wanted to come here and say to Gillian that I was sorry, I had made a mistake, but also to say I understood the concerns she was bringing to me and I had simply misunderstood some of the words she had used."

Well, I've just watched the exchange and there weren't any words used by her that I didn't understand. Its a bit of a worry if the person running country is so easily confused by a Rochdale lass. I watched it really hoping to see a closet BNP sympathiser who was indeed a bigot. Instead I saw someone actually raising some fairly straight forward questions that could easily be answered (and indeed were). Still, it's refreshing to see that "Sue" lets some 'non-plant' people talk to Gordon

[Heysham_Shrimp]

Funny how Brown blames "Sky" for broadcasting his "private" conversation !

[Heysham_red]

Funny how Brown blames "Sky" for broadcasting his "private" conversation !

Sky did broadcast his private conversation. it was clearly private, he wouldn't have said that if he knew people were listening/recording.

Keith got it spot on, its the fact that he was caught doing it. I have no doubt that he has said worse about other people he has met but it hasnt been recorded. As will have Cameron and Clegg and everyone else in the world. i personally think its been blown out of proportion!

[Heysham_Shrimp]

Funny how Brown blames "Sky" for broadcasting his "private" conversation !

Sky did broadcast his private conversation. it was clearly private, he wouldn't have said that if he knew people were listening/recording.

Keith got it spot on, its the fact that he was caught doing it. I have no doubt that he has said worse about other people he has met but it hasnt been recorded. As will have Cameron and Clegg and everyone else in the world. i personally think its been blown out of proportion!

Rather naive of Brown and his advisors that they forgot Brown was wearing a microphone !

[durhamshrimp]

Sloppy to get caught really. It'd not suprise me if Cameron had something similar to say about that disabled kid and his dad the other day.

[Heysham_Shrimp]

Sloppy to get caught really. It'd not suprise me if Cameron had something similar to say about that disabled kid and his dad the other day.

He probably did but he's too sensible to say it with a microphone on his lapel !

[The Fury]

Gordon Brown has said he is "mortified" after being caught on microphone describing a voter he had just spoken to in Rochdale as a "bigoted woman"

The key bit was "being caught". Still, it's nice to know what he thinks of members of the public...

"I wanted to come here and say to Gillian that I was sorry, I had made a mistake, but also to say I understood the concerns she was bringing to me and I had simply misunderstood some of the words she had used."

Well, I've just watched the exchange and there weren't any words used by her that I didn't understand. Its a bit of a worry if the person running country is so easily confused by a Rochdale lass. I watched it really hoping to see a closet BNP sympathiser who was indeed a bigot. Instead I saw someone actually raising some fairly straight forward questions that could easily be answered (and indeed were). Still, it's refreshing to see that "Sue" lets some 'non-plant' people talk to Gordon

Meh, he called her what she was. She brought 'Eastern Europeans' into the discussion based on nothing whatsoever. She seemed to want to blame them for something but was unsure as to what that could be. Her only point was to ask where the Eastern Europeans had come from . Granted, Keith, that is a straightforward question which Brown should have answered immediately displaying a sense of blatant irony!

The only sour note for me is that Brown has attempted to save grace by publicly apologising. He should have come out and said he was right to call their conversation a disaster and insist that she was a bit of a xenophobe.

[Keith]

Sloppy to get caught really. It'd not suprise me if Cameron had something similar to say about that disabled kid and his dad the other day.

Given that his own disabled child died quite recently, no I doubt if he did say that. I think this is one area where he genuinely felt empathy and shared understanding & frustration. I'm sure he'd rather the exchange didn't take place but I very much doubt he would have angrily dismissed the father of the disabled child.

[durhamshrimp]

Sloppy to get caught really. It'd not suprise me if Cameron had something similar to say about that disabled kid and his dad the other day.

Given that his own disabled child died quite recently, no I doubt if he did say that. I think this is one area where he genuinely felt empathy and shared understanding & frustration. I'm sure he'd rather the exchange didn't take place but I very much doubt he would have angrily dismissed the father of the disabled child.

If you say so.

[Plain Peter]

[He should have come out and said he was right to call their conversation a disaster and insist that she was a bit of a xenophobe.

What is a bit of a xenophobe? Is it like saying that she was a bit of a racist Nazi?
She was only saying what she thinks, like millions of us think.
What does that make us?
All the main parties are avoiding the subject of immigration.
It wouldn't surprise me that unless one of them goes for it very soon and it gets openly discussed, then a lot of votes will go to UKIP, or much worse.

[durhamshrimp]

[He should have come out and said he was right to call their conversation a disaster and insist that she was a bit of a xenophobe.

What is a bit of a xenophobe? Is it like saying that she was a bit of a racist Nazi?
She was only saying what she thinks, like millions of us think.
What does that make us?
All the main parties are avoiding the subject of immigration.
It wouldn't surprise me that unless one of them goes for it very soon and it gets openly discussed, then a lot of votes will go to UKIP, or much worse.

I don't think what she was saying was bigotry, he got it wrong, but yes millions are bigots. Anyone who reads the Daily Mail and agrees with what its says is a bigot. Just because there are millions of stupid peopld doesn't mean that they're not stupid.

[scar]

Whilst it may come as no surprise that I hope Brown is no longer the Prime Minister come the end of next week, I do have some sympathy for him after all it was the fault of Sky and his close advisors that got him in to the predicament that he found himself in!

I have no doubt that the vast majority of, if not all, politicians (and many of the UK's citizens) will say in private what they would never utter in public. What I see as the bigger problem is his attitude towards being asked direct questions by a life long labour supporter. Put his 'Bigot' calling to oneside for a second and it's clear didn't like being asked direct questions that are on the mind of most voters and didn't want to be in such a situation.

He is (or was) renowned for his oritory skills yet at the first asking he failed!

I did like Simon Pegg's twitter on the question of where all the Eastern Europeans were coming from;

Seriously though, where are the Eastern Europeans "flocking in" from? My guess would be Europe, possibly East.

[Heysham_Shrimp]

[He should have come out and said he was right to call their conversation a disaster and insist that she was a bit of a xenophobe.

What is a bit of a xenophobe? Is it like saying that she was a bit of a racist Nazi?
She was only saying what she thinks, like millions of us think.
What does that make us?
All the main parties are avoiding the subject of immigration.
It wouldn't surprise me that unless one of them goes for it very soon and it gets openly discussed, then a lot of votes will go to UKIP, or much worse.

I don't think what she was saying was bigotry, he got it wrong, but yes millions are bigots. Anyone who reads the Daily Mail and agrees with what its says is a bigot. Just because there are millions of stupid peopld doesn't mean that they're not stupid.

I buy the Daily Mail every day and I am no bigot.

[durhamshrimp]

I buy the Daily Mail every day and I am no bigot.

Bigots never think they are.

[marky No.1]

Morecambe fans are all idiots!

Oh S*** I did'nt realise my broadband was connected!!



Sorry everybody and everythings all right now cause i've apologised

GB.jpg

[Christies Child]

Morecambe fans are all idiots!

Oh S*** I did'nt realise my broadband was connected!!



Sorry everybody and everythings all right now cause i've apologised

GB.jpg

That's no way to treat your flock.....

[marky No.1]

It is a joke CC

Anyway you've just referred to them as sheep!

[Posh]

Sloppy to get caught really. It'd not suprise me if Cameron had something similar to say about that disabled kid and his dad the other day.

Given that his own disabled child died quite recently, no I doubt if he did say that. I think this is one area where he genuinely felt empathy and shared understanding & frustration. I'm sure he'd rather the exchange didn't take place but I very much doubt he would have angrily dismissed the father of the disabled child.

Yeah right man in street wanted mainstream education for his son, Conservative manifesto says 'no'. He tells this to Cameron who tries to turn conversation and dodge the question. Man keeps going to get some sort of answer about why Conservative Party policy was at odds with his wishes for his son. Cameron brings up his son to say he wanted the same for his son. Man says so why does Conservative manifesto say the opposite. Cameron disappears - no doubt cursing the fact that he ran into a voter who got him bang to rights whether he supported the mans view or not.

The thing is with Cameron we'll never know. Although I think it's highly likely he called him a c...*




* maybe

[Castaway]

* maybe

[Keith]

Sloppy to get caught really. It'd not suprise me if Cameron had something similar to say about that disabled kid and his dad the other day.

Given that his own disabled child died quite recently, no I doubt if he did say that. I think this is one area where he genuinely felt empathy and shared understanding & frustration. I'm sure he'd rather the exchange didn't take place but I very much doubt he would have angrily dismissed the father of the disabled child.

Yeah right man in street wanted mainstream education for his son, Conservative manifesto says 'no'. He tells this to Cameron who tries to turn conversation and dodge the question. Man keeps going to get some sort of answer about why Conservative Party policy was at odds with his wishes for his son. Cameron brings up his son to say he wanted the same for his son. Man says so why does Conservative manifesto say the opposite. Cameron disappears - no doubt cursing the fact that he ran into a voter who got him bang to rights whether he supported the mans view or not.

The thing is with Cameron we'll never know. Although I think it's highly likely he called him a c...*




* maybe

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/ ... 647447.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/ ... 647490.stm

The most vulnerable children deserve the very highest quality of care, so we will call a moratorium on the ideologically-driven closure of special schools. We will end the bias towards the inclusion of children with special needs in mainstream schools.

So Labour have done SFA regarding inclusion of disabled children in mainstream but have set about the closure of special schools. The bloke who spoke to Cameron expressed his frustration at the underfunding of education for children with special needs in mainstream (well, to be fair, Labour haven't had long to do anything about it yet). Cameron expressed his frustration at not being able to get his disabled child in to a special school. Some parents believe their child will thrive best in a mainstream school. Mr & Mrs Cameron believed their child would be best served by being in a special school. Their manifesto suggests, as he said directly to the bloke, that he wants to offer parents choice. Labour have demonstrated that they want to restrict the choice to underfunded mainstream or nothing.

There was a plan to close the special needs education service here on the Isle of Man and integrate all the children from there in to mainstream. It was extremely clear that many parents did not believe that was the best thing for their children and the unit remained open. Should the state have told those parents they were wrong? Should the state have forced them in to mainstream? Or should the state offer choice, based upon the needs of the child?

Still, whether Cameron said what he thought of the parent he spoke to was a **** or not, we'll never know, where-as we do know what Brown thinks of the hoi-polloi , and it ain't much!

[marky No.1]

The lady concerned in Rochdale has reportedly signed up to reveal all with a Sunday Newspaper for around £80,000

Somebody please call me a bigot

[shrimper]

Brown was worryingly naive - does he not watch 'The Thick of It'?

But I'm slightly with The Fury on this one. Had Brown been an Australian politician - where they tend to say what they think and stick to it - he'd have immediately apologised for talking about her like that behind her back, gone back to her house and, with all the TV cameras poised, said it again to her face.

Something like: "Look, Gillian, I called you bigoted because that's what your words sounded like. Let's have a sensible debate about immigration, which is an issue many people are concerned about but which we want to discuss in non-inflammatory, sensible ways. It needs to be raised, we have plans in place to continue to tackle it and I'll explain them to you.

"When you say things like 'where are all 'these' Eastern Europeans coming from?', it makes you sound bigoted, which I'm sure you're not, given your background and political history. I apologise for talking behind your back but it was the impression I got from what you said.

"Now let's go in and have a cup of tea and we can talk about it more comprehensively and without the glare of these cameras which might make us both act in a slightly unnatural way."

[Stanley Bowles]

The lady concerned in Rochdale has reportedly signed up to reveal all with a Sunday Newspaper for around £80,000

Somebody please call me a bigot

Your a great big bigot you are

[mrpotatohead]

Is a bigott not a small jockey that fiddles his tax