sadoldgit

Starmer wasn’t the party leader at that point and we all know the problems Labour had with claims of anti-Semitism under Corbyn and before. You could argue that a previous Tory Prme Minister got away with racist and Islamophobic language Scot free so why single out an opposition MP for harsher treatment 😉 I wonder if she has deliberately lobbed a hand grenade at Starmer before the council elections. There are rumours that she wasn’t planning to stand at the next election and she must have know that her words would cause an uproar and problems for Labour at a time where they had been working hard to restore their relations with the Jewish community. The speed of her apology also seems to be staged. The argument that it was just a draft doesn’t wash either. Why would you write such contentious stuff in the first place? Anyway, the main point is that it has played right into Starmer’s hands. He has shown, as with Corbyn, that he will act swiftly to deal with these issues whereas our current PM shows time and again that he bottles it when having to deal with his own in party problems.

Looking at the front pages today oboth the Murdoch Times and the Telegraph managed to make this a “Labour row” when it is nothing of the sort. It is about Diane Abbott, not the Labour Party and most papers who have put it on the front pages recognise that. Compare how quickly Starmer has dealt with this issue to the way the government prevaricate in the hope that these types of issues will go away. Even when they do finally act, it is like pulling teeth. In Braverman’s case, when she was rightly removed from office, she was back in a senior job within the wink of an eye! People like Raab, Patel, Braverman and Williamson should have been swiftly dealt with in the same manner within their own party. Raab should be facing reselection now and at the very least, should have been stood down while the enquiry was underway. We desperately need a new government and a Starmer is presently our best hope. Statements like the one made recently by Abbott are not the least bit helpful, not least to her own cause, and if she doesn’t understand that there is no place for a loose canon at this time, she has no place in political party doing it’s level best to overturn the status quo. I have just read that Keir Starmer has stated that he thinks that her remarks are anti-Semitic. Looking at the definition of anti-semitism in the dictionary it mentioned displaying hate or hostility towards the Jewish people. I can’t see any of that in her text, just a whole load of ignorance and an effort to make out that one group has faced more prejudice and discrimination than others (which is quite clearly bollocks). Her future in politics isn’t looking very secure.

I call yet another pointless, crass post from our resident xenophobe and far right agitator. But I will bite. Perhaps you would like to enlighten us as to what she said that is anti-Semitic and why? For a change perhaps you can try and respond in a more intelligent and thoughtful way rather than deploying your usual default Kevin & Perry petulant kid routine.

Whilst I don’t think her comments were anti Semitic, I do think that they were clumsy and ill thought out. Prejudice, racism, all of this stuff comes from the same place and it is not helpful to try and make the case that one is worse than another depending on who it is aimed at. The Labour Party have dealt with the issue quickly and properly and she has rightly apologised (something that you don’t get from the other side of the House under this Government) but she has left the Tories with something to attack in another week when they on the ropes for poor behaviour and governance. This is all we will be hearing about from the right wing attack dogs for the next few days and Starmer will not be happy about her poorly judged comments. I hope you are right about her career in politics. Fair play to her for making it as the first black female MP but she has all too often given the far right an easy target to aim at.

Sadly passed away aged 89. I saw his stage show many years ago and was delighted to find that our seats were central and 3 rows from the stage….until Sir Les Patterson came on and spat his drink all over the first 4 rows! I don’t find men dressing up as women intrinsically funny, but the Dame Edna persona let him get away with a priceless, acerbic wit. Very funny man (and woman). RIP ocker. Also a belated RIP to the wonderful, dog loving Paul O’Grady. He lived in the next village and although I never got to meet him many of the locals did and said that he was always happy to stop and chat and did a lot for the local community. The local Facebook page is full of stories about his helping people out and he was always popping into the local school with things to raffle to help them raise money. He offered to financially bail out the landlady of his local during Covid. No one has a bad word to say about him and it is good to see a local celeb get fully involved in their local community and to get such a warm send off. RIP Paul/Lilly. We had a walk down to the church this afternoon to pay our respects and he has been buried in the same plot as his former partner, Brendan Murphy. Lots of lovely flowers and tributes including a touching floral arrangement of his old dog, Buster.

Britannia Unhinged more like. Still, we’re are slowly getting back towards some kind of sanity in politics. https://www.scotsman.com/news/opinion/columnists/dominic-raabs-resignation-means-four-out-of-the-five-brexit-fanatics-behind-britannia-unchained-are-gone-next-year-voters-can-finish-the-job-brian-wilson-4114153

So the odious Raab has finally, thankfully, fallen on his sword after Sunak displayed his usual weakness by not sacking him (so much for calling Starmer Sir Softy). His arrogant, dismissive resignation statement displays all that is wrong with the Conservative Party today. There is no place for bullies anywhere in our society especially those who continue to ignore the fact that they bully (yes, you know who you are). Scumbags, every one of them.

Both he and Rowley refuse to accept an independent enquiry report that the police forces in this country are institutionally racist despite plenty of evidence to the contrary. My point? That despite what happened after the Stephen Lawrence murder, all these years later on the police forces in this country are still institutionally racist.

Nasty piece of work in callous post shocker. You are quite right, it is in poor taste. Even poorer taste that someone finds it funny.

For those interested, Chief Constable Stephen Watson appeared on LBC yesterday and said that he doesn’t believe that our police forces are institutionally racist. His comments are currently being roasted by James O’Brien, again on LBC.

In an ideal world people would be stopped and searched in line with agreed official guidelines and ethnicity should only be a factor in the process where ethnicity is an actual determining factor. The fact that the difference has changed from ethnic minorities being 9 times more likely to be stopped to 5 times now would seem to indicate that progress has been made on reducing the amount of disparity due to ethnicity bias. Given that the population of the population of the UK is predominately white and the amount of of convicted criminals are predominately white, it seems reasonable to expect more white people to be subject to s & s than ethnic minorities overall. I guess the fact that independent enquiries are still finding that police forces are “institutionally racist” will still be a determining factor but will be ignored by those with a far right agenda as usual. https://news.npcc.police.uk/releases/police-action-plan-launched-aiming-to-address-race-disparities-affecting-black-people-and-change-a-legacy-of-distrust

Another play straight out of the writing room for Succession. Throw money at it to make it go away, but sadly it works. Murdoch will claim that they have not been found guilty of defamation so therefore it didn’t happen. It is a shame that we didn’t have the spectacle of a court case so that Murdoch (and Trump) were given the public scrutiny they deserve. Yet again cynicism, money and power call the shots. It reminds me of when Murdoch was hauled over the coals on the phone hacking scandal. He managed to save The Sun by closing down the less influential News of the World and promptly launched The Sun on Sunday thus giving it more clout in the process. $800m is a small price for Murdoch to pay to keep his position as Kingmaker in place and to ensure that his interests come first in the most powerful nation on the planet. More to come though. https://www.reuters.com/breakingviews/fox-is-not-out-woods-yet-2023-04-19/

The issue is not about stop and search per se, it is about the fact that it is still not being used proportionately. 5 times more likely to be stopped if you belong to an ethnic minority yet Kemi Badenoch doesn’t seem overly concerned about that. You need to be careful Badger, once you get on the wrong side of the “We Aren't Racists Be We Jump All Over Those Who Speak Out Against Racism” gang you never get rid of them.

It is true that the police should use stop and search more on black people? It seems that an awful lot of white people are currently knifing people to death.

Would a white cabinet minister get away with saying this? https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11983663/amp/Police-use-stop-search-despite-overly-affecting-ethnic-minorities-says-Kemi-Badenoch.html

Probably the worst centre half ever to pull on a Saints shirt.

At least we got our country back. Sadly though, sovereignty doesn’t put food on the table or pay the heating bills. Pathetic really that there are still people who think that the colour of the flag we stand under is far more important than the future of our children. It’s all okay though. Apparently, according to our very rich Prime Minister, all we have to do to turn things around is get better at maths.

I am not saying that the police did not go over the top in sending 5 officers (although I don’t know the reasons behind that decision) but the “far right” are lapping up the whole golliwog thing. And thanks for your advice egg, perhaps you should also pass it on to a few of your mates on here too. When you say that Braverman had a point, don’t you think that the Home Secretary could have at least check in with Essex police and asked for their reasoning before launching her attack on them?

Even some of her own party members think she is racist. She didn’t even bother to speak to the Essex police to find out their side of the story before she launched into her usual knee jerk anti woke rhetoric. No surprise there, or that the far right swallow it up. https://amp.theguardian.com/politics/2023/apr/15/braverman-rebuke-police-golly-pub-dolls-home-office

Funny you should post this. Earlier I was thinking that Nathan Jones was the Liz Truss of the Premier League. How anyone can think that anything she says or did has/had any credibility in the real world is completely deluded. When history looks back at a period where people like Trump, Johnson and Truss were in power it will think that those who put them there were completely devoid of any vestige of cognitive thought.

Yet still he is making a better job of it than Donald Trump, as I expect your Dad would do too.

Strangely the issue of are golliwogs racist is a thing again thanks to a racist pub landlord having a selection on display in his pub and them being removed by the police. Surprise, surprise, Suella Braverman has also waded in on the side of the landlord. It seems I went to sleep in 2023 and woke up in 1970. Cue the usual white reactionary suspects on here lining up to argue that they are not. Things that are racist - Rishi Sunak & Suella Braverman https://amp.theguardian.com/politics/2023/apr/12/tory-peer-warsi-accuses-suella-braverman-racist-rhetoric-grooming-gangs

A 19 year broadcasting career and this is the best you can do? Anything else? Do you have the same obsession with everyone else who was hoodwinked by him too or was O’Brien the only one? It’s good to see you finally worrying about people who destroy other people’s lives though. Perhaps you will eventually even turn against Suella Braverman, or don’t the lives of refugees count?

Thank you for you in depth and deeply considered reply. When I wrote that I was just giving my impression of him from what I had heard on the radio. Since then I have googled him and he considered himself a “centrist” a “liberal” and a “do gooder” (or in your parlance, a “pinko”). Given your support for the likes of Farage and Thatcher (does it still give you a stiffy when you type “Iron Lady”?) you clearly have no idea what it is like to hold a view that politics should be for all. Keep the foreigners out and keep the Lords in their castles whilst we doff our caps and let the gentry wipe their feet on us. His take down of the anti woke types and Brexiteer disaster deniers is a joy to behold. Perhaps you should give him a call Duckie? Do you have the balls?

I am a relative newcomer to the James O’Brien show but would agree that he spends a lot of time dissing Brexit. I have yet to hear anyone get the better of him on the subject though. From what I have heard so far I wouldn’t call him left wing at all, his views seem to be liberal and humanitarian to my ears. He seems to take great pleasure in pulling apart callers of the Gammon and anti-woke persuasion and again, I have yet to hear any of these people get the better of him. For that alone he is worth listening to because these are the very people who are trying to keep us rooted in a 1970’s mindset when the rest of us are desperate for this country to shed the millstones of the last century and to become a modern, forward thinking, open, caring society that works for all, not just the privileged few.