And another thing…

I’m still struggling to see what was wrong with what Clarkson said. Brown does have one eye, he is Scottish and ‘idiot’ is, at best, open to debate after presiding over the last 10 years when our banks got out of kilter with reality while promoting some of the most determined greedy idiots to give him financial advice/work at his regulators.

So, Clarkson was forced to apologise for pointing out that Brown is Scottish and has one eye? Wow – a sign of how much reality denial is in vogue atm!

Weak. Attacking David Cameron because the guy that introduced him echoed Clarkson’s controversial comment? Very weak attack there Tom. Weak!

Oh Tom, really, a daft whispered comment, trying for a laugh. Hardly something that your usually excellent Blog needs to be bothering with.

For clarity, this is the precise qualified apology that Jeremy Clarkson wrote in his newspaper column:

‘I very specifically apologised for making fun of his personal appearance – very specifically.’

‘I have nothing against the Scottish and of course I regret making any remark that might have upset the disabled. But the idiot bit – there is no chance I’ll apologise for that.’

Sorry, who is this guy, and why is he parroting Clarkson’s crass humourless jibe at our national idiot.

And how did he get the job as Lord Snooty’s warm up man. Was Plug unavailable.

Regarding this:—

“everyone, regardless of party affiliation, agreed was offensive in the extreme”

No, they didn’t. In fact, some disagreed quite strongly with the notion that it was offensive in the extreme.

I can’t speak for anybody else, but nobody I know personally really disagreed with what was said. “He probably shouldn’t have said it, and I didn’t know about the blind-in-one-eye thing, but he’s certainly an idiot who happens to be from Scotland” (collectively paraphased).

Quite a few people commenting on your post on the subject – http://www.tomharris.org.uk/2009/02/06/dont-sack-jeremy-clarkson/ (myself included) were a little sceptical of how offensive it really was.

@Loki
“Hardly something that your usually excellent Blog needs to be bothering with.”

Why do people criticise Tom’s blog just because they disagree? I notice this from time to time. They disagree, so “the blog’s gone downhill” or “it’s not as good as it was” or “this is rubbish compared to your usual standard” etc…

Sounds rather silly to me, especially because people with even the most compatible views will disagree frequently. IMHO, Tom’s “reaching” a bit for this attack on Cameron to be valid, but just because I disagree I don’t hate him, feel the need to abuse him, or criticise his blog.

Get some perspective people! D

P.S. Thanks for the paragraphs back!

P.P.S. That video is quite irritating, as it starts automatically every time the page loads, which means it loads:
-On every visit to your homepage (and will do until it disappears off the front page)
-And on every visit to this comment thread.

Is there an option to not have it start automatically? If there is, i’d be grateful if you could tick it or something. I’m starting to develop a hatred for Mike Mendoza, and i’ve only heard the start of his opening sentence a few times

Thanks for pointing the clip out to me – can you imagine Brown doing this without launching into his billions rhetoric drone.

What do you reckon to your very own Mr Nasty bullying Alex?

Is this the best you can do? I’d stick to sci-fi (where we agree on most things!).

I suppose on a day when Ipsos Mori’s latest poll shows a 20 point lead for Cameron’s Conservatives (funny how it’s not on your PollWatch!), you reach this level of desperation.

I do concede that it’s a rogue poll but can’t make pleasant reading for those Labour supporters out there (25-30% of you if the polls are to be believed).

Oh dear Tom, from your blog your obviously anti-PC yet you seem to be cheer leading the overly PC environment when it suits attacking Cameron and the Tories? Isn’t that terribly shallow and rather transparent? Also it kind of gives you that new labour taste when the public is so utterly sick of it all, with the hate for politics and politicians reaching frightening levels with one of the reasons being it all seems so fake part because of the PC brigade stifling what people can and cannot say. Its become such a ridiculous farce yet a farce that is causing massive anger from the banning of “Christmas” to the banning of St Georges day, to the perceived attack on English people and culture to making it taboo to talk about immigration.

You know Labour are always slagging the Tories off.They do the same to you and you dont like it.
Better get used to it Tom, any respect your party had has gone long ago.
Its what you derserve.

Meet the Proles

Think about it

Your words, your correction hmmmm

Re: your first paragraph

For me the most interesting moment in the video is around 47 minutes in, where Cameron says, unprompted, he hadn’t ended Punch and Judy politics, and was wrong to suggest he could.

Trouble is, I can’t find any trace of an apology from Cameron or his party for repeating what everyone, regardless of party affiliation, agreed was offensive in the extreme…The Nasty Party? Surely not…

Sorry Tom but I would take your; ‘I’m offended’ stance much more seriously if you equally condemned the offensive comments towards Mrs Thatcher, in the same vein.

I’ve lost count of the number of Left wing / Labour supporters that have openly wished she was dead and mocked her being senile.

http://www.recessmonkey.com/2007/03/05/correction-maggie-just-old/

I’m no Thatcher fan myself but the abuse she has / still does endure is far worse than some stupid comments by Clarkson.

“introduced by a cretin”
Says it all.
You could also have said, but you’re too nice, that judging by that gross belly, the only sport one would associate with him, is darts.
I’ve noticed that Cameron does attract these shock jock types – seen them on TV pontificating. Perfect advert for the Tories, and inspirational to the Guido horde.

@ John 7.17 – I wasn’t specifically criticising the Blog or Tom Harris, just that I thought that this was really scrapping the barrel in terms of an attack on the Tories. Surely the left of centre bloggers can do better (apart from labourlist, obviously)? Indeed, I quite specifically said that the Blog was (usually) excellent. It is! I enjoy reading it very much indeed, and find most of Tom’s posts extremely entertaining. I do think that you have got the wrong end of Tom’s recently produced stick, which seems to assume that anyone who offers even a modicum of criticism on any post is a Dave sympathiser and/or closet Tory. Of which, I may add, I am neither!

Well I found Jeremy Clarkson’s remark offensive and I’ve got it in the neck on another blog for suggesting that the apology (such as it was) was necessary. In my view it’s nothing to do with being PC or curtailing freedom of speech and everything to do with basic good manners. With freedom of speech comes responsibility: if we’re not to descend as a society into brutishness, then we have to know when we’ve overstepped the mark and to be mature enough to apologise.

I really don’t understand, though, Tom why David Cameron and the Tories are to be held responsible for someone else repeating the remark. On this blog people make comments but no-one would accuse you of endorsing opinions posted or the language used (with, possibly, the exception of Draper who appears to hold hosts responsible).

Offensive?
Yes. My parents would have been appalled at anyone calling our PM an idiot . Or one eyed.
I don’t think calling him Scottish would qualify unless being Scottish has connotations I am unaware of (I exclude meanness.. I did live in Aberdeen for a while:-)

But then my parents would have been shocked at all Conservative MPs being called “toffs”. Or Mrs Thatcher being vilifed. Or some of the stupid politics which brands all your opponents the same.

It’s insulting to our intelligence.

As is this thread.

If you can’t take it, don’t give it out.

Period.

I have NO sympathy for any political party which vilifies its opponents and then complains when they in turn are vilified.

There is NO moral high ground.

The comment was offensive and is. It makes me wince.

It is the sort of remark a six-year old used to get a clip round the ear for.

It is also bizarre. Brown is Scottish. Is that bad? Brown has lost the sight of one eye – is that funny? Brown is most certainly not an idiot, so that’s just not true.

The thing I think I dread most about the possible (but unlikely – the glass remains still at least half full) return of a Tory government, apart from all the other awful things that would inevitably result, is a return to the casual ‘degradation of minority/disability of choice’ humour becoming seemingly socially acceptable once again.

If Labour has achieved nothing else worthwhile from a decade in power (and that’s a really stupid “if”) it’s been to help build a nicer nation, a little more at ease with itself. Oh, how I hated the 1980s! Nasty they were and nasty they would again soon become…

Strong Tom. Very strong. This is the bastard who is trying to tell us that we eat too much.

It’s funny how the mist can lift so quickly. Unless you’re a Bullingdon Bully of course. The mist never lifts for you. Called Bollinger isn’t it, when times are tough? You can do so much better though.

Four more years, four more years!

OK, it’s not going to happen but it will not not happen because of me, and people will be really sorry. They ain’t seen nothing yet.

That enough negatives? Here’s a positive:

Nope, can’t think of one. Sorry. Where’s me tramadol?

Brian Hughes

a nicer nation, you must be joking, we have less freedom than we have ever had. Unemployment now over 2 million. We have run out of money to pay for things. Just where do you live, not England.

I’ve taken to observing Dave recently. After years of not being able to have a TV on in any room I’m in with his image on it – I’ve accepted the frightful man is going to be our next PM so am initiating a self-imposed “warm-up” strategy with him.

What strikes me is:
- His terrible blandness
- His rigidity. I can’t describe it any better – he’s just stiff in every way
- But most of all – his change of attitude when pushed.

It’s the same on the radio. When Humphries gets at him – the second he’s pushed to answer something he doesn’t want to…The veil drops and what can only be described as nastiness comes out.

There’s no getting away from it. When he and his unreconstructed party get back in power – we all better get used to his infantile tantrums and Tebbit-like view of the electorate.

Hi Tom
Thanks for the mention I need all the publicity I can get. I must say that I am MORE offended by the advertisement for ‘FOIE GRAS’ on your blog than anything else! Are YOU aware how this disgusting food is produced and the suffering that goes with its production?
Let me point out to you that i am not David Camerons warm up man, I am local to Brighton & Hove, non-political and was approached to introduce the leader of the Conservative party. I would have done the same thing for any one eyed Scottish idiot that asked me.

Best wishes from as you called me ‘A Cretin’ aka MIKE MENDOZA

Mike – Thanks for leaving a comment. Even though you weren’t offended, on reflection I shouldn’t have described you in that way and I apologise.

I don’t think either you or Clarkson should have used the terms you did in describing the prime minister, but I can hardly complain about abusive language in political debate when I describe anyone – least of all someone I’ve never even spoken to – as a “cretin”. Sorry.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cretinism

It seems that Labour bloggers just can’t stop themselves from disparaging the disabled…