[Closed] Anyone watching Sky News

BBC news now. He's squirming like a good'un.

I doubt he would call her a bigot for asking about national debt. The BBC seems to infer he was also being asked about immigration.

Edit:

"The 65-year-old woman had challenged Mr Brown on a number of issues including immigration, crime and the economy during the exchange."

[url= http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/election_2010/8649012.stm ]-Beeb.[/url]

It does show what an obvious sham all this 'meet the people' bullshit is just before an election.

...and that is applying to all of them.

Yes, he's just said that and claims it was because he wasn't allowed to answer the question which was apparently re eastern europeans.

The sound ecitors will be working overtime as the conversation was a bit garbled originally and there were inaudible parts on the live transmission.

She was probably a bigoted woman.

She's from Rochdale, case closed 🙂

She was probably a bigoted woman.

Of course she must be, having the audacity to challenge the PM and screw up his carefully arranged 'people' visit 🙄

"Sue" is getting a kicking as we speak. They are going to have to up his medication.

Gordo's "meet the people" strategy has come off the rails.

Genius. Cant wait to see the mash tomorrow.

Now doubt the Radio and TV airwaves will talk about nothing else today - great!

This has got to be the most boring election to date, I am in two minds whether to vote now just had enough and I really don’t care who wins, they are all full of bullshit.

He really was squirming in that interview. I love the way they only want to answer scripted questions!!

how can you say its the most boring election to date, going from tory certainty, to hung parliament to the LibDems of all people leading the polls at one point! I reckon Gordon could actually come out of today quite well - saying it as it is, rather than the scripted talk and lack of interaction with the people in the debates.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/election_2010/8649200.stm

this it?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/blog/2010/apr/28/general-election-2010-live-blog

dont apologise gordon she is a biggot!

fair play to the man i say

Anyone still watching?

The old girls on BBC24 now, she's awesome!

She was probably a bigoted woman.

Of course she must be, having the audacity to challenge the PM and screw up his carefully arranged 'people' visit

I'm no fan of Brown's but I'm sure he knows what 'bigoted' means, and there are plenty of bigoted people around so I don't find it too hard to believe that's his genuine assessment of what she had to say.

Still it's hard to see it reflecting very well on him.

You can't say anything about immigrants ... All these eastern Europeans – where are they coming from?

Eastern Europe maybe? 🙄

So ****ing what if he called her a bigot - he's probably right. Another non-story.

to be fair shes not necessarily a bigot just gullible and easily led by the right-wing press
sadly shes just like so many others in this country

...time to book Pickfords!

I think him apologising is the mistake, if thats what he thinks then fine go with it, take the flack & hold onto his principles

Right-wing press.

Non-story.

😆

wow i just checked the comments on the daily mail* website about this

there really are a lot of right wing nut-jobs out there

* i know its what youd expect but i was curious!

Right-wing press.

The BBC are virtually looping it. Hardly 'right wing'!

I remember hearing some [s]stupid bitch[/s] charming lady ranting on about Bosnians once. Someone asked her if she knew where Bosnia was.

"It's in India somewhere innit. What, d'you fink I'm fick or sumfink?"

😀

Brown finally reveals a human side. I'm going to vote Labour for sure now.

Someone posted this for a bit of balance, so I'm doing the same:

Brilliant.

We do live in a sad time when a politician gets it in the next for being a normal human being (forgetting he had a mike on) and actually being truthfully and probably correctly.

That said I laughed myself silly, I'm no Gorden supporter. Apparently according to some online questionaire my views are most aligned with the Lib Dems 😯 . Bit surprised really as I'm quite happy to admit to being right of centre in most things.

Sky News is an oxymoron

He should have punched her as well.

in the ovaries

She could do with apologising to the Eastern European community. I think I'd have been more frank in my description than Gogs.

So raising the issue of immigration makes you a bigot, and people are surprised the BNP are starting to get representation. Unfortunately it is that sort of attitude that helps them the most.

Unfortunately it is that sort of attitude that helps them the most.

Nah, it's racist sort of attitudes that help them the most.

So raising the issue of immigration makes you a bigot

Yes.

She said:

"I'm very upset. He's an educated person. Why has he come out with words like that?"

As far as I know, the word bigot is a valid and non-pejorative term that can be applied to people based on their views. Why would this be incompatible with education?

To be honest, I think it shows up Gordon as being ok. I mean it could have been a whole heck of a lot worse:

"F*ck me what a stupid bint! These northerners are all thick as pigsh*t! Get that wrinkly old cow out of my face!"

Ah so this must be the proper thread 🙄 Gordon is a moron, nuff said.

Whichever way you look at it, he has probably alienated a sizeable proportion of core Labour voters.

ie.
Granny
Working class
Labour voter because she has always voted Labour, as has the rest of her family
Concerned about immigration
Concerned about unemployemnt
Concerned about education of her grandchildren

Asked a reasonable question (albeit with 'undertones') and then only says what he really thinks when he is talking to a flunky.

My take is that he is happy to take the votes and tolerate these 'uneducated peasants' as long as they toe the line and allow him to continue to discuss 'proper' issues with those he perceives to be worthy of his time.

Woody - Member

Whichever way you look at it, he has probably alienated a sizeable proportion of core Labour voters.

ie.
Granny
Working class
Labour voter because she has always voted Labour, as has the rest of her family
Concerned about immigration
Concerned about unemployemnt
Concerned about education of her grandchildren

Asked a reasonable question (albeit with 'undertones') and then only says what he really thinks when he is talking to a flunky.

My take is that he is happy to take the votes and tolerate these 'uneducated peasants' as long as they toe the line and allow him to continue to discuss 'proper' issues with those he perceives to be worthy of his time.

Spot on Woody

The media has been waiting with bated breath for this to happen though.

Brown shows contempt for anyone who doesn't agree to the Masterplan shock horror! Hardly news. More concerning is his reluctance to own up when confronted by the tape on R2 - "...if I said that..."; MTFU - either admit you're wrong and apologise or stand by what you said. But I'd be fascinated to know who dreamed up the tactic of getting Brown closer to the people in the first place - there was no way that that was going to end well. Same person who told him to smile more perhaps?

[i]I am sorry that I was recorded calling that woman a "bigot" in the back of my car. I realise that that was a low thing to do, and that I should have called her a bigot to her face. I have already telephoned her in person and have called her a bigot directly.

I stand by what I said. She is a bigot. I understand what fuels her bigotry. It is foreign people. Foreign people who don't speak English terribly well. Foreign people who come from foreign countries. Foreign people who eat strange foodstuffs. Foreign people coming over here and competing with her for jobs. She doesn't like that. And why would she? She wants a job for life, with good pay. She wants a shortage of labour driving her wages up, and she wants the ability to unionise to drive wages up further. That is her idea of a good life. But in addition to her bigotry, Mrs Goggins has narrow horizons and no understanding of the way our economy works. She cannot see that the foreigner-free, high-wage economy for which she yearns, and for which ordinary decent people like Nigel Farrage and Nicholas Griffin also yearn is an economy which will ruin her life. It will ruin her life because it ruins Britain's competitiveness and drives people of industry and talent unknown to Mrs Goggins to invest in countries with lower wage costs.

So I say to bigots like Mrs Goggins; if you are happy to see the sun set on Britain, if you are happy to see your standard of living decline until the electric toaster is an unimaginable luxury again, if you want our global influence to collapse and our economy give £5 handjobs in supermarket car-parks, if you are happy with all of that then I am happy to send home the people who say strange words on the street, the people who eat oddly-shaped foods and pray to non-existent, violent or inferior gods, who wear tea-cosies on their heads or insist on bringing swords into the public lavatories.

You think being a bigot is a bad thing, and you think you can't be anything bad because you are an ordinary, decent person and because you are old and a bit stupid and don't come from London. That's not right. What I know is that many of you are bigoted. Many of you are a bit stupid. Many of you simply have no idea of how an economy works, or what decisions have to be taken so that you can afford Sky+ and turkey twizzlers. I am not your prime minister because I am just like you. I am your prime minister because I am nothing like you. I am not a regular kind of guy, I am special. So think carefully, before you ask me a stupid question, or offer words of ill-founded criticism from the depths of your bigotry and stupidity. Think carefully. Do you want me to tell you what you are? Because I will. [/i]

I should totally be a spin doctor.

Yeah but why is she concerned about immigration? If it weren't for the right wing scaremongerers, no-one would be bothered by immigration.

Unless they were a bigot...

[url= http://www.thedailymash.co.uk/politics/politics-headlines/tories-will-scrap-free-tv-licence-for-bigoted-old-hags,-says-brown-201004282688/ ]mashed[/url]

He's just gone into her house to point out the error of her ways.......

........or grovel 🙄

Dame Duffy if she comes out to meet the press and says how wonderful he is ?

who wear tea-cosies on their heads or insist on bringing swords into the public lavatories.

😆

(Bows down in the presence of greatness)

I should totally be a spin doctor.

I think the dictatorship led by TandemJeremy has found it's Goebbels...

Have any of you heard his apology, thats a load of bollocks, he has been caught of gaurd and he is unable to control this situation and he can't handle it. He is upset about that and not for what he said about Mrs Duffy.

Wow that did not take long:

[url= http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bigotry ]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bigotry[/url]

filpinhecker
i doubt he is upset about what he said to miss duffy

he believed she was a bigot then and i suspect he still believes it now

hes just had to bow down to the pr spin gods of the media

BigDummy

that is excellent and very very true. So many people (me too more than likely) live in their own little bubble of reality. Anything that threatens that bubble is wrong and anything that supports it is right, even if it's not.

The majority of the population are not the brightest people in society (statistical fact). I heard Darragh O'Brien sum it up very well recently, everyone is entitled to an opinion but it might very well be worth sh1t. Not everyone's opinion has equal value. Ironically we are in a society that is massively distrustful of experts (even the word has become a term of sarcastic abuse) but will quite happily nod sagely along with theviews of the 'man in the street' who knows very little about what they are talking about.

Still not voting for Gorden though, in my little bubble he's still a self serving idiot.

BigDummy, Sir, I salute your courage, your strength, your indefatigability

[i]that is excellent and very very true.[/i]

That's kind, but it was intended to be excellent and ludicrous parody. 😉

who wear tea-cosies on their heads or insist on bringing swords into the public lavatories.

I have to post that quote again, because it's simply utterly brilliant! 😆

BigDummy; this is quite possibly your finest moment on STW! Take a bow sir!

Yeah but why is she concerned about immigration? If it weren't for the right wing scaremongerers, no-one would be bothered by immigration.

To me, there are legitimate concerns about immigration (not to discount the positives, such as the fact that immigrants are often the brightest and best from their country):

We have plenty of people on the dole who we cannot motivate to work for some reason. Importing people to fill the jobs they should be doing is a very short term way of solving this problem.
Immigrants are more likely to send their wages home, which doesn't really help our economy out a great deal.

Granted, neither of those figure highly in most anti-immigration arguments, where the narrative is that "They're taking our jobs", when it really should be "They're taking the jobs nobody can be bothered to do".

that is excellent and very very true.

That's kind, but it was intended to be excellent and ludicrous parody.

And there's the irony, cos it's closer to the truth than the reality the politicians and media have cooked up.

cha****ng - I should have said "that sort of attitude that helps them [b]grow[/b] the most. I presume they have got the racist vote wrapped up, their recent growth would appear to come from disillusioned Labour voters, who seemingly don't think the issue of immigration has been addressed adequately because of what it has done to their areas. How right or wrong they are about the symptoms I have no idea as I do not live in the relevant areas. But their reaction, whilst misguided, can be partially understood - people are bloody minded - if they are called a bigot just for mentioning it.

talkemada - Nick Griffin asks you to keep up the good work.

I should totally be a spin doctor.

Run for government. I'll vote for that!

talkemada - Nick Griffin asks you to keep up the good work.

Really? That's funny, because I always thought he was an idiot! 😆

Immigrants are more likely to send their wages home

[url=

Khan he very clever man, he Community Leader he lead Community![/url]

BD, You should try posting it on the Daily Mail's comment section. If that got through their moderators the world would be substantially better 🙂

Just seen it on't News.

She is a bigot; banging on about East Europeans, yet not listening to any common sense and allowing her petty, ignorant narrow-minded prejudices to cloud her judgement.

Gordon's at least an honest man. Personally, I'd have gone back and called her a bigot to her face. Stupid cow.

LOL - she *dared* ask about immigration and ended the interview praising NuLab's local education + telling the journo's that she intended to vote Labour. Probably representative of a large number of similar traditional Labour voters.

I can imagine the mouth-frothing that would occur on here if callmedave had made a similar gaff.

>Gordon's at least an honest man

PMSL! He meant what he said and then came up with a cock and bull "misunderstanding" defence, pure bollox. As TJ would say - "liar".

Really? she was "banging on" about Eastern Europeans and not listening? I only heard her mention it in passing as part of a wide ranging discussion about universities, pensions and the labour party - I think it might be your own narrow mindedness that proves her point Talkemada - that [u]you cant even mention immigration without being called a racist bigot[/u]

Gordon Brown: Hello, how are you? Now, come and talk with me. How are you getting on? Where do you stay around here?

Gillian Duffy: Yes.

GB: It's a nice area, isn't it?

GD: Now, my family have voted Labour all their life. Me father, even when he was in his teens went to Free Trade Hall to sing the red flag and now I'm absolutely ashamed of saying I'm Labour.

GB: No, you mustn't be. Because what have we done? We've improved the health service. We're financing more neighbourhood policing, we're getting better schools and we're coming through a very difficult world recession.

You know what my views are. I'm for fairness. For hard working families.

I've told these guys across there - look if you commit a crime you're going to be punished.

GD: I'm afraid I don't think it's happening in Rochdale.

GB: Well, with a bit more policing than there were... but obviously we're going to do better in the future with neighbourhood policing. Neighbourhood policing is the key to it. You're a very good woman you've served the community all your life.

GB: You're a very good woman, you've served the community all your life.

GD: I am, I’ve worked for the Rochdale council for 30 years. And I work with children and handicapped children.

GB: Oh well I think working with children is so important isn’t it? So important. Have you been at some of the children’s centres?

GD: But what I can't understand is why I am still being taxed at 66 years old because my husband's died and I have some of his pension tagged onto my pension.

GB: Well, we’re raising the threshold at which people start paying tax as pensioners, but yes, if you’ve got an occupational pension you may have to pay some tax. But you may be eligible for the pension credit as well, you should check...

GD: No, no, I’m not, I’ve checked and checked and they said I’m no they can't do it.

GB: Well you should look it again just to be sure, to be absolutely sure.

GD: Yes they’ve told me, I’ve been down to Rochdale council to try and get it off me tax.

GB: We’re linking pension to earnings in two years' time, we’ve got the winter allowance as you know, which I hope is of benefit, two fifty...

GD: I agree with that, it’s very good, but every year I talk to people of my age and they say "Oh well, they’ll be knocking it off, it will be going - it will be going."

Simon Danczuk (Labour parliamentary party candidate for Rochdale): No, that's not true. You were particularly impressed with the bus pass as well.

GD: Yes.

GB: We’ve done the bus passes, free eye test prescriptions...

GD: But how are you going to get us out of all this debt, Gordon?

GB: We’ve got a deficit reduction plan, cut the debt by half over the next four years, we’ve got the plans that have been set out to do it - look, I was the person who came in and said...

GD: Look, the three main things that I had drummed in when I was a child was education, health service and looking after people who are vulnerable. There are too many people now who aren’t vulnerable but they can claim and people who are vulnerable can’t get claim.

GB: But they shouldn’t be doing that, there is no life on the dole anymore for people, if you’re unemployed you’ve got to go back to work. At six months…

GD: [b]You can’t say anything about the immigrants because you’re saying you’re ra... but all these eastern Europeans coming in, where are they flocking from?[/b]

GB: A million people come in from Europe, but a million British people have gone into Europe, you do know there’s a lot of British people staying in Europe as well.

Look come back to what your initial principles: helping people - that's what we're in the business of doing.

A decent health service, that's really important, and education. Now these are things that we have tried to do.

We're going to maintain the schools so that people have that chance to get on.

GD: So what are you going about do about students who are coming in now? You've scrapped that now Gordon, to help students go on to university.

GB: Tuition fees?

GD: Yes. I'm thinking about my grandchildren. What will they have to pay to get into university?

GB: We've got forty per cent of young people now going to university...

Simon Danczuk: More than ever.

GB: More than ever. So you got to have some balance. If you get a degree and you earn twice as much after you get the degree then you got to pay something back as a contribution.

But there are grants for your grandchildren. There are more grants than ever before. You know more young people are going to university than ever before. And for the first year the majority of people going to university are women. So there's big opportunities for women.

So education, health and helping people. That's what I'm about.

GD: I hope you keep to it.

GB: It’s been very good to meet you. And you’re wearing the right colour today! (Laughter) How many grandchildren do you have?

GD: Two.

GB: What names are they?

GD: They’ve just come back from Australia where they’ve been stuck for ten days they couldn’t get back with this ash crisis.

GB: They got through now?

GD: Yes.

GB: We’ve been trying to get people back quickly. But are they going to university, is that the plan?

GD: I hope so. They’re only 12 and 10.

GB: They’re only 12 and 10! But they’re doing well at school?

GD: Yes. Very good.

GB: A good family. Good to see you.

GD: And the education system in Rochdale I will congratulate it.

GB: Good. And it's very nice to see you, take care.

[GD departs, Gordon enters car]

GD: Thanks take care. Good to see you all. Thanks very much.

[In car]

GD: That was a disaster. Should never have put me with that woman. Whose idea was that?

Unknown male: I don’t know, I didn’t see.

GB: Sue’s, I think. Just ridiculous.

Unknown male: Not sure if they’ll go with that one.

GB: They will go with it.

Unknown male: What did she say?

GB: Everything. She’s just this sort of bigoted woman who said she used to be a Labour voter… Ridiculous.

Hardly banging on about Eastern Europeans was she?

not a racist bigot

sounds more xenophobic if you ask me

FFS if this was cameron, kimbers, talkemada, grum et al would be calling him a right wing daily mail whatever.
In the interest of fairness, can you not see that he's dropped a serious bollock?
She may be a bigot, I don't know but he should know better

If this was Cameron saying what?

[b]bigot[/b] [i]n[/i]: a prejudiced person who is intolerant of any opinions differing from his own.

Just about sums up Gordon Brown......

She didn't pay a blind bit of notice to what Gordon was saying, she just went on about stuff she'd read in't papers and has bugger all real knowledge of.

Why mention East Europeans at all? And she's ignorant of facts; many East Europeans are actually leaving Britain. As well as net immigration dropping significantly in the last year. If she actually bothered to delve a bit deeper than the Sun, she might know this. Anyway, WTF has one particular group got to do with the whole issue of immigration?

Bigoted old cow.

She didn't pay a blind bit of notice to what Gordon was saying, she just went on about stuff she'd read in't papers and has bugger all real knowledge of.

Really, I suppose you know her personally then? You must to make the conclusion that she's only read about it in the papers...

Why mention East Europeans at all? And she's ignorant of facts; many East Europeans are actually leaving Britain.

And many [u]are[/u] coming in - she didn't make any comment on whether it was good or bad, she commented that you're not even allowed to discuss it, QED!

As well as net immigration dropping significantly in the last year. If she actually bothered to delve a bit deeper than the Sun, she might know this.

Again, she didn't say it hadn't - however you're keen to put words in her mouth and presume that you knew what she was trying to say...

Established labour voter, worked for the council, worked with handicapped kids, disagrees with gordon, immediate response falls into standard Labour pattern, character assassination and dismiss any views that disagree with party policy - welcome to your brave new world

And you wonder why Labour voters are flocking to the BNP?

[img] [/img]

Sorry but 'immigrants flocking here' is the kind of xenophobic language typical of the Daily Mail.

Think about the word 'flocking' - like birds?

if cameron said it id be quite impressed

in my opinion it was the apology where he dropped the bollock

he should have just apologised to the lady but explained he said what he said because he was disapointed by her attitudes to a sector of the immigrant community

having seen the footage on newsnight i feel a bit sorry for her

yanked out to be a pr exercise to counter gordons uncaring image
then followed by a reporter, visibly upset by the bigot comment when told about it, then marched over to the sky news van to hear the recording
and grilled by a sucession of over-bearing journos
she looked very bewildered by it all

I thought the journo constantly grabbing her shoulder was well out of order. You could almost see him wetting his pants at the thought of getting a big story.

I think Talky actually works for The Sun. As Zulu pointed out, why let the facts get in the way making a point.

"Bigotted old cow" is she ? Nice way to talk about a senior citizen who merely asked a question...... but then you always are a self righteous arrogant shit who regards any opinion with disdain unless it happens to coincide with yours 👿

BD's glorious writing aside (his finest contribution to date), I refer all of you to The Thick of It, Series 2 Episode 1:

"Have you ever had to clear up your own mother's p--s?"

but then you always are a self righteous arrogant shit who regards any opinion with disdain unless it happens to coincide with yours

Yep. Which is why I care not a toss for yours... 😀

she commented that you're not even allowed to discuss it,

Ah, the old, 'I'm not a racist, but..' type shit. Come on; we all know she's an ignorant old bigot. 2 seconds of her being on the telly shows that. And don't get all sanctimonious Labby. Like you never judge anyone, eh? 🙄

Funny that you're defending a Labour voter though. Most unlike you.

'Ooh yer can't alk about immigration without someone callin' yer a racist'

Please. If you knew what you were actually talking about, instead of starting of with 'East Europeans, where are they all flocking in from', then you might get someone to listen to you, instead of (rightly) assuming you're a narrow-minded ignorant bigot...

Who's Labby ?

Talky - check back on Gary C's post, ring any bells ? 🙄

Talky, do you work for the sun newspaper?

Fred - you need to get that Mandelson chip removed.

[img] [/img]

I think Cameron owes Murdoch a pint for this.

And if she'd had a valid question about immigration fair enough, by why interrupt him talking about benefits to bring up immigration?

Mention immigration on here at your peril as you will be branded xenophobic a bigot or a racist ffs! Are there a lot of Guardian reading public sector workers on here.

Apparently she also said that her home town was becoming 'like a third world country'.

Definitely sounds like a bigot to me.

BTW I am sure there are people that care about immigration who aren't bigots, it's just that often the people who mention it do so in crass generalisations and terms straight out of the Daily Mail, which is clearly bigoted.

Its backfired a bit now, the sun have paid her x thousands for an interview, spent a couple of hours in her home, but still wasn't able to persuade her to give callmedave her backing.

As for gordo, when the leader of the country comes out with bigoted shit like "british jobs for british workers" its no wonder people in the country pick up on it.

All the parties have had opportunities to blow the immigration BS out of the water, but that would mean admitting to the real policy failures in, housing and planning, employment legislation and service provision. But they won’t do that when there is easy political capital t be made blaming the chap with the funny accent.

Mention immigration on here at your peril as you will be branded xenophobic a bigot or a racist ffs! Are there a lot of Guardian reading public sector worker on here or something.

A lot of us are just able to draw information and conclusions from other sources than the daily mail letters page.