Those Brits sure love their Thatcher

Actually my attitude to Mrs Thatcher has become more ambivalent of late - I used to *absolutely despise* her and all she stood for, now the loathing is tempered by the passing of time since "her" decade and by the knowledge that I am one of "Thatcher's children" in that, despite what I may have previously claimed, I am far more individualist and less collectivist than anyone I've ever met who grew up in the 50s / 60s, and that I exploit new freedoms opened to me by the free-market changes she brought about, and would find it hard to fit in this country were it to somehow return to the more insular and tightly-regulated Britain of the pre-Thatcher years.

The most important factor in changing Britain is *not* whether we have a Tory or Labour government at any given time, but whether we have a government that reveres tradition and history or a radical government that tears consensus down. The Thatcher government was the latter while posing as the former so as not to alienate the heartland Tories who'd put it where it was, and in doing so completely undermined the party's fundamental cultural base to render itself unelectable, replaced by a Labour government which had similarly jettisoned its own traditions in favour of a free-market consumerist ethos. And there's something wonderfully enjoyable about exploiting freedoms that the Tories introduced, while knowing full well that traditional Tories would hate me for using them, and that the socio-cultural aftereffects of those freedoms are the very reason why Guildford, Winchester and South Dorset are no longer Tory seats.

The current situation with the Unions is interesting. I think they see a chance for one last stand against a government which has sought to shackle them as effectively as the Tories did. Could be trouble on the way for Tone.

I won't contest the inflation figures (though, if memory serves, it was coming down in 78-79), but are you *sure* unemployment was lower in '97 than in '79? Those "Labour Isn't Working" Saatchi ads in the winter of '78 were provoked by the (shock, horror) dole figures reaching 1 million; within three years the Tories had tripled that. Yes, it had been steadily falling since the early 90s (?), but I'm not sure it was down to Callaghan levels when Major lost the election.

I believe this is what they call killing two birds with one stone.

I believe this is what they call killing two birds with one stone.

Who's the other bird, Geri Halliwell?

Actually you can scratch some of what I said upthread because my rage at Blair's description of anyone who opposes the involvement of the private sector in public services as "small-c conservative" reminds me of the extent to which the worst excesses of Thatcherite economic theories have poisoned political debate in this country and shifted it all to the right, and of course there are all the malign factors Gareth mentions. But the "freedoms" I had in mind were those brought about by media deregulation, easier access to music and culture from all origins, crumbling of the "island race" mentality etc., and while of course a lot of this is global and related to technological changes that are beyond political control, I do get the feeling that a more statist and less deregulatory government might have made it harder to access these things and tried harder to batten down the hatches and enforce national boundaries. We're back to the paradox again ... a nasty, petty, small-minded little Englander like Mrs T actually strengthening the collapse of that mindset, mainly because her economic theories were more 19th-century Liberal than 1950s Tory. *This* is the thing that fascinates me about her from an ambivalent perspective: I still hate her effects in terms of social polarisation, creation of the "permanent underclass", wreckage of public services etc. as passionately as I always did.

forget where i read it, but anyway, a transcription of a TV debate between roy hattersley and enoch powell
powell says something breath-takingly reactionary.
"oh come on, enoch, we're not still living in the 19th century!!"
"Oh yessss," hisses Powell, the brummy gollum, "but we aaaaaaare!!"

OK, well now we aren't. Now we're living in 1909.

[consults book....]

NOTHING HAPPENED IN 1909.

this is bush. really: administrating *what*? already you're confronted with the need to theorize what a government *does*. obviously thatcher cleaved to liberal economic orthodoxy, but in terms of character she was far closer to disraeli's popular jingoistic toryism. not that the analogy really works because no victorian politician would have contemplated the level of public spending (and taxation) that has been the norm since ww1.

according to the thing about drinking politicians on bbc4 last night, thatch can put 'em away with the best of them...

My god I want to schtup the chick playing Thatcher on C4 right now.

*BBC4

http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/multimedia/archive/00345/culture-andrea385_345570a.jpg

in character? it would be some sort of ultimate hatefuck

MAYBE THEY COULD USE THE STATUE AS A GIANT ANT
-- Mike Hanle y, Sunday, February 3, 2002 8:00 PM (6 years ago) Bookmark Link

LOL as always.

: /

My god I want to schtup the chick playing Thatcher on C4 right now.

-- The stickman from the hilarious "xkcd" comics

in character? it would be some sort of ultimate hatefuck

-- Just got offed

I knew I shouldn't have clicked on this thread.

So, was this produced by The Comic Strip as a follow-up to "Strike" and "GLC"?

It Sure Looks Like It.

(did not watch. I mean! ComeOn!

So, was this produced by The Comic Strip as a follow-up to "Strike" and "GLC"

eh? really?! i'm amazed anyone can even remember 'GLC'.

What is it with the BBC? Is this the best their drama department can come up with these days? Hughie Green, Bob Monkhouse, Mary Whitehouse, Margaret Thatcher. Lazy television.

But cheap.

And it gets them a guaranteed two page spread in the broadsheet "extra" sections for each episode

What is it with the BBC? Is this the best their drama department can come up with these days? Hughie Green, Bob Monkhouse, Mary Whitehouse, Margaret Thatcher. Lazy television.

it's not lazy television, it's just that you're getting old. The BBC have always made dramas about the lives of people in the past, it's just now the people of the past are people who were very much part of our present.

I don't agree, this smacks of chucking a couple of biographies at a writer and saying "Go away and write something on this person who was famous once, but don't worry too much about it, any old bollocks will do as long as you manage to shoehorn some sex into it." It's commissioned crap from writers who obv. don't have any interest in the subject.

Unless there are many young and talented writers out there with a burning desire to write about Hughie Green's sexlife, who knows?

Tom OTM, five years ago it was all "lol let's do a comedy drama about something that happened in Parliament 6 months ago" now it's all "lol 50s and 60s nostalgia be mad popular".

you can avoid worrying about this by getting rid of yer telly.

I only use it for films, sport, Doctor Who and University Challenge.

But you're not seriously doing the "people who complain about one aspect of a medium should never engage with any aspect of that medium" switcheroonie are you Pash?

Bit drastic Pash

Also I would also like to use it for well-written original one-off drama but unfortunately the BBC is run by cocks.

Apparently at one time this stuff was well popular but it doesn't fit so well around BBC3's RITALIN NEWS MINUTE, ALL EPILEPSY ALL THE TIME

I know these biodocs are usually on BBC4 but fuck knows why, really.

Should probably have a poll on which former Carry On team regular is due next.

Would consider watching The Bernard Bresslaw Story is they got Will Self in to play him.

Jim Dale: Lust for Glory

Tommy Cooper. Benny Hill. Enoch Powell. Peter Knowles. It could go on for a lot longer yet.

Pills, Thrills 'n' Butterworth

But you're not seriously doing the "people who complain about one aspect of a medium should never engage with any aspect of that medium" switcheroonie are you Pash?

Nah, not at all. I mean, if there's still stuff you enjoy, fine, you knoq? There's v v little that makes me want to get TV again though. I can't think of anything recently, last thing was "Nathan Barley" and I wound up watching that on "Youtube" More often you see some cobblers like this trailed in the papers & think fuck this, god I'm glad we got rid of it. It's good not to give a fuck about it! (I only posted on this thread because I did notice this prog in the listings) Really, I'd recommend anyone to try running without it for a year & see how you get on.

I'm assuming they're waiting for either Bewes or Bolam to cark it before they do the inevitable dramatisation of their falling out.

"knoq" = "know"

"knoq", haha

Would watch Peter Knowles just for the accents. I remember years ago when they did a Bridgewater 4 biodoc and I was so happy to see West Midlands accents not being played for lulz.

I lived without a TV for a year or so once when I was single and carefree and my body could handle multiple days of being drunk.

Dr Who is basically nostalgia drama

Science fiction

with the occasional 51st century thrown in

xpost

I've seen that, challops-boy.

Don't agree about Doctor Who being nostalgia, really. I liked it when I was a kid, but not for the same reasons I like it now.

If you have a half decent internet connection you don't actually need a telly to watch TV these days. Especially if you only have two or three things you want to watch in a week.

A half decent internet connection and a computer hooked up to a big telly in my living room in front of the settee, you mean?

I think Ken was referring to period sets and costumes type Doctor Who, not in a "oh wow I liked this when I was a kid in the 70s" way.

(Yeah that's true, I'm sort of engaging with the 'throw your telly out' argument for no particular reason)

As soon as McGoohan checks out it'll be Prisoner Of The Prisoner on BBC4 starring Dennis Out of EastEnders with Ricky Gervais as Leo McKern, Sir Alan Sugar as Lew Grade and Pete Doherty as Alexis Kanner.

I had to watch "Silence in the Library" on the puter the other week cos I'd missed it twice. It's alright, but usually I can't settle down and watch stuff on here. I like to be more horizontal.

Kinda realised what Ken meant after the fact, it hasn't been much like that really tho?

Actually, that lineup for The Prisoner would be fine with me, apart from "Dennis out of Eastenders" who I don't know.

I can't remember the actor's name, but he was Dirty Den's son, the one who got stabbed in the Square at New Year.

Nigel Harman

...soon to be starring as Jess Conrad, who he looks really like, in that film about Joe Meek.

Oh right.

Fine.

Yo Pash, I mailed you

Watching the replay of this, her voice sounds more like Tony Hancock than Margaret Thatcher.

Carol Thatcher faces BBC ban over 'golliwog' remark

Not dead yet?

The day Thatcher dies, all ILX will be an LBZC ticker-tape parade

Thread needs Marcello to defend Carol T

A Good Tory

Been a rough time for Thatch. One of the twins almost got jailed, the other one's a racist.

And Ben didn't get a move away from Ipswich on deadline day

god, why does it take SO LONG for any guardian page to load?

According to insiders, Thatcher – who won ITV1 reality series I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here! in 2005 – was chatting with The One Show host Adrian Chiles and guest Jo Brand about the Australian Open when she described an unnamed player as a "golliwog".

It is thought she was referring to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France, who went out of the competition in the quarter finals.

Show insiders said Chiles was "outraged" by the comment and he and Brand challenged Thatcher about it.

The pair also complained to show executives – as did production staff who later heard about the incident – and it is understood that Thatcher was approached the following day by the show's executive producer.

lol gis

http://towleroad.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/2008/02/12/tsonga1.jpg

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1134663/BBC-drops-Carol-Thatcher-brands-tennis-player-golliwog-private.html

Here's what readers have had to say so far. Why not add your thoughts below?

Apparently this is political correctness gone mad!

Ironically, Thatcher was on the One Show with Jo Brand on Thursday evening. Brand was at the centre of a 'race' row at the weekend when it emerged she had made jokes about 'sending poo' to members of the BNP.

The following day, Simon Darby, the BNP’s deputy leader, made an official complaint to Hammersmith police alleging that Brand’s comment had been an act of incitement to cause racial harassment.

I remember having a golliwog as a child that I loved and cherished and for many people of my generation the word golly is a 'term of endearment'.

Writes a 200 year old woman

http://www.housequake.com/discography/betcha.jpg

I'm from the home of Robertson's Jam, so I know all about golliwogs

Forget the self seeking snitches. These leeks are far more organised. The Stasi are every where.

Some organised leeks, yesterday:

http://www.kumah.org/blog/Leeks.jpg

I'm loving those ratings they have now. This comment must have led to terrible conflicts:

Terrible I say. Wossie ,Brand and now Thatcher must be banned from our TV paid for by the decent hard working British viewer. Her mother would be ashamed of her

Hm, those ratings are not so amusing actually:

As a black person who grew up during the 'wog' era i find the use of the word 'golliwog' to describe a person's appearance wholly offensive. Its fine for those of you who didn't get bullied and taunted in the most officious way for your looks but for me the word brings back all the horrid memories of 60's Britian that I thought was long behind us. Carol Thatcher with her priveleged background should have a wider vocabulary than that to describe the way a persons looks.

officious?

Her mother would be ashamed of her

... if she could still remember who she was?

Oof.

scores negative 22

Dropped to 39 in the last 20 minutes. Somehow that whole rating system is scaring me more than the comments.

I was watching Carol T on The One Show other week and I nearly posted about how nice and tolerant she was when she was meeting people who had dropped out of the 'rat race', bearing in mind her nightmare of a mother. Kind of glad I didn't now.

She probably thought they looked like garden gnomes or something.

Her mother would be ashamed of her

I'm betting Denis would have been bursting with pride

Tonight's TV Guide entry:

19:00 The One Show
Adrian Chiles and Christine Bleakley present the live topical show about the concerns of the British nation and uncover stories of people in extraordinary circumstances. The series includes regular features by historian Dan Snow and consumer expert Dominic Littlewood, plus reports from personalities including Phil Tufnell, Carol Thatcher and Colin Jackson

Here cometh the predictable bandwagon.

Since John Fogerty's first band was called the Golliwogs I fully expect the BBC to ban all Creedence records from their airwaves.

I am also lodging a formal complaint about the BBC playing songs by Rick Astley because his surname sounds a bit like "aspie."

http://www.gothampublicworks.com/images/gallery/two-face-coin-1.jpg

I'm lodging a formal complaint against that image since it is a grievous insult to descendents of the victims of the Peterloo Massacre.

I'm sort of stunned that Sandringham thought that selling golliwogs was a good idea in the first place.

Was it Harry's idea?

I blame Thatcher... Carol, that is

I blame the no-life parasites who whined about them to the meejah in the hope of getting paid enough money for a Good Story to settle last month's Visa bill.

My heart goes out to the Thatcher family and the Royal household at this difficult time

"Unfortunately we regret that for administrative reasons hearts cannot be returned."

They should have wheeled Carol out to plead for her brother's release when he was under arrest for attempting to engineer a coup in Equatorial Guinea.

I believe they're currently not on speaking terms.

He pulled the head of her favourite golliwog.

Now he just decapitates African regimes.

Did somebody mention decapitation?

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/38844000/jpg/_38844949_statue_pa_port.jpg

Well he would do if he could remember where they were.

Lord Tebbit, who served in Baroness Thatcher’s Cabinet, compared the sacking of Ms Thatcher to the BBC's recent reinstatement of Jonathan Ross. “It does seem very odd that Jonathan Ross can be back broadcasting having made obscene, insulting remarks on the air, and Carol Thatcher, who said something which is allegedly highly offensive but which I rather doubt was meant to be so, in private, should be banned in this way,” said Lord Tebbit.

These remarks were not in private, they were a typical racists attempt to get others to agree with their racism and it's about time we stopped trying to make excuses for it. There is nothing "allegedly" offensive about calling someone a "golliwog".

she shouldn't have said it, and it's wrong, and she's a terrible man, but she didn't call someone a golliwog, she foolishly said the guy looked like one.

Bored with this

How odd, Ned - every article about this non-event states that the remark was made in a "private conversation."

But of course it's more fuel for the Sun and the Mail and everyone else with a vested interest in getting rid of the BBC. The problem is not so much that they move the goalposts but that the BBC are so cravenly obliging to aid the move.

It was said in her workplace. If I said someone looked like a golliwog in my workplace I'd be in deep shit, and rightly so.

I don't get this bollocks about how somehow private racism is ok - the more fuckers are caught, grassed up, outed, whatever, the better.

"Ms Hunt told Radio 4's Today programme: "What Carol decides to say in the privacy of her own home or in a private conversation with friends is one thing.

"What she says in a green room space, when there are 12 people, in her capacity as a roving reporter for The One Show is a rather different thing." "

From the BBC, so take it as you will.

Really looking forward to having this identical argument every three weeks for the next year.

f I said someone looked like a golliwog in my workplace I'd be in deep shit

Actually that's probably not true, going by the office reaction to this story. Fairer to say my employer's diversity policies *should* mean I'd be in deep shit.

You can't just say whatever you want in the workplace. End of.

I'm considering running a sweepstakes as to how long this takes before it moves on from casual racism to Alan Shearer doing a "no homo" rant on MOTD.

End of. Get rid.

Perhaps all workplaces should issue a list of acceptable words and expressions for employees to say and summarily sack, blacklist from other employment and prevent from claiming welfare benefit anyone who says anything that offends anybody else. Then we'd all be in the gutter.

Only if it applies to member of the Thatcher family

Might as well bring back the Stasi and be done with it.

You really think people need to be explicitly told that words like "golliwog" are unacceptable in the workplace?

xxxpost to marcello trollin

Is it OK to say someone looks like Talvin Singh in the privacy of an internet message board?

Let's just have a society where people say nothing and communicate with nobody else because they're scared to say anything. That'll be a brave but offence-free future.

Or we could have one where people think before speaking and manage to have conversations not involving golliwog references. Surely not beyond most of us?

And of course the golliwog non-incident/non-scandal is merely yet another mask for the media to hide behind in preference to talking about real issues.

Stupid racist twat loses job. I don't lose any sleep.

erm onimo, no diss but

OMG I WANT THIS AMAZING RONALDINHO BOTTLE OPENER

I must admit I have never seen any meaningful exploration of the complex issues behind racism on the BBC.

In that thread (that I hoped never to read again) I accepted that for some people they instantly saw that as a racist caricature but that I didn't. I also accepted that not intending to offend someone doesn't mean you're not offending them. I saw it instantly as "lol big teeth" which is pretty much a standard Ronaldinho zing in the UK then attempted to be more considered in my opinion when the thread blew up.

I learned some lessons there about how one might not be aware something is offensive.
Thatcher's been utterly remorseless and trying to make the big story into some kind of betrayal of confidence, and Marcello agrees.
I think there's a difference, but still - mea culpa, to an extent.
xp

And of course the golliwog non-incident/non-scandal is merely yet another mask for the media to hide behind in preference to talking about real issues.

you're getting it backward. The woman made a racist comment in her workplace, was fired for it, and released an apology that basically went "i'm sorry if you're butthurt but think about how much the bbc have hurt me by revealing that, in my workplace, when asked to retract a racist comment and apologise for it, i did not". Racism is a real issue; not being willing to accept that what you have said is offensive is a real issue; trying to smokescreen your own offensive behaviour with 'oh, disgusting, the bbc, more leaks than thames water' dailymailisms is a real issue as it's part of an entire culture of faux-naïve buck-passing where the most egregious behaviour can be handwaved away with a "oh well i'm not politically correct, me". Carol Thatcher was working for the One Show as a journalist, as a person who goes around the country talking to people: if she's too dippy to recognise that to say someone looks like a golliwog is insulting, if she's the kind of person who believes it's 'safe' to use racially dubious terms if she's in a green room surrounded by other white people, if she's not got the basic sense to not use offensive terms in conversation (a person who talks for a living!), then she shouldn't have been doing that job anyway. And that's a real issue: a basic lack of concern for other people and their feelings, displayed by a person in public life.

what is not a real issue: paranoid wannabe-libertarian fantasies about a world in which people are silenced for speaking their minds.

i'm so glad i never saw the bottle opener thread at the time...feel so deeply embarrassed at so many of the brits being so clueless on it.

why because you care about/WANT to feel national pride?

i'm so glad i never saw the bottle opener thread at the time

You posted on it.

C Sharp Major 100% on the money here.

i'm so glad i never saw the bottle opener thread at the time

You posted on it.

Lex doesn't even know who Lex is!

i meant, i was glad i wasn't on it at the time it was kicking off and getting clusterfucky.

Ah, nice to see that the spirit of Rik Out Of The Young Ones is alive and well...

The correct course of action would have been for her colleagues to smile, shake their heads, say to themselves, "ah well, that's Carol" and get on with their lives. As a freelancer, she was not "sacked."

Racism certainly is a very real issue, and is cheapened and trivialised by the thoughtless flinging about of pseudo-moralistic outrage on the part of people who should know better but of course are paid large sums of money by the meejah to be pseudo-outraged.

There is a pronounced difference between political extremists who actively seek to stir up discord, hatred and conflict and the perhaps thoughtless but ultimately harmless remarks of people whose upbringing and set of values are different from ours. If we sacked everybody from every workplace who made thoughtless comments or remarks there would be 40 million unemployed.

Unfortunately, since humans are human and not perfectly programmed robots, and therefore biased, prejudiced and unthinking in many senses, the best course of action is to come to terms with the fact that human beings are what they are, distinguish actual evil from silly, jokey remarks and get over ourselves.

As for "a world in which people are silenced for speaking their minds," isn't that exactly what the real extremists want?

http://www.blogcdn.com/www.tmz.com/media/2009/02/0202_miley_cyrus.jpg

ah well, that's Marcello

*shakes head*

don't think reposting stuff from Jagger's facebook is cool

lol "actual evil"

ie retail staff showing insufficient deference

ie2 people running crappy lapland theme parks

Marcello, if you don't deem referring to someone as a "golliwog" in the workplace a sackable offence, can you give us an example of language that you would find unacceptable? Or is, in your view, all legislation against so-called hate speech in the workplace wrongheaded?

There is a pronounced difference between political extremists who actively seek to stir up discord, hatred and conflict

Weren't you calling out the media for having leaked the BNP membership list not so long ago? Perhaps they're only stirring up discord, hatred and conflict in the privacy of their own homes.

Referring to someone as a golliwog "in the workplace" is different from making a jokey, off-the-cuff reference in a private conversation.

A private conversation, with colleagues, in the workplace.

So, was it a private conv, or a "workplace" environment? (xpost fwiw)

Similarly, membership of a political party, however distasteful you might find it, is a matter of concern only to the member unless they decide to make it public and there are pretty firm rules about the latter in most workplaces.

http://www.p-jones.demon.co.uk/images/flip_lg_wht.gif

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-1135359/MELANIE-PHILLIPS-The-age-snitch--public-sector-informers-creating-Stasi-Britain-.html

what's that gossip column in the londonpaper called again? oh yeah, The Green Room. doesn't sound like the kind of place you can ever have a private conversation in.

The correct course of action would have been for her colleagues to smile, shake their heads, say to themselves, "ah well, that's Carol" and get on with their lives.

You can do that if you like, Marcello, I certainly wouldn't do that. Admittedly I wouldn't run to my boss and snitch either.

More...
GEOFFREY WANSELL: Daft Carol just doesn't give a damn
STEPHEN GLOVER: The BBC is now run by a narrow sect, blind to the good sense and values of those it serves
MAIL COMMENT: The BBC is a floundering giant with no moral sense
RICHARD LITTLEJOHN: Christians haven't got a prayer in 'diversity' Britain...
MELANIE PHILLIPS: British police running away from Muslim demonstrators, a Christian nurse facing the sack for offering to pray for a patient - this is the way a society dies
ROBIN PAGE'S BLOG: The One Show made me kill three squirrels and Adrian Chiles said 'don't tell anyone'

ROBIN PAGE'S BLOG: The One Show made me kill three squirrels and Adrian Chiles said 'don't tell anyone'
ROBIN PAGE'S BLOG: The One Show made me kill three squirrels and Adrian Chiles said 'don't tell anyone'

ROBIN PAGE'S BLOG: The One Show made me kill three squirrels and Adrian Chiles said 'don't tell anyone'

ROBIN PAGE'S BLOG: The One Show made me kill three squirrels and Adrian Chiles said 'don't tell anyone'

ROBIN PAGE'S BLOG: The One Show made me kill three squirrels and Adrian Chiles said 'don't tell anyone'

ROBIN PAGE'S BLOG: The One Show made me kill three squirrels and Adrian Chiles said 'don't tell anyone'

ROBIN PAGE'S BLOG: The One Show made me kill three squirrels and Adrian Chiles said 'don't tell anyone'

ROBIN PAGE'S BLOG: The One Show made me kill three squirrels and Adrian Chiles said 'don't tell anyone'

ROBIN PAGE'S BLOG: The One Show made me kill three squirrels and Adrian Chiles said 'don't tell anyone'

ROBIN PAGE'S BLOG: The One Show made me kill three squirrels and Adrian Chiles said 'don't tell anyone'

ROBIN PAGE'S BLOG: The One Show made me kill three squirrels and Adrian Chiles said 'don't tell anyone'

ROBIN PAGE'S BLOG: The One Show made me kill three squirrels and Adrian Chiles said 'don't tell anyone'

ROBIN PAGE'S BLOG: The One Show made me kill three squirrels and Adrian Chiles said 'don't tell anyone'

ROBIN PAGE'S BLOG: The One Show made me kill three squirrels and Adrian Chiles said 'don't tell anyone'

ROBIN PAGE'S BLOG: The One Show made me kill three squirrels and Adrian Chiles said 'don't tell anyone'

ROBIN PAGE'S BLOG: The One Show made me kill three squirrels and Adrian Chiles said 'don't tell anyone'

ROBIN PAGE'S BLOG: The One Show made me kill three squirrels and Adrian Chiles said 'don't tell anyone'

ROBIN PAGE'S BLOG: The One Show made me kill three squirrels and Adrian Chiles said 'don't tell anyone'

ROBIN PAGE'S BLOG: The One Show made me kill three squirrels and Adrian Chiles said 'don't tell anyone'

ROBIN PAGE'S BLOG: The One Show made me kill three squirrels and Adrian Chiles said 'don't tell anyone'

ROBIN PAGE'S BLOG: The One Show made me kill three squirrels and Adrian Chiles said 'don't tell anyone'

ROBIN PAGE'S BLOG: The One Show made me kill three squirrels and Adrian Chiles said 'don't tell anyone'

ROBIN PAGE'S BLOG: The One Show made me kill three squirrels and Adrian Chiles said 'don't tell anyone'

ROBIN PAGE'S BLOG: The One Show made me kill three squirrels and Adrian Chiles said 'don't tell anyone'

ROBIN PAGE'S BLOG: The One Show made me kill three squirrels and Adrian Chiles said 'don't tell anyone'

ROBIN PAGE'S BLOG: The One Show made me kill three squirrels and Adrian Chiles said 'don't tell anyone'

ROBIN PAGE'S BLOG: The One Show made me kill three squirrels and Adrian Chiles said 'don't tell anyone'

ROBIN PAGE'S BLOG: The One Show made me kill three squirrels and Adrian Chiles said 'don't tell anyone'

ROBIN PAGE'S BLOG: The One Show made me kill three squirrels and Adrian Chiles said 'don't tell anyone'

wait, you didn't make that up?

bloody hell why is the photo of C Thatcher on that Philips article link so enormous?

http://furniture.dailymail.co.uk/i/blogs/blog_robinpage_masthead.jpg

Okay WAU at this.

Robin Page is the one who got arrested for hate preaching at a Countryside Alliance march, right?

Likes the odd drink, does he?

"That the One Show should be involved in all this nonsense is totally unsurprising. Last year I was invited onto it to talk about grey squirrels – yes I want them severely controlled. Oddly, the pro-squirrel guest was the urban Anika Rice. The famous “Green Room” was full of luvvies being luvvies – telling each other what they had done, where they had been and how absolutely luvvy they all were. I read a book.

Earlier in the day a researcher had asked me what I would do to control grey squirrels – “eat them”, I replied. I have eaten them casseroled, as a burger and as squirrel pate.

“Will you get us a squirrel to eat on the programme?” they asked. In next to no time a gamekeeper friend had three squirrels dressed and jointed, ready for the oven.

Then came the politically correct message; “Oh it has been decided that you can’t eat squirrel on the show, it is wrong to kill animals for entertainment”. So the One Show had caused three squirrels to be killed for no reason at all. The odd thing about this of course is the fact that the BBC is almost Cookery Programmed out with Ready Steady Cook etc – all using meat as part of their “entertainment”. Perhaps BBC executives don’t realise that beef, lamb and pork are just as much “animal” as squirrels.

After the programmes, the main presenter, the rather characterless, bland, Adrian Chiles said:” You won’t write about this will you Robin?” Why not? What a shower – and was it you Adrian who behaved so despicably against Carol Thatcher – were you the INFORMER?

The one good thing about the programme was that Anneka Rice appeared to know nothing about squirrels, and the next day “Save Our Squirrels” the organisation fighting for red squirrels asked me to be their Patron. That of course will teach the BBC absolutely nothing.

So Dave, come on – for goodness sake organise a BBC licence boycott – if enough people did it the Government would have to take action against the Bigots Broadcasting Corporation. If Dastardly Dave is too much of a wimp – how about the Mail leading the way?"

first tv news reports, now not even internet banners are free from a tramp wandering into the foreground

Robin Page is the one who got arrested for hate preaching at a Countryside Alliance march, right?

― Limoncello Carlin (The stickman from the hilarious "xkcd" comics), Thursday, 5 February 2009 15:21 (1 minute ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

He won a wrongful arrest case in the end, apparently:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1575619/Robin-Page-compensated-over-%27race%27-arrest.html

Mr Page, 64, a farmer, conservationist, columnist for The Daily Telegraph, and the chairman of the Countryside Restoration Trust, became the focus of police attention after his comments at a country fair in September 2002.

He claims that in order to gain the attention of listeners at the gathering in Frampton-upon-Severn, Glos, he started in a "light-hearted fashion".

His opening remark was: "If you are a black, vegetarian, Muslim, asylum-seeking, one-legged lesbian lorry driver, I want the same rights as you."

Went downhill from there.

What a card

It was a private country fair.

ah well, that's Robin

His opening remark was: "If you are a black, vegetarian, Muslim, asylum-seeking, one-legged lesbian lorry driver, I want the same rights as you."

Who says you haven't anyway? I'm he would answer BRUSSELS EUROCRATS or some other straw man.

What's he got against lorry drivers anyway?

you'd think those gay eurocrats would like their bananas BENT but oh no...

they kill his favourite prostitutes xp

He prefers white van men xpost

When he says "lorry drivers" he means "militant Frenchmen" or more accurately "upstart frogs".

Who lumber through the winding lanes of rural England, flattening hedgehogs I suppose he means

And killing animals is an Englishman's job

And Michael Richards was just misunderstood.

That the One Show should be involved in all this nonsense is totally unsurprising. Last year I was invited onto it to talk about grey squirrels – yes I want them severely controlled. Oddly, the pro-squirrel guest was the urban Anika Rice.

I love the way that these twats think that we should bow down to the opinions of country folk when it comes to squirrels when it was precisely the country-dwelling gentry of the time who introduced the little buggers in the first place. Arsewipes.

Does Jeremy Clarkson keeps this photo in his attic?

http://img.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2008/04_03/RobinPageMOS_468x409.jpg

if so its magic makes him look at least 18 months younger

You see, urban folk don't understand the countryside ways.

Whereas countryside people understand countryside ways AND city ways!

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-1135359/MELANIE-PHILLIPS-The-age-snitch--public-sector-informers-creating-Stasi-Britain-.html

expand the comments on this page if you wish to see dozens of marcello carlins.

got to comment #4 before punching a hole in the monitor.

However wrote this expressed my views with far more clarity and forthrightness than I could ever do - and to a wider audience. Well done, and I endorse every word.

- Jean, SW, England

This is the kind of utter looniness that springs up in the wake of the destruction of a masculinised society and its replacement by a feminised society. It was inevitable.

I rest my case.

- Eric Legge, Ongar,

But you haven't made your case yet.

Don't Look Back In Ongar

Clearly with any HYS-type set-up you're going to get the nutbags and idiots.

But I fail to see how a careless but lighthearted remark made after the imbibement of a few drinks in the company of friends equates with Enoch Powell in '68.

Furthermore, if everyone's so obsessed with this happening In The Workplace, what the hell are the BBC doing allowing alcohol to be consumed In The Workplace?

As with Ross and Brand, nobody would have known or given a toss about this if the meejah hadn't picked up on it and decided to make it an issue.

Who cares if we end up not talking to anyone else and no one talks to us for fear of getting the sack or being sued? It's a Good Story!

But I fail to see how a careless but lighthearted remark made after the imbibement of a few drinks in the company of friends equates with Enoch Powell in '68.

Er, the answer is, it doesn't, and nobody except you has claimed it does. Enoch Powell was a member of the Shadow Cabinet, and was sacked. Carol Thatcher did little reports on some shitty TV show, and she hasn't been sacked (because as you've pointed out, she's a freelancer). There's no equates in there.

dropped = sacked.

Daily Mirror has an interview with the mother of "Thatcher's Victim"

(Didn't look in though, so it might have been the mothers of all those miners or something...)

tbh i thought the hysteria over ross/brand was sort-of justified in that when j-ross said 'i would fuck you' to gwyneth paltrow on tv, i did feel that some sort of a line had been crossed. but with this...

it's hard to talk about this kind of hysteria (on both sides: "thought police" vs "the ineradicable racism of the former colonial power") without getting hysterical about what it all signifies.

The BBC have said they will still employ her on other programmes just not the One Show so she hasn't been sacked.

So, it's Adrian Chiles who won't 'work' 'with' her, I guess.

Ron Atkinson-style sensitive examination of racial politics in the works already.

well, this is sort of what i mean. what ron atkinson said was worse; but also the nightmare HYS/CIF/etc "culture" of the last couple of years hadn't kicked in. ron-gate did not seem to generate quite this amount of horseshit, and that took place when the economy wasn't imploding.

Wasn't on the BBC either though and that's crucial to why this is being supersized.

Well, yes - it would help if the current BBC had anything resembling a backbone.

(see also unsacked Mayor of London Boris "P*cc*n*nn**s" Johnson)

Except that I think she should have at least been suspended. This has backfired on the BBC surely as it has been 'supersized' more by the anti-PC brigade though. It was the DM who put her on the front page.

troo, and the mail's blatant hypocrisy w/r/t this vs ross-brand is why they have to lean on the dreadful 'it was in private' argument. that argument doesn't hold water. reckon that it carol thatcher had said 'i am sorry, it was unthinkingly insensitive' this would have blown over.

xpost

johnson was clearly using 'picanninies' ironically to deflate blair's imperial pretensions. he's a terrible man and everything, but it's basic reading comp stuff.

There's details of a new BBC apology on the CBale thread.

this is Carol Thatcher ffs. under whatever pretext I'm glad to get rid of her.

stellar argument, kudos.

Boris did say that in public, but to be fair he also apologised for saying it.

If CT's drinking companions had said "look, I don't agree with you" or "look, that's out of order" or similar when she made that remark - as any reasonable person who knew her would have done - and she corrected herself then nothing more would have been heard about it.

But someone - I'm unconvinced that Chiles and/or Brand were even in the same room when she said it - decided to throw a hissy fit and go to the headmaster whining daddy daddy thith woman thaid thomething terrible and they're the person who should be kicked out of the BBC, not CT.

no marcello, she was asked to withdraw the remark and apologised, she refused and was sacked. it's famously hard to get sacked from the bbc!

*apologise

If CT's drinking companions had said "look, I don't agree with you" or "look, that's out of order"

of course nothing like that happened and you know 'cause you were there

I'm unconvinced that Chiles and/or Brand were even in the same room when she said it

hooray for you!

also bbc one controller confirmed brand and chiles were in the room. don't let the facts get in the way.

Why should she apologise to anyone except the people who professed to be offended by her remark?

If the BBC carries on like this they won't be able to attract anyone to work for them and they'll be dead/privatised (same difference) in five years.

she didn't apologise to anyone

MC trolling scorecard: this thread rates C minus - unconvincing and transparent. Could do better.

feel that im being drawn into the hysteria but: um, has anyone brought up the shit chris moyles has got a way with on air?

away with

i think several papers have mentioned the moyles stuff. halle berry incident was particularly awkward iirc.

Isn't it the case with Moyles that his show and personality are tailored to a specific audience who know exactly what they're going to get and that those likely to be offended by him know better than to tune in?

(or, indeed, agree to be interviewed by him?)

Oscar winning actress Halle Berry (above) took great offence to Chris’ “big, fat, black guy” impersonation. She questioned if he was being racist live on air during an interview with Hugh Jackman for one of the X Men films. Afterwards he said she was "bratty” and should get over herself.

think her exact words were "are we having a racist moment here?"

Isn't it the case with Moyles that his show and personality are tailored to a specific audience who know exactly what they're going to get and that those likely to be offended by him know better than to tune in?

― Bernard Braden Misreads Stephen Leacock (Marcello Carlin), Friday, February 6, 2009 12:33 PM (25 seconds ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

yeah well it was the same with DER STURMER.

also, i don't think 'people who listen to pop music in the morning' implies 'pigshit-ignorant racist, homophobic, sexist-liking twat'. 'if you don't like it, don't tune in' is not the best defense for a publicly funded service -- though sometimes it has to be made. not, i would have thought, of a flagship mainstream show, though.

Doesn't Berry/her agent have highly paid researchers who can find out what sort of a chap Moyles is before agreeing to talk to him?

I don't particularly like Nick Ferrari or James Whale ranting away about Broken Britain or whatever they do on their flagship LBC mainstream shows but I deal with the dilemma by not listening to them. Listeners do have the choice.

why don't you stop reading all this news coverage that annoys you so much then?

Doesn't Berry/her agent have highly paid researchers who can find out what sort of a chap Moyles is before agreeing to talk to him?

Probably, also there is the possibility that said agent (or some underling) got sacked for putting her into this.

I'd imagine they would be!

Oh, I'm OUTRAGED!

the point is the bbc shouldn't pay lots of money to plankton like moyles and ross. it sounds absurd to say halle berry and gwyneth paltrow deserve better treatment... but they sort of do! it demeans the viewer or listener to have to pretend that ross/moyles's shit is acceptable.

I tend to find words such as "acceptable" and "appropriate" enemies of humanity but perhaps that's just me.

Moyles and Ross are highly skilled and experienced and occasionally very entertaining broadcasters and the argument that people who tune in/go on their show don't know what they're getting into doesn't, in your words, hold water.

But I guess that if they're going to "sack" CT then they'll have to get rid of Moyles, Ross and Clarkson as well. It's only fair. Look forward to exciting Friday Night With Alex Lester shows from now until, um, September.

Radio is kind of less of a participatory medium than TV tho - eg loads of workplaces just have it on as a matter of course. Why, only yesterday lunchtime I was browsing crappy CDs and had to endure the voice of George Lamb

Is he still on? Another argument for delaying getting a digital radio for as long as possible.

lol @ the Daily Mail masses trying to bend their logic around supporting Thatcher and Clarkson while castigating Ross and Brand. As I understand it it's ok to insult black men and disabled Scotsmen but not old white Englishmen who do comedy Spanish accents.

xp I don't otherwise pay much attention but he doesn't seem to actually get less popular no matter how much of a prick he acts :(

xp: I totally agree, Omino - apply it across the board or don't apply it at all.

Of course if the Mail didn't have a vested interest in stirring all this up in the first place then none of this would be happening!

How come the Mail readers who love calling Jonathan Ross "Wossy" don't call CT "Cawol"?

Surely it should be "Thatchewy"?

I'm all for consistency here. The problem is (and this is where I agree with you on how the reaction to these things is disproportionate) that it will no doubt lead to someone at the BBC drafting a policy statement that sucks the life out of life.

xxxpost

i hope they do sack clarkson, moyles, and ross tbh.

Just out of interest, who would you replace them with?

Chris Evans, he wasn't offensive. Was he?

I find the music he plays pretty offensive but not particularly the man himself.

x-post Depends on your views on Ocean Colour Scene.

The Clarkson thing has nothing to do with the BBC or the Gov, though. Neither of which have commented, so far. The Telegraph/DM obviously phoned the person at the charity and said "what do you think of Clarkson calling the PM a "one-eyed idiot"? And of course he said it was offensive. The DM/Telegraph then use that as an excuse to bash the BBC, but print all the rubbish Clarkson spouts out of his arse and thus are able to have a go at the Gov. It's a win-win for them.

if only Clarkson would say something racist eh

he meant 'scottish' in a pejorative sense imo.

feeling really patriotic today reading this thread

You're not British then.

if only Clarkson would say something racist eh

It was 10 years ago...

meh, he's 'careful' to only zing nations

still, telling quote A BBC spokeswoman said: "Jeremy's colourful comments are always entertaining, but they are his own comments and not those of the BBC.

"More often than not they are said with a twinkle in his eye."

could've applied this to Thatcher (or anyone being racist, casually or not) too yes

Time for that old reliable again...

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/42415000/jpg/_42415099_bowie75_203.jpg

"I think Britain could benefit from a fascist leader, twinkle twinkle"

It's totally disgusting, I for one call for a blanket ban on all so-called David Bowie records as coked-out wisecracks made 33 years ago are wholly unacceptable and inappropriate.

omg yeah, what chris moyles has gotten away with is definitely much worse - the change in climate is really apparent when you consider that he wasn't even disciplined for his shit. halle berry calling him out on air was a total "you go girl" moment

is it actually much worse? or just roughly same level?

i'm sure you can answer that yourself

How does it compare to Paris Hilton describing herself and a friend dancing to rap music as being "Like two niggers"?

I for one consider it a scandal. Clearly she and all her doings should be banned immediately - she is inappropriate for this planet.

I also for one call for the immediate burning of all writings by Philip "kick out the n*****s" Larkin. He will be replaced on all core curriculae by Simon Armitage.

i'm sure you can answer that yourself

oh i was hoping you would answer, or at least just include reasoning behind why it's definitely much worse. not saying it isn't, just want this to be clearer.

perhaps it is worse to generalise/stereotype so absurdly on a massive scale ("black American guys") rather than refer to a specific individual yes. it's almost too wtf for someone in a position to discipline him to deal with tho, whereas a remark directed at an individual is 'easier' for people to understand and react (whether kneejerkingly or not) to.

To be honest if I'd said as much stupid racially dubious shit in public as Marcello has I'd be worried about this issue as well.

Jez sez sorry so that's that then.

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/45278000/jpg/_45278701__45171312_clarkson_pa226b-1.jpg

there's a thread about this kind of face but i can't find it.

by that i mean the expression he's making, not that there's a thread about eminently punchable faces of cunts.

yr thunder i have stolen it

jim i think that's a slightly different face

oh i was hoping you would answer, or at least just include reasoning behind why it's definitely much worse. not saying it isn't, just want this to be clearer.

is it not clear enough?!

that depends on whether the paragraph after that was the 'correct answer'

Thatcher worse than Moyles but that's not really saying much in Moyles' defence.

clear as glass, surrounded by hot air

Sorry, what am I doing? I appear to have got involved in a debate on the internet about which racist is worse than the other.

Jon Snow used to call a colleague 'Gunga Din'

FFS, Clarkson/Snow/etc., stop apologising/repenting. Anne Boleyn was guillotined, deal with it.

Sorry, what am I doing? I appear to have got involved in a debate on the internet about which racist is worse than the other.

― Holy Suffering Gobi Desert Clit Nun (Matt DC), Friday, 6 February 2009 15:33 (5 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

poll

Lord Foulkes "It is an absolute outrage of the worst kind. Disabled people will be up in arms about it, Scottish people will be angry – and it should concern all of us that the prime minister has been accused of lying."

ah see i was with him until that final bit (hey dude remember that little bit of trouble in Iraq a few years back?)

Didn't Clarkson have a go at someone who accused him of cottaging or something? Can dish it it out, can't...etc. Also the man is an outrageous liar.

Proved by science.

I think the One Show should replace Adrain Chiles with Hardeep Singh Kohli, coz he's a much nicer bloke.

nah he's annoying

racist

twice in one day?? what are the chances

I used to like HSK in that sitcom based in Glasgow(?) but when he was on celebrity apprentice (i think it was) he was tremendously annoying.

xp
Obviously this apology is completely meaningless. He meant precisely what he said. His fans will know that he apologised with a twinkle in his eye, and probably agree with him anyway, he gets a shitload of publicity for his crappy tv programme and the bbc ratings go up. Everyone wins.

Also a bit of Rachman...
http://www.theherald.co.uk/news/news/display.var.2320099.0.Comedian_Singh_Kohlis_rented_Glasgow_flats_grubby_and_dirty.php

The Hardeep geezer is, indeed, annoying. He is not totally without wit, but his superior tone is bad.

apparently The One Show had it's second best ever ratings yesterday

I like that programme where he patronises kids. That's about his level.

Singh that is not Chiles.

Adrian Chiles is just awful, I hate his miserabilist everyman act.

According to insiders, Thatcher – who won ITV1 reality series I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here! in 2005 – was chatting with The One Show host Adrian Chiles and guest Jo Brand about the Australian Open when she described an unnamed player as a "golliwog".

It is thought she was referring to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France, who went out of the competition in the quarter finals.

Apparently it has not been mentioned here, but it is now (in many quarters) believed she was actually talking about Gael Monfils of France, who went out of the competition in the 8th finals. No less a stupid & offensive thing to say obv, if this is the case, but a bit more ahem "understandable" in the "but Ronaldinho HAS large teeth" vein.

Um, those dolls at Sandringham looked like..
http://images.theage.com.au/ftage/ffximage/2008/06/05/zzMonfils_narrowweb__300x422,0.jpg

...?

..right?

Adrian Chiles is one of the few TV presenters I would happily leave my children with for the day. If I had children, that is.

myleene Klass? Although she seems quite busy...

i'd leave my kids with her alright.

What does that even mean?

NotEnough knowledge of vulgar slang, morelike

Um, those dolls at Sandringham looked like..
...?
..right?

Awp. Should probably not have said anything but.... what first took me aback with CT's original remark (APART FROM THE OBV)

oops tab enter

Awp. Should probably not have said anything but.... what first took me aback with CT's original remark (APART FROM THE OBV) was that apart from CT not yet having entered the post-colonial age apparently -- -- -- Tsonga? Wtf. It seems way unlikely. Dude is a BLOCK of a man, not at all ragdolly! Gael Force at least has spiky comicbook hair. Hence I found that story more credible.

Sprinter Dwain Chambers is to make a formal complaint to the BBC after he was the victim of an abusive prank call by the comedian Iain Lee during a phone-in on Radio 5 Live. Lee, who appears regularly on BBC1's One Show, rang a phone-in hosted by Victoria Derbyshire on Monday and, posing as a member of the public called 'Tony', accused Chambers, who served a two-year ban for taking performance-enhancing drugs, of being "whacked up to the eyeballs on goof balls".

Encouraged by Derbyshire to air his strident views, 'Tony' then subjected the sprinter to a vitriolic rant, referring to the "goof balls and whack balls" he put into his bloodstream and finishing with the statement: "I'm going to buy your book and I'm going to burn your book without reading it."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/othersports/athletics/4582698/Dwain-Chambers-demands-BBC-apology-over-prank-call.html

I do wonder on whose side the Daily Mail crew will be on that last one. Will they be able to pass up another chance to have a go at the Beeb's lax standards, or will they want to go for the throat of a notorious drug cheat who possesses the wrong colour of skin for their tastes?

That's what you'd call a real ethical dilemma for them. It would almost be entertaining to watch them wrestle with it.

fucking hell iain lee is a massive prick and really needs to bury himself alive out of shame.
why this prickhole is on the one show i dont know.

GHOSTBUSTERS 2 LOL

yeah, iain lee is a dude who doesn't really need to exist

Never mind that the tactics they used to destroy The One Show’s reporter Carol Thatcher were reminiscent of the old East German Stasi, under whose rule people who refused to do and say what they were told were destroyed.

Brilliance, just absolute brilliance.

marcello has a column in a tabloid now?

An administrative blunder under the Thatcher government that has only just come to light has opened the door for retailers to sell unauthorised DVDs and video games, including banned films and pornography, to anyone, including under-age children without legal threat.

The Crown Prosecution Service has been told to drop cases relating to offences under the Video Recordings Act, which imposes statutory requirements for videos, DVDs and some video games to be classified and age-rated by the British Board of Film Classification.

The Conservative government’s apparent failure to notify the European Union of the existence of the VRA in 1984 means that the legislation is no longer enforceable in the UK.

UK now officially better than US

shit I'd better get a shopping list together for you guys

it's there already, it just has big fuck-off circles covering everything, or so i'm led to believe.

We already have a perfectly workable system in place whereby 7 year-olds just tell their parents to buy GTA for them in Gamestation.

and wait ouside, smoking a fag

Oh dear:

"This must be a massive embarrassment to the Tories, especially as David Cameron was the special adviser to the home secretary in 1993 when the law was amended."

Wow, can't wait to hit Dixons or Woolworths and stock up on some banned VHS tapes now.

"This must be a massive embarrassment to the Tories, especially as David Cameron was the special adviser to the home secretary in 1993 when the law was amended."

Yeah right. Because Cameron has shown real signs of being electorally hindered by everything the Tories did in the 80s and 90s.

Still not dead?