I had a feeling that this would ruffle a few feathers somewhere, however it's not really central to this debate. England is not legally a 'country'. It does not have a government, nor is it free to sign international agreements with sovereign nations, in the same way that the UK. can. The fact that there are trappings of 'nationhood' such as 4 international football teams makes no difference to this - Catalonia, Brittany, or even Burgundy could do the same. The only reason for that comment was to underline that you cannot use statistics from only England (re. population density) in form of international comparison - if you do this then other regions such as North Rhine Westphalia (or even the Province of Holland) can do the same.
While Tessa Jowell deserves a lot of respect for her campaigning for better research and practice around brain cancer while terminally ill, the announcement that the government will invest another £40m into research is a classic example of the elite at work - someone famous, articulate and influential asks for something and they get it. Celebrity policy making. Expect the same when Boris Johnson shares his ordeal with piles with the world. Sadly £40m (the price on a non world class PL player) won’t make much difference. It costs $1.5bn to develop a single drug and get it on the market. And then it’s highly likely that it wouldn’t be made available in the UK anyway.
Just reading about the new outrage being perpetrated by some nasty lefties - describing middle-aged white men of the right with ruddy complexions as 'gammon'. Some are calling this term racist. Is it?
'It's a racist slur': Labour MPs condemn Corbynista activists for branding middle-aged white men 'Gammon' as they warn the insults against key voters could keep party out of power Insults like 'gammon' are increasingly deployed by Corbyistas on social media Labour MPs condemn the terms as racist abuse against middle aged white men Jibe often used against older men with ruddy complexions who don't like Corbyn By James Tapsfield, Political Editor For Mailonline Published: 01:00 AEST, 15 May 2018 | Updated: 03:59 AEST, 15 May 2018 Labour MPs condemned Corbynista activists for 'racist' abuse of white middle-aged men today. Backbenchers spoke out against the widespread use of insults like 'Gammon' - often used online against older white men who do not agree with Jeremy Corbyn's views. They warned that the growing popularity of such slurs among left-wing activists was alienating crucial voters and could cost Labour the next election. Social media has become awash with jibes against those who do not share the views of the Labour leadership. please log in to view this image 'Whether you consider the people being mocked to be discriminated against generally has nothing to do with whether using it is racist.' Labour MP Neil Coyle said: 'The ugly party within a party need to prove they want to win, not just insult those we need to sustain/attract to win an election.' But the complaints drew a furious response from left-wingers. Mr Corbyn's former spokesman, Matt Zarb-Cousin, insisted 'no-one is born gammon'. 'Their complexion is a consequence of their state of mind. Angry, reactionary, red in the face in the Question Time audience,' he replied to Mr Perkins. The MP shot back: 'Any "slur" that seeks to use a physical feature (white/ pink skin) as key component is CLEARLY racist.' please log in to view this image Former shadow minister Toby Perkins said 'gammon' was 'clearly racist' as it used the colour of people's skin to degrade them " class="blkBorder img-share"/> please log in to view this image Left-wing activists have widely shared memes like this one, branded the 'Wall of Gammon', which mocks audience members from BBC Question Time Terms such 'melt' and 'centrist dad' are frequently deployed against older men who regard themselves as on the political soft-left mainstream, and might have voted for New Labour, but have no truck with Mr Corbyn. Gammon is often used against middle-aged white men with ruddy complexions who voice concerns about issues like immigration, national security, or back Brexit. Former shadow minister Toby Perkins said 'gammon' was 'clearly racist' as it used the colour of people's skin to degrade them. He questioned whether the insult could be used against black people. 'Gammon is so obviously a racist slur, that I can't understand why people who generally decry racism think its ok to use it,' he said.
What if a white man described a black guy as “a steak well done”? That would no doubt be decried as racist these days. I suppose gammon falls into the same category?
I'm not sure. Here are some lefty views on the issue to balance out Kiwi's Daily Mail post...... https://www.thepoke.co.uk/2018/05/14/gammon-people-unhappy-11-responses/#.WvnBKJZMeiw.facebook
Hmmmm. Unfortunately, I’m all a bit “sticks & stones”, so not really the right guy to ask. To be honest, I think ‘gammon’ is quite amusing.
Why do we, and more importantly, the people running, and competing, to run the country, spend so much ****ing time working out who is offending who and what's ok to say, rather than doing their ****ing jobs and working to sort out the poxy issues that unnecessarily blight peoples' lives. If the news is, 'someone accuses someone else of offending them', and whilst it doesn't leave a group of people oppressed and suffering, I think our response should be, **** off, don't bother us or try to distract us with this **** and do the job you're paid to do.
i think i've mentioned before it's more about the intent and tone with how "racist" words are dealt out. When i random stranger calls me a chinky, then obviously i'll probably take offence especially if they are doing it for "fun" around their mates. If my mate was ribbing me or just calling me (in fact my other oriental mates sometimes use it) then i don't take it as racism as i know they mean no intent on it. Likewise casual racism jokes etc from my friends. Gammon is casual racism but just empty words with no historical context about it. Owen jones and the left (not corbyn) who think its fine and acceptable are obviously showing their hypocritical nature about it (especially since it's used in a derogatory manner) and it's been used to describe essentially white people. Pretty funny though
i thought they were lefty views Labour MPs condemn the terms as racist abuse against middle aged white men
