In further news, the Tory MP Anna Soubry - who described Independence Day as "the worst day of my life" and went on to blame working-class men for the country's terrible mistake - has now informed us that the Tory party is "in meltdown". Judging from her recent behaviour, I think she may be confusing the Conservative Party with her own psyche, which does indeed seem to be disintegrating at an alarming rate. She told a Question Time audience earlier this week that she was “worried about the state of our nation.” Well, dear - the nation is certainly starting to worry about the state of you. I think she may need someone to sit with her for a bit until her nerves settle, or until Theresa May is elected leader and gives Anna some footling non-job where she can't do too much harm.
Meanwhile, this morning saw some fat, black Momentum supporter shouting accusations of treachery at a female Jewish Labour MP and complaining that there were "too many white boys" in the room. Standard behaviour from the hate-fuelled, racist knuckle-draggers of the hard left, you'd have thought, but, rather embarrassingly, it happened at the official unveiling of Labour member Shami Chakrabarti's incredibly hard-hitting report into anti-Semitism in her own party (Labour is lovely and doesn't really have a problem with anti-Semitism, or any other kind of racism, of course, although there is evidence of "ignorant attitudes" - a searing indictment, or what!) The Momentum intervention came after Jeremy Corbyn had told us all that there was nothing wrong with being decent (so why doesn't he try it, for a change?), that he deplores racism of any sort (cue mass stifling of yawns and cries of "pull the other one, Steptoe!"), and that Israel - where gays are tolerated, women are treated as equals, and non-Jews are allowed to practice their religions without being beheaded or crucified - is morally equivalent to Islamic State. No, honestly - at an event staged to absolve Labour of the undeniable charge of rampant anti-Semitism.
In his speech at the event, Corbyn said the following: "Under my leadership the Labour Party will not allow hateful language or debate in person, online, or anywhere else. We will aim to set the gold standard, not just for anti-racism, but for a genuinely welcoming environment for all communities and for the right to disagree as well. Racism is racism is racism. There is no hierarchy, no acceptable form of it." Which leaves one a trifle puzzled as to why his "team" (sort of like the England football team, only much, much less successful) had invited Momentum racists to the event.
In its initial report on the shambolic event, BBC Online entirely failed to mention the appalling behaviour which led to the Labour MP Ruth Smeeth walking out in disgust - it was far too eager to bring us the astonishing news that the Labour Party had found the Labour Party innocent of racism. And it took ages for its news channel to bring us the story - Sky News, on the other hand, were highlighting it from the moment it happened. Plus ça change...
Anyway, I'd better get back to the news in case we've declared war on the rest of Europe or the Queen has abdicated or Hillary Clinton has finally been arrested by the FBI - it's just one of those days.
I am upset about your treatment of Christiane Amanpour. She was an intrepid war reporter and has had a distinguished career at CNN. "Stupid", "Ill-informed"...? I don't think so. She is also highly attractive which she usually deploys to great effect, but "our" Dan was having none of it. Very ungallant.
ReplyDeleteOddly, Daniel Hannan appeared on one of these useless Channel4 studio discussions with a cast of '000s and chaired by Paxo pre-Ref last week and was shouted at by the ghastly Anna Soubry {"This is not about you!" she kept screeching with her mascara running]. Hannan just sat and took it. He seems to annoy women of a certain age.
The high-light of the C4 "Show" was when Paxo turned to model and author Katie Price [you probably know her as Jordan] and asked her about the Ref. Price: " My son is very disabled. I don't want Ormond Street to close." Unfortunately my postal vote had gone by then. It was sad to see Paxo reduced to this.
She may very well be a distinguished war reporter (I wouldn't know, because I never watch CNN) - but she displayed breathtakingly high levels of bias and ignorance during this interview, and fully deserved the mauling she received.
DeleteI am seriously worried about Anna Soubry - exhausted and hysterical, never mind tired and emotional.
I think it mat be that Hannan's distinctly cerebral "thinking machine" style, and his maddening habit of knowing his brief, speaking in complete sentences, and moving in logical steps from premises to conclusions may upset more emotional-seeming and intellectually-challenged older colleagues. As (with any luck) there won;t be any British MEPs within two years, I'll be fascinated to see what he does next - I'd love to see him in involved in the Brexit negotiations before becoming and MP and securing a place in a future Tory cabinet.
I suppose Paxo must be getting something out of his knockabout turns on C4 - but I've no idea what. Once upon a time, cabinet ministers would whimper with fear and wet their pants at the very sound of his name - now he regularly appears in the current affairs equivalent of panto. One can only assume he's being a paid a fortune.