Read Melissa Benn’s latest pieces on the web. Further comment on ‘bigotgate’ in Public Finance, and a piece on one of Burma’s most celebrated activists, the poet and comedian Zarganar, recently sentenced to thirty five years for criticising the government’s handling of cyclone Nargis in 2008, on the Guardian’s Liberty Central section of Comment is Free.
Writings
One Response to On Burma and Bigotgate……..
Leave a Reply to Tim Hoy Cancel reply
I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve heard sentences beginning “I’m not racist but……” After the word “BUT” has been uttered is invariably where the persons actual point is made (and where the honesty starts). I’ve rarely heard anyone starting a sentence this way who didn’t follow it up with something I would find deeply offensive.
The media’s excitement at Gordon Brown’s gaffe ensured that we didn’t actually get to hear everything that was said by either party in the main news bulletins but we repeatedly heard Gordon’s departing comments.
Without knowing the content of their exchange I’m not about to make comment on whether the B word was justified, but what if she had turned out to be some neo nazi and Gordon had still been overheard the same way as he was driven off in the car? Would he still have apologised? Would the Nu Lab spin and damage limitation department still have been mobilised? I suspect the answer is yes.