A leaflet from the Kippers comes through the door, containing the following:
Labour, especially Harriet Harman, intend to allow employers to discriminate in favour of ethnic minorities and women. UKIP say that employment should be on merit alone. We will not be reduced to second class citizens in our own country.
So who are “we” exactly? And is there a specifically anti-Harriet Harman vote out there?
Also, if you vote UKIP you not only take Britain out of the EU, but get to keep the Turks out as well somehow. Excellent value.
Some of that does get a faint echo, I have to admit, in a tiny dark corner of my white male heterosexual able-bodied heart ("And I also have to fill in an Equal Opportunities form! Oh goodie!") Probably wouldn't even get that if I hadn't had some bad experiences at work - ressentiment is a terrible thing. (Extreme example.)
Posted by: Phil | April 28, 2010 at 02:27 PM
is there a specifically anti-Harriet Harman vote out there?
Oh yes. Or at least, it doesn't take much to bring certain resentments to the surface. Like the end of Allegro Non Troppo.
In related news, I may be out of touch here but why can I read a long BBC story telling me that Gordon Brown has committed a gaffe by calling somebody a bigot (Nick Clegg carefully not clarifying whether or not he agrees) but nothing in it tells me what he alleged bigot actually said?
Posted by: ejh | April 28, 2010 at 03:07 PM
According to Chris Bertram at CT, she asked, “These East European immigrants, where are they coming from?”. Which suggests she's not so much a bigot as intellectually challenged.
Posted by: chris y | April 28, 2010 at 03:31 PM
"Well, when a mummy East European loves a daddy East European very, very much, she gives him a special sort of hug..."
Posted by: ajay | April 28, 2010 at 03:35 PM
Ah, the Kippers. Got my Traditional Unionist leaflet through the door, but it wasn't nearly as mad as I was hoping. Their broadcast was deadly crack but.
Yawnsley was saying that Brown's handlers will be breathing a sigh of relief that there wasn't any effing and blinding involved. Personally, I think you need a bit of class to carry off disdain properly. Think of Reggie Maudling landing in Belfast and exclaiming "what a bloody awful country". Now that's how you do disdain.
Posted by: Splintered Sunrise | April 28, 2010 at 08:38 PM
Wasn't that what he said as he was leaving, closely followed by "Get me a drink!"?
Posted by: Phil | April 28, 2010 at 09:58 PM
Probably a commonly expressed sentiment on sampling English food.
Posted by: ejh | April 29, 2010 at 03:23 PM