Nick Cohen comments on a range of subjects in Comment is Free; the BNP’s election success and the subsequent lousy performance in the council chamber, Titanic clichés and traffic wardens in Islington.
Whenever the BNP gets into power, its councillors make the Home Office appear a model of administrative efficiency.
Indeed, I’ve heard this one before and don’t doubt it. But, then, vote for a party with a racist policy (and not much else) and what do you expect? Nick is right, these people betray the disenfranchised people they claim to represent.
There are perfectly serviceable clichés to describe Blair’s predicament. If you want to be hackneyed, what is wrong with ‘clutching at straws’ or ‘not waving but drowning’? In 2012, it will be 100 years since the Titanic sank. Can’t politicians and journalists allow her to rest in peace?
This is a bit of a “so what?” comment. We all have our favourite love-to-hate clichés – personally I want to scream every time someone trots out “at the end of the day”, but if I did, I’d have lost my voice by now. Then those traffic wardens:
For years, the Tory press has been advocating zero-tolerance policing. Well, Islington has had the zero-tolerance policing of traffic offences and has responded by showing zero tolerance for the politicians who imposed it.
If anything, the last paragraphs about the NCP traffic wardens in Islington is the gem of the piece. It demonstrates just what happens when you manage people by giving them the wrong motivation. The electorate of Islington did exactly the right thing in punishing the politicians who allowed such an abomination to happen. The very idea of paying traffic wardens on the basis of tickets issued is bound to lead to over zealous ticketing and injustices – it’s patently obvious. But, then, we are talking about politicians and the patently obvious is something they seem to miss on a daily basis.
What struck me about this piece though, wasn’t so much the original article, but the comments section. This, from someone called :
Does anyone know what Nick is going on about? Does anyone care? Anyone? I’m still looking for the point… still looking… still… is it that the BNP is Galloway’s fault? Respect is down to Sinn Fein? Anyone? Are these the ramblings of an alcoholic (possibly) or an idiot (ditto)? Some advice Nick: please please please fuck off…
I used to have a cat called Penfold – I could expect more rational debate from him than from this buffoon. And this from
This is stupid. From Respect to the BNP and pissy who-gives- a-toss complaints about the use Titanic/labour metaphor in the press, to whining about the privatisation of traffic control? Christ I hope his comment is free and you don’t pay him for this drivel, can’t you get someone with an ounce of coherency? Fuck you Nick, for wasting 2 minutes of my valuable ball scratching time.
And so on. The article does seem to have a lack of focus – all three points would have been better placed in separate pieces rather than try to string them together. That said, the insulting comments say more about their authors than the target of their ire. Frankly, if it was my blog, both would have been deleted and their authors banned. This is not debate, this is a baying mob of the kind being discussed here, for example. While Comment is Free does seem to indulge in some pretty facile nonsense (well, it is the Grauniad, what did you expect?), the comments are frequently littered with insulting rants from contributors who do not understand rational debate. Comment is Free would be a more pleasant read if the comments sections was moderated to remove the blatant insults and leave rational dissection in place. But, then, this is the Grauniad… :dry:
When faced with such behaviour, I follow my own advice;
Never try to reason with the unreasonable. And if they can’t behave reasonably and politely, kick ‘em out forthwith.