The LibDems have managed to upset a rival candidate down in Cornwall:
Liberal Democrats have apologised after a campaign leaflet was sent out which uses a swear word to describe a Cornish nationalist candidate.
Excuse me while I try to avoid a snigger – Cornish fucking nationalist? Jesus! Yes, I can see self-government for Cornwall working jolly well indeed. Will they apply to join the EU as a nation? Will they have a standing army, navy and air force? How will they finance this self government? Oh, I know the answer to that one, the same as the Scots and Welsh finance theirs – we fucking pick up the tab. Will they… Oh, never mind, the idea is so risible it doesn’t warrant further effort.
Ahem, anyway, what, exactly, did the naughty LibDems actually say?
It calls Mebyon Kernow candidate Stuart Cullimore a “greasy-haired twat”. He is considering what action to take.
Hardly earth shattering – even if it was somewhat stupid and ill-judged. But… He’s considering what action to take – not including, I suppose, growing the fuck up. Anyway, Mebyon Kernow, a joke party if ever there was one, is getting all up-tight about the whole thing, as opposed to laughing it off, which would be the sensible thing to do.
Dick Cole, leader of Mebyon Kernow, which wants self-government for Cornwall, said the attack was “totally unacceptable”.
Oh, of course. However, note the use of wording; “unacceptable”. Bad taste, yes. Stupid, doubtless, ill-judged, indeed, but “unacceptable”? By whom? I mean, really, who should care less about what appears to have been a silly slight in a local election campaign. If the voters don’t like it they will let their views be known at the ballot box, won’t they? “Unacceptable” has become a righteous euphemism for “should be prevented from saying that”.
He said Mr Cullimore, who declined to comment, was “very upset and offended”.
One can only presume, therefore, that Mr Cullimore is not made of the right stuff for a life in politics, then.
I’m beginning to think that being “very upset and offended” is an actual job for some people now…
Now, now, you mustn’t talk like that! If he has greasy hair, the polite and practical thing to do would be to present him with some “Head and Shoulders” shampoo. Calling him a ‘twat’ is dangerously near to ‘hate speech’, as it is calculated to bring him into contempt, and may even – heaven forfend! – hurt his feelings.
And it is all so utterly, utterly Politically Incorrect. If I lived in Cornwall – which thank goodness I don’t – I would certainly be voting LibDem.
Brilliant!
I would have thought that Cornish Nationalists would be used to being called much worse. Not very thick skinned for a separatist rebel, is he ?
Personally I reckon the introduction of swearing into the political narrative is long overdue. I’d watch much more BBC parliament if I was likely to hear things like “I shall give way to my friend the properly dishonourable orange skinned shitweasel for Tatton and Poshshire when he stops making mong noises and learns about enunciation and turn taking”
Or a speaker who was simply prepared to say “Look, you’ve had your say, now sit down and shut the fuck up”.
It’s not as though most of the debate is very far above this level anyway.
“Personally I reckon the introduction of swearing into the political narrative is long overdue.”
It seems, for this, you need to go to Australia:
http://angryexile.blogspot.com/2009/06/way-with-words.html
Strewth! 🙂
Yes! Can you imagine anyone even daring to use the phrase “spak attack” in the media over here ?
“It seems, for this, you need to go to Australia.”
Were it not for the fact that their current government appears to be as batshit crazy and authoritarian as ours (q.v. great firewall of Australia, imprisoning people for Simpsons toon joke pr0n, etc, etc), I would already have emigrated.
If sanity ever breaks out over there, I’m gone. I love Koalas, me.
and, albeit a while ago
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/3558867/Jacqueline-Wilson-swearword-removed-after-housewife-complains.html
Where I come from, ‘twat’ is in common usage as nothing more than a mild insult, and ‘crap’ has no more associated with it other than ‘rubbish’ (which is the Scots usage, per Chambers dictionary). I hate this English crap about twat…….
BTW, merely because she called him a twat and he took exception doesn’t mean that she’s wrong. The reported response more than proves the point, I think
Well, quite.