Friday, June 08, 2007

Ann Widdecombe for London Mayor?

I've just been out for a pleasant evening in Maidstone where Miss Widdecombe was celebrating her 20th anniversary as Member of Parliament. As part of the evening's entertainment we performed a shortended version of our 'Audience with Ann Widdecombe' theatre show. The other entertainment was provided by Maidstone Operatic Society who sung a number of songs, including one chosen by Ann herself - Music of the Night!

Her Association President, Lord Sandy Bruce-Lockhart, suggested that she should run for London Mayor. Now there's a thought. Sadly Ann didn't seem very enamoured of the idea. I have to say, if she put her hat in the ring I suspect she'd walk it. She told me that if the post had Giuliani style powers, especially over the Police, she'd be at it like a rat at a trap. I have to say I don't see those powers being granted either under a Labour or a Tory government. It's a big issues and I have to say that none of the Tory candidates for London mayor I have interviewed for 18 Doughty Street have given very convincing answers on crime issues.

63 comments:

Anonymous said...

Not that I give a toss about London, but Ann Widdecombe would indeed be, and is, head and shoulders above the candidates.

Can't see her supporting publicly funded helplines for black disabled lesbians or free plasma TVs for immigrants though, so her and the zeitgeist are somewhat at odds.

Anonymous said...

Wrinkled Weasel - Ditto.

Scipio said...

No, no, no. no. no!!!!Please dear God in heaven. NO!!!!!

Anne Widdecombe is hated where I come from! I was informed by a young farmer that "we like shagging, smoking spliffs and hunting foxes - and she wants to ban all three"!

nuff said!

She has all the bad attributes of an old school mistress, with none of the redeeming features.

But then again, I have never actually met her.

Anonymous said...

Darn it Dale - you beat me to the blog - were you typing this whilst driving???

Scipio said...

Wrinkled/Verity - She might be refreshingly unPC (and that may be her one redeeming feature), but she still believes in public floggings, making the whimple compulsory, and that the Church should control social policy (that's the Catholic Church by the way - not cuddly liberal Anglicans). She makes Opus Dae look like Hari Krishna devotees! She would introduce the Iron Maiden for spitting, and cruxifiction for parking on a double yellow.

Anonymous said...

I've yet to see any candidate which convinces that the cost, bureaucratic overhead as well as the undermining affect is is having on local Councils that the Mayor of London and his associated army of pen pushers has had a single positive impact on my live in London.

It's a pointless body - I'd vote for anyone who wanted to scrap it.

Anonymous said...

I live a long, long way from London and so I shouldn't really have a say in such matters as who is the Mayor of London (though I am a Liveryman of a Worshipful Company, so I'm not exactly a hater of all-things-London.)

Whilst I admire and respect Ann Widdecombe, both as a person and as a Conservative MP, as a member of BASC and the Countryside Alliance, I have a great problem with her stance on hunting.

This alone would stop me from voting for her (if I had the right to vote.)

Now, if Kate Hoey decided to stand...

Scipio said...

Maggie for Mayor!!!!!

It would be like the GLC days all over again.

Scipio said...

Country Sports Man - when I worked at the Countryside Alliance, she was an utter star, and really understands rural issues (born on a farm, see!). It always grieved me that as a Tory activist, I was working alongside someone who had such understanding of rural issues, when a fellow Tory was so out of touch!

But then she believes God talks to her. Most people who hear voices in their head get a free holiday at a local hospital!

Smith said...

Having watched the 18DS interviews with the candidates most of them didn't give strong answers on alot of questions. I think Anne is to much of a polarising figure for London Mayor but the city certainly needs someone on the right of her calibre.

Anonymous said...

Adrian Yalland:

I've just had a quick look at your blog and will be back for a proper look in the morning. It's a good read! I'll be back (in one of my guises.)

Shame about Ann Widdecombe - a lovable eccentric if there ever was one and yet she seems to have such a problem with field sports.

I do feel that the hunting debate is starting to turn our way. Another useless statute passed by a vindictive government that will not stand the test of future parliaments?

Anonymous said...

"but she still believes in public floggings, making the whimple compulsory, and that the Church should control social policy (that's the Catholic Church by the way - not cuddly liberal Anglicans). She makes Opus Dae look like Hari Krishna devotees! She would introduce the Iron Maiden for spitting, and cruxifiction for parking on a double yellow"

Yes, sadly she is getting a little mellow in her old age.

Could we bring back the ducking stool, also, particularly for that Caroline Flint. Just this once. Please.

Unknown said...

Although Anne would undoubtedly be head and shoulders above any of the currently declared candidates in terms of experience, I think she's just too well known as a Tory and swing voters would be put off :-(

Does anyone happen to know why she's so far out from the rest of the Tory group on public whip? http://www.publicwhip.org.uk/mpsee.php

Scipio said...

oh go on then - only for Flinty though!

Anonymous said...

To the rather excitable, not to say hysteria-driven Adrian Yalland:

but she still believes in public floggings,

Check. So do most people except the criminal classes and certain immigrants.

making the whimple compulsory, Don't know what a whimple is,but could you give us the quote?

She makes Opus Dae look like Hari Krishna devotees!

Well this is all very exciting, but what does it mean? Do you have any idea in your own rather over-excitable head? No cymbals? I'm assuming this was supposed to be a stunning point. I've missed it. Explain?

She would introduce the Iron Maiden for spitting, and cruxifiction for parking on a double yellow..

Again, quotes, please? Being forced to endure the horrendous death of being nailed through the wrists on pieces of wood and dying in pain after hours of agony? Did Anne Widdicombe really recommend this treatment for parking on a yellow line, rather than a ticket? I think you may have slandered her.

Ann Widdecombe wants to "ban shagging" in your part of the country? Maybe she just wants to stamp out incest?

Scipio said...

Oh God, Verity - sorry, I forgot you had the 'sense of humour' button removed at birth! In case you wish to know what a sense of humour is like, see Wrinkled second post!

So, for the record, and to save myself hours of pointless debate.

1. Anne Widdecome never actually said any of those things, I made it all up, I am sorry, I am a very naughty boy and I promise to go to confession and say Hail Mary's until my bottom goes numb and the priest offers to rub it better!

2. My scurrilously remarks were an attempt at humour, clearly lost on people who have not yet been granted their membership of the human race, and were based on what I believe to be widely held 'stereotypical' opinions about Ms. Widdecomebe.

3. A whimple is a piece of clothing worn by nuns. It is believed to be uncomfortable and designed to remind one of ones sins. Opus Dei have something similar - and they believe in the mortification of the flesh through flagalation. But mustn't judge now must we.

4. Opus Dei v Hari Krishna! One group believes in hair shirts and whipping themselves, whereas the other group believe in handing out flowers at airports, love bombing and smoking lots of drugs! I trust that explains the difference?

5. I am not excitable, I just have a personality!

6. As for incest, she probably does wish to 'stamp it out'. But my main point (hidden behind the humour) is that I don't like taking lectures about sex from someone who has never tried it!

If I didn't know any better, I'd say you where American!

Anonymous said...

Adrian Yalland - No, sweets. My sense of humour is more elevated than your own and looking so far down makes me vertinigenous.

Your point No 1 - predictable, infantile and dull.

"2. My scurrilously remarks". What is a scurrilously remark? Irony has to be precise and pointed. And grammatical, unless a lack of grammar helps to make the point. I believe you will see you are lacking.

Your remarks are based on some fantasies "widely believed". References? Or "widely believed" in your fevered imagination?

"A whimple is a piece of clothing worn by nuns."

Incorrect. That's a wimple. Everyone knows what a wimple is. I thought you were referring to something I hadn't heard of before.

"4. Opus Dei v Hari Krishna! One group believes in hair shirts and whipping themselves, whereas the other group believe in handing out flowers at airports, love bombing and smoking lots of drugs! I trust that explains the difference?"

No. Should it?

Again, incorrect. Your grammar is torturous, but neither group believes in whipping themselves or "smoking lots of drugs!". I'd be interested in real evidence, as opposed to your rather excitable brain - into which too many drugs, perhaps, have ingested.

"But my main point (hidden behind the humour)".

Uh. Excuse me? Could you repeat that sentence?

" is that I don't like taking lectures about sex from someone who has never tried it!" Who has lectured you, you edgy, unhappy boy? Who wounded you to make you so cross?

"If I didn't know any better, I'd say you where American!"

What is a "where American"?

Everything you have written has been a failure.

Don't try to destroy other people unless you know for sure you have strength, flair or humour, and preferably all three.

You don't score one out of three.

Newmania said...

I am not excitable, I just have a personality!


Thats a matter of opinion Yalland,I`d say you were , mostly harmless

Anonymous said...

Having seen last weekend's This Is Your Life, I think Simon Cowell was offering his services?

Would be interesting!

Old BE said...

I would like to see Miss Widdecombe as London mayor. However I also think the Tories should be having a more open discussion of where the powers should lie. I actually think that a mayor or GLA with strong powers would be a good thing, as long as those powers didn't prevent the boroughs from making their own decisions too. A lot of decisions should be devolved from Westminster to the boroughs and to the mayor. Then we'll start to get some candidates interested in the job.

Anonymous said...

Rachel @ 12.49 - Lee Rotherham is the candidate for Mayor who wants to eliminate the post. Gets my vote!

And it's wimple, not whimple, and it was a standard piece of female headgear in the middle ages, so is not analagous to a hairshirt.

Class now over.

Anonymous said...
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Anonymous said...

If Widdicombe wants to have Tory in power in London then she should go for it.

De facto not standning is like saying she is happy for labour to run london.

It has a huge amount of powers and sorry to rule it out because of crime powers (met police report in there dont they) it f'ing daft and overly self serving imho.

Anonymous said...

Anne Widdecombe would be great as Mayor especially if she controlled the police and emergency services. I wouldn't trust Ken to control a whelk-stall

Newmania said...

Visit Hatfield Girl

Aha got it , I `m going to carry a recommendation from now on for whoever I happen to be enjoying.
On Anne Widdecombe . I did wonder before gbut with the proposed pact with the Lib Dums and the socialist ares Dyke it is clear the Conservative Party have given all hope up of winning in London alone . You will note that the three regions that have two votes regional and national are all Labour dominated .

Tapestry said...

job for posers. victoria beckham?

Newmania said...

Visit Hatfield Girl

A lot of decisions should be devolved from Westminster to the boroughs and to the mayor. Then we'll start to get some candidates interested in the job

There are problems with that Ed when London Boroughs had greater autonomy before we had some of the worst and most profligate council s there will ever be with Enver Hodge`s Islington Red devils chief amongst the so called loony left. Areas of London are now dominated by certain ethnic groups who are likely to make use of devolved local power in such a way that you might be less keen .
In al, I am unconvinced by localism .The argument goes like this . Centralism has manifestly failed in the NHS in the benefits system and in education. On the other hand we do not trust the market and ten years of Labour propaganda have rendered it synonymous with selfishness. Why not then have local knowledge which the market delivers through pricing expect via a some well meaning local people.
This depends on there being well meaning and knowledgeable local people . A damn rare commodity in my experience Localism has the great advantage of sounding new and the greater one if synthesising certain tendencies in both small c conservative and Liberal thought . It very much runs along side the Green issues and the wish David Cameron has for a Conservatism of Montaigne , Salisbury Scruton ( in various ways ) rather than Friedman and Thatcher and a rapprochement with progressive thought which is in fact not progressive but the praiseworthy cautious conformism of typical conservatives.Like the Green agenda it will run into problems when it ceases to be a bumper sticker and becomes a policy . Who will pay , democratically , minorities locally in the majority nationally and do we want further ghettoisation of the inner City. In the provision of services as taxes cannot be levied locally then will it not encourage weimarish dissatisfaction with endless demand for finite services. Have you met many local activists , many of them are moon howlers I promise you.

Thus far the politics makes sense but the but way ahead is foggy. Lets hope it is all handled beytter than the education debacle which suffered from the same problem

Anonymous said...

I think Ken does a good job. There are no serious contenders.

Newmania said...

Visit Hatfield Girl

Ken does pretty much nothing except advertise himself Canvass but he is trying to get greater powers . There are plenty of good people that would do a far better job but as London has become a foreign country we can expect the labour party to hold sway .These facts are not unrelated. perhaps you noticed the staggering birth rate amongst recent immigrants in the Papers today and the inability of the middling to afford to replace themselves. Labour are finally getting there wish .

This might be called the " Final Solution " to the Conservative "Problem"

Old BE said...

Newmania

It is true that in the loony 70s left wing councils did all sorts of awful things. But then so did governments of both persuasions. If boroughs had to raise all the money they wasted from their local populace, profligate councils would soon be held to account. After all this is supposed to be a democratic system. The logical conclusion to your argument is that we should have no local government at all!

Devolving more decisions and freedoms to boroughs, cities and the mayor/GLA would bring some much needed innovation in public service delivery.

Street lighting, and mains water and gas were not dictated by Westminster but provided by city councils wanting to show that their city was better than the neighbouring one!

Old BE said...

Newmania you are falling into this suburbanite myth trap that London is somehow sullied by its immigrants. Northerners particularly like to peddle this.

It's horses for courses of course and people who aren't happy rubbing shoulders with people who speak different languages and who come from places were people tend to have more children of course are free to emigrate to 1950s Sussex.

If Labour have "built the Tories out of London" by way of immigration then how come councils and Westminster seats in London are turning Blue????

Old BE said...

Also N if you had real decisions being made by local government you would see the calibre of the councillors improve overnight, because the bright ones wouldn't all run straight to Westminster.

Laurence Boyce said...

Come off it Iain. Winston McKenzie would make a more credible candidate.

Anonymous said...

Ann Widdicombe MP for Maidstone & Weald is one of those MP's who voted on the FOI amendment ,London can have her

Newmania said...

Visit Hatfield Girl


Ed , I would not use the word sullied . Changed out of all recognition and ways that the proponents of its multicultural fun seem universally keen to avoid when it comes to their children’s schools.
Parts of Islington are turning blue , inhabited by people who have nothing to do with the local scene and have imported the Home Counties into the Georgian squares. These isolated pockets do not reflect the big numbers as the Party have plainly concluded .
Your point on tax is misguided. In order to collect serious revenue the charge for services link would have to be broken and an element of progressiveness included . Councils are always straining to do this by taxing four by fours and cars etc. This in fact is the Policy of the Liberal Party and in isolation it will heap even more if the burden on wage earners. You entirely underestimate the various ness of Boroughs throughout the country. The great fact of Inner City Borought is the publicly subsidised housing and benefits that dwarfs all other considerations providing a block vote for local Parties wedded to redistribution. Add a progressive local taxation system and far to many voters will be voting with other peoples money for the accountability to envisage. This was exactly the problem in the fist place going beyond the 70s into the 80s when Margaret Thatcher oput a stop to it to everyone’s great relief, perhaps most of all the people of Liverpool

Oh well clients to see must pop off ..

Scipio said...

Verity - vertigo is exactly the problem, as it seems you spend a considerable amount of your time looking down on people!

For heaven's sake get a life! The post was intended to be light-hearted!

As for the grammar/typos etc, the post was written at 1am on a PDA on a bumpy train, surrounded by drunk bankers eating Big Macs!

The point is that Anne Widdecombe is an authoritarian, and I am instinctively opposed to authoritarians in whatever political colour they dress. I see little difference between her, Blunkett and Reid on their instinctive desire to ban, regulate, forbid and prevent people from doing what has been their historic liberty to do.

If you really wish me to give you references for this point, I can, but most people would accept that she is not known for her overly liberal views on sex, drugs and rock and roll - let alone law and order. This is after all a women who swapped over to Catholicism when the Anglicans apostatized allowed women to become priests! She is in somewhat of a timewarp in my opinion!

She clearly, at best, does not believe in equality on all issues. Can you see her defending the rights of gay people to adopt? She practices a religion which describes homosexuality as 'an abomination before God' and condemns people to die of AIDS rather than allow them to use condoms.

I am also dubious of anyone who believes they have a hot-line to God, and who allows their religious fervor to influence how they feel public policy should be implemented.

I believe in a socially liberal secular state, and for this reason I would oppose Anne Widdecombe as London Mayor.

She would never win London for the Tories, and only someone who has had a political lobotomy would believe she could!

As awful as Livingstone is (and I cannot wait to see the back of him), Anne Widdecombe is not the answer!

New Mania: Nice to hear from you again!

Anonymous said...

I don't live in London, but I think Ms Widdecombe'd be a super mayor.

Old BE said...

N, I don't know what your idealised London would look like. You don't seem to want your kids to go to school with Bangladeshi kids but you also don't like middle class gentrification. I think you are also confusing immigration with multi-culturalism correct me if I am wrong.

Anonymous said...

Is a "where american" related to a "Were American"? Does he or she turn hairy during full moons and eat bagels?

Anonymous said...
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Anonymous said...

Though I probably disagree with 80% of what Miss Widdecombe says, in any (admittedly limited) dealings I've had with her she has always been completely straight - she would make an excellent mayor and ought to be persuaded.

Kris said...

Widdie or Ken? I'd vote for Ann!

Scipio said...

Harry: I agree, she is very straight talking - an honourable trait even if I fundamentally disagree with lots of what she says. I also like the fact that she seems to take things on the chin and is not up herself. But, she is still not a good candidate for London because of her world view.

Bing: Interesting question! Ask Verity, she would know - she is far more knowledgeable than I - or indeed the rest of us put together!

Harry: I admit, that would be a tough one for me. Damned if you do and ....

It would be a bit like the French Presidential election where Le Pen was up against Chirac, and all the Socialists went out campaigning saying "Vote for the crook, not the Nazi"!

I'd probably go for Widdy under those circumstances, but there has to be someone better surely?

Anonymous said...

Turn again, Widdicombe, ......

Where's yer cat?

Anonymous said...

NewMania - we are all immigrants.
British history – 2,000 years of invasion, immigration, assimilation and trading partnerships...

Anonymous said...

Adrian Yelland, writing from a third class railway carriage at 1:00 a.m. surrounded by drunks eating greasy hamburgers advises me to "get a life".

I suggest that you refrain from offering your loud-mouthed, trite advice to people who have not asked for it.

And may I suggest that you try to write an entire post without using an outdated catch-phrase from American TV comedies?

You were deeply personal and insulting about Ann Widdicomb, who does an honourable, straightford and dedicated job as an MP. I take the factual point of the poster who pointed out that Ms Widdicomb voted against the FoI Act applying to MPs, and was disappointed to read it.

Ms Widdicombe's private life is her private life and she doesn't need yahoos swinging from the vines full of impertinent assumptions.

Ms Widdicombe's spiritual life is not yours to discuss. And no, I am not Catholic. But that is where Ms Widdecombe's conscience has led her.

Newmania said...

Ed I have no objection to my son going to school with Bangladeshi children .These choices in England are made primarily along class lines not racial ones per se ( I `m not going to bother sugaring that pill here). I object to both excessive immigration and multiculturalism and indeed excessive pluralism. Clearly these are inter-related. Ideally I would like London to be under a great deal less pressure from immigration and social housing . Its a matter of moderation not revolution in my head for the country. At this stage moderate action is a bit past the point in the capital though. We are well into so called white flight now and I fear London as it used to be is lost . There is no reason whatsoever not to regret this we are not required to approve of everything that “Is “
No I am not objecting to gentrification which is bound to come and go . I was only saying that it did not reflect the big numbers and therefore cannot be relied by Conservatives in London. .Clearly the Conservative Party agree

I would not follow Billy Bragg to Dorset but on the other hand the sense that one has something in common with the people around you is essential to any community and if that is of no value to Conservatives then somewhere we have forgotten what the point is supposed to be . It is essential to David Cameron’s vision , as is sometimes ignored , that a “we” and a “community” are a prerequisite . To imagine that this can be made from people with no connection to each other is foolish. For a kinder society controlled immigration and coherence are needed . London was indeed a much kinder place in the past partly for this reason I am often told .

Newmania said...

No canvass we are a country of quite extraordinary cultural coherence or at least we were. The fact that ultimately everyone came from somewhere is a bordering on the platitudinous.
The English have as much right as anyone to be regarded as a People with a country. Not a few scraggs that happen to be on the car Park this week.
This nationhood is in the language and shared culture and the institutions that we should value. Immigrants should never have been told they could come here and not become English.. British is used simply as a set of entitlements. It has no identity. Compare the two descriptions. An Englishman and ,a British Citizen. Now a Black man or immigrant can be either but the former requires a cultural identity you do not get with a piece of paper.
There are many of both .I say we need a realisation that the identity and coherence are the most important thing is our country is to function in a kind and mutual way. Anarchy of competing creeds languages and beliefs can be accommodated only in a minority which will assimilate. In a land with no belonging vicious fascism , theocratic or otherwise will flourish as well as heartless individualism.

This is what we have and most people hate it .

Scipio said...

Verity - you win, I cannot be bothered to argue with you anymore! Not least of all as I fear you might die of hypertension of a stroke!

Instead I am going to do something useful and more stimulating like pluck my nasal hair, or something less painful, like saw off my leg with a blunt and rusty blade!

But I will just say, that in my very post (which sent you into orbit the first time) that I made it very clear I HAD NEVER MET HER!.

I will also add that nher spiritual life may be no business of mine - except when? Oh yes, when she uses her Christian moral compass to pass legislation which affects my life, and when her conscience leads her to impose her will over mine in a way I don't agree with!

American sit comms - sorry, don't watch them, so no promises sweetheart!

As for writing deeply personal stuff, where exactly? Two of my posts contained compliments about her, and one stated I have not met her. The main thrust of the post was intended to use humour as a way of illustrating how unsuitable she would be as a candidate for London.

I doubt that Ms Widdecombe is nearly as offended at what I have said (or, what in your head am accused of saying) as you are - unless you are AW in disguise?

Oh, finally, I told you get a life from the comfort of my office. The original post was from the train - your grasp on history is slipping clearly.

And as for offering trite advise - Verity, dearest verity - there wouldn't be enough room, because you are so busy advising us all!

PS - I thought I'd check out your quote that 'everyone knows what a wimple is'. So far, out of ten, three do and seven don't! Also, apparently there are varous old old English spellings of the wimple, as whimpel, whimpel and whimple! Just thought you'd like to know.

Anonymous said...

Adrian Yalland: You wrote, to excuse your misspellings, "the post was written at 1am on a PDA on a bumpy train, surrounded by drunk bankers eating Big Macs".

That was yesterday. Today, you write: "The original post was from the train - your grasp on history is slipping clearly."

Uh-huh.

Regarding "wimple", which you misspelled twice, I am aware of the OE usage, but you were not. You don't read OE.

Re Ms Widdecombe, you say: "l also add that nher spiritual life may be no business of mine - except when? Oh yes, when she uses her Christian moral compass to pass legislation which affects my life,". OK, whose moral compass should she use?

Finally, "Verity, dearest verity -",

Do not patronise me by being over-familiar. You are desperate to save face, over-emotional and insulting.

Scipio said...

Verity, I think you have lost the plot! I don't give a toss about saving face as you were the one who picked this ridiculous fight for no reason that I can detect other than it's what you seem to do!

That's a bit sad really - that you seem to make yourself feel better by trying to belittle others. As you have said to me in other posts "oh, what has life done to you"!

I didn't write to excuse my spellings, merely to explain them!

Also, It was you who started the patronizing insults by calling me 'sweets' in your post of 3.23am, so now you telling me off for being 'over familiar' is frankly a bit weird!!

Secondly, you say "Regarding "wimple", which you misspelled twice, I am aware of the OE usage, but you were not. You don't read OE.

Sorry Professor Verity, Chair of Old English at the University of Nowhere!

The whole point of my comment about 'whimple, wimple, wimpel etc, is that there was no defined agreed spelling of it (or any other word) in old English! Therefore, to put in the 'h' is hardly here or there - unless you are anal about these things! Only you would care, and miss the entire point I was trying to make about AW.

As for her moral compass, she can use which ever one she wants as long as it doesn't interfere with my life. That is, I believe, a founding principle of the concept of liberty!

Religion and religious belief, and to some degree morality in general, is a private matter and religion should not have anything to do with public policy. She should leave her religion at the entrance to the door of the House of Commons and pick it up again when she leaves.

Emotional? Not usually, but on this point Yes, damn right, because it is about an MP who has vowed to destroy something which is very dear to me, and who has committed her life to turning back the clock to some bygone golden era that never really was.

Now, why don't you try arguing the point instead of hiding behind pathetic little digs.

Tapestry said...

Gerri Halliwell maybe in union jack mini? must be votes in that.

Anonymous said...

I would like to propose a tub of lard for Mayor of London. This would be preferable to all known candidates and certainly to the present incumbent.

NB. This is no reflection on Anne Widdecombe who is evidently not a candidate.

Anonymous said...

Adrian Yelland - I remember engaging with you once before because you have an unusual name and also because you never, on that thread either, were able to present a defence.

Everything you write is self-exculpatory. You are always explaining ... "I wrote this on the train at one a.m. with a bunch of drunks"; "Oh, since you've called me on it, that wasn't quite correct. I wrote it somewhere else."

"I asked 10 people" - dear God, where did you find them - "if they knew the meaning of 'wimple' and only three did!" And you present the ignorance of your friends and colleagues a triumph.

"Sorry Professor Verity, Chair of Old English at the University of Nowhere!" This means what? Care to explain, Mr Angry?

I love my language and studied it for a couple of years, after hours, along with other interested pupils, at school.

There is no such thing as "old, old English". We have OE and before that, we have German.

And you took a long time scampering around to find out what OE is.

I hope Iain will indulge me, because you have never, once, engaging on this blog, presented a reasoned argument. You are always "explaining" yourself. Never presenting a defence. Explaining and flinging monkey poo.

And then you have the towering impertinence to patronise me.

Anonymous said...

Fascinating exchange between Adrian Yelland and Verity.

Until now, I had always thought that a "wimple" was the name given to the offspring of two Lib Dems...

Anonymous said...

Anonymous 9 a.m. - V good!

Scipio said...

You see verity - it is exactly that kind of unnecessary insult which makes debating with you so pointless!

According to you, I am emotional, hysterical, over-excitable and have ignorant people for friends. I am not sure why you feel you have the right to be so rude and objectionable about me - but I note it is your manner, and reflects badly upon you.

One only feels the need to defend oneself when one is under attack! You have a nasty habit of attacking the person and not the argument.

I feel I have more than defended my initial point - which is that AW is by nature an authoritarian, and I feel that would make her unsuitable for London Mayor.

We have debated before - one the issue issues was that of women Tory Party candidates, and far from fitting your description of me, I actually gave you ten reasons why my position on moves to increase the number of female candidates were a good idea. I asked you debate the points, but you did just did your usual trick of attacking, scorning, insulting and patronising and then changing the argument when you faced a genuinely well thought out position (I am happy to search back and find you the link should you feel the need). You don't have to agree, but I do wish you wouldn't just resort to insults.

As for when I found the time to ask people if they knew what a wimple/whimpel/whimple was - it was a quick comment over over a drink at lunchtime. Had you been there you wouldn't have had no justification to call the company (a mix of academics, some journalists, an engineer (who speaks four languages fluently), a doctor, two very successful businessmen and someone training for the priesthood) 'ignorant'. Just because one doesn't have a desire to read Old English doesn't make one thick!

And you have the cheek to accuse me of slinging 'monkey poo'!

Iain Dale said...

Calm down the pair of you!

Anonymous said...

Well that makes two nice comments that I've received from Verity in less than 24 hours, so I think I'll retire while I'm ahead...

Anonymous said...

Anonymous 9 a.m. Oi! Not so fast! What was the other one? Maybe I didn't really mean it ...

Anonymous said...

Verity:

The other comment was regarding my liitle joke about Paris Hilton and computers on the previous posting from Iain (last night.)

I've also known what it's like to get a bit of a bashing from you in the past, so I thought that - in the spirit of fair play - I should register my appreciation for your kind words!

Anonymous said...

Sure, Anonymous 9 a.m. We'll always have Paris.

Anonymous said...

Verity:

According to my teenage friend Sven Hassel, perhaps not....

http://preview.tinyurl.com/36ajpj

But it's a pleasant thought!