The New Statesman has a long, proud history. Yesterday that reputation was tarnished. Political correspondent James Macintyre wrote an blogpost which contained this shocking sentence...I believe the Conservative Party is institutionally racist.
He then went on to make various allegations against Tory MEP Dan Hannan, who he clearly believes is racist too. He cites some quotes from a piece about Barack Obama without providing any context. He also omits to say that Hannan supported Obama. The New Statesman later removed the article from its website, but it can still be seen HERE. I thought it deserved a light fisking. His words are in red (as well they might be)...
The cat is well and truly out of the bag.
Is it? How? Do explain. Are you sure you don't mean that the white hoods have come off?
In the past, there has often been an element of fogginess to rows about Tory racism as they erupt (though in this area, there is never smoke without fire).
Two cliches in one sentence. Where's the sub? Evidence please.
What exactly is the relationship between the anti-immigration Monday Club and the Conservative Party?
There isn't one. Iain Duncan Smith removed them as an affiliated organisation some years ago. But you probably didn't know that. Or if you had, you'd have mentioned it. Well, wouldn't you?
Does hailing Enoch Powell amount to closet racism?
No. Next.
He was a good parliamentarian, after all.
Nice of you to admit it.
Is a racist joke a sign of true feelings about the matter?
It might be, or it might not be. Is telling a joke about the Irish racist, even when they do it themselves?
I believe the Conservative Party is institutionally racist. I always have done.
Good of you to set out your stall. Evidence please.
I have witnessed too many "jokes" or sideways looks when talking about immigration with Tories -- and done too much research into racism in the party over the years -- to think otherwise. But many would disagree.
Indeed they would. Of course there are racists in the Tory Party. There are, whisper it, also racists in the Labour Party and the LibDems. Try walking into Wallsend Labour Club if you're black and observe the reactions. That doesn't make the Labour Party "institutionally racist. Do try harder...
I would ask those people to read Daniel Hannan's blog for the Telegraph (not some dodgy recording at a Monday Club meeting, but words written down by him), on the question, raised correctly by the former president Jimmy Carter, of whether the rows in the US over President Obama's health-care plans are fuelled by an unspoken racism (which they are).
Yes do read it, because you would then see that Hannan was agreeing Carter, saying that some of the opposition to Obama's healthcare plans is driven by racist motives. You'd have thought
Macintyre would have welcomed Hannan agreeing with his own view. But oh no...
Hannan neatly proves Carter's point by saying: "Barack Obama has an exotic background and it would be odd if some people weren't unsettled by it."
And this is evidence of racism? Oh perlease. Is the word exotic the supposedly racist word? Send round the thought police now. Obama is not out of the typical US President mold. It's not just his skin colour, it's his family background, employment background etc. People are always fearful of the unknown. That's all Hannan was saying.
"[Obama seems to] have family on every continent".
Er, yes, that's a fact. Again something rather different to your average US President and likely therefore to cause comment.
"[I]t could hardly fail to leave a chunk of people feeling that Obama wasn't exactly a regular guy."
Er, yes, and that's evidence of what exactly? Don't tell me; racism. Oh dear. Is that the best evidence on offer that Dan Hannan is racist? Which particular Labour SPAD fed you all this guff?
So, who is Daniel Hannan? He has been in the news lately for running down the National Health Service on American television. Is he an obscure MEP? No. David Cameron rewarded him for the fallout over the NHS row with a new frontbench European job on legal affairs.
No he didn't actually. It was nothing to do with Cameron, and as a political correspondent you ought to know that. The job was given by the leader of the new grouping.
But are they close? Yes.
Actually, no. But don't let an inconvenient fact get in the way.
Like Michael Gove, Hannan is a former newspaper columnist (you may remember he tried to smear me in the Telegraph, a subject to which I will return in future weeks) in whom Cameron invests reliance.
Ah, now we're getting down to it. So this is all done to get back at Dan Hannan for something he wrote in a column about you. Diddums. Get over it. Rise above it. Grow up.
Reports claim the next Tory election manifesto is even being inspired by his 2008 book The Plan.
Yes, and so it should. It contained a number of excellent ideas, some of which, whisper it, are beign adopted by Labour - David Miliband in particular.
Now I know this post will result in howls of fury and clever-stupid ridicule from various partisan Conservatives pretending to be neutral truth-seekers. I will be dismissed -- as I was by Hannan -- as a "Labour spin doctor". But please, just reread those quotes, take a deep breath, and think about those words.
I have, I did, and I still think you're talking bollocks.
Many other bloggers have rightly called Macintyre to task for his comments. I was tempted to write a knee jerk denunication too, but decided instead to put some questions to him and get his side of the story. It was done by email so I will print my questions and his responses in full..
Q. What on earth were you thinking of?
A. What I was "thinking of" was that I believe the Tory party to be institutionally racist. I stand by that and look forward to the opportunity to expand on it.
Q. Did you know Hannan supported Obama and still does?
A. Yes I knew Hannan "supported" Obama for whatever that was worth. It makes no difference at all to his comments justifying racism towards him.
Q. Why was the article removed, and was it done with your knowledge?
A. No comment.
Q. Seeing as it was removed, would you like to offer a public apology to both Dan Hannan and the Tory Party?
A. No. Would Hannan and other Tories like to apologize to me for their smears?
Q. Why have you told another blogger that you can’t comment? Either you stand by your words or you don’t.
A. I stand by them. The "no comment" was about the removal of the post.
Q. Have you and or the NS been threatened with legal action?
A. No legal action threatened to my knowledge.
This, of course, begs more questions. He seems to be standing by his comments completely but sheds no light on why his article was removed from the NS website.
In his short time with the New Statesman Macintyre has become known as the most partisan political correspondent the magazine has employed in its recent history. Despite excellent pieces like THIS article about the McBride affair, he's seen by some as too close to some of his political friends. THIS somewhat nauseating piece about the wonders of Ed Miliband and Douglas Alexander is a case in point. It lends weight to the view of some that he's not a "political correspondent" by any normal definition of the term - he's an opinionated commentator. Nothing wrong with that at all, but why not admit it? However, whatever one thinks of his reporting style, his interviews are excellent - full of good questioning and insight. If I were his editor I'd get him to stick to interviews.
So what's the fallout from this? I cannot see how any Tory politician will want to speak to Mr Macintyre in the near future, let alone be interviewed by him, if he really does believe the party they represent is 'institutionally racist'. At a time when the NS is trying to cosy up to the Tory Party it is a shame to say the least that this storm has been provoked, and I suspect this was the real reason the article was pulled.
Could it be because the NS co-chairmen Mike Danson and Geoffrey Robinson read the riot act due to the timing? Two weeks tomorrow, for the first time I can ever remember, the New Statesman is holding a reception at the Conservative Party Conference. If I were James Macintyre I might discover I had a subsequent engagement in my diary...
82 comments:
An excellent fisking and analysis McIntyre's machinations. What a doofus. Thank you for shining a light on this sort of nonsense from a supposedly respectable magazine.
WV seems quite apt: shisted!
I suspect that, assuming McIntyre is still working for the NS when the Tory conference is on, both Mike Danson and Geoffrey Robinson will ensure that he has another engagement.
On the other hand, they could simply throw him to the dogs and send him to the conference.
I saw this miserable tale on Cranmer's blog.My reaction was that it was clearly defamatory of Hannen.He could give McIntyre a miserable day in the witness box if he chose to do so.
Surely good fisking requires more than just spouting "Evidence please" whenever you decide not to form any sort of coherent argument?
Not that I agree with him at all, but you haven't exactly got him bang to rights here.
Sarcasm used to have the title as the lowest form of wit. I now replace this with fisking. Sorry.
In his short time with the New Statesman Macintyre has become known as the most partisan political correspondent the magazine has employed in its recent history.
So? You're partisan, Guido is partisan and so are all those who write for the Spectator. Funny how you never take them to task over that. OMG a leftie is partisan! The world wil surely collapse
And anyone who praises Enoch Powell should quite rightly be questioned.
http://timesonline.typepad.com/oliver_kamm/2009/08/hannan-and-powell-yes-it-is-a-scandal.html
I think pretty much everyone has laid into McIntyre at this stage. I'm no fan of Hannan but that was a truly shocking hatchet job. To their credit it was deservedly spiked.
Iain,
He didn't like my comments did he?
You should have asked him:
Steve Green - snog, marry or avoid?
Sunny, You really are becoming the male equivalent of Yasmin Alibhai Brown, but without the charm :)
Neither Guido nor I pretend we are not partisan. We're not journalists. Macintyre is.
Sunny,
There is a bit of a difference. People do not expect the political correspondent of the New Statesman to call the Conservative party "Institutionally racist".
There's being partisan, and then there's foaming at the mouth.
Sunny H, in fairness, Iain has consistently on several occasion displayed a very fair and open approach to stuff on all sides of the political spectrum.
We are conservatives but that doesnt mean we buy everything hook line and sinker unlike a certain Mr Macintyre, who just writes what his masters tell him.
As far as I'm concerned the New Statesman should be thrown out of the Tory party conference events until a fulsome apology comes from the proprietors and McIntyre.
Should we now not just take it as read that everyone who does not vote labour or disagrees in with them some way is a nazi / fascist /BNP supporter and have done with it?
There can't be many people left who haven't been called something similar by the leftist smear machine.
They say mud sticks, but when everyone is covered in it nobody cares anymore.
They are acting like crazy racism conspiracy nuts seeing it anywhere and everywhere.
Anything to kill the argument i suppose.
It's less his partisanship, more his reaction to the comments left on the blog. He's incredibly rude and hostile to people. Not, I would think, the behaviour expected of a serious journalist, and I would suggest he take a step back and consider his attitude.
I'm not sure that Mr Macintyre understands the term "institutional racism".
DO you have any particular evidence about Wallsend Labour Club, or was that just casual defamation?
Gawd save us. Why devote so much time and space to this fifth rate little shithead. Remember Maggie and "the oxygen of publicity." He's a self serving talentless little oik.
If he dipped his toe in a puddle he'd be out of his depth. Let's face it - The new Statesman - Kereest who actually reads it? What's its circulation ? Probably fell off a cliff way back.
It's just the fag end of politics. Let it go.
Jez
A magisterial fisking, sir!
Two points to make:
1) Powells warning was about the unrest caused by mass immigration. It is THIS gov that has had to set up a special group in it's communities ministry to monitor racial tensions. Tensions brought on by ZaNULab deliberate unofficial immigration policy.
Linked to 1) is point 2): as racism is about the feeling of superiority. Then a Gov that thinks it can take any action, tell any lie to stay in power clearly believe they are superior and rule forever.
Taking racism as being a delusion that one human is superior to another, only shows that Labour is institutionally racist.
Pete-s
Sunny, You really are becoming the male equivalent of Yasmin Alibhai Brown, but without the charm :)
Thanks Iain. Iz it coz I iz brown?
Neither Guido nor I pretend we are not partisan. We're not journalists. Macintyre is.
Oh I see. So why don't you apply the same logic to your chums at the Spectator then?
I remember Tim Montgomerie on ConservativeHome only asking recently if, under Fraser Nelson, the magazine will become an even bigger cheerleader for Cameron.
I missed have missed your outrage at the partisanship then. Please do point me to it.
I hate to be pointing out uncomfortable things for you, but comparing me to Yasmin Alibhai-Brown isn't an argument.
There's being partisan, and then there's foaming at the mouth.
I think Nadine Dorries is constantly foaming at the mouth. However I've not seen many Tories condemn her for her partisanship.
Gotta love it when Tories become all holier-than-thou
Paul Halsall said...
DO you have any particular evidence about Wallsend Labour Club, or was that just casual defamation?
You got a problem with a nice drop of casual defamation, Numbnuts?
Jesus Sunny, where do I start.
In case you hadn't noticed the Speccie doesn't have a political correspondent. It doesn't now 'news'. Fraser was always a commentator, not a reporter or correspondent. I have no issue with the NS having a left wing outlook at all. I subscribe to it, just as I subscribe to Tribune. I just think if someone is billed as a reporter or correspondent, then that's what they should be. Simple really, eh?
And Tim asked no such question to my knowledge. In fact as far as I recall it, he did quite the reverse.
Comparing you to Yasmin wasn't meant to be an argument. The point was that you are both as obsessed about race as each other. And often wrongly. You only ever seem to comment on here when I post on the subject, for example.
And FYI Yasmin is a close personal friend of mine (much to many people's horror) so it wasn't meant as an insult!
It's always entertaining to see people deride Dan Hannan (a Peruvian immigrant to this country) as a nationalistic racist.
Tories are racist; Labour is not racist.
Evidence: the BNP habitually does brillaintly in traditionally Tory-voting areas like the South of England; the BNP never does well in Labour areas like the North of England.
Oh, wait....
Surely good fisking requires more than just spouting "Evidence please"
If someone says "The Tories are racist" and treats the statement as fact and the act of making a statement as ipso facto proving a statement, it is not only legitimate to demand evidence, you're actually mentally deficient if you don't demand it.
A contention or a belief or a declaration is not a fact. Being a Labour supporter, we wouldn't expect you to understand that. "Tory Cuts; Labour Investment".
Here's an alternative view. Practically everyone, bar perhaps small babes, is "racist" in some comprehensible meaning of that term. Even left-wing comedians enjoyt racist jokes when they are aimed at the "German" royal family. So, have a Spartacus moment. Hannan is racist, Brown is racist, Cameron is racist, Clegg is racist, almost by definition Plaid and the SNP are racist BY SOME LOGICAL CONSTRUING OF THAT WORD. Hell, President Obama wrote two autobiographies demonstrating how racist he is. The NS has been racist, in the British-hating sense, all the time I've known it i.e. more than 40 years.
I reckon Macintyre himself is a "racist". He seems to be very knowledgeable about the subject.
This is how political discourse has been lowered, very successfully, it has to be said, by Left-wing zealotry.
And anyone who praises Enoch Powell should quite rightly be questioned.
And anyone who uses Enoch Powell's splendid Lexicon to Herodotus to get through Higher Ordinary Greek at University should be sent to the re-education camp.
Remember: if anyone speaks of Enoch Powell as anything other than a boogeyman, you must respnod with "Powell was a racist. Powell was a racist. Powell was a racist. Powell was a racist. Powell was a racist. Powell was a racist. Powell was a racist. Powell was a racist. Powell was a racist. Powell was a racist." [pause for breath] "Powell was a racist. Powell was a racist. Powell was a racist. Powell was a racist. Powell was a racist. Powell was a racist. Powell was a racist. Powell was a racist. Powell was a racist. Powell was a racist."
It must suck to be in Labour right now and to know that your party is not only wrong on every issue of the day - and has been proved to have been wrong on every issue of the last decade, including plunging this country into one illegal war after another - but that the electorate also know this. The party is over, Sunny Jim. Your party. The Labour Party.
I have to admit, I read Hannan's blog religiously. He speaks a lot of sense on many issues (Though I don't agree with him on everything, of course!) and his demolition of Brown is legendary. He and Douglas Carswell make quite the team.
If anything, I'd describe him as an Internationalist, with his love of many nations and many peoples.
I've never once seen so much as a hint of racism from him at all.
DO you have any particular evidence about Wallsend Labour Club, or was that just casual defamation?
Oh, the irony. It burns! It burns!
I think Nadine Dorries is constantly foaming at the mouth. However I've not seen many Tories condemn her for her partisanship.
Nadine Dorries is an elected politician. She isn't, for example, a journalist.
I've never rated Sunny Hyundai much. In fact, I've always thought he was a joke and fairly typical of the modern left. This thread, though, has plunged him even lower in my estimation. I no longer think he's a laughable and ill-informed dimwit; I now see that he's a vile and malicious little bigot with a fondness for the most obvious type of mendacity.
Keep on doing what you're doing, Sunny. The Tories couldn't win without you.
I think Sunny H and James M should say more stupid things, cos then everyone would remember not to vote for the left for the next 30 years.
Speccie doesn't have a political correspondent. It doesn't now 'news'. Fraser was always a commentator, not a reporter or correspondent.
James' was a blog post - I'm sure you're aware of the difference between a blog post and a news story published in the magazine. Perhaps you'd like me to expand on that?
The point was that you are both as obsessed about race as each other. And often wrongly. You only ever seem to comment on here when I post on the subject, for example.
I wouldn't take my posting here as any example of any bias. Perhaps you should read my writings at Liberal Conspiracy before making silly accusations.
You play the race card too - so you can bash the left with it (the left are calling this person an uncle tom - without evidence).
Oh and you played the sexist card all the time over Palin. I don't have to go on.
If you want to discuss issues instead of throwing accusations, you could start by letting us know what you thought was right about what Enoch Powell said on race.
No. Would Hannan and other Tories like to apologize to me for their smears?
So he admits this was just a smear campaign then? Tit for some perceived tat? This line is worth pursuing.
”I have an unusual name and an exotic background, but my values are essentially American values. I’m rooted in the African-American community, but I’m not limited by it.”
(Barack Obama, 2004, shortly after his election to the Senate).
I thought it was a Nissan Sunny (Not Sunny Hyundai) - the most boringly reliable car ever.
Oh and McIntyre is being a plonker. He'll do more damage to the left than the Tories by writing such claptrap.
If you're worried about partisan political correspondents how about taking on the Daily Mail, who spread more and more untruths about the Government with each passing day.
Ooops, I forgot, so long as they're partisan towards your party they're alright!
The comic timing of the latest Hannan outrage is just too good, coming as it does only a few days after Edward McMillan-Scott was expelled from the party for standing up to extremism. Welcome to the nice new cuddly 'liberal Conservatism' of David Cameron and his swivel-eyed pals!!
I was about to give the quote from Barack ('...exotic background... ') but I see Old Holborn has beaten me to it. Well done!
That should be put to Mr McIntyre.
"James' was a blog post - I'm sure you're aware of the difference between a blog post and a news story published in the magazine. Perhaps you'd like me to expand on that?"
I struggle to understand how a 'correspondent' blogging he thinks a party is institutionally racist is fine, but wouldn't be if it was a 'news story' being 'reported' by the same correspondent. On this logic Robinson, Waugh, Bradby et al would be fine to call Gordon a liar and fraud on their blogs?
Muppet of an argument by SH.
right, just as I'm sick and tired of everytime someone disagrees with Obama they are a racist - I'm gonna have to call BS on anyone pulling that stuff in this country.
What exactly has Dan Hannon said that's racist? Anyone? Bueller?
(the sound of tumbleweed)
No, nothing.
The people who are frickin "racist" are the labour idiots who wring their culturally relative hands and pat minorities on the head assuming they cannot deal with the Rule of Law.
Put that in your pipe and smoke it.
The favourite technique of the Righteous, since time began, has been to take a few lines out of context and twist their meaning to make the speaker look bad. References to the original context are ignored, anyone dissenting is labelled a member of the opposition and a supporter of evil, and no further discussion is permitted.
Any attempt at further discussion is met with ad hominem attacks on the dissenter. For at least fifteen years now, those attacks have always been 'racist-Nazi-bigot', 'I bet you don't have a job', 'I bet you're ugly and lonely' and 'I know you're a racist'. Some variation, but really very little.
Many Righteous have realised that the 'racist' jibe means nothing now. They have belittled the word to the point where even the Ku Klux Klan need not fear it. They have driven many to the BNP with the 'you must be a BNP supporter' jibe. For many, that was the first impetus to look more closely at the BNP and while many would balk at the racism in that party, well, these are people who have been called racist for years anyway. They don't hate anyone and they're called racist. So why would they worry that the BNP are called racist? The results are out there in the polls.
Now, many of the more intelligent Righteous have switched from 'racist' to 'right wing' as their core jibe which will have exactly the same effect in the end, but they aren't going to listen.
Some of the less intelligent Righteous think they can still get away with picking out a few lines from someone's speech, twisting them to mean something they didn't mean and then merely abuse the opposition into silence.
When James Macintyre tried this in the New Statesman, it must eventually have become apparent, even to him, that it wasn't working as planned. Opposing voices were not falling silent and the more advanced Righteous did not leap to his aid. So he pulled the story.
Fortunately, Archbishop Cranmer took a screen shot before that happened, and Douglas Carswell has an archive link which includes the comments, as well as Righteous Mac's responses to them.
Those techniques used to work, when speeches were made but rarely recorded, access to those that were recorded was limited, and people could not easily refer back to original material. Further, blunders of this magnitude could be erased from history and forgotten.
Not any more.
Internet regulation is on the Righteous agenda, and if you want one of their biggest reasons, take a look at the demented babbling of that article. This Righteous is on record and as a case study, you couldn't ask for a better example.
The entire planet has access to it. It's going to get copied everywhere. It can never be deleted now.
Think about that, Righteous.
Does his mother know he's writing this sort of rubbish.Nice lad-shame about the writing!
Does his mother know he's writing this sort of rubbish.Nice lad-shame about the writing!
Good posting OH, sums ups the situation well.
"If you want to discuss issues instead of throwing accusations, you could start by letting us know what you thought was right about what Enoch Powell said on race."
Strawman argument, has nothing to do with mcIntyres bullshit article.
But seeing as that clown just labled the whole Tory party racist and i assume that includes those who vote for them then it really doesn't matter if we agree with Powell or not, we're already labeled racists for not simply agreeing with labour ideology.
Instead of throwing accusations of racism around for the sake of scoring points it would be nice if certain people would reserve their vitriol for those in politics who deliberately exploit racial tensions to win votes - such as the BNP and the "Respect" coalition.
Sunny H said...
Sunny, You really are becoming the male equivalent of Yasmin Alibhai Brown, but without the charm :)
Thanks Iain. Iz it coz I iz brown?
No, Sunny, it's because you are stupid. You believe that you can turn any argument into racism. You are the propagator of the myth of racism, which is worse than racism itself.
Oh, so nothing about why Enoch Powell was so great and why no one challenges frothing-at-the-mouth Nadine Dorries MP either.
As expected.
Before the NS took the piece down, James Macintyre’s colleague Mehdi Hasan leapt into the comments box to defend his chum against widespread contempt. He wondered how many of the commenters were from ethnic minorities because, “I am always amused at the sight of people who are not from an ethnic minority pontificating so confidently on what is and isn't racism?”
So where does that leave Mr Macintyre?
Incidentally, earlier this year, in a speech to fellow Muslims, Mehdi Hasan – the New Statesman’s Senior Editor Politics, remember - described non-Muslims as ‘Kuffar,’ ‘cattle’ and ‘people of no intelligence.’
Now does that mean that Mr Hasan is a racist or that the magazine itself is ‘institutionally racist?’ Well, I’m not from an ethnic minority, so how would I know?
@freddo
"Well, I’m not from an ethnic minority, so how would I know?"
Wait. You will be.
By "the Irish joke =/= racist" logic, I look forward to Iain Dale's next broadcast featuring copious use of the N-word.
Sunny H : "Oh, so nothing about why Enoch Powell was so great and why no one challenges frothing-at-the-mouth Nadine Dorries MP either."
Because your claims are so puerile that to answer them would be equally childish.
Oh for comment from a really decent lefty like Hopi Sen
Alan Douglas
Freddo41,
Pure class.
I know two things.
The Conservative party is now institutionally racist.
Our current Labour government, and now this country is without any doubt whatsoever, far more institutionally racist then I ever thought possible, only ten or so years ago.
Perhaps we might like to actually define 3 things to any degree of satisfaction.
1, What does racist actually mean these days? As it clearly has nothing whatsoever to do with a dictionary.
2. What does institutionally mean? I always thought it had something to do with institutions and things being made conventions, rules or laws, within and/or by an institution or some similar body or group, clearly not any more.
3. Given that we have a definition we can all agree regarding 1 and 2. Getting to a definition of institutionally racist, will be relatively easy peasy.
Until this Orwellian process has been universally accepted, I will carry on defining the term institutionally racist, as being when a political Party selects members or prospective MP's based on issues to do with the candidates or applicants skin colouration, or racial identity.
As all but the Liberal Party have clearly been up to this sort of thing. It would seem obvious that all but the Lib/Dems, and just maybe UKIP are indeed institutionally racist.
A political Party being institutionally RACIST can in some cases be a positive thing. It is after all perfectly acceptable for a constituency party to deliberately pick candidates best suited to be able to relate to the local inhabitants.
WE in Dulwich did exactly this only about 9 months ago. Kemi is a first rate candidate, caring, smart, very hard working, and enthusiastic, if a little too young for my liking. But more importantly then my personal preferences. Kemi is going to win in Dulwich and South Norwood, so put your money on it.
However politically motivated pundits such as McIntyre, who delight in playing the RACE CARD when ever the fancy takes them, are the very REAL elitist RACISTS that forever more infest our once tolerant nation.
The McIntyres of this world have more in common with The BNP then they have the wits to imagine.
They are both social and economic FASCISTS and without doubt very seriously believe they are not only inherently superior to coloured people, they are even more infinitely superior to virtually every body else that they begrudgingly share this planet with.
@ Sunny H
"And anyone who praises Enoch Powell should quite rightly be questioned"
And then taken out and shot?
Nice to see the tolerant society in action again.
freddo41:
"Incidentally, earlier this year, in a speech to fellow Muslims, Mehdi Hasan – the New Statesman’s Senior Editor Politics, remember - described non-Muslims as ‘Kuffar,’ ‘cattle’ and ‘people of no intelligence.’
Now does that mean that Mr Hasan is a racist or that the magazine itself is ‘institutionally racist?’ Well, I’m not from an ethnic minority, so how would I know?"
I am brown in colour ( that makes me an ethnic minoriy) non-Muslim and hence am a 'kuffar'. a 'cattle'and a 'person of no intelligence'. In my experience, the worst racists are found among ethnic minorities. Mr Hasan, sure is a racist.
There are some very good comments here, and some prime examples of Lefties making rather obvious fools of themselves: they just don't know when it's better just to let something go…
I have linked to both the article proper, and also specifically to Old Holborn's excellent assessment of what is going on and why certain restrictive actions are being lined up against free speech online.
Wisely, he has pointed out that the Internet is worldwide, there are caches all around, and some of us take the precaution of saving copies of some online pieces for our own files, which cannot be deleted by the State.
Mine, by the way, are in encrypted form at locations around the world, as well as on similarly encrypted pocket-size USB hard drives at different offsite locations here in Britain. I am just one of many…
The methods of Hitler and the former USSR and its satellites will no longer work, no matter what the (effectively Communist) Labour government attempts.
Just as well: decent society will fall to them if we can't ensure that the truth gets out and — as a consequence — Labour are got out as well!
No one is listening to people like Hundal any more.
Hate monger.
For a long time 'racism' has meant anything the person using it has wanted it to.
This silly man's article is just symptomatic of the state of political correctness we have to live in these days.
The idea is always to avoid having to engage someone in argument by smearing them at the outset.
The Bile of McIntyre - Paul McCartney should write a song about it.
It obviously a load of twaddle and totally ignores Labour working class racism.
The best that can be said of Mr McIntyre is he was over tired when he wrote it. over tired thanks to a skinful of Glenmorwhingy.
It also shows how desperate Labour are to find something to attack tories and deflect from their own ineptitude.
Personally I think however controversial his views, he was one of the great figures of 20th-century British politics, gifted with a brilliant mind.
Well actually that was Tony Blair saying that.
And Michael Foot said
"The Tory Kingdom would sooner or later have been his to command, for he had all the shining qualities which the others lacked. Heath would never had outmanoeuvred him; Thatcher would never have stepped into the vacant shoes. It was a tragedy for Enoch, and a tragedy for the rest of us too.” -- So Foot says Powell not becoming PM was a tragedy !!
Foot also wrote to Powell
"What a theme, and what a speech, and what a speaker, and how Oliver Cromwell himself would have been thrilled to hear the parliamentary cause elevated to its rightful pre-eminence... Writing as an impenitent Leveller who still begs to differ with you (and Oliver Cromwell) in so many matters, I still cannot withhold my wonder and excitement at what I heard there today. "
Powell himself said to David Frost --- "It depends on how you define the word “racialist.” If you mean being conscious of the differences between men and nations, and from that, races, then we are all racialists. However, if you mean a man who despises a human being because he belongs to another race, or a man who believes that one race is inherently superior to another, then the answer is emphatically “No.”"
With that background can anybody tell me what tge fuss is about
(except yet another socialist re-invention of history).
Having been a member of one organisation that was tarred with the label "Institutional Racism" I know what a nebulous term it is. All it means, apparently, is an organisation whose structure and practices lead it to inadvertently disadvantage people from ethnic minorities.
Having also been a member of the Conservative Party I don't think the label applies. In fact, it would be more honest to claim that some members of the Conservative Party were actual (rather than Institutional) racists. I've certainly met some. I bet Labour Party members (and probably some Liberals, certainly in places like Wales and the West Country) would say the same. If it is difficult for ethnic minorities to prosper in the Conservative Party then that is nothing to do with the party itself, and everything to do with the dead hand of prejudice that some members of the party still lay across it when it comes to candidate selection, etc.
Wonderful stuff Sunny.
Can I urge you to develop the screenplay? I'd suggest a new twist on The Emperor's New Clothes. A sort of "Hans Christian Anderson meets Yes Minster". I just adore this sort of sitcom fiction. Keep it up.
From the observations I have made regarding political correspondents I would say they are all pretty much tribal leaning to the Left or the Right.
Where they differ is the Left invariably attacks the man whereas the Right almost always play the ball.
When it comes to being nasty no-one does it like the Left, policies are totally irrelevant as they demonise people as racists, child eaters and mass murderers.
When you are in love with dogma as opposed to social justice this consumes all reason to the point you can never criticise your own side and cannot conceal your hate for any who oppose it.
Please, please, please can we have a high profile slander/libel case to put these reverse-racists back in their boxes.
Calling somebody a racist is the same as calling them a rapist. If I was to write an article claming Dan had raped somebody with no evidence I would rightly get sued. Even Katie Price is smart enough not to name names. Dan needs to ask this chap for 100,000 compensation to set the bar.
Playing the RACE card is SLANDER or LIBEL. Claims of racism should be made at the police station and not in the media. The Labour Party are institutional slanderers and it will only be after several MPs have lost their life savings in the courts will they keep their reverse racist mouths shut
~Great to see the political correct die by their own sword.
Macintyre like his colleagues has had it his own way for too long. Now when the tide is turning, like every school yard bully who made the rules so they always win the game, they turn to more and more desperate assertions. The only thing pleasing about it is that it peels back the skin so the World can see the writhing, feted prejudice that motivates them.
This time the bully picked on the wrong person. Not only is Dan Hannan NOT what he is being described of but he has the wherewithal to do something about it.
The Courts are the place to try Libel. Macintyre has lost in the court of public opinion and he will loose in the Libel courts. Justice will be done and it will be seen to be done.
One down and hundreds running away.
For Gods sake, this guy was writing in the New Statesman. A journo nobody has ever heard of writing in a magazine that nobody reads.
Just ignore the little w*anker and he'll go away.
Old Holborn: "picking out a few lines from someone's speech, twisting them to mean something they didn't mean and then merely abuse the opposition into silence."
Perhaps McIntyre learned this technique from Melanie Phillips? I further note on her blog that anyone who disagrees with her is usually labelled a holocaust denying anti semite wishing the destruction of Israel.
I see that Clive Davis, on the Spectator site, links to the McIntyre piece this morning. Except that the link takes you to a site that is NOT the New Statesman, but http://aless.co.uk/is_hannan_racist.html - but Davis doesn't mention that fact, leading the casual reader to believe that the original article is still there.
Meanwhile, the NS has the original article back up, but with a disclaimer at the top, distancing the NS from it, and the original comments have gone, the most damaging of which were Mc's own, in reply to posters. Interesting, non?
It's increasingly obvious that the Left's attitude towards race is fundamentally perverse, and ultimately proves more toxic for social stabilty than a measure old-fashioned prejudice.
Harman's plan to legalise racial discrimination is a case in point. With the BNP gaining MEP seats for the first time, she introduces a law guaranteed to stoke resentment.
Just reading this this post while listening to LBC radio live at the Lib Dem conference.
Andrew Pierce just asked Lynne Featherstone why no there are no black Lib Dem MP's and the answer came back:
"We don't have any safe seats where you can just place people, you have to earn your spurs in the Lib Dems."
What would Jimmy Macintyre make of that?
Message to JM as I am sure he will not be able to resist reading these comments, all that attention after all...
Hey James, ever hear the story of the little boy that cried 'Wolf'? That's you mate.
Is Mr McIntyre institutionally dotty? I think he might be.
Of course the Conservative Party is not racist - but many of their core supprters are. Just read some of the responses to Iain Dale's blogs to see how vile many of the grass roots Tories are on Race. Sometimes it's hidden behind tissue thin facades - as with many of the anti Obama posts during the US Election campaign. Sometimes it's more in the open. I think that Iain is right to allow these posts to appear - it shows what many of us feel. The modern Conservative Party has some signs of being reasonably tolerant and socially liberal - and Cameron is cretainly this. But all too many of the grass roots activists are old fashioned Tory bigots. There is a case for arguing for a Conservative victory in the 2010 Election - but not to give comfort to the racist, sexist, homophobic men and women of the shires.
James' was a blog post - I'm sure you're aware of the difference between a blog post and a news story published in the magazine.
That's utter garbage. And I write from the position of being a journalist.
Paddy, you make the common mistake of believing that these people are Conservatives. How do you know they are Conservative supporters. You don't. They could be UKIP, BNP or anything else.
Iain
Fair point - I don't know. But there is a fit with the stereotypical Tory voter (the one who has never ever considered any other choice) that you meet in the watering holes of the Middle Classes. I've been there enough to know them. They thought Blair was a Left-winger (Ha!). They think that the Unions were the cause of all Britain's problems (Ha again!). They live shallow lives behind the high hedges of Tunbridge Wells (etc.!). They never meet a black except for the occasional chap that carries their bag or mends their central heating. They are brain dead. And when their daughters or their sons shag a black man they collapse into a heap of prejudicied horror!! You can't hail from the Royal Borough and say that you have never met them!
Lovely comment, Paddy. Just priceless.
Once again, the charm and tolerance of the self-righteous left comes out to play, along with its utter lack of self-awareness.
Sunny,
To see your comments, one would almost believe that Tim Worstall's pretty comprehensive fisking of your pathetic and disgusting position never took place.
Now, I know that, were you in charge, that conversation would be struck from the record and Tim incarcerated in a gulag but, unfortunately for you, that isn't the case right now.
Now, why don't you do yourself a favour and shut up?
DK
P.S. As far as I can see, o Sunny Delight, your entire popularity is built on a self-identified racism: what on earth would you do for a living if you couldn't keep raising the racist standard, eh?
"They could be UKIP, BNP or anything else."
The fact that it's hard to tell sometimes may not be your strongest argument.
"RACISM" the last bleat of a scoundrel.
In fact the denial that racism exists is a pretty good sign of a rascit.
Why is it people here spend so much more time attacking people who are anti- racist than they do attacking racists?
Anyone who's hung about in Tory circles has met racists. Why are we pretending it isn't true?
Of course the party isn't racist, my own ward selected Shreela Flather over thirty years ago. But we still have unabashed racists and homophobes and people who believe women should stay at home.
Part of us coming out of the wilderness requires taking on these people like Nu Lab took on the hard left- not defending them all the time because they carry the same badge.
As for Powell, nobody seems to remember his history. He was a racist unfortunately, targeting very specific communities and not others. He has subsequently been proved completely wrong.
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