political commentator * author * publisher * bookseller * radio presenter * blogger * Conservative candidate * former lobbyist * Jack Russell owner * West Ham United fanatic * Email iain AT iaindale DOT com
Friday, December 14, 2007
They Come in Threes
I'm not sure what I have done to be so popular in Oxford, but within the last 48 hours I have received invitations to speak at the Oxford Union, Oxford University Conservatives, and be interviewed for the Oxford Student newspaper. Weird.
They could all be run by the same cabal of students...
Anyway, everyone knows Cambridge is much better than those Oxford numpties. Make sure not to use any words of more than two syllables, otherwise they might get confused.
Cheap shot I know Iain, but have you written anything faschist or vaguely neo-Naxi recently? If so, that will explain it. Or else the relentless quest for bad publicity that future Tory leader Luke "On Trial" Tryl includes having you as a speaker! Which he will no doubt follow with (I quote from his comments in the Independent) "I said in my introduction that I found his view repugnant and abhorrent because I wanted that on record." So that's all right then. Worth inviting you/David Irving/Oswald Mosely/Adolf Hitler, etc, for that.
Surely you comprehend the fatuous irony of the situation to deny free speech as a free speech discussion? The notion that the populace are too dense to see through Berg's demogogic rhetoric is abhorrently supercilious.
drunken tory, you're the archetypical Tab - and you really need to get out more just like the rest of you fen-dwellers.
I'll come and see you at the Union Iain, that's for sure - assuming of course that you'll accept? I heartily recommend that you do - the hospitality is second to none!
"Or else the relentless quest for bad publicity that future Tory leader Luke "On Trial" Tryl includes having you as a speaker!"
Needless to say, Luke Tryl is no longer president of the Union - I presume Iain's invite came from the new president Emily Partington.
Anonymous - just another observer who has no idea how the Union works. Like the majority of BBC and newspaper journalists (I cringe at the amount of times the Union was referred to as "the Oxford Student Union" etc...)
Erm, "mazinmatt", not everyone is bound to know that the Union has termly presidents. Cringe all you want to. I'm at Oxford too, and people like you are why everyone thinks we're arrogant and self-obsessed.
That's a fair point - I never intended to come across like that. What I had issue with really was the amount of false and inaccurate reporting that went on during the Griffin/Irving thing. If I was reporting on an institution which I didn't know anything about (and I agree, there's no reason why people should), I'd at least make sure I got the facts right for a report which is to be published in a national newspaper.
It's almost as if the people of Oxford don't get out as much as they should do.
ReplyDeleteFunny you should say that Iain; our light bulbs always burn out in threes!
ReplyDeleteI would humbly suggest though, that your invites are slightly more invigorating than the failing lighting equipment in Scroblene Turrets...
They could all be run by the same cabal of students...
ReplyDeleteAnyway, everyone knows Cambridge is much better than those Oxford numpties. Make sure not to use any words of more than two syllables, otherwise they might get confused.
Cheap shot I know Iain, but have you written anything faschist or vaguely neo-Naxi recently? If so, that will explain it. Or else the relentless quest for bad publicity that future Tory leader Luke "On Trial" Tryl includes having you as a speaker! Which he will no doubt follow with (I quote from his comments in the Independent) "I said in my introduction that I found his view repugnant and abhorrent because I wanted that on record." So that's all right then. Worth inviting you/David Irving/Oswald Mosely/Adolf Hitler, etc, for that.
ReplyDeleteAA (5:25)
ReplyDeleteSurely you comprehend the fatuous irony of the situation to deny free speech as a free speech discussion? The notion that the populace are too dense to see through Berg's demogogic rhetoric is abhorrently supercilious.
PS: congrats Iain!
drunken tory, you're the archetypical Tab - and you really need to get out more just like the rest of you fen-dwellers.
ReplyDeleteI'll come and see you at the Union Iain, that's for sure - assuming of course that you'll accept? I heartily recommend that you do - the hospitality is second to none!
AA 5:25:
ReplyDelete"Or else the relentless quest for bad publicity that future Tory leader Luke "On Trial" Tryl includes having you as a speaker!"
Needless to say, Luke Tryl is no longer president of the Union - I presume Iain's invite came from the new president Emily Partington.
Anonymous - just another observer who has no idea how the Union works. Like the majority of BBC and newspaper journalists (I cringe at the amount of times the Union was referred to as "the Oxford Student Union" etc...)
Don't have anything to do with that troll Luke Tryll
ReplyDeleteErm, "mazinmatt", not everyone is bound to know that the Union has termly presidents. Cringe all you want to. I'm at Oxford too, and people like you are why everyone thinks we're arrogant and self-obsessed.
ReplyDeleteThat's a fair point - I never intended to come across like that. What I had issue with really was the amount of false and inaccurate reporting that went on during the Griffin/Irving thing. If I was reporting on an institution which I didn't know anything about (and I agree, there's no reason why people should), I'd at least make sure I got the facts right for a report which is to be published in a national newspaper.
ReplyDelete