I don't care what he says in private. I know the sort of conversations I have with colleagues about kids/parents that I get frustrated with - I'm just glad we don't have to wear microphones!

 

What has annoyed me is the way this woman was hounded by the press - that seems wrong. Brown is fair game, as are the others, but if it were my mum being chased down the street by a bunch of journalists doing the old "oo-er, do you know what he just called you?" juvenile bullshit in order to make a story, I'd be on to the press complaints people. Bigot or not, she doesn't deserve that.

Yep, everyone does it, the amount of bitching that goes on behind people's back's at the place where I work... and most of it comes from the HR manager!
It's just that it's happened to be a highly sought after press target in this case, at a time when he could really be doing without the negative attention.

 

I'm looking forward to the debate tonight.

It seems Brown can't do much right at the moment - he got lambasted in the press for apologising too. Though putting it down to a mis-understanding while grinning innanely for the cameras was a bit much.

She probably is bigoted, but she's not standing for Prime Minister. Brown, however, has demonstrated that he's:

• inept (he didn't take off the microphone and didn't - as Blair used to - have a Labour apparatchik manning the audio desk)
• has poor political judgement (actually, the original interview went pretty well as a Labour soundbite; it certainly wasn't 'a disaster')
• hypocritical (not because he said what he did - everybody says things behind people's backs, and politicians probably have more reason to than most - but because he didn't stand by his comments when caught, but went back & apologised to her)

Great phat phail.

Incidentally, did you read John Prescott's ludicrous attempt to blame everything on Sky. Fat tit.

I'm not too sure about the hypocritical bit. I've cursed and sworn about someone I've just been having a "discussion" with that didn't necessarily go too well. But once that bit of anger and tension was out of my system, I've rarely actually meant what I've said, and if the subject of my stress had heard me I'd have happily and sincerely apologised.

However Rupert Murdoch's a bonkers dinosaur who will surely need to be put in some kind of home soon -> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mB_9wyBKh28

I don't agree with the hypocritical bit. When you read what he said to her, he did actually challenge her then and there and I would hope that he would apologise to her for the upset. I agree that his judgement of how it went was poor. And the problem with the inept point (true as it is!) is that if he had someone monitoring the desk, he'd be criticised for being too heavy handed and controlling.

 

I still maintain that the journos who pretty much sprinted down the street after this poor, bigoted woman should be bloody well ashamed of themselves for the way they behaved - the video of her being interviewed after the gaff came to light is completely shameful.

And finally, although I wouldn't for a second credit Sky news with the intelligence to do something like this deliberately, there really can be no doubt as to their (i.e. Rupert Murdoch's) political allegiance can there?

That's the press for you - apparently in the afternoon she had 40-50 journalists and support staff camped on her front lawn, and that's probably a low estimate.
It'll be interesting to see how its handled tonight - some have mentioned that it won't be referenced by the other leaders in an attempt to not be overly negative, and that instead it'll be the elephant in the room

It seems you were more right than you might have expected with your "inept" judgement:

I feel sorry for him. These were comments that he intended to make quietly in private and which got accidentally broadcast. Plenty of times at work I've uttered impolite things when the phone has rang whilst I'm in the middle of something, only to pick the phone up and behave pleasantly to the person on the other end.

 

Everyone behaves differently in private compared with publicly when you're having to deal with people all the time.

 

Labour aren't getting my vote mind you, but that's because of my MP's support for the Mandybill and has nothing to do with this gaffe. Of course, Brown is a tit for saying something like this whilst having a microphone strapped to him, but there you go!

"Everyone" isn't trying to get the people that they're talking to, to vote for them though.

 

I do feel sorry for him, and it has been blown out of proportion (which was inevitable), but that doesn't mean it was alright.

When I first heard of this I assumed it was done on purpose. I'm pretty sure that calling a bigot a bigot would appeal to the sort of people who are leaking from labour to the lib dems. Having heard it it sounds like (which doesn't mean it is) a genuine mistake. But they're polling up today so it's certainly done no harm.

I'd certainly consider switching back based on it if there weren't concrete things preventing me (iraq, mandybill etc.).

There was an interview on local radio (BRMB) with PR bloke Max Clifford earlier today about this.

 

Max Clifford said that by the end of next week she could have earned £250k from this by selling her story to the papers.

 

Gordon Brown can insult me all he likes in public if I could get that!!!

I so agree. when I watch the election debates, there are several times when I find myself disagreeing with Cameron and agreeing with Brown. However, this just makes me feel disappointed. Mainly because no matter how much sense Brown may talk on a certain issue (and don't get me wrong, I don't agree with all he says), Labour have pissed away any chance they had of getting my vote due to their shambolic handling of the Mandybill. A pity too. They did get my vote at the last two elections for instance and now they're fucked any chance they had of getting it over the miss-handling of one important bill..

Really? Even with that smile at the end?

The polls seem to place Brown quite clearly at the bottom (except, bizarrely the Channel 4 poll)

Why?

Because bigots should be called bigots. And any party which demonstrates that they can still recognise a bigot when they encounter one, while still recognising that calling the bigot a bigot in public would be politically unwise currently, would gain a degree of my confidence.