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.

• 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)

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.

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!

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"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.

My life is hard, I suffer lots

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!!!