Idiot Steps Down

[jim360]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-33090022

Good.

[Svejk]

Bit harsh there, jim lad.

[douglas9401]

He's right. How can one be expected to carry on serious scientific work when petticoats are being hitched and there's constant giggling behind fans. And those fluttering eyelashes, don't get me started.

[ToraToraTora]

yes another victory for the right on Brigade. A scientist hounded out of his job for not kow towing to the Liberal elite mantra. Surprised you are drooling over this jim.

[Sqad]

Oh! yes......disgusting comments......how can someone........he just HAD to resign.

Women in labs falling in love with their bosses and crying when told off.
What planet is the prof on?

Next thing the prof will be saying is that women dress up and act provocatively to attract the male.

[jim360]

If you can't see how utterly awful what he's said is, what sort of message it sends, how outdated such views are, and how right it is that he's gone then I'm genuinely sorry for you TTT.

[douglas9401]

I actually had an encounter with one of these pretty little things yesterday.

Consultant endocrinologist she was. All she seemed to want to do was talk about me which, while flattering, never resulted in a passionate affair.

Lovely ankles.

[naomi24]

Ridiculous to resign over something so petty.

[anotheoldgit]

A very sad state of affairs when a person in this position has to resign just for speaking his mind.

This has nothing to do with sex equality, and I have read worse of what some women in similar positions say about men.

[ummmm]

Silly thing to say at a conference but too minor to resign over.

[Svejk]

You need to work on your empathy, jim.
Who knows, in 50 years time when you've earned your Knighthood and won a Nobel Prize you might find yourself behind the current PC curve.

[jim360]

I would have agreed with that, ummm, had he not taken the extraordinary step of apologising for what he'd said and then pretty much instantly repeating it.

[gness]

Jim....he's 72....you'll find that some men become silly and juvenile as they age.....
It's difficult enough to encourage girls into the sciences without, as you say, idiots spouting nonsense....x

[bazwillrun]

"If you can't see how utterly awful "

oh pleeaaase , get a grip....what a ridiculous over the top phrase to use.
Lucky it wasnt something serious god knows what youd have said.

As TTT has said hounded out thanks to the PC disease we are now riddled with.
Truly pathetic...why am I not surprised though !?

[naomi24]

He only apologised when criticised by the politically correct. If he meant what he said he shouldn’t have yielded to that pressure. I get a bit fed up with people telling others what they should or shouldn’t be saying.

[mikey4444]

TTT....this has nothing whatsoever to do with the "right on brigade"

I'm afraid this chap is guilty of stupidity. I heard him on the Today Program yesterday, and he made a complete fool of himself. Did he really think that he could make such daft remarks and get away with it ? If we took his line of thinking, we wouldn't let men and women work together in any shape or form. Science is just like any other sphere of life...if men and women can work alongside other elsewhere, why should a laboratory be any different ?

Does he know that women even play football these days !

But I agree its not a resigning issue...he should just have apologised, withdrawn his remarks, and crawled back to his test tubes.

[Old_Geezer]

Losing a job for minor comments that others disagreed with seems Draconian to me even if self inflicted. Yes sure it may put a few 'wilting flowers' off taking up science as their occupation, but not many potential female scientists are going to take notice of that sort of comment. It's life: not everyone thinks the same or sees the same things as having any relevance. I suspect it should've been seen as a bit of bonding banter anyway.

[naomi24]

Mikey, //he should just have apologised, withdrawn his remarks//

Who says? The "right on brigade" who you say it has nothing whatsoever to do with?

[Svejk]

Strange times. Indian gentlemen can thrash their children because they were raised in a different culture but the liberal fascists make don't make similar allowances for elderly white men.

[ladybirder]

FGS how ridiculous. He says he meant it lightheartedly and I guess probably TIC. As a woman I would just have laughed and fluttered my eyelashes at him. Honestly, some of you on here, talk about taking offence on behalf of others.

[mikey4444]

Naomi...or perhaps Mary-Mary. I am surprised that you are defending this chap. What he said was unacceptable. Do you agree with him ? Do you think that women should be discouraged from taking up a career in science, because some of the men would fall in love with them ?

To quote from his appearance on Today ::

"Speaking to BBC Radio 4's Today programme on Wednesday, Sir Tim said he was "really sorry that I said what I said", adding it was "a very stupid thing to do in the presence of all those journalists".

I have already said that he shouldn't have resigned, nor been encouraged to do so.