Patrick Mercer

[Sasha13]

What do you think about the comments that he made regarding black soldiers? Do you think the media has sensationalised what he said and quoted him out of context, or do you think there's no excuse for his comments and David Cameron was right to take the action he did?

[jno]

the media seem to have quoted him at length. If you're going to make controversial claims you'd better have a lot of hard statistics at hand to back you up. And if he thinks there's racist talk in the army, it would be better to condemn it than to tell black soldiers to shut up and enjoy it.

[sp1814]

I'm surprised that Patrick Mercer, a front bench spokesman for homeland security, was so naive to make such a statement!

What annoys me about his mis-informed comments is that he thinks that racist abuse is the same as taking the mickey out of someone because they have red hair.

As far as I'm aware, there has been very few murders, fights or gang-related violence due to hair colour.

He has poor judgement. In that respect, Cameron was probably right to sack him.

[NORMANTHEDOG]

are you 2 living in cloud cookoo land,racism in the army has been going on for years,he was only telling it as it should be told,it might not have been the best thing to say given his position,but it was said as a army man and other soldiers who worked with him,black and white have spoke up for him,you will never rid the sytem of racism,ever.its a shame,but thats a fact of life.

[sp1814]

You most certainly will rid the system of racism, because eventually we'll all die and more enlightened generations will take our place.

C'mon - you can't say that some attitudes which were considered acceptable in 1758 are still okay!!!

[suffragette]

As a bullied redhead for most of my teenage years, I deeply resent your comments sp1814 and feel you should resign from the front bench of AB immediately. I spent most of my teen years swooning like a character from a Bronte novel at the despicable comments made at my expense by the follicularly bland. I am of course joking, but the serious point is, it is naive of white, privileged people like Patrick Mercer to tell black people what should and should not offend them.

[sp1814]

suffragette

Ah, but red-headed women are to be cherished: Julianne Moore, early Nicole Kidman, Bree from Desperate Housewives. All goddesses.

However, red-headed men are to be pitied and shunned: Patrick Kielty, Chris Evans and (ewww) Mick Hucknall (half man half bull mastiff).

[NORMANTHEDOG]

sp1814,you seem to live in a fantasy world,racism in any form is wrong,but as i said before it will ALLWAYS exist,it will never die out.

[youngmafbog]

I'm struggling here a bit. Why is what he said racist? As I understand it he was actually highlighting the problem no burrying it as usual.
I am of course assuming he can back up the statements but I would be surprised if he was not right.
I was once in a chip shop in Nottingham and a pakistani bloke in there was actually boasting how he would get things done from the council by going down and accusing them of being racist if he was told no. This is clearly not representative of all people from pakistan but it does happen there are good and bad in all walks of life so it would not surprise me at all if what Mercer says is true.
The problem with the army of course is that they have to be taught to be hard - or they die. It becomes very difficult to mollycoddle anyone or the 'bullying' which is what it is not racism just changes to anothre angle.

I do agree with SP1814 though. In generations to come it should dissappear. However it is not just the 'white man' that has to change his attitude others have to blend too.

[Loosehead]

I think Cameron has done the right thing, not because of what he said but for 2 reasons, a) Being bloody stupid, he should have known that there is no wayt o get the point he was making across without the media having a field day, bad judgement, and b) because it does the party harm if he allows a lot of speculation about whether he should be/is going to be sacked. What he said is not racist, he was merely trying to get a point across about attitides in the forces, but as I said above there is no way to comminicate that without generating hysteria.

Now Sp, I correct me if I'm wrong but I think that other goddess, Kylie, is a red head orihinally!

[anotheoldgit]

However, red-headed men are to be pitied and shunned: Patrick Kielty, Chris Evans and (ewww) Mick Hucknall (half man half bull mastiff).

SP1814 You label anyone a Racist who dares to criticise, offend, insult etc, a person with a dark skin. Yet you do not mind dishiing out insults to other people that, through no fault of theirs happen to be born Male with Red Hair, and with a white skin.

Isn't this also not only racist but also sexist? In Mick Hucknalls case you also called him half human. This would have caused an out-cry, if it had been targeted at a Black person. Why your double standards?

[anotheoldgit]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles /showbiz/showbiznews.html?in_article_id=441237 &in_page_id=1773

Yet another victory for common sense, but how much did it cost the tax payer to finally come to this conclusion? Has the cry of Racist at the drop of a hat, now gone too far? And could this be proving detrimental in fighting out and out racism. They say if one is forever crying wolf, in the end they will be ignored.

[jno]

why do you imagine SP would be called a racist if he called a black person half-human, git? It doesn't really work that way. Though of course there may very well be someone in a chip shop in Nottingham who thinks otherwise, and that would certainly settle the case conclusively.

[Lonnie]

I agree he should have been a bit more careful as to who he spoke to, but you have to have speny time in the forces to understand the culture.

What he said though, is fact, when I was in, the black soldiers used to call us 'Honkies', among other things, they were called all sorts of names, unprintable here, but all given and taken in jest.
if someone enlists, and can't take a bit of ribbing or a few insults, they have no buisiness being in the Armed Forces.

What got him sacked, was the Politically Correct brigade, nothing else.

[stokeace]

he told it as it is and he got sacked thats not right.the ethnic communities of this once great country have got more rights than the true briton.am i racist by saying that?i dont care what you think.im white english and proud and sick to death of pussyfooting around.if the ethnic minoroties dont like being critisised then they should find their country of origin and go back and save us a fortune in keeping them and their families and save the nhs millions and thats just in the maternity department.

[anotheoldgit]

The reason he was sacked by that weakling Cameron (before Patrick Mercer had any chance to defend himself), was purely political. It was yet another attempt for Cameron to try and curry favour of the ethnics and try and capture their sizable vote.

It is rather ironic though that certain members on Labours front bench (past & present), can be involved in dodgy dealings, sexual indiscretions, and sheer incompetence. Yet even after demands by the opposition parties and the media, their leader Blair will continue to defend them to the hilt and steadfastly refuse to sack them.

Tthe Conservatives have lost a valuable potential Minister, through a very misguided knee-jerk reaction on the part of their weak leader.

[admarlow]

I didnt think it was racism if everybody hates them, and who likes a ginger!!

[Scylax]

Anotheroldgit (above) talks a lot of sense on this
matter.

Col. Mercer has been sacked for telling the truth -
seemingly a heinous crime in Westminster.
Anyone who has been in the army knows very well
the language of the barrack-square, and the epithets
used to describe just about everything.

Cameron, I'm afraid, has lost himself a sizeable
chunk of Tory votes by his 'holier than thou' attitude.
His unctuous Political Correctness has now been
revealed, to the nausea of us all.

[mike1222]

If I witnessed a black youth mugging an OAP and related what I had seen, would that be racist? I think not! All Mercer was doing was relating his experiences in the Army, ie he had witnessed black soldiers being idle or lazy and trying to avoid criticism by playing the "race card"

IMHO not racist, just bad judgment on his part giving the PC brigade more ammunition!

[Little Willy]

Playing the race card in this country goes a long way, and don't the blacks and asians know it, and use it to their advantage as soon as possible.This man has said nothing racist he has merely told the truth something a white man cannot do now in this country because its not politically correct,and as much as i hate this labour government,the tories under cameron have got more chance of winning the next election as i have of winning the lottery.