Tory party riddled with gays?

[anotheoldgit]

http://www.thisislond...with-gays-says-ken.do

Is this appropriate language for a prospective Major of London to make?

Notice how the BBC (all in the name of political correctness), altered what he actually said.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/...gland-london-16955851

[smart1]

Is a political paety different than any other walk of life in this. So what?

[jno]

ludwig, it may be that Ken is making a carefully thought-out and cautiously worded political pitch and means everything he says... or it may be that he does not mean to be taken literally because he is joking, speaking rhetorically, being ironic, or however you wish to express it, and expects his audience to realise this (though aog evidently has not).

But if you're going for the former option, then you have to accept that he really, literally believes an archangel will flay people who do not vote for him.

Since I find this hard to accept, I go for the latter option.

But I could be wrong.

[anotheoldgit]

jno

/// or it may be that he does not mean to be taken literally because he is joking, speaking rhetorically, being ironic, or however you wish to express it, and expects his audience to realise this ///

Pity the same assumptions weren't voiced when Enoch Powell made his 'Rivers of Blood speech.

[sandyRoe]

For irony to work the listener would need to know that the speaker has a past history of defending minority rights. As in the case of Ken.
Was Enoch a man who welcomed the start of multiculturalism in the UK? I don't remember that side of him at all.

[sp1814]

Actually - no, I don't get what he's saying at all. It's bad journalism on the part of the New Statesman. When he said that, the journalist should've sought clarification as to what he meant.

As it is, it's just left people scratching their heads because it can be taken in more than one way...

[Gromit]

As is often seen on AB, Irony and sarcasm are often lost in the printed word. Our tone of voice usually indicates when we are joking.

I don't think old Enoch was joking or being Ironic.

[Canary42]

What's wrong with the guy saying what he thinks - a bit like the OP.

[jno]

sandyRoe, I believe Enoch was just that - iirc, he was health minister at the time the NHS started recruiting abroad. I'm open to correction on this, however, it could just be an urban myth.

[Zhukov]

more Polari,in Parliament..I say! ;0)

[Zacs-Master]

I have no idea why this should be such a surprise, and even less why people should be concerned.

[ludwig]

jno, here's something I said earlier in case you missed it. If you didn't miss it I can only suggest reading it more slowly.

// he's used an ill-judged word - or an ill-judged bit of rhetoric, because it's allowed people to deliberately get the wrong end of the stick and pounce on it to make something out of nothing. Does it mean he's at all anti-gay? Of course not. //