Was this really meant to be offensive?

[anotheoldgit]

http://www.telegraph....n-in-wheelchairs.html

Oh dear, oh dear someone has once again dared to speak without first checking for unintended insensitivities.

Although Ms Currie isn't my favourite person by a long stretch of the imagination, I don't think she meant any harm when she said what she said.

/// One reply, from @mbisace described the comment as "singularly the most offensive thing I have seen on Twitter". ///

If that is so, I wonder how long it will be before the Police arrest Ms Currie?

[sp1814]

<one episode down, 23 to go>

Ellipsis - very good point: "the unglamourousness" (if that's a word) of wheelchairs.

Never thought of it that way.

Wonder if that's what she meant?

Anyway...back to '24' for me...

[naomi24]

//Anyway...back to '24' for me... //

What? You coming for dinner, SP? ;o)

I think she meant it as a compliment. If she hadn't she wouldn't have said it.

[Ellipsis]

sp ... that's what I was trying to say earlier with the "wellies" and "overalls" comment. IMO she was simply saying that wheelchairs are unglamorous yet the Italians still manage to look good in them.

[sp1814]

Ellipsis - well, thank you for the (much better) analogy.

naomi24 - sorry no...spending my night with Jack Bauer!!!

[joeluke]

Usual mountain out of a molehill

How many times have we heard people say "they're attractive for a ginger"?

It's just yet another excuse for the PC brigade to whinge

[naomi24]

SP, can't say I blame you. I loved '24' - but that's off topic, so I'll say no more about that.

I also think a mountain is being made from a molehill.

[bazwillrun]

"It's just yet another excuse for the PC brigade to whinge "

yup, and for some on here to argue semantics and practice pedantry here all night long.

Zzzzzzzzzzz.......

[bednobs]

i really don't understand why these famous people make such schoolboy errors in such a public forum. No one is forcing them to put their private musings into the very public twitter domain. It might be the sort of thing i would say to my husband (as a wheelchair user myself) but i'd be embarrassed to let the whole world know who i was lusting after!

[askyourgran]

I despair of those people who take offence at the slightest thing. I don't believe Edwina meant to be offensive at all. In fact she was trying to be complimentary about them.

[boxtops]

There is a press instruction about how to refer to these athletes - not to be patronising, not to call them brave, treat them as normal people.

I'm sure Mrs C didn't intend to make a gaffe.

[grffindoor2011]

Maybe that is Curries opinion. She does not usually find those in wheelchairs attractive. That is her opinion. As for talk about the police arresting her. Lunacy.

I turned down dating a girl in a wheelchair a few years ago, not because I did not find her attractive, but because of the extra work involved in the relationship and it would not work. Many things I liked doing were not suitable for someone in a wheelchair (also where I lived had no wheelchair access at all) and it would have been unfair/impossible on her.

[Duncer]

"How many times have we heard people say "they're attractive for a ginger"?"

How many then Joe?

Stands well back..............

[Mick-Talbot]

Daphne Blake is hot.

[sp1814]

So is Julianne Moore and Marcia Cross and Nicole Kidman.

With the chaps...it's a little thin on the ground.

The list starts and end with Damien Lewis.

[EDDIE51]

Eggweena Currie certainly has a gift for putting her foot in her mouth . She really needs to EBBOM (Engage Brain Before Opening Mouth)

[EDDIE51]

Not her only controversial comment lately
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-15336931

[anotheoldgit]

grffindoor2011

/// As for talk about the police arresting her. Lunacy. ///

That was put in jest, taking into account that someone on Twitter had said ""singularly the most offensive thing I have seen on Twitter".

And since in the past the Police have arrested persons for making offensive comments on Twitter, and since that was the most offensive thing, ...................need I explain any more?

[Zeuhl]

In effect, Edwina was saying;

people in wheelchairs generally don't look attractive or look less attractive than they would walking about.

Hardly the most appropriate sentiment when commenting on the Paralympics but easily done and certainly not intended as offensive.

I quite like Edwina Currie's straight talking style. Like others of her ilk - Clare Short for instance - Edwina didn't last that long in politics, which probably says more about politics than about her.