Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Kent Brockman's wish might come true

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • Kent Brockman's wish might come true

    This reminds me of The Simpsons, where Kent Brockman introduces a "news item" with the line "Whilst TV phone votes are not legally binding, and we all support prop 76 to make this the case"

    Oh and i have been mindful of the intolerance of the BBC and found the story from another source :-

    -------
    MP calls Radio 4 listeners 'bastards' over vigilante vote
    By Vincent Graff Media Editor
    02 January 2004


    It was trailed as a "unique chance to rewrite the law of the land". Listeners to BBC Radio 4's Today programme were asked to suggest a piece of legislation to improve life in Britain, with the promise that an MP would then attempt to get it onto the statute books.

    But yesterday, 26,000 votes later, the winning proposal was denounced as a "ludicrous, brutal, unworkable blood-stained piece of legislation" - by Stephen Pound, the very MP whose job it is to try to push it through Parliament.

    Mr Pound's reaction was provoked by the news that the winner of Today's "Listeners' Law" poll was a plan to allow homeowners "to use any means to defend their home from intruders" - a prospect that could see householders free to kill burglars, without question.

    "The people have spoken," the Labour MP replied to the programme, "... the bastards."

    Having recovered his composure, Mr Pound told The Independent: "We are going to have to re-evaluate the listenership of Radio 4. I would have expected this result if there had been a poll in The Sun. Do we really want a law that says you can slaughter anyone who climbs in your window?"

    Journalists on Today are thought to have been taken aback by the choice of their listeners. Observers had assumed that the winning suggestion might be a little more light-hearted - and a little less illiberal.

    Indeed, there were suspicions the vote may have been hijacked by supporters of Tony Martin, the Norfolk farmer who was jailed for shooting a burglar. The winning proposal enjoyed a late surge in support in the final 24 hours of the poll, a jump attributed by the BBC to the fact that telephone votes - which were more firmly in favour of the anti-burglar proposal - were added at the last minute.

    Today's long-running Personality of the Year poll was scrapped in 1997, after persistent attempts by political parties to fix it.

    Mr Pound will go through the motions of presenting the Bill to Parliament but hoped he would fail. He said it was "the sort of idea somebody comes up with in a bar on a Saturday night between 'string 'em all up' and 'send 'em all all home'".
    at

  • #2
    "Indeed, there were suspicions the vote may have been hijacked by supporters of Tony Martin, the Norfolk farmer who was jailed for shooting a burglar."

    Wait...a guy was thrown in jail for shooting someone who was breaking into his own house???? That's one of the stupidest things I've ever heard.

    Why would you NOT want a law that allows you to defend your home? I fail to see the logic in opposing this law.

    Comment


    • #3
      Well i posted this with regard to the phone vote.

      The bit the MP isn't happy about is the "without question" bit.

      I think South Africa has a law like this . Basically if you kill someone on your property "that shouldn't be there" then there is no possibility of you having committed a crime. This has led to the police dragging bodies from the street into gardens etc.

      For info, the Tony Martin case was that some pikey broke in to his farm to steal something. Martin enocuntered the pikey just as he was leaving and shot him in the back.

      Now personally i think the pikey got what was coming to him. But the judgement was that shooting an unarmed person in the back is not "reasonable force" and didn't fit the crime or the threat. All a bit obtuse for my liking but there you go.
      at

      Comment


      • #4
        Originally posted by Trooth
        Well i posted this with regard to the phone vote.

        The bit the MP isn't happy about is the "without question" bit.

        I think South Africa has a law like this . Basically if you kill someone on your property "that shouldn't be there" then there is no possibility of you having committed a crime. This has led to the police dragging bodies from the street into gardens etc.

        For info, the Tony Martin case was that some pikey broke in to his farm to steal something. Martin enocuntered the pikey just as he was leaving and shot him in the back.

        Now personally i think the pikey got what was coming to him. But the judgement was that shooting an unarmed person in the back is not "reasonable force" and didn't fit the crime or the threat. All a bit obtuse for my liking but there you go.
        Next time, you just tell the guy to turn around. Problem solved.

        Comment


        • #5
          Ok, I can see the MP's hesitation. But you'd think that they could tweak the law some so that there would still be an investigation, but that if the criminal was clearly breaking into your home/threatening the well-being of you or your family you would be justified in using dealy force.

          As for the farmer, that is VERY obtuse thinking. How did the farmer know that the burglar was unarmed? He couldn't just go up to the fellow and ask for his property back, could he? I know I would have done the same thing in that situation. If someone steals from me, they should have thought about the possible consequences of their actions before they started the theft.

          Comment


          • #6
            "The people have spoken," the Labour MP replied to the programme, "... the bastards."
            Look another pol with his foot in his mouth. :LOL

            Comment


            • #7
              Heehee, not quite.

              The British tend to have quite robust banter. That is quite a standard verbal expression. Although obviously in politics everyone must be whiter than white and purer than the people they server at all times of course :)
              at

              Comment


              • #8
                What's a pikey?
                "Every man has his weakness. Mine was always just cigarettes."

                Comment


                • #9
                  Slang for a gypsy. Normally the ones with Irish heritage are referred to as pikey's (see the movie Snatch for a somewhat extreme redntion by Brad Pitt).
                  at

                  Comment

                  Working...
                  X