Diane Abbott in fine form this morning...

[Green Cross Code Man]

Dianne Abbott is a black woman from a working class background and yet despite all that ended up studying at Cambridge University. I think she deserves a lot more respect than that from the public.

Even though I don't agree with her, is it really that controversial to suggest the west goaded Russia into this war by pushing NATO to their border? Had a Tory grandee said as much, I wonder what the reaction would have been?

As for thick, look no further than this PM and the self serving incompetent buffoons he's surrounded himself with. Seriously, politicians don't come any thicker than Patel, Dorries and Hancock.

I agree with all of that.

Except if the subject is Diane Abbott, aside from academic achievement, I would suggest that she frequently displays little wisdom with the knowledge she has acquired. It's a better and less lazy statement than my suggestion that she is thick.

 

[Thunder Bolt]

Dianne Abbott is a black woman from a working class background and yet despite all that ended up studying at Cambridge University. I think she deserves a lot more respect than that from the public.

Even though I don't agree with her, is it really that controversial to suggest the west goaded Russia into this war by pushing NATO to their border? Had a Tory grandee said as much, I wonder what the reaction would have been?

As for thick, look no further than this PM and the self serving incompetent buffoons he's surrounded himself with. Seriously, politicians don't come any thicker than Patel, Dorries and Hancock.

Yes it is controversial. Putin has stated publicly he wanted to reinstate the old USSR. Belarus went along with it, but Ukraine resisted.

In fact, by invading Ukraine, Putin has had the opposite effect. I never, ever thought that neutral Sweden would join NATO.

 

[Weststander]

no, thats just an excuse for several occasions she's lost it on numerical matters - or does hypoglycaemia only affect numeracy? she has her own view on issues and very willing to do media, prone to giving an honest, off message response rather than something prepared by the commuications team.

Abbott was against spit hoods for tossers gobbing at the emergency services, she’s always had a bizarre affection for Putin’s fascist Russia (probably due to a loathing of the free world/USA) and consistently supported the murderous regime in Venezuala.

Not the only one to do so!

Her politics stink, that can’t be put down to her Type 2 Diabetes or any other diffuculty.

 

[Simster]

She is very academic but that says nothing about her ability to sprout rubbish.

To blame "eastward expansion of NATO" as the cause of Putin's invasion of Ukraine is just pathetic far left bull.

That is simply not true. There is nothing "far left" about that opinion. Plenty of people were touting it before Putin invaded.

Yes it is controversial. Putin has stated publicly he wanted to reinstate the old USSR. Belarus went along with it, but Ukraine resisted.

In fact, by invading Ukraine, Putin has had the opposite effect. I never, ever thought that neutral Sweden would join NATO.

I know what Putin stated, but that doesn't make Abbott's view controversial. You just disagree with it.

 

[beorhthelm]

Even though I don't agree with her, is it really that controversial to suggest the west goaded Russia into this war by pushing NATO to their border? Had a Tory grandee said as much, I wonder what the reaction would have been?

anyone who has supported the Russian line they have responded to western aggression has been lambasted for that view. does Abbott deserve some sort of pass because of her background? she gets more coverage because she is more willing to come out on radio, TV, newspaper and internet to say so.

 

[Thunder Bolt]

though you link to story reporting criticism of her gaff. start a thread and we can all pile in on her incompetance too. plenty do any way.

I'm not that desperate to pile in on anyone, just explaining that Diane Abbott is unfairly criticised for getting in a muddle when her blood sugar fell. Type 1 diabetics don't get warnings when it happens, and the press would've had a field day, had she cried off sick.

Everything in proportion, but the British media are not like that.

 

[Simster]

anyone who has supported the Russian line they have responded to western aggression has been lambasted for that view. does Abbott deserve some sort of pass because of her background? she gets more coverage because she is more willing to come out on radio, TV, newspaper and internet to say so.

She doesn't appear to "support" that at all though. She is simply pointing the finger of destabilisation at NATO for sending troops to Russian borders rather than the Russians for starting a war.

In my opinion, she'd do well to consider her language by prefacing it with "I can't condone what Russia has done but...", because I think it is easily misconstrued.

 

[Not Andy Naylor]

Dianne Abbott is a black woman from a working class background and yet despite all that ended up studying at Cambridge University. I think she deserves a lot more respect than that from the public.

Even though I don't agree with her, is it really that controversial to suggest the west goaded Russia into this war by pushing NATO to their border? Had a Tory grandee said as much, I wonder what the reaction would have been?

As for thick, look no further than this PM and the self serving incompetent buffoons he's surrounded himself with. Seriously, politicians don't come any thicker than Patel, Dorries and Hancock.

Hancock is an interesting example of why it doesn't always make sense to equate studying at Oxford or Cambridge with intelligence in the conventional sense. He got a first in PPE at Oxford and then a Master's at Cambridge, all despite a diagnosis of dyslexia - and yet he has done some spectacularly bone-headed things, and will probably do some more if given another chance. Apparent intelligence as judged by educational attainment is no guarantee that it will be demonstrated in other areas. Diane Abbott has an annoying way of speaking and has done and said some stupid things, often in front of cameras, but is obviously impressive too at times. Her constituency continues to elect her with huge majorities. Maybe her talents just aren't suited to front-line national politics.

As many know, I speak as an Oxford-educated leftie, but I'm absolutely sure that a friend of mine in the construction trade who left school at 16 and is a lifelong Tory voter would make a better cabinet minister than either of those two. He has the sort of practical intelligence and respect for evidence and experience that some politicians will never attain. He's also his own man and would probably fall out on day one with any whip who tried to make him toe a party line he disagreed with, but that's a problem with our parliamentary system.

 

[usernamed]

I wonder why this thread has bounced today?

 

[Weststander]

I wonder why this thread has bounced today?

 

[Ding Dong !]

Dianne Abbott is a black woman from a working class background and yet despite all that ended up studying at Cambridge University. I think she deserves a lot more respect than that from the public.



The woman is a buffoon, my 14 daughter could speak better in debate than that clown !!

 

[Bold Seagull]

Hancock is an interesting example of why it doesn't always make sense to equate studying at Oxford or Cambridge with intelligence in the conventional sense. He got a first in PPE at Oxford and then a Master's at Cambridge

Probably why he was so good at setting up all those contracts at the start of the pandemic.

 

[maltaseagull]

That is simply not true. There is nothing "far left" about that opinion. Plenty of people were touting it before Putin invaded.


I know what Putin stated, but that doesn't make Abbott's view controversial. You just disagree with it.

Was Putin's invasion of Crimea in response to NATO expansion?

Newly Democratic countries such as Poland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic requested to join NATO yet Abbot and her supporters blame the West for aggression.

 

[maltaseagull]

Dianne Abbott is a black woman from a working class background and yet despite all that ended up studying at Cambridge University. I think she deserves a lot more respect than that from the public.

Even though I don't agree with her, is it really that controversial to suggest the west goaded Russia into this war by pushing NATO to their border? Had a Tory grandee said as much, I wonder what the reaction would have been?

As for thick, look no further than this PM and the self serving incompetent buffoons he's surrounded himself with. Seriously, politicians don't come any thicker than Patel, Dorries and Hancock.

Yet by your argument about Abbot:

"Patel attended a comprehensive school in Watford, Hertfordshire before going on to study economics at Keele University and then pursuing postgraduate studies in British government and politics at the University of Essex.

So either both are thick or neither are !

P.S. I would NEVER vote for either of them. (Even if I could)

 

[Live by the sea]

Was Putin's invasion of Crimea in response to NATO expansion?

Newly Democratic countries such as Poland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic requested to join NATO yet Abbot and her supporters blame the West for aggression.

Abbott has a very strange world view , best not to take her seriously.

 

[Bulldog]

I wonder why this thread has bounced today?

Tories trying to divert attention from their own cluster**ck of a government?

What can we do ? I know, lets all laugh at the fat black woman Ha ha

 

[Simster]

Was Putin's invasion of Crimea in response to NATO expansion?

Newly Democratic countries such as Poland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic requested to join NATO yet Abbot and her supporters blame the West for aggression.

No it wasn't, which is why I agree with you and disagree with Abbott. What more do you want me to say?

We were not talking about the rights and wrongs of Abbott's argument, I was simply taking issue with your view that it was "far left bull". It isn't, it has been held by many people over the last few years, and definitely not exclusively by the far left.

Yet by your argument about Abbot:

"Patel attended a comprehensive school in Watford, Hertfordshire before going on to study economics at Keele University and then pursuing postgraduate studies in British government and politics at the University of Essex.

So either both are thick or neither are !

P.S. I would NEVER vote for either of them. (Even if I could)

Patel is not openly mocked by the (Tory) main stream press in the way Abbott is. The problem then is that if it is OK for them to do that, people will follow.

Patel attempted to quote the number "334,974" by enunciating it as "three hundred thousand, and thirty four, nine hundred and seventy four thousand". Had Dianne Abbott done that, she'd have been crucified.

 

[Weststander]

Abbott has a very strange world view , best not to take her seriously.

Stuck in 1962.

 

[Javeaseagull]

Dianne Abbott is a black woman from a working class background and yet despite all that ended up studying at Cambridge University. I think she deserves a lot more respect than that from the public.

Even though I don't agree with her, is it really that controversial to suggest the west goaded Russia into this war by pushing NATO to their border? Had a Tory grandee said as much, I wonder what the reaction would have been?

As for thick, look no further than this PM and the self serving incompetent buffoons he's surrounded himself with. Seriously, politicians don't come any thicker than Patel, Dorries and Hancock.

This

 

[Bold Seagull]

Was Putin's invasion of Crimea in response to NATO expansion?

Newly Democratic countries such as Poland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic requested to join NATO yet Abbot and her supporters blame the West for aggression.

They were also invited. NATO has gone from 16 members in 1990 to 30. Former Warsaw Pact members joining NATO has long been written about as a provocation to Russia. It's not exactly something you can rule out as a non contributory factor is it.