[Big Arnold]

She's on Desert Island Disks today.

[Bones McCoy]

She's on Desert Island Disks today.

My luxury items is a strap-on: so I can pretend I'm Brendan O'Neill.

Shame it isn't a real desert Island.

[Abernathy]

Pretentious? Julie? Perish the thought. She picked the Israeli national anthem as her favourite because it's a cracking choon.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/features/de ... y/197b54c8

Luxury item was a still.

I find Burchill impossible to take seriously at the best of times, but when I hear that ludicrous squeaky high-pitched voice she's just off the scale.

[oboogie]

There are plenty of things to mock Julie Burchill for, such as the things she says and writes, so mocking her for things beyond her control are unnecessary and thoroughly unpleasant.

Reminds me of the mocking of John Prescott and Gordon Brown for the way they speak.

[Malcolm Armsteen]

Ah - but is it beyond her control or an affectation?

[oboogie]

Why should she change it?

She's used it all her professional life (since she was 16).
She has also referred to being bullied at school for it so it seems to be natural.
Doubtless she could have had election lessons to change it, just like anyone else, but why on earth should she?

Should John Prescott or Gordon Brown have changed their speech too.

[Malcolm Armsteen]

I used to have an excellent head teacher who said that the best way to spend cash on bright working class kids was to give the elocution lessons. Given the prejudice that Prescott has dealt with over the years for his working class tones he may well have been right, for John certainly had the intelligence, passion and drive to be leader of his party, yet he was never seriously considered.

As George Bernard Shaw said, an Englishman has only to open his mouth for another Englishman to despise him.

Brown is different, the Scots accent is considered to be reassuring and positive by most English people according to surveys on regional accents.

[oboogie]

I used to have an excellent head teacher who said that the best way to spend cash on bright working class kids was to give the elocution lessons. Given the prejudice that Prescott has dealt with over the years for his working class tones he may well have been right, for John certainly had the intelligence, passion and drive to be leader of his party, yet he was never seriously considered.

As George Bernard Shaw said, an Englishman has only to open his mouth for another Englishman to despise him.

Brown is different, the Scots accent is considered to be reassuring and positive by most English people according to surveys on regional accents.

So do you think the personal attacks on Prescott's voice were justified then?
I'm more interested in the content of what people say than firing off ad-hominems at people for they way they speak.
The attacks on Brown's speaking voice were specific to his rather ponderous mumbling style rather than his accent. There were also anti-Scots attacks on him, but they were separate and largely related to the West-Lothian question (which funnily enough we never hear anything of in relation to Gove).

[Malcolm Armsteen]

I didn't say that. And no, sensible people don't make that judgement, but we don't have a system where only sensible people can vote, run HR departments or anything else for that matter.

Yes, people do tend to judge by the accent - and in Prescott's case I think that was more of a class than a regional thing (where I don't think the same level of prejudice applies). Look at how we now have Miliband being criticised for sounding too middle class, or too estuary or even too 'Jewish' - whatever that sounds like.

[oboogie]

Exactly, and that is my point, if it's wrong in the case of Mssrs Prescott, Brown & Miliband then it is also wrong in the case of Burchill.

[Malcolm Armsteen]

Unless she's doing it for effect.

[Big Rob]

There are plenty of things to mock Julie Burchill for, such as the things she says and writes, so mocking her for things beyond her control are unnecessary and thoroughly unpleasant.

I would agree with that. There is plenty to get justifiably annoyed about with Burchill that is within her control as opposed to what isn't.

Mind you, she did make shabby remarks about transgender men that was essentially mocking them for what they couldn't control.

Swings and roundabouts.

[Big Rob]

Unless she's doing it for effect.

She could be. Then her only motive would be to deliberately annoy, as far as I can see at least.

[oboogie]

Unless she's doing it for effect.

She's used it all her professional life (since she was 16).
She has also referred to being bullied at school for it so it seems to be natural.

[oboogie]

Mind you, she did make shabby remarks about transgender men that was essentially mocking them for what they couldn't control.

But that doesn't make it ok to mock her for something she can't control though does it?