[Malcolm Armsteen]

Apples and oranges.

And read what Soubry actually said.

[Tubby Isaacs]

"Time we stopped pandering to travellers"

"Spot on".

[Boiler]

Away from here, God help you if you try and defend the GRT community...

[Andy McDandy]

Asa Winstanley stands with David Miller.

8 words to strike fear into any politician.

Who are you and why should I care?

On travellers, it's been recently revealed that some holiday companies have a policy of not allowing bookings made by "traveller names", or charging them an increased rate. Names such as Ryan, Rourke, Leigh, and more.

Now imagine that those companies had such a policy about names such as Hussein, Singh, Meyer, Toussaint, Poliakov, or even Evans or McDonald.

Anti-traveller racism is alive and well, and jokes about "pikeys" aside, needs to be addressed. Niemoller and all that.

[The Weeping Angel]

The problem is of course that the left is far more critical of racism in its own camp than it is elsewhere

Is it? I had noted the exact opposite.

See also: misogyny.

I suppose this came to mind today after seeing this on Twitter:

This was retweeted with the comment "Spot on" by former Conservative and ChUK MP Anna Soubry

And I just feel like I'm losing my mind. An op-ed in a major broadsheet claiming we "pander" to a profoundly victimised ethnic and cultural minority group in this country, and there's no reaction from anyone. The rest of the media doesn't say "hold on that's not acceptable". A former MP bigs it up (one who is ostensibly more liberal than most conservatives) and there's no reaction, no response, no consequence. Just another racist grenade thrown over the trench.

I appreciate comments by a political party/MP are separate from comments made by a newspaper, but I also think it's naive to ignore the ever-closer ties and revolving doors between the media and politics.

I've seen plently of people condemn this online

This is just a small sample BTW.

[The Weeping Angel]

Not only that but neither Matthew Parris or Anna Soubry are part of the left so what exactly is your point Kettle?

[kreuzberger]

It's never too soon to go full Niemöller but it's fast becoming too late.

[Tubby Isaacs]

[Youngian]

Parris has spent his life trying to rise above his idiot Tory DNA since World in Action invited him to live on the dole for a fortnight (he couldn’t). But he can still fall back in the gutter.

The idea Romanies are just itinerant vagrants (hence insults like tinkers, knackers and pikeys) was a cliche when my gran said it (born 1899).

[Bones McCoy]

Not only that but neither Matthew Parris or Anna Soubry are part of the left so what exactly is your point Kettle?

I remember Parris as one of the "Cuddly former wets".
Is he after a wad of Thinktank $$$$$.