Yorkieguy
Established Member
I did think about it before I posted it.Odious comment and quite clearly a sexist, classist arrogant ad hominem attack. You should be ashamed of yourself. Do you have a daughter, wife, niece. Think about it.
No, I'm not ashamed, but Angela Rayner should be
And no - it isn't sexist - I'd have made the same comment had it been a male substituting 'boy' for 'girl'.
All of the epithets that you ascribe to me are those which apply to Angela Rayner for her disgraceful rant.
She wears her working class roots as 'badge of honour' and excuses herself by defending her comments as being made in the “street language” of her northern working-class roots. That just doesn't wash. She was speaking not as a 'street urchin, but as the Deputy Shadow Prime Minister at the Labour Party Conference in 2022. Many politicians and members of the the public came from similar or worse backgrounds, and so did I, but they learn to moderate their language. Using the Conference platform to hurl insults at the opposition, rather than to outline Labour's policies, should they be elected, was a wasted opportunity.
An she could, and should, have apologised with good grace without delay, but she didn't.
Here's what she said:
Quote:
"Labour deputy leader refuses to say sorry, describing terms as ‘street language’ of her working-class roots"
Angela Rayner has stood by her description of the Conservatives as “homophobic, racist, misogynistic … scum” after the Labour leader distanced himself from her words. The deputy Labour leader declined to apologise for her remarks, which were made at a Labour conference reception the day before.
“We cannot get any worse than a bunch of scum, homophobic, racist, misogynistic, absolute vile … banana republic, vile, nasty, Etonian … piece of scum,” she said at the event, before adding that she had “held back a little”.
Her remarks drew criticism from some Tories, while two shadow cabinet ministers – Lisa Nandy and Ed Miliband – said they would not use the same terms. But speaking on Sunday, Rayner defended her comments as being made in the “street language” of her northern working-class roots.
End quote.
That's from the Labour-supporting Guardian Newspaper.
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2021/sep/26/angela-rayner-stands-by-remarks-calling-tories-scum
As to being 'classist' I guess the inference is that I'm a 'Tory Toff' born 'with a silver spoon in my mouth' who 'doesn't know how the other half live'. Not so - I know a bit about 'being in the gutter', and ordinarily I wouldn't mention it because it will sound like a 'misery memoir' but here goes anyway:
I was born in June 1939 in Nottingham, at the onset of WW2, when my mother was 36.
I was illegitimate, and as was the norm back then, my mother was disowned by her family and shown the door. I spent the first three months of my life in an unmarried home, which was the maximum stay. Unmarried mothers were seen as the architects of their own misfortune, so at 3 months, along with their children, they were turfed out to find accommodation. There was no welfare state, and no NHS till I was aged nine.
They were urged to give up their children for adoption, which many did. Most babies (and war orphans), were shipped out to Australia, where the motto was 'Populate or Perish', or to Canada. Luckier ones were adopted by childless couples, often arranged by family doctors who would help to pair the progeny of expectant single mothers with childless couples.
My mother wouldn't give me up, and moved from one set of damp slum lodgings to another.
We ended up in a slum, (no bath, no hot water, an outside toilet), where a kindly spinster ('Annie') in her late 50s let out a room with two camp beds in it. In July 1944, two weeks after my fifth Birthday, when my mum was 41, Annie woke me up and said 'Your mum's gone to Jesus in the night and she's not coming back, so you'd better call me mum from now on', so I did, and life went on. My mum had died of TB. Another year later, streptomycin was discovered, which may have saved her life. (How kind of Annie to take in someone with a highly contagious killer disease).
Annie died when I was fourteen, and I went to live with an elderly aunt where I had a proper bed - not a canvas camp bed. I've since checked with Social Services and the Children's Society who have no records of my existence - I wasn't adopted, or fostered - Annie just 'took me in' as someone might 'take in' a stray cat. I found two burial certificates some years ago - one for my mother - the other a family grave. I asked at the cemetery staff where the graves were located and was told: 'I can tell you where that one is, but I'll have to take you to other'. One was a large marble affair with several names on it. (The family grave). They then took me to a grave where he said "This is the grave of the Towle Family. The only significance to you is that this is where your mother lies". He pointed to a patch of grass which had no headstone.
So even in death my mother was disowned by her family and lies in an unmarked grave.
I've no idea who my father was - I just think of him as a 'sperm donor'. How lucky I was to have been born in 1939 - not 2019. The most dangerous place for a child to be nowadays is in its mother womb. 215,000 pregnancies were terminated in England and Wales in 2021, despite birth control including the 'morning after pill' being available.
https://www.gov.uk/government/stati...21/abortion-statistics-england-and-wales-2021
I went to an inner city school and like most in that era, I left school at 15 with no qualifications - there were none to be had. I gained an apprenticeship later went into management, and got along well with people at all levels. When I retired, I was responsible for £100 mill turnover and 600 staff.
Yes - I do have a wife - we've been married for 62 years, and we have two sons who went to a mediocre Comprehensive in Rotherham - both gained honours degrees and have successful careers. One is married to a girl whose father came from Kolkata, India, to work in the coal mines in the 60's, the other to a girl whose family were Lebanese, who fled to Paris in the 60s to escape hostilities. We have three granddaughters who have all gained first class honours degrees.
I don't mention any of this to be boastful - there's nothing unique about me - many others will have fared far worse.
So I guess that the child I once was 'came out of the gutter' but at no time in my life have I ever used the invective that Angela Rayner used, and I've never used 'street language' or my bleak upbringing as a 'badge of honour' and nor should the 'Deputy Prime Minister in waiting' - she should learn good manners and know when to bite her tongue.
Angela Rayner too had an illegitimate child aged 16 in 1996, with the support of a well-established welfare state, and different social attitudes to illegitimacy than when I was young, thank goodness. She had a council house which she then bought and sold at a profit, benefiting from a policy introduced by 'Tory Scum'. Before 1977 unmarried mothers and their children were usually excluded from Council House Lists to send a strong message that unmarried parents should be blamed and penalised for their supposed bad decisions. How time change. 51% of children in England and Wales are now born illegitimate.
https://www.manchester.ac.uk/discov...land-and-wales-now-born-to-unmarried-parents/
Not ranting, not boasting, just rambling.
There's much more I could say about childhood setbacks, but I think this is quite enough.
I hope it sets things into a better perspective.
At 85, I've had a good shake of the dice.
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