Boris Johnson vs the London Irish
Memo to the Mayor: not all Irish people are members of Sinn Fein.
By Mehdi Hasan Published 09 February 2012 17:34If you haven't read Jemima Khan's interviews with Boris Johnson and Ken Livingstone in this week's New Statesman, you really should. The Livingstone interview hasn't attracted the best of headlines for the Labour candidate - "Ken Livingstone in Tory 'riddled with homosexuals' row" - but it is ludicrous to accuse Ken of being homophobic or bigoted on the basis of a single, ill-advised, badly-phrased comment. On the other hand, it is worth pointing out that his Tory opponent Johnson has, in the past, referred to black people as "piccaninnies" with "watermelon smiles" and declared, in a discussion on 7/7, that "Islam is the problem".
Boris's interview with Jemima also contained a line that some might say was offensive to London's Irish community:
"I'll tell you what makes me angry - lefty crap," he thunders in response. Like? "Well, like spending £20,000 on a dinner at the Dorchester for Sinn Fein!"
Is the mayor referring to the annual St Patrick's Day Gala Dinner, the £150-per-ticket black tie event that ran between 2002 and 2008 and was, ahem, self-financing? The dinner that Boris cancelled in 2009 to save money despite the fact that it was, um, er, self-financing? The dinner that wasn't held "for Sinn Fein" but at the request, and for the sake, of the Irish community of Kilburn, Cricklewood and other parts of the capital?
Now, you can agree or disagree with the idea of a special, sponsored, annual dinner for London's Irish community but to dismiss it, out of hand, as "lefty crap" and "for Sinn Fein" isn't just wrong but offensive. Irish footballers, television stars, singers and politicians from across the spectrum attended the dinner, including, I'm told, Pauline McLynn (from Father Ted), Dermot O'Leary, Bob Geldof, the mayor of Dublin and the Irish ambassador to the UK.
As a spokesman for Ken Livingstone pointed out, when I mentioned the Boris line to him:
To call the annual, self-financing, St Patrick's Day dinner "lefty crap" is both profoundly ill-informed and also an attack on Irish Londoners and their contribution to this city. Irish Londoners came together to celebrate the part they play in the life of London - and Boris Johnson has slapped them in the face. He is out of touch and ignorant of the facts.
I'm not Irish but I am Muslim. I know what it's like to be casually stereotyped - not every British Muslim is an Islamist and not every person of Irish descent is a Provo. The mayor of this great and diverse city should know better.
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26 comments
Boris's set piece at the Bullington Club meets was the recital/singing of 'Abdul Abul Amir' by the talented Irishman -Percy French.
The Mayor of London not to be confused with Suleiman the Magnificent is a sponsor of Turkish membership of the European Union. That's another 75 million people, people!
Not all are Muslims of course.
The population of Ireland, north and south, is a mere 4 million.
Yes, Boris has the numbers!
Ivan Stravinsky Stravar
Top of the Morning to yaa!!! what the crack(!)
The Irish communities have moved out of 'County Kilburn' and 'County Cricklewood'!!! They have gone to 'greener-fields'!
Please!!!...If anything, this shows Boris Johnson is in touch with Londoners.
In the words of 'Londoners' favourite Super-Mayor'; this is "piffle"!
Fact: Ken Livingstone lives somewhere neighbouring 'County Cricklewood' and hasn't noticed the changed on his own frontdoor(!)
'Homosexuals'...did you hear what Ken said(!)
Ken, look what Reginald Fah-fah did to Andrew Dismore in the 2010 Election!...How manys votes was it(?) Dismore's face was a picture in the local newspapers!
Please...on the eve of the 'Annual Parliamentary Race', People Ken couldn't win an'egg and spoon race'!
... And another thing, Boris will beat Ken at tennis! A real gentlemans' battle!
Reginald Fah-fah is a Tory brand you can trust, stand-by 'Brand Fah-Fah'!!!
Reginald Fah-fah backs Boris 2012!
Hello Boris, Bill Maloney here.
I'm an independent candidate for your job!
Some people know me as 'The cockney speaking Irishman'. In your interview with Jemima Khan in The New Statesman you have insulted my family, my parents and my parents' parents with your outrageous racist 'St Patrick's Day' remarks against the Irish; the Irish that don't doff their caps and bow down to the antiquated British Empire any more. Your lack of empathy, compassion and understanding of these great people gets you 0 out of 10! You also earn these marks for your absolute lack of understanding of the common people of London.
The powerful people that protect you are in fact an elite minority and don't represent the views of the majority - they represent the financial, government and corporate agendas.
When was the last time you re-built a country Boris? When was the last time you were abused by the Church, the Police or the Army? How many children have you had taken away from you by corrupt social services? Irish travellers leave people like you in their spiritual wake. This is by no means the first time that you have shown your ignorant right-wing inner-self. Your previous remark that black people were like "piccaninnies" with "watermelon smiles" on its own should have lost you your job.
I'm looking forward to going head-to-head with you. I'll leave you with this thought from a citizen on the streets of London: 'Belly gonna getcha!'
God bless all victims and survivors.
Bill Maloney
Bill Maloney for London Mayor: http://www.mayoroflondon.me.uk
Boris,
That interview shows you to be a racist aswell as quite stupid and backward.
How dare you say such a thing. You have fallen in the estimation of a lot of people around the world this week. You have let yourself and a lot of people down.
Please make a public apology to all Irish people.
"I'm not Irish but I am Muslim. I know what it's like to be casually stereotyped - not every British Muslim is an Islamist and not every person of Irish descent is a Provo."
You could have fooled me:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=utckFfsgeO0
Boris is a dick
Hugh Markey the population of the island of ireland is 6.4million people the vast majority living in the republic, way off your figure of a mere 4 million google it.
4.6 million live in the real ireland hughy thats the south to you.
I generally don't comment on articles like this but I feel that the comment from quattro man needs some addressing. By the way, i'm a Dubliner.
First off, my father worked for British telecom and lived in Stoke Newington for the better part of a decade so I spent, and continue to spend a lot of time in London and apart from the odd dolt, I have found the people to be fantastic.
The first thing that I would like to address is the fact that at this point, the only difference between the general population of Ireland and England is an accent. The culture, behaviours and etiquette are fairly much the same at this point, along with the living conditions.
Secondly, I think you would find with a little research that the people living in the British isles, including, the Irish are basically, Saxons, Celts, Normans or Scandinavian in descent, or a mix of the above. I myself am descended from German Lutheran Protestants with a Saxon surname AND I was raised Roman Catholic. The point i'm trying to make is that sweeping generalisations made on any subject regarding race are fairly moot at his point between the countries in the United Kingdom.
Thirdly and most importantly, Dublin (That's in Ireland, by the way.)was once the empire's second city. Why don't you look in a book and find out where Nelson came from. Are we to believe that the day the British government left, that every single person of British descent, Protestant, business or homeowner went back to blighty? At this point (like it or not!) we're inextricably linked.
As a matter of fact, I feel that I should mention that two of my great grandfathers fought for the British in world war one and one of my grandfathers was a decorated soldier fighting the Japanese for the British in world war two.
Sorry for the rant, luckily I'd just run out of potatos and whiskey and my wife wasn't around to beat or impregnate so I had some time to write this before mass.
Can't see that post above me staying on here for long!
Need a lift to the airport Hasan?
does any questions on radio 4 invites this big mouthed politacaly correct anti white,anti english bigot medhi hassan on that show just proves that the the bbc does operate a quota system and positive discrimination just to make the panel look more diverse and multi cultural,but the trouble is medhi hassan comes across as the muslim version of nick griffin and why oh why does he have to shout over everybody in that aggressive manner,car crash radio tonight on radio 4 with medhi hassan,well done ann widdicombe for shutting him up.. i wish they would have mehdi hassan on any questions every week..i love hearing him making a fool of himself..
"Quite revolting race" by quattro man above.
I wonder if the Tory trolls will condemn this outrageous piece of prejudice? I guess quattro man will soon be changing the moniker and resurface in a different guise.
Medhi, so boring , who cares, you must get a life, Boris is going to win the election.
The Irish, habitual & historic failures, mostly living off hard earned British taxpayers.
Quite revolting race, let them eat potatoes.
Almost as bad bad as Muslims.... don't get me started...
Population figures are a snare and a delusion. Before 'The Famine' the Irish population was estimated to be in the region of 8 million or thereabouts.
But that was before the border had been sketched in by Lloyd George.
And then there's the exodus since the austerity programme was introduce by the EU. The Pope's hands are clean in this instance. In the Pontiff's opinion insofar as far as populations go let it rip.
Not to mention the figures those spalpeens sold to the Germans Superior Race..
However, its not the Irish numbers we're worried about.
They're already accounted for within the EU. Its the tidal-wave of Turkish workers UK employers are banking on. UK kids don't seem to have the skills or motivation.
Family of Nations
Stiles, could be you or even Mehdi Hassan. We wont know. But we know who is Mehdi Hassan, the editor of this mag.
And if you are not Muslim, you are a cattle as per Mehdi Hassan. & we have not heard a word about him from you.
John - it's because the insult Boris made is against Irish people rather than against Sinn Fein. He implied that all Irish people were Sinn Fein supporters, which is untrue & insulting to those Irish people who have stood against Sinn Fein & the IRA.
So Boris allegedly speaks of the Irish as all being members of Sinn Fein and this is bad.
Medhi does call all nonmuslims cattle, animals and unintelligent and this is ok.
I think Medhi suffers from a double standard!
Any opinion on your fellow super enlightened Muslims being locked up for gay bashing Medhi...you have been very quiet!
How come you get on your high horse when Boris incorrectly refers to all Irish people as Sein Fein, but then you yourself in the last paragraph say 'not every person of Irish descent is a Provo' Boris never mentioned the Provisional IRA, he said Sein Fein, a democratically elected political party. Not an illegal sectarian terrorist group. I'm a Protestant living in Belfast and yes Sein Fein used to be aligned with the IRA, but I hope after nearly 15 years since the Good Friday Agreement was signed people should recognise the obvious difference nowadays. You can't generalise all of Sein Fein as Provos while berating Boris for generalising all Irish as Sein Fein!!
Not all Muslims are Islamists. True.
Not all Muslims follow Islam. True
Islam is a problem. True.
Mehdi is Muslim. True
Mehdi is Islamist. True.
Brought to YouTube. Sponsored by Mehdi's Cattle Class.
Thanks for paying attention.
Good comment Steff. It's very difficult for people to move on when an ill informed media continue to regurgitate the same old stereotypes. As for Boris, people shouldn't allow themselves get upset by that oaf. He doesn't know any better.
"I'm not Irish but I am Muslim. I know what it's like to be casually stereotyped"
So do the cattle of this country.
BOJO the clown: kiss your re-election chances good - bye.
The Irish in London who can afford £150 for a place of rabbit food are also the one's who support political campaigns.They are not the Sinn Fein type, being that they are all capitalist people hense the £150 A plate,..........noT the price a working class looney could afford!!
The thousands of young Irish who have just arrived know what Johnston is , what he stands for and who he is alligned to.Good riddance to generations of Irish votes.
Yours sincerley
UFB
Quattro man, you sound lovely. Bit of a bigot are we? Who else don't you like for their race or colour?
Boris is so rude and disrespectful. i thought we had passed and an era when Irish people in London faced discrimination.I guess not in his eyes, We deserve more respect. It makes me very angry with his comment. We had a very successful visit from the Queen to Ireland. Then he goes and makes that stupid comment. I find what he said offensive towards the irish people and our national holiday. Shame on you. The majority of irish people do not support sinn fein, the event held at the dorchester was not for sinn fein, What he said is like someone saying everyone in the uk is a BNP supporter. The guy is mad. His comment is all around ireland and what people are saying is not good.
I think the real problem is we have people like Dermot O'Leary born and raised in this country, that for some absurd reason consider themselves Irish first.
And that is a real problem? Why?