The fact is I hate political correctness and technically I shouldnt careless about what she said, but what I HATE with a passion are hypocrites. Remember when David Starkey claimed 'the whites have become black' when what he actually meant was that the white working class felt as oppressed as black people used to, and the outburst from the bleeding heart liberals? Shoe is on the other foot now and they try everything to defend her. REAP WHAT YOU BLOODY WELL SOW.

That champagne socialist = all talk and no principles.

Jesus, Diane, You've done it now I agree with Harry cole, I'm going to have to have a shower

@Cheshyre
06 January 2012 at 12:37

"Clearly the classification is inadequate, as it does not differentiate the various human races (sub-species)."

yet the scientists who work with this system haven't done so. you reckon they are "clearly" wrong because you claim the current classification is clearly" inadequate. how are you qualified to make this claim, and, why don't these scientists get it right?

"As to your motivation, the fact that you wil not address the question is proof of your discomfort."

and again you fail miserably at guesstimating my emotional state. and back to this test of yours, there isn't a test that can measure anything meaningful about humans full stop. i think you mentioned IQ tests as having some sort of relevance? is that what you assume to be a reliable litmus test for human intelligence? wouldn't surprise me much if you did, but let's get that sorted out shall we?

wow, Abbott makes yet another clumsy remark, hold the front page...

but yes, as a white person i do find her comment offensive and bigoted, but will get over it soon.........................................................................................................................i'am over it!

The comments from Diane Abbott were malicious and offensive. A member of parliament in a position of trust should not be thinking such things never mind emphasising this on a social network site. It is so wrong.

The standards set are poor and Ed Miliband needs to act swiftly. Abbot is not fit to serve as a shadow cabinet minister let alone a MP.

Where is the courage Ed Miliband. This is a weak response to situation that needed a show of leadership. This has to be said.

If Ed chooses to ignore this his position as Labour Party Leader is no longer tenable. The Labour Party does not need a ditherer it needs a leader. We are not getting that from him.

This issue has caused more damage and mistrust of MP's at time wheregood work has been to portray our parliamentary members in good light. In comparison love him of loathe him Cameron would have sacked her on the spot. Remember Patrick Mercer. Abbott simply needs to go and go now. The Labour Party does not need people who have racist thoughts. This is quite clear she knew what she was saying.

Ed have some bottle and nerve, even courage and do the right thing

Leave Diane alone, some of her best friends are white people.

Joking apart I think the article was quite balanced. She should know better to make such a comment without context and has given an excuse to her opponents who will make the 'one rule for them argument'.

Were the same people leaping to the defence of poor Alan Hansen recently though? I bet they weren't.

Given that the New Statesman employs Mehdi Hasan who referred to all non Muslims as 'kaffars' like 'cattle' with no intelligence and being like 'animals', it is no surprise that this publication seeks to excuse bigoted hate speech.

Diane Abbott's comment is clearly racist. But so what, it's not that offensive is it really, and I'm all for free speech. I personally find her ludicrous defence the most offensive. To say it was in reference to 19th century colonialism doesn't stand up to even the most basic scrutiny: the whole tweet is in the present tense, she states 'we should not play their game', and the hashtag is 'tactics as old as colonialism' which again without doubt implies now, not 19th century.

Diane seems to both exist in a farcical fog of 1960s socialism and race relations that the vast majority of us have thankfully moved on from. I don't think many of us these days see the world in the black and white of the likes of Abbott. Sadly, the media love to whip up a frenzy one way or another and political parties seek to score points, and I can see many wishing to take a pop at Diane as she would be front of the queue with her outrage if the roles were reversed – nobody likes a hypocrite. And I think that is the root of the anger being expressed by some.

As we know, Diane has made similar comments before stating "blonde, blue-eyed Finnish girls" at her local hospital in east London were unsuitable as nurses because they had "never met a black person before." If this had been said in the reverse in any part of the UK, the person saying it would have been sacked or forced to resign.

She also has stated that West Indian mums would go to the wall for their kids in a pathetic attempt to justify sending her kid to private school. If she was a white MP in Hackney saying white mums would go to the wall for their kids, again she would have been sacked or forced to resign.

And if these things had been said, the person at the front of the queue demanding blood would have been Diane Abbott. Hence the anger. What's gutting about it is, none of this is even remotely as offensive as her being a socialist who has huge aspirations for her own child and so sends him to private school, but is happy for her constituents of a huge variety of ethnic groups make do with the schools they have. Who knew 'Look After Number One' was part of the Labour mantra? Compared to that, a silly little tweet is nothing.