Gordon Brown has allowed his authority to be undermined by the three Catholics in his cabinet. Take a look at my comment on this for the Guardian website at this link:
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/mary_honeyball/2008/05/cardinals_sins.html
CARDINALS’ SINS
Filed under Gordon Brown, Guardian
Mary,
Why didn’t you reply to Conor McGinn’s email to you about your anti-Catholic piece on Comment is Free?
He said of your article that it was
“[G]ratitutously offensive to Catholics. I have e-mailed her and I haven’t had a response from her. Mary will know the hurt she has caused.
“Anti-Catholicism, although it doesn’t overtly manifest itself, is ingrained. They are, in effect, questioning the loyalty of Catholics and using Guy Fawkes-era language. I have been in contact with a lot of people who have been offended by the article.”
Once aggain, Mary, why didn’t you have the courtesy to reply to him?
Mary,
Why didn’t you reply to Conor McGinn’s email to you about your anti-Catholic piece on Comment is Free?
He said of your article that it was
“[G]ratitutously offensive to Catholics. I have e-mailed her and I haven’t had a response from her. Mary will know the hurt she has caused.
“Anti-Catholicism, although it doesn’t overtly manifest itself, is ingrained. They are, in effect, questioning the loyalty of Catholics and using Guy Fawkes-era language. I have been in contact with a lot of people who have been offended by the article.”
Once aggain, Mary, why didn’t you have the courtesy to reply to him?
The thing is, Mary, you are not personally elected by the people. You were appointed from a list because you were in with the party functionaries. This is not a secure position from which to shower your more divisive streams of consciousness onto people.
I am a Labour member as well, and I live in london, but I can’t go and vote against you personally and nor can the hundreds or thousands of others who were gartuitously offended by what struck me as ignorant, anti-catholic bigotry. What on earth was the point of striking at an easy faith target, or of just refusing to engage with any arguments about abortion or embyrology, or the family that may or may not have been put forward by Catholics?
You are deliberately turning on what has been a loyal labour constituency from a privileged position to curry favour with guardian readers and the more frantic sort of secularist, and the outcome may well be the reinforcement of labour defeats, since people can only take so much of this sort of thing. It goes without saying that if people disapprove of you they have to vote against the whole labour list next time.
Go away and think about your highly delimited certainties; as Attlee said to Laski, a period of silence from you would now be very welcome.
The thing is, Mary, you are not personally elected by the people. You were appointed from a list because you were in with the party functionaries. This is not a secure position from which to shower your more divisive streams of consciousness onto people.
I am a Labour member as well, and I live in london, but I can’t go and vote against you personally and nor can the hundreds or thousands of others who were gartuitously offended by what struck me as ignorant, anti-catholic bigotry. What on earth was the point of striking at an easy faith target, or of just refusing to engage with any arguments about abortion or embyrology, or the family that may or may not have been put forward by Catholics?
You are deliberately turning on what has been a loyal labour constituency from a privileged position to curry favour with guardian readers and the more frantic sort of secularist, and the outcome may well be the reinforcement of labour defeats, since people can only take so much of this sort of thing. It goes without saying that if people disapprove of you they have to vote against the whole labour list next time.
Go away and think about your highly delimited certainties; as Attlee said to Laski, a period of silence from you would now be very welcome.