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"That's the way it is in the Army. If someone is slow on the assault course, you'd get people shouting: 'Come on you fat bastard, come on you ginger bastard, come on you black bastard.'"

 "I came across a lot of ethnic minority soldiers who were idle and useless, but who used racism as cover for their misdemeanours."

That was Tory MP Patrick Mercer.

He continues:

"But equally, a chap with red hair, for example, would also get a hard time - a far harder time than a black man, in fact."

Well, that's ok then.

To be fair to Cameron, he's distanced himself from this. But it shows the limitation of the project. Cameron can be a nice as he likes, but most of his party are stuck somewhere around 1911, when this sort of outburst was acceptable.

I mean, the guy is saying that racism is ok, as long as you do it to everyone.

Tough luck Dave, you're in the wrong party.

Comments

[Tristan Mills]

Was he being racist?
He was stating a fact about what happens in the army, that's not racist. What happens in the army may be (although why is black bastard worse than ginger bastard?)

His point about crying wolf is probably true - I know of cases in the US where people cannot be fired despite doing a terrible job because they're black and will kick up a stink. They actually threaten employers. Its not all black people, or even a majority, but it happens.

I'd be more concerned about the possibility of a culture of abuse in the military than a few incidents of calling someone a black bastard (or a skinny white bastard - I'm sure you can find a black NCO who's called someone that)

Overall I think we're being a bit too sensitive. Name calling to push someone onwards is different from sustained abuse and discrimination.

[Alex Foster]

Hey, Austin, did you know there's a Nottingham blogmeet this weekend?

See here for more info: http://www.troubled-diva.com/2007_01_21_troubled-diva_archive.html#116950913873584760