Reply to: Another reasonably serious one…

[Pogle]

My Mum reads the Mail too - Dad reads the Torygraph and is a little more questioning, but Mum swallows everything the Mail tells her and it has led to some heated arguements between her and me.

Now I just let it lie.

[Cyberman]

A perfectly natural reaction of being freed from the political correctness of the classroom now allows her to express her bottled up true feelings.

Much the same as:
Generals retiring and then saying the Iraq war was pointless
Government ministers retiring and saying the school system is a shambles
Home Secretaries retiring and then saying ID cards aren't such a good idea after all.

No on has the balls to stand up and object at the time when they can actually do something about it

Yeah, it's a bit like working for the BBC for 30 years and then going into retirement, or being a left-winger at uni and then going out into the real world to earn a crust. It makes you realise that everything is not free after all.

[Mich the Tester]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jorg_Haider

Death

Haider died of injuries from a car crash at Lambichl in Köttmannsdorf near Klagenfurt, in the state of Carinthia, in the early hours of 11 October 2008. Police reported that the Volkswagen Phaeton that Haider had been driving came off the road, rolled down an embankment and overturned,[52] [53] causing him "severe head and chest injuries".[54] Haider, who was on his way from Stadtkraemer, a gay bar in Klagenfurt[55] where he had been meeting a young man after having previously quarreled with Stefan Petzner that same evening,[48] [56] was going to celebrate his mother's 90th birthday.[52] [57] [58] He was alone in the government car and no other vehicles were involved.[59] [60] At the time of the crash, Haider's car was travelling at 142 km/h (88 mph) or faster, more than twice the legal speed limit of 70 km/h (43 mph) for that part of the Loiblpass-road.[61] An initial investigation uncovered no signs of foul play,[60] and conspiracy theories about the death have been strongly rejected by the Austrian police. [62][63] Haider's blood alcohol level at the time of the crash was 1.8‰, more than three times the legal limit of 0.5‰. This fact was noted by both Haider's spokesman and the state prosecutor. The director general of the Carinthian administration declared that in case the Governor had been intoxicated the State would have the right to recourse.[64]

Austrian President Heinz Fischer said of Haider's death that it was a "human tragedy".[65] Reactions in the press were mixed. Wolfgang Fellner, publisher of "Österreich", wrote: "I have fought bitterly" with Jörg Haider, but "finally, Haider became a gentle, considerate, almost wise politician ... Alas, he was once again too fast." Haider "died as he lived: always full of gas, always over the limit", Fellner concluded.[66] But Ernst Trost pointed out in the Kronen Zeitung that while Haider had enjoyed a "comet-like rise" in politics, he also had "ever again embarked on self-destructive actions and provoked opposition." The Chief Editor of Kurier, Christoph Kotanko, wrote that "however much his brown tones, xenophobia and aggressive populism were to be rejected ... Haider's criticism of the dominant conditions of the 1980s and 90s was partly also justified", and he had "named, fought and in part also changed" those conditions. [67]

On 25 January 2009, the Lippitzbachbrücke was renamed "Jörg-Haider-Brücke".[68]

He was the second Austrian to make a big deal of this. The first had a Jewish mother.

[Menelaus]

A perfectly natural reaction of being freed from the political correctness of the classroom now allows her to express her bottled up true feelings.

Much the same as:
Generals retiring and then saying the Iraq war was pointless
Government ministers retiring and saying the school system is a shambles
Home Secretaries retiring and then saying ID cards aren't such a good idea after all.

No on has the balls to stand up and object at the time when they can actually do something about it

Or the US Transport Secretary who, in his retirement speech to the press corps said words to the effect of "I don't know why al-Qaeda haven't attacked the US rail system".

[Menelaus]

Ah yes, it's that delicious combination of socialism and nationalism again. Wasn't there an Austrian chap who made it big for a while on that one?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jorg_Haider

Death

Haider died of injuries from a car crash at Lambichl in Köttmannsdorf near Klagenfurt, in the state of Carinthia, in the early hours of 11 October 2008. Police reported that the Volkswagen Phaeton that Haider had been driving came off the road, rolled down an embankment and overturned,[52] [53] causing him "severe head and chest injuries".[54] Haider, who was on his way from Stadtkraemer, a gay bar in Klagenfurt[55] where he had been meeting a young man after having previously quarreled with Stefan Petzner that same evening,[48] [56] was going to celebrate his mother's 90th birthday.[52] [57] [58] He was alone in the government car and no other vehicles were involved.[59] [60] At the time of the crash, Haider's car was travelling at 142 km/h (88 mph) or faster, more than twice the legal speed limit of 70 km/h (43 mph) for that part of the Loiblpass-road.[61] An initial investigation uncovered no signs of foul play,[60] and conspiracy theories about the death have been strongly rejected by the Austrian police. [62][63] Haider's blood alcohol level at the time of the crash was 1.8‰, more than three times the legal limit of 0.5‰. This fact was noted by both Haider's spokesman and the state prosecutor. The director general of the Carinthian administration declared that in case the Governor had been intoxicated the State would have the right to recourse.[64]

Austrian President Heinz Fischer said of Haider's death that it was a "human tragedy".[65] Reactions in the press were mixed. Wolfgang Fellner, publisher of "Österreich", wrote: "I have fought bitterly" with Jörg Haider, but "finally, Haider became a gentle, considerate, almost wise politician ... Alas, he was once again too fast." Haider "died as he lived: always full of gas, always over the limit", Fellner concluded.[66] But Ernst Trost pointed out in the Kronen Zeitung that while Haider had enjoyed a "comet-like rise" in politics, he also had "ever again embarked on self-destructive actions and provoked opposition." The Chief Editor of Kurier, Christoph Kotanko, wrote that "however much his brown tones, xenophobia and aggressive populism were to be rejected ... Haider's criticism of the dominant conditions of the 1980s and 90s was partly also justified", and he had "named, fought and in part also changed" those conditions. [67]

On 25 January 2009, the Lippitzbachbrücke was renamed "Jörg-Haider-Brücke".[68]

[Mich the Tester]

My mum is a basket case.
She is labour/socialist/trades unionist through and through, but she has started to rant about the darkies. She is 100% behind labour but she wants all the coloureds out

Ah yes, it's that delicious combination of socialism and nationalism again. Wasn't there an Austrian chap who made it big for a while on that one?

[EternalOptimist]

My mum is a basket case.
She is labour/socialist/trades unionist through and through, but she has started to rant about the darkies. She is 100% behind labour but she wants all the coloureds out

[Alf W]

I noticed this when my parents retired as they went from mixing with 30/40/50 year olds at work to socialising more with 60/70/80 year olds. So, just like kids, the 'peer language' and attitudes changed.
Words like 'darkie' and 'poofta' seem to be creeping in to everyday usage without any real hatred behind them it just seems to be acceptable peer group parlance.

[FSM with Cheddar]

Deffo the daily mail.

Do her a favour and buy her some subscriptions to a few more left of facist publications.

Yeah WHS. The daily wail prays on middle class insecurities, fuelling them with right wing bigotry.

[expat]

A perfectly natural reaction of being freed from the political correctness of the classroom now allows her to express her bottled up true feelings.

Much the same as:
Generals retiring and then saying the Iraq war was pointless
Government ministers retiring and saying the school system is a shambles
Home Secretaries retiring and then saying ID cards aren't such a good idea after all.

No on has the balls to stand up and object at the time when they can actually do something about it

Yes, she's tried hard all these years because she is really intelligent, humane, and liberal. But she has now had enough of PC. Me too.

[realityhack]

A perfectly natural reaction of being freed from the political correctness of the classroom now allows her to express her bottled up true feelings.

That's probably not far from the truth.

[Mich the Tester]

Deffo the daily mail.

Do her a favour and buy her some subscriptions to a few more left of facist publications.

I try to set an example by taking The Times with me when I visit, but she thinks it's a horrid leftist rag.

[cailin maith]

I think over a certain age you consider any comments contrary to yours as impudence.

Whenever I talke exception or point out to my Mother (a former communist) an error in her thinking the conversation will go something like ..

Alf 'How can you possibly support Communism when Stalin killed more people than -'

Alfs Mum Alf - Shutup.

Alf 'But - you cant ...'

Alfs Mum I said - Shutup . Go and tidy your room now.

[Pickle2]

Deffo the daily mail.

Do her a favour and buy her some subscriptions to a few more left of facist publications.

[AlfredJPruffock]

I think over a certain age you consider any comments contrary to yours as impudence.

Whenever I talke exception or point out to my Mother (a former communist) an error in her thinking the conversation will go something like ..

Alf 'How can you possibly support Communism when Stalin killed more people than -'

Alfs Mum Alf - Shutup.

Alf 'But - you cant ...'

Alfs Mum I said - Shutup . Go and tidy your room now.