Friday 25 February 2011

Littlejohn caught lying yet again

Today Richard Littlejohn turns his attention to the census, which isdue to take place later this year. First things first, he's not happy with the fact that it's available in languages other than English (presumably the Welsh can go fuck themselves):
"The form has also been printed in 57 different languages — including Twi, which is spoken in south Ghana; Sinhala, from Sri Lanka; and Tagalog, which is spoken by Bill and Ben the Flowerpot Men."

This sentence annoys me on so many levels. I mean, if you're trying to get an accurate count of how many people there are in a country then surely it's sensisible to ensure everyone can understand the census form? Would Dickie prefer to know only how many English-speakers there are? Then there's the casual racism of the "Tagalog, which is spoken by Bill and Ben the Flowerpot Men". Actually, Dickie, it's spoken by a third of the population of the Philippines - roughly 30 million people. But hey, it sounds funny, right? Like Bongo-bongo land?

Still, he's just giving his audience what it wants. The real issue is that once again Dickie has shown he can't make it through a whole column without using a rhetorical device. By which I mean lying:

The outrageously intrusive 2011 Census weighs a ton and runs to 32 pages. It demands information about everything from skin colour to sexual preference.

Except, of course, it doesn't. The Government and the Office for National Statistics have been quite clear that the census will not contain any questions about sexual orientation. Last year the Lesbian & Gay Foundation ran a petition to try and have such a question included, to which the Government responded:

“The Draft Census (England and Wales) Order 2009, setting out the question topics to be asked in the 2011 Census, has been approved by both Houses of Parliament and is now law. It does not include a question on sexual identity."

On the Today programme earlier this week John Humphries interviewed the man in charge of the census and asked why the Government needed to know whether he was straight or gay, and was firmly and clearly told that the census does not ask such a question.

But since when has Littlejohn let a simple thing like the facts get in the way of a good moan?

8 comments:

Scottie said...

"The form has also been printed in 57 different languages"

Let's hope they've printed one in "Badly written bullshit" as that's the only language Big Dick Littleboys seems to speak.


http://neitherangryorscared.blogspot.com/

Joe said...

Don't get me wrong Littlejon is obviously completely unbothered by the truth but why are you saying he's lying for his point when you don't accuse Humphries of lying when he tries to make the same point.

Darryl W. Bullock said...

Joe - surely the difference is that Humphries asked a question, Littledick states it as a fact

Donald said...

The census being printed in different languages is a good thing. It allows us to get a clear view of the variety of cultures, languages, religions and nationalities are currently existing in the UK today.

If anything Dicklejohn should be happy about this census. Once the figures are in he will have a whole new set of people he can rant about and dehumanise. It'll keep him and the Mail in business till the next census in 2021! He should be all for it!

He's forever asking how many immigrants we have here and when he can't be arsed to do some research he simply plucks a figure from his head to stir up some tension with his readers.

I really hope him and the Mail print enough lies and convince enough people to not fill it out and they all get the full £1000 fine. That'll teach them to read such dross.

Richardbnewman said...

Can't abide Littlejohn or his like but Question 4 does ask if your are in or have been in a same sex partnership.

Jason Crabtree said...

Does anybody take Littlejohn seriously? He's a deliberate agent provocateur and says things that he knows is going to wind people up.

Donald said...

Unfortunately he is taken seriously enough for him to spew out two very well selling (BNP recruitment) books.

He also used to appear on Sky News with his own inane slot with guests he would talk down to. He had a talk show type program on LWT (ITV1) where he would basically wind up celebrities and offend people. There's a few clips on Youtube of both shows, if you can bear him in live action.

P. Stable said...

"Can't abide Littlejohn or his like but Question 4 does ask if your are in or have been in a same sex partnership."

No, it asks:

"What is your legal marital or same-sex civil partnership status?"

Previous censuses (censi?) asked everyone if they were married. As civil partnerships were introduced in 2005 this year's census simply extends the question to cover them too.

Now obviously if you're in a civil partnership it means you're probably gay and if you're married it means you're probably straight. But would the equivalent question from 2001 - "what is your marital status" - have been considered a question designed to find out whether you're heteroseuxal?