Saturday, September 20, 2008
The F word
Today's Guardian contains extracts from a book by Sky News' Adam Boulton giving the inside story on Tony Blair's time as Prime Minister. As is to be expected everybody swears a lot, not least John Prescott who, according to one anecdote showed remarkable intolerance to his homeland:
On John Prescott cursing the Welsh language: "I had got on well with both Prescott and his wife [before Sky broke the 'Prescott punch' story] and missed his amusing contributions to our programme: Prescott swearing loudly and repeatedly during a taped interview because he was being put off by 'that fucking taff speaking fucking taff' - Labour spokesman Denzil Davies giving an interview in Welsh nearby. As he and Blair stepped down from government, we asked Prescott for his reaction to the new prime minister: he declined colourfully, expressing his hatred for me."
John Prescott is of course Welsh, though like Roy Jenkins before him, it is not something that seems to have impinged on his consciousness. There are remarkable parallels between this episode and another in which Tony Blair is alleged to sworn about the Welsh whilst watching the results of the 1999 Assembly elections.
As the BBC reports this led to a complaint by Welsh language pressure group Cymuned to North Wales Police and a subsequent police investigation costing thousands of pounds of public money. Plaid Cymru AM, Leanne Wood, also reported Blair to the Parliamentary Standards Commissioner.
Will this latest report lead to a similar complaint against John Prescott and if so, will the authorities have the good sense to leave it alone this time?
On John Prescott cursing the Welsh language: "I had got on well with both Prescott and his wife [before Sky broke the 'Prescott punch' story] and missed his amusing contributions to our programme: Prescott swearing loudly and repeatedly during a taped interview because he was being put off by 'that fucking taff speaking fucking taff' - Labour spokesman Denzil Davies giving an interview in Welsh nearby. As he and Blair stepped down from government, we asked Prescott for his reaction to the new prime minister: he declined colourfully, expressing his hatred for me."
John Prescott is of course Welsh, though like Roy Jenkins before him, it is not something that seems to have impinged on his consciousness. There are remarkable parallels between this episode and another in which Tony Blair is alleged to sworn about the Welsh whilst watching the results of the 1999 Assembly elections.
As the BBC reports this led to a complaint by Welsh language pressure group Cymuned to North Wales Police and a subsequent police investigation costing thousands of pounds of public money. Plaid Cymru AM, Leanne Wood, also reported Blair to the Parliamentary Standards Commissioner.
Will this latest report lead to a similar complaint against John Prescott and if so, will the authorities have the good sense to leave it alone this time?
Comments:
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Prescott#Early_life
So, John Leslie Prescott was born in Prestatyn; learn something new every day.
So, John Leslie Prescott was born in Prestatyn; learn something new every day.
# posted by 
: 11:46 AM
: 11:46 AM
Your "John Prescott is of course Welsh", well that depends on whether you believe in "Nature" or "Nurture".
It cannot be Nature, as it has an uncanny ability to discard the unsuitable from the gene pool.
So it must be Nurture ...... it comes from the Old French noureture which translates to "nourishment", no one can say he is not well nourished, in turn the Old French was based on the Latin nutire, to feed, to cherish. Everyone has a mother to feed and cherish, even Prescott, and as we all know "a mother always loves her baby, no matter how obnoxious he becomes".
But Welsh ..... that takes the biscuit.
It cannot be Nature, as it has an uncanny ability to discard the unsuitable from the gene pool.
So it must be Nurture ...... it comes from the Old French noureture which translates to "nourishment", no one can say he is not well nourished, in turn the Old French was based on the Latin nutire, to feed, to cherish. Everyone has a mother to feed and cherish, even Prescott, and as we all know "a mother always loves her baby, no matter how obnoxious he becomes".
But Welsh ..... that takes the biscuit.
I've noticed several times that some Welsh people living in England are loath to admit they are Welsh, especially if they have lost their Welsh accent. In the USA people of Welsh descent are all over it, they love knowing they are from Welsh stock. It's a fascination for them. For my part I loved pointing out that I am Welsh after listening to a mick taking Welsh joke. The look of embarrassment when I counted up to five in Welsh. They assumed (wrongly) because I had an accent like them that I was anything but Welsh. An ignorant stupid American -> Cardiff born; Cardiff bred; and one day I will be Cardiff dead.
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# posted by : 11:25 PM
: 11:25 PM<< Home
