Was it Something I Said...?

Well, well, well. It's hustings time for the Labour leadership (I love that word, hustings... it's just a good word) and already John McDonnell has put his foot in his mouth apparently, simply by saying what we were all thinking and indeed what I shouted at the television. At the GMB Union hustings, McDonnell answered the question 'if you could travel back to the 1980s and perform one act to make the world a better place, what would it be?'. At this point I ran to the TV. "Assassinate Thatcher!" I yelled repeatedly and, as if by magic, out of McDonnell's mouth came the very words "I think I would assassinate Thatcher."

'Praise be!' I thought, my esteem of the man increasing ten-fold. Other people however seem less enthused and for some reason McDonnell was forced to apologise for the comments. Utter nonsense. It was at the GMB Union, he was preaching to the converted and there was a big laugh from the audience, one of the biggest of the night. Had he followed it up with "no really, I'm deadly serious, I would step into the DeLorean and spatter her brains across the walls of No. 10" I would still have thought that he had a point. What McDonnell said is really no worse than Cameron claiming that George 'Gideon' Osbourne is somehow good for the economy, but then I don't see him having to apologise.

Yesterday appeared to be a day for people putting their feet in their mouths (their respective mouths, not each others' that would have just been weird), as the longest-serving White House Correspondent Helen Thomas (who has covered every president since the Eisenhower administration) was kicked out for claiming that Israel should 'get the Hell out of Palestine'. Now people have quickly leapt to accuse her of being an 'anti-semitic bigot', but I think we should probably make a distinction between bigoted anti-semitism and simply suggesting that perhaps attacking an aid flotilla was a step too far for most. Needless to say wading carelessly into the Gaza strip debate probably isn't the sort of thing advisable to someone like me, armed with very little facts, a hefty dollop of cynicism and the simple aim to elicit a chuckle from my readers.

Let's look at the possibilities though.
1) Helen Thomas is actually a massive anti-semite (could be true, though she's managed to hide it well for 57 years).
2) She was simply angered by the Israeli response to the aid flotilla (a much more plausible possibility).
3) She forgot where she was and didn't realise she was being taped by a Rabbi (well, she is 89, it's a miracle she can even keep track of the political complexities of the Palestine conflict. Besides, this is what 89 year olds do. My Grandad still complains about 'gyppos' from time to time but he hasn't been kicked out of the White House Press Corps...). (Plus, we can't assume that every Rabbi will turn out to be Donal MacIntyre...)