Aidan Burley says 'leftie multi-cultural' tweet misunderstood

Conservative MP Aidan Burley has said a tweet in which he referred to "leftie multi-cultural" rubbish in the Olympic opening ceremony was "misunderstood".

After the tweet provoked a flurry of criticism on Twitter, he said: "I was talking about the way it was handled in the show, not multiculturalism itself."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-19025518

Ahh, so that's okay.

Reply 1

Ysolt

Haha. Funny how hes buckled under scrutiny. What a miserable git.

Reply 2

bestofyou

18

politicians are ***** anyway. Who cares what they have to say? Why bother following their twitter?

Reply 3

democracyforum

OP

4

What's worrying is someone actually follows Aidan Burley on Twitter.......and reads what he posts

Reply 4

nulli tertius

21

Original post by democracyforum

Conservative MP Aidan Burley has said a tweet in which he referred to "leftie multi-cultural" rubbish in the Olympic opening ceremony was "misunderstood".

After the tweet provoked a flurry of criticism on Twitter, he said: "I was talking about the way it was handled in the show, not multiculturalism itself."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-19025518

Ahh, so that's okay.

I think his main concern is that it has been misunderstood by David Cameron, his Constituency Association and his voters who all thought it was a letter of resignation.

Reply 5

DH-Biker

14

Burley forgot one of the main points Boyle had tried to get across, London is Multicultural. Its arguably the most recognisable city on the planet, there are over three hundred spoken languages in London and a similar number of nationalities present within the city and its out-lying areas. Boyle tried to peg that with the number of different ethnicities within the show, multiculturalism of course being a colossal focal point of the Olympics given over two hundred nations participate in the games and that kind of multicultural blend is exactly what London goes through every day and that's exactly what Boyle was suggesting with it.

Personally, I think the Ceremony was delightful, it surpassed my expectations by a long, long way and I was tholorughly impressed the entire way through. I'm glad that there was a myriad of races and cultures present within, I think it really helped to emhasise that the greatest city on Earth is also the most culturally and ethnically diverse and it welcomes the Olypmics, the largest culmination of sports on the planet and also very diverse with open arms.

Reply 6

A Mysterious Lord

20

Oh misunderstood, a bit like Diane Abbott's tweet about white people?

Reply 7

lonelyknight

3

See, so much for freedom of speech. He speaks out, and he's jumped upon! No wonder he backtracked!
It seems you're not allowed to have an opinion against 'multiculturism'. But then, I suppose everybody already knew that ...

Reply 8

pr0view

10

I second Diane Abbott is a bitch

Reply 9

34253

2

To be honest, I didn't understand why it was necessary to make every other person during the industrial revolution part 'black', whilst then going on to acknowledge that in fact almost all the black people who live here came over in what appears to be a big wooden boat in the 1960s. It was pointlessly historically inaccurate and PC, and it also seems rather stupid that the majority of people in the ceremony weren't white, when this country is at least 85% white at the moment. It was a bit annoying that it was seen as a chance to shove a bit of the multicultural 'dream' down our throats, and present what has been quite a large failure as a success. Each of those minorities will go back to their respective neighbourhoods following the show. The only race in the show who hasn't cornered off a part of London for themselves is the whites, because their parts are for everyone.

Reply 10

Joinedup

20

Fee paying school, oxbridge, management consultancy... This guy's life is the ultimate tsr status fantasy.

Reply 11

headbands,

11

Original post by DH-Biker

Burley forgot one of the main points Boyle had tried to get across, London is Multicultural. Its arguably the most recognisable city on the planet, there are over three hundred spoken languages in London and a similar number of nationalities present within the city and its out-lying areas. Boyle tried to peg that with the number of different ethnicities within the show, multiculturalism of course being a colossal focal point of the Olympics given over two hundred nations participate in the games and that kind of multicultural blend is exactly what London goes through every day and that's exactly what Boyle was suggesting with it.

Exactly, well said!

Reply 12

Jono404

13

I didn't watch it, was there a tribute to the cornershop or something?

Reply 13

jo1692

11

Original post by lonelyknight

See, so much for freedom of speech. He speaks out, and he's jumped upon! No wonder he backtracked!
It seems you're not allowed to have an opinion against 'multiculturism'. But then, I suppose everybody already knew that ...

Part of freedom of speech is to be able to criticise what someone else says. I don't think anyone was calling to silence or censor him, they just said they didn't agree with him / thought he was a bit of an idiot.

Reply 14

Harmonic Minor

1

Original post by democracyforum

Conservative MP Aidan Burley has said a tweet in which he referred to "leftie multi-cultural" rubbish in the Olympic opening ceremony was "misunderstood".

After the tweet provoked a flurry of criticism on Twitter, he said: "I was talking about the way it was handled in the show, not multiculturalism itself."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-19025518

Ahh, so that's okay.

This reeks of pretension. So you're the self-appointed elect who decides which opinions are valid and which are not?

If he didn't like the Olympic opening ceremony because it appeared overly multicultural to him (I didn't see it so I couldn't say), what's wrong with that? Who says he has to like? You?

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 15

Stiff Little Fingers

21

Original post by Harmonic Minor

This reeks of pretension. So you're the self-appointed elect who decides which opinions are valid and which are not?

If he didn't like the Olympic opening ceremony because it appeared overly multicultural to him (I didn't see it so I couldn't say), what's wrong with that? Who says he has to like? You?

Well, because complaining about the Olympic opening ceremony being overly multicultural completely misses the point of the Olympics, i.e. bringing the world together.

Reply 16

The_Mighty_Bush

3

I thought the Olympic opening ceremony was a bit embarrassing in parts. We were celebrating the NHS like we were the only country in the world to have a public healthcare system. There are plenty of other countries that have better healthcare systems than we do, so why did we have to watch people jumping on hospital beds for ages?

Reply 17

Harmonic Minor

1

Original post by Alofleicester

Well, because complaining about the Olympic opening ceremony being overly multicultural completely misses the point of the Olympics, i.e. bringing the world together.

That's absolutely true, but shouldn't it also be something of a national statement for the host country?

I didn't see it so I can't comment directly. But I don't see why people should be hounded and forced to backtrack on their opinions when they are perfectly legitimate. Obviously this happens very frequently whenever the topic is multiculturalism, in whatever context.

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 18

FreeHat

Original post by Alofleicester

Well, because complaining about the Olympic opening ceremony being overly multicultural completely misses the point of the Olympics, i.e. bringing the world together.

The point of the Olympics Games is different to the point of the Olympic Opening Ceremony. An event for elite athletes is hardly something that reeks of inclusiveness anyway, and I think it's a bit brash of you claiming there is one overriding "point". The ceremony was staggeringly leftist; it could be justified by saying it is London's Olympics, but then I'd have hoped they would omit references and events from elsewhere in the country.

Reply 19

Stiff Little Fingers

21

Original post by Harmonic Minor

That's absolutely true, but shouldn't it also be something of a national statement for the host country?

I didn't see it so I can't comment directly. But I don't see why people should be hounded and forced to backtrack on their opinions when they are perfectly legitimate. Obviously this happens very frequently whenever the topic is multiculturalism, in whatever context.

And it was - the countryside scene of rural England, the industrial revolution bit, James Bond and the Queen, Mr Bean, a number of British artists and authors (Arctic Monkeys, JK Rowling etc.), the recreation of the Glastonbury Tor for the entry of the athletes - it was a national statement. The only real complaint that could have been made is the inaccuracy as to the proportions of representation of each race in the industrial revolution scene, but what does that matter really?

Aidan Burley says 'leftie multi-cultural' tweet misunderstood

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