“I believe the purpose of education is to equip children to participate in those conversations mankind has been having with itself for the past 2,000 years, and to do that, they need to value the values of the enlightenment - reason, logic, evidence - and they need to value civility. I think civility in debate in incredibly important”.
So spoke the loathsome Toby Young on BBC Politics Live today, thus demonstrating that he is a fraud of no discernible shamelessness. Because there was no reason, logic or evidence in his deliberately using the second anniversary of the Grenfell Tower fire to try and pin it on local Labour MP Emma Dent Coad - other than prejudicial party politics.
Aaron Bastani of Novara Media said of the causes of Grenfell “It was emblematic of austerity, but I would add that there was negligence, insomuch as regulations after 1980 were every much about self-regulation. There was a decisive change in building standards in the 1980s, and then, an addendum to that, the tenants of this building for years were saying quite explicitly, there are problems here, this a a firetrap.”
He went to note that those tenants had effectively been ignored, an interesting point when so many, particularly out on the right, talk about working class people being ignored. They were not powerful people. Tobes was in like a shot. “One thing to bear in mind, Aaron, is that they were ignored by the Kensington and Chelsea tenant management organisation, and one of the people who sat on that organisation was Emma Dent Coad”.
At this point, it would have surprised no-one if Tobes’ trousers had spontaneously combusted, because this was the very antithesis of “reason, logic, evidence”. As Ms Dent Coad has once again had to point out, “For the 100th time ... I was on the TMO when, after years of lobbying by Grenfell [residents], the Council finally agreed in principle to refurbish. The residents were pleased. I then left and the work was overseen by others”.
Small wonder Tobes has been roundly condemned for lying for political advantage once again, with Julia Larden nailing the lie: “Toby Young tries to pin Grenfell on Emma Dent Coad who briefly sat on the tenant management organisation of Grenfell. Er, she left in 2012 before the cladding decision was taken”. And a reliable citation, Tobes.
Wayne Smith added “Toby Young blaming the Kensington Tennants Association and Labour's Emma Dent who was sitting on the association at the time of the Grenfell fire and immediately saying but we shouldn't play politics with this subject. What an absolute first class knob”. Another Tweeter picked up on Ms Dent Coad’s correction.
Tobes' propensity to use his media appearances to lie and smear should disbar him from being paraded before the viewing public. Moreover, the attacks on Ms Dent Coad are in accordance with the line taken by the Murdoch Sun, and their pals, the perpetually thirsty Paul Staines and his rabble at the Guido Fawkes blog. The idea that Tobes has decided to take the same attack line of his own volition is not believable.
Toby Young is a disgrace to civilised discourse. But you all knew that already.
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3 comments:
Young is a typical far right tory slimeball.
His expressed notion to "...destroy the Labour Party..." went well didn't it.
A chronic and bitter loser even by tory "standards".
Let's see if the cowardly scumbag can summon the courage to appear in front of the Grenfell families to explain his disgusting lying propaganda.
It's a measure of how disgusting the BBC is that they keep inviting this arsewipe on!
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