Good old letterboxes

Today Programme  5/12/2019   (2:20:02)

I think Martha Kearney has taken a leaf out of Andrew Marr’s little red book of interupterviewing.

Although the interruption quotient didn’t sound quite so excessive when I 'listened again', I noticed the Today Programme didn’t use the Islamophobia-related excerpt on Twitter. It’s impossible to convey the full ‘interrupterviewing’ tone in a transcript, but here's my best attempt. 

I’ve tried to keep to the appropriate punctuation  (onomatopoeic rather than grammatical) to indicate where the end of a sentence runs straight into the next one so as to prevent an inconveniently ‘premature’ answer, as in the emboldened section below.

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M K

I want you to address what’s going on, ah in your party, in particular the issue of Islamophobia do you acknowledge that this is an a-a-an-important issue for your party the Guardian last week talked about twenty-five sitting and former Conservative councillors being exposed for posting Islamophobic and racist material on Facebook and social media.

SJ

I-I- it’s a very important issue of course I acknowledge that and whenever we have found any kind of prejudice, whether it’s anti-Muslim hatred or any other type of prejudice, I’m proud that we’ve always taken action immediately as soon as that is presented to the party centrally

MK

That’s not the view of Sayeeda Warsi, the former Conservative cabinet minister who thinks that the party has been slow to act on this.

SJ

Look, I’ve got time for Sayeeda Warsi I’ve always listened to what her and others have got to say but she wouldn’t be knowledgeable of all the actions that we have taken, it’s right that when someone is accused that we look at the evidence but we have a zero-tolerance policy against any type of prejudice or hatred it is something - it is something I came into politics to fight, it’s one of the things…

MK

But have you been fighting hard enough within the Conservatives because Sayeeda Warsi talked to The World at One last week and she said she understands your position, she said it would be the career-ending moment for you to criticise the party for Islamophobia, but she hopes that one day you will be braver and bolder.

SJ (chuckles)

Well I have to say, with respect, saying that’s nonsense. This is - why come in to politics if you’re not going to make positive change and this is one of the things that has motivated me more than anything and it’s not just about me it’s something that the Prime Minister would never ever tolerate, and remember, this is the Prime Minister that has appointed the most diverse cabinet that this country, has ever seen and that’s because he…

MK (interrupts)
Would - would you have written an article, as Boris Johnson has, about…

SJ

…loves and celebrates the…

MK (interrupts)
……….would you have written…

SJ ..the whole diversity of this country.

MK 

Would you have written an article as Boris Johnson did about Muslim women wearing the veil looking like letterboxes?

SJ 

I don’t write articles so, but Boris Johnso….

MK

Would you use that language?

SJ

Well he was a journalist and he’s written lots of articles, as he said himself, you know, people can pick one word out or another but what matters is the kind of prime Minister he is going…

MK

So you won’t criticise that..

SJ

and when it comes to our nation and the great diversity of it, it’s hard to find anyone who celebrates it more than Boris Johnson does.

MK

Sajid Javod … sorry, (laugher) Chancellor of the Exchequer, thank you for talking to us.

SJ

Take care.

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The BBC (as an institution) clearly equates Islamophobia with antisemitism. The  BBC’s default position is to regard them as two cheeks of the same arse. This might have something to do with rigidly presenting the appearance of ‘impartiality’ that the BBC is so proud of. I think this is foolish and ignorant, but it is what it is, and sadly, one is obliged to accept the situation.  

It seems to me that the BBC sees its role as one of redressing a (non-existent) imbalance. The Chief Rabbi has intervened in the long-running battle for meaningful recognition of the fact that the Labour Party is mired in anti-Jewish racism, therefore the BBC must counterbalance this with “Sayeeda Warsi.”

Remember the famous response to Dan Quayle likening himself to Jack Kennedy? In a similar vein one might say “Sayeeda, you’re no Chief Rabbi”.  Of course, it wasn’t Warsi herself doing the comparison - not on this occasion and not in so many words, but the BBC appears to be doing so on her behalf and making a similarly unfortunate analogy.

The BBC seems to regard Warsi’s demands as the ‘other side of the coin’ in a currency where her non-stop grievance-mongering is given equal billing to the once-in-a-blue-moon intervention by a religious leader whose role is traditionally a-political. 

I just watched Matthew D’Ancona on Politics Live saying he can’t vote for Boris Johnson because “he said veiled Muslim women look like letterboxes and bank robbers.” Deep thinking there, Mr A. Especially when you come on TV looking like you’ve been dragged through a hedge backwards. 

I’d love to know whether there is an acceptable description of the fully-veiled Muslim woman whose sole window of navigation is through a narrow slit of a peephole. What’s wrong with letterboxes, anyway? They’re a delight! Letterboxes still facilitate a human way of keeping in touch with others - that is until they’re as outmoded as fountain pens and paper. 

What will we use as a comparison when letterboxes are obsolete? Then we’ll only be left with bank robbers. No doubt they will still be with us.