David Cameron has said in an interview that sitting opposite Ed Balls, the shadow chancellor, during prime minister's questions is "like having someone with Tourette's sitting opposite you".
What do you mean David? Is there something wrong with having someone with Tourette's sitting opposite you?
Are you drawing on the old stereotype that anyone with Tourette's is incoherent and swears a lot? Or perhaps you mean that if Balls had Tourette's what he had to say would be irrelevant? I'm assuming you don't mean he has motor tics that seriously limit his mobility or make him punch himself in the head repeatedly? Or that he shouts "biscuit" 16 times every waking minute of the day, as I do?
For lots of people, Cameron's casual use of a disability to insult another politician will be shocking. For many other people it won't, either because they think Tourette's is a fair target for jokes because of the common misconception that everyone with Tourette's swears; or perhaps it's because they're familiar with the government's abhorrent attitude to disabled people and the raft of policies it's forcing through that hit them the hardest. It's easy to forget that the man in charge had a disabled son himself and is the patron of a well-known charity for disabled children.
The reality is that Tourette's is a complex condition that can be both physically and socially disabling. The assumption that it's only about swearing makes it even harder for the 90% of people who have it but who haven't ever ticced an offensive word.
So if I was sitting opposite Cameron I know what I'd be saying to him. I'd be challenging his assault on the NHS, on the disability living allowance and on all the other sweeping cuts to services. These reach into the lives of everyone in the country but they're having the biggest impact on the most vulnerable. The only way I could find myself sitting opposite Cameron, however, would be with the help of schemes like Access to Work and Taxi Card, which like so many other things are under threat.
Of course, a weak apology has been issued. But it's too late David. You've revealed a hateful attitude to disability. Your "off the cuff" comment was a desperately cheap joke and no one's laughing.
But there is one funny thing about all of this – he made the comment in an article in which he was claiming to be creating a "fairer Britain". I'm used to hearing ignorant, lazy comments about Tourette's. But what really angers me is that there's nothing fair about the Britain David Cameron is creating.
Don't apologise to people with Tourette's for your stupid comment David, apologise to the country for your policies.
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9 January 2012 2:39PM
Cameron has a problem. He's not as brilliant as he thinks he is, and he doesn't take in the British electorate. He is by far the worst Prime Minister in living memory. And there are some crackers for him to beat, but by God! he's winning hands down in the dumbest PM stakes.
9 January 2012 2:42PM
So recently, the idiot in Downing Street has upset most of the EU, the Scots, folks with tourettes, the poor, the sick, the young, public sector workers, and pretty well everyone bar the richest 1%.
That must set an unbeatable world record!
Time for him to be shown the door.
9 January 2012 2:43PM
I agree it's a strong field but what about Jim Callaghan, Sir Alec Douglas-Hume, Anthony Eden??
Mind you, time is on his side.
9 January 2012 2:43PM
Perhaps he thinks very thin people look like they have AIDS, or perhaps people with a cough sound like they have lung cancer?
Crass comment from a boorish man. I expect nothing less from him.
9 January 2012 2:44PM
Maybe Mr Cameron can joke about disability in a non-malicious way because he's had it in his close family. Maybe we all can. This isn't Cromwell's England.
9 January 2012 2:46PM
Tune in next week when someone will make a comment about how 'White people love to divide, rule, and make generalisations about disabilities'.
FFS, We already know David Cameron and most politicians are egotistical idiots, chosen for their sharp elbows, not sharp intellects.
NEWS please.
9 January 2012 2:47PM
And to think the Guardian published a piece a day or two ago about how easily people took foofence these days.
Synthetic, manufactured offence.
9 January 2012 2:48PM
As his now busom baddy Clegg was wont to say about him - "there's less to him than meets the eye"
My sentiments exactly.
9 January 2012 2:48PM
What would you expect of a man who during the election repeatedly used the fact that he had had a disabled child to reassure people that the vulnerable would be safe on his watch. Yet since taking office, he has done little else but attack the vulnerable, culminating in the cutting of disabled children's benefit, the one he as a millionaire had been happy to benefit from.
Beneath contempt.
9 January 2012 2:49PM
Or maybe he's just a tw@t.
9 January 2012 2:49PM
Well, quite. People who get a first class degree at Oxford are notoriously stupid.
9 January 2012 2:49PM
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9 January 2012 2:49PM
No it's not Cromwell's England. But that throw-away comment, to my mind, reveals much about the man.
Great article. Voiced by someone who's in a position to write about this.
Without turning this whole scandal into cheap political point-scoring.
9 January 2012 2:50PM
Each one of those is a colossus compared to Cameron!
9 January 2012 2:51PM
As Alexander Chancellor said on CIF the other day. Can we please stop being outraged every time someone says something stupid?
9 January 2012 2:51PM
While I agree with the main point of the article - Cameron's attacks on the NHS should be why we are attacking him, I think that his disregard for tourette's sufferers in his insensitive remarks was not remarkable and certainly not limited to him. My guess is that the vast majority of people in the UK would make the same joke and certainly the vast majority would find it funny, in some way. The idea that our politicians need to be bland is unfortunate but necessary.
9 January 2012 2:51PM
Another day another group of people choosing to take offence at some percieved insult.Twitter makes the situation worse.
Diane Abbot,Jeremy Clarkson,David Cameron,Jonathan Ross.....The list goes on.Total over reaction.Unless you are directly insulted like Stan Collymore then people need to get some thicker skin.......
9 January 2012 2:51PM
'He is by far the worst Prime Minister in living memory'
Sorry comrade, I think you've got him confused with Gordon Brown.
9 January 2012 2:52PM
Never let reality get the better of you.
"According to Guardian/ICM poll, 48% of respondents say PM is doing a good job, while coalition's score is 39%". Guardian 25 December.
9 January 2012 2:52PM
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9 January 2012 2:54PM
When one considers the revulsion that was expressed, quite rightly, when conservative MP Paul Maynard was mocked in the House of Commons, it is astounding that our Prime Minister can think it is OK to make "off the cuff" to attack an opponent by suggesting he looks like he's disabled.
I can't ever remember a PM who makes so much use of personal and often offensive abuse both during PMQs and in interviews. I've always understood that those who resort to insults, and/or swearing are just inarticulate or inadequate.
I totally agree with you, Jess, that Cameron has a great deal to apologise for.
9 January 2012 2:55PM
I have to agree with the author. I too, if I had Tourette's, would hate to be compared to Ed Balls.
9 January 2012 2:55PM
Always remember Bill that were that poll accurate and a permanent state of affairs, it would include lots of people just like you.
9 January 2012 2:55PM
My guess is that the vast majority of people in the UK would make the same joke.
When speaking in public as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom? Do you really think so?
9 January 2012 2:56PM
I'd like too know how the NHS will cope with the huge rise in obesity that's now expected over the next few years.
I mean I've read figures that suggest the cost to the NHS will rise from some £4billion to over £6billion. Is this true.
I mean stopping people getting fat surely is a helluva easier thing to do than getting them to lose weight.
Is "change for life" actually working. Get down your local Maccie D's and report back here. You'd be surprised.
I think we need to really address it. Not pussyfoot around it. Get GP's to advise people that they are gaining weight and it's dangerous to their health. Get occupational therapists in to advise people how to get their weight down.
Seriously the coming obesity epidemic will probably destroy our NHS.
9 January 2012 2:56PM
Your point being? [There was a point to your comment, wasn't there?]
9 January 2012 2:56PM
Well he would say that wouldn't he.
9 January 2012 2:57PM
or (c) because they haven't yet had every vestige of their sense of humour ground out of them by relentless political correctness
stereotypes can be funny - get over it
9 January 2012 2:57PM
But as the writer of this article expresses so well, people are not outraged at the fact that he said it, but that it illustrates the ignorance behind the fact of his actions in his systematic destruction of support for people with disabilities.
That is what we should be furious about - and we are.
Excellent article. Thanks.
9 January 2012 2:58PM
Jeez, Gordon Brown was a colossus compared to dip shit Dave.
9 January 2012 2:58PM
Cameron wanted to insult Balls, so he chose a jibe that he thought was 'nasty' enough. Hence the offence. Cameron is supposed to be a PM not a comedian FFS.
9 January 2012 2:58PM
Scleroderma, which causes skin thickening, is no laughing matter and I am deeply offended by your suggestion that thickening skin is desirable. Sit in some genuinely thickened skin for an hour or two and then you may begin to appreciate the insensitivity of your remark.
9 January 2012 2:59PM
It would be nice to be able to ignore Cameron but unfortunately he's not likely to go away as I suspect that he is more than likely to help bring about the end of the UK as a union and as a global economic power. He must be about the vainest and most vacuous Prime Minister the country has ever endured (well maybe apart from Blair, who was in a class all of his own).
9 January 2012 2:59PM
No. He's saying Ed Balls is an irritiating and unprofessional idiot.
No. He's saying Ed Balls is an irritiating and unprofessional idiot.
or perhaps they think that Ed Balls is an irritiating and unprofessional idiot.
9 January 2012 3:00PM
Micahel White of the Guardian said
9 January 2012 3:00PM
Much as I like to slag Cameron off, I think that is a bit tenuous. It reads to me that Balls swore a lot ( his name alone could be classed as a swear word!) and that was why it was like having someone with Tourette's sitting opposite you. The main symptom of Tourette's is excessive swearing....i'm no doctor , but i believe that's the case....hence, Balls swore a lot, ergo, the comparison to Tourette's.
9 January 2012 3:02PM
vigdis
Humour is an incredibly powerful weapon for a politician. Actually, it's a big problem for Ed as he simply can't do it.
It's all about the delivery - whether you're an actor, a comedian or a politician.
9 January 2012 3:03PM
Cameron, to me, has the appearance of a on-the-surface polished professional, but in reality he's more of a David Brent... crass, middle-management type.
Shiny, smiley face, sharp suit, and borish manners - making fun of other people to get a cheap laugh.
This type is found in companies up and down the land.
The man has no gravitas nor dignity. Off with his head.
9 January 2012 3:03PM
Oh for heavens sake.
First we're told you can't make jokes about black people, then gay people and now it's the disabled!
It''s political correctness gone mad I tell you.
9 January 2012 3:03PM
I really couldn't care less what Dave uses as a throw away comment.
If he wants to align himself with intellectual giants like Ross, Brand, Clarkson and Abbot who am I to say that's wrong.
Unlike all the above, he has the power to make life difficult for those he mocks. And he does.
Defend it for being a bit of fun if you must, but at least consider whether this is indicative of his attitude to people with disabilities.
9 January 2012 3:06PM
Pensions
Gold.
Two words to put a hole below Gordon's waterline
9 January 2012 3:06PM
People with Tourettes don't find jokes about it funny.
People affected by cancer don't find jokes about it funny.
People affected by AIDS don't find jokes about it funny.
Welcome to reality. People make these jokes every day, and it's nothing to do with ignorance of any condition.
It was a quip about how Ed Balls can't seem to control himself. That's all. Extrapolating further is a little bit ridiculous.
9 January 2012 3:06PM
Terrifying. I suppose they don't read any news.
9 January 2012 3:07PM
More or less - presumably he meant that Balls shouts the same nonsensical thing at him day after day.
9 January 2012 3:07PM
9 January 2012 3:08PM
Well, you have a point. However, I think Cameron does not have the necessary talent to deliver the jokes, personally. He always comes across (to me) as a tad spiteful.
I'm not defending Balls... he's no comedian either.
9 January 2012 3:08PM
He can't seem to.
I am expecting to watch PMQ's one day and see him take a dump in his hand and fling his poop across the gangway.
It is the logical end result of what he does now.
9 January 2012 3:08PM
Just to add: Jess Thom is great and should not be accused of having a sense of humour failure - the humour and creativity she uses in dealing with her own condition and promoting understanding in others is pretty inspiring.
9 January 2012 3:08PM
You must have the idea that conforming to the thinking patterns of a 'certain institution' means you have 'intellect'.
Apparently getting a first class degree in economics from such institutions will land you a top job in world finance - but that doesn't seem to leave us with a functioning financial system does it?
What is the value of an an education which prevents you from asking the right questions?
9 January 2012 3:09PM
Well I wish he would hurry up about it.