Anna Soubry MP: What on earth is going on?

[Cyril Haearn]

Perhaps the ctc could appoint her vice-president

[roubaixtuesday]

It is of course completely irrelevant but the post proving that she is a cyclist does nothing of the sort . Show me a health minister that isn't enthusiastic about other people cycling ? The strong implication is she doesn't cycle on the roads and she explicitly states her children are not allowed on the roads , far too dangerous. Whether she ever used the mountain bike we don't know and what child didn't go through a cycling phase but most don't class themselve as cyclists in adulthood.

I'll ignore your other comments

Wow. Desperate stuff. Truly.

[bovlomov]

The strong implication is she doesn't cycle on the roads and she explicitly states her children are not allowed on the roads , far too dangerous. Whether she ever used the mountain bike we don't know and what child didn't go through a cycling phase but most don't class themselve as cyclists in adulthood.

She's not a true cyclist. She just cycles.

[Cunobelin]

Lets forget politics
Let forget Brexit
Lets forget that this person is an MP
Lets forgetful that she is female




Lets put in in perspective.

If the group approached a cyclist and harangued, bullied and intimidated them for that?

But she is not a cyclist ( and probably doesn't like cyclists ). She is a politician and she has shouted down people in the House of Commons in the past why shouldn't ordinary people express their views about her. She was carrying out political activities (the interview) ,she was at her place of work (Westminster ) . It was a peferctly reasonable expression of free speech and if the the video on the BBC website represents the worst of the behaviour it was nothing.

So you are really saying that the behaviour of this activists is perfectly reasonable?

Lets make this clear, this is the face of perfectly acceptable Political debate in the modern UK?

[JimL]

The strong implication is she doesn't cycle on the roads and she explicitly states her children are not allowed on the roads , far too dangerous. Whether she ever used the mountain bike we don't know and what child didn't go through a cycling phase but most don't class themselve as cyclists in adulthood.

She's not a true cyclist. She just cycles.

To continue a pointless debate. We don't know if she is a cyclist or indeed she just cycles. We know her husband gave he a mountain bike some time back.

[NUKe]

No it wasn’t a perfectly acceptable example of free speech, she was been harassed and called a piece of s****, this was lead by one of the main Tommy Robinson supporters. It was the same group who harassed Owen Jones.

Free speech is about being able to state your views and I will always stand by the right to protest, but chasing someone down the street and shouting at them is harassment. The police were there but were next to useless.

That will be because the police know the difference between free speech and harassment. If anybody thinks that was harassment they have lived a sheltered life or are a tadge dishonest

Following somebody and calling them names is harassment, I watched both videos they were crowding The MP. Owen was treated somewhat worse, Having been in a similar situation some years ago. When being crowded by an angry mob, because they didn’t agree with my politics, I can tell you it looked like harassment to me. after the Jo Cox, the police should have interviened earlier.
Can i ask do you believe calling somebody a piece of s*** is acceptable behaviour? For no other reason than you don’t agree with them.

[JimL]

Lets forget politics
Let forget Brexit
Lets forget that this person is an MP
Lets forgetful that she is female




Lets put in in perspective.

If the group approached a cyclist and harangued, bullied and intimidated them for that?

But she is not a cyclist ( and probably doesn't like cyclists ). She is a politician and she has shouted down people in the House of Commons in the past why shouldn't ordinary people express their views about her. She was carrying out political activities (the interview) ,she was at her place of work (Westminster ) . It was a peferctly reasonable expression of free speech and if the the video on the BBC website represents the worst of the behaviour it was nothing.

So you are really saying that the behaviour of this activists is perfectly reasonable?

Lets make this clear, this is the face of perfectly acceptable Political debate in the modern UK?

I'm saying people are perfectly entitled to have their opinion heard , whether you or I agree with it,and there was nothing out of the ordinary in the protest andI'm not sure why the ouburst of outrage at his incident and not countless others. As someone noted above the police were in attendance and had no problem. What do you want to do ? Ban people from shouting at politicians ?

[pete75]

Lets forget politics
Let forget Brexit
Lets forget that this person is an MP
Lets forgetful that she is female




Lets put in in perspective.

If the group approached a cyclist and harangued, bullied and intimidated them for that?

But she is not a cyclist ( and probably doesn't like cyclists ). She is a politician and she has shouted down people in the House of Commons in the past why shouldn't ordinary people express their views about her. She was carrying out political activities (the interview) ,she was at her place of work (Westminster ) . It was a peferctly reasonable expression of free speech and if the the video on the BBC website represents the worst of the behaviour it was nothing.

So you are really saying that the behaviour of this activists is perfectly reasonable?

Lets make this clear, this is the face of perfectly acceptable Political debate in the modern UK?

He obviously does. Comments above re Diane Abbott give a good indication of his views. If someone regards the sort of behaviour in the video as nothing it certainly begs the question what is their own behaviour like. He probably has tattoos as well - certainly the well known anchor surmounted by a W.

[JimL]

But she is not a cyclist ( and probably doesn't like cyclists ). She is a politician and she has shouted down people in the House of Commons in the past why shouldn't ordinary people express their views about her. She was carrying out political activities (the interview) ,she was at her place of work (Westminster ) . It was a peferctly reasonable expression of free speech and if the the video on the BBC website represents the worst of the behaviour it was nothing.

So you are really saying that the behaviour of this activists is perfectly reasonable?

Lets make this clear, this is the face of perfectly acceptable Political debate in the modern UK?

He obviously does. Comments above re Diane Abbott give a good indication of his views. If someone regards the sort of behaviour in the video as nothing it certainly begs the question what is their own behaviour like. He probably has tattoos as well - certainly the well known anchor surmounted by a W.

Not worthy of response

[Cyril Haearn]

Anna Soubry is a PoB, Plus One!

[pete75]

So you are really saying that the behaviour of this activists is perfectly reasonable?

Lets make this clear, this is the face of perfectly acceptable Political debate in the modern UK?

He obviously does. Comments above re Diane Abbott give a good indication of his views. If someone regards the sort of behaviour in the video as nothing it certainly begs the question what is their own behaviour like. He probably has tattoos as well - certainly the well known anchor surmounted by a W.

Not worthy of response

But accurate...

[pete75]

Anna Soubry is a PoB, Plus One!

What is a PoB?

[Cyril Haearn]

Anna Soubry is a PoB, Plus One!

What is a PoB?

I refer the Rt Hon Member to my vocab thread
Person on Bike, cyclist even!

No irony or sarcasm intended

[Cunobelin]

But she is not a cyclist ( and probably doesn't like cyclists ). She is a politician and she has shouted down people in the House of Commons in the past why shouldn't ordinary people express their views about her. She was carrying out political activities (the interview) ,she was at her place of work (Westminster ) . It was a peferctly reasonable expression of free speech and if the the video on the BBC website represents the worst of the behaviour it was nothing.

So you are really saying that the behaviour of this activists is perfectly reasonable?

Lets make this clear, this is the face of perfectly acceptable Political debate in the modern UK?

I'm saying people are perfectly entitled to have their opinion heard , whether you or I agree with it,and there was nothing out of the ordinary in the protest andI'm not sure why the ouburst of outrage at his incident and not countless others. As someone noted above the police were in attendance and had no problem. What do you want to do ? Ban people from shouting at politicians ?

There is a difference between legitimate protest and the racist / mysoginist abuse and death threats that are the methods of this group. The day this becomes acceptable then it will be a sad day for Democracy

What I find ironic is that you are stating that people are entitled to have their opinion heard while supporting Right Wing Extremists trying to stop exactly that!

That is almost funny if it was not so tragic

[Ben@Forest]

What I find ironic is that you are stating that people are entitled to have their opinion heard while supporting Right Wing Extremists trying to stop exactly that!

That is almost funny if it was not so tragic

The whole issue seems to be around abuse in politics and greater society but it occurs even on this thread talking about it - looking at the 'anchor' comment above.

It's difficult to know what to think about the 'Soubry event'. It is nasty and not decent behaviour, but when would that particular incident step over the line into being illegal? When does loud shouting and offensive words become become threatening behaviour? If protestors were pulled away and arrested there'd be more response on here suggesting we'd become a police state.

I don't think this behaviour is new - when working miners went though picket lines in the 84/85 strike I'm sure the abuse and intimidation was just as bad. And in the 1830s the Duke of Wellington (then a politician) had iron shutters fitted to his house after mobs had shattered his windows on several occasions. I think the mob will always be with us.