"I've never seen anything like it!"

I thought this article about the 'incident' was good.

Another tweet I saw today said this: @annie80778: The Sun call Emily Thornberry a "snob" but the man flying flags outside his house because "ethnic minorities don't like it"? Oh he's A-OK.

Not commenting on rosesarered or gillybob or their posts just making a general point.......everyone has an equal right hold any opinion. They are also entitled to express their opinions. The right to hold and express opinions does not make all our opinions of equal value or relevance. I'll get my coat.

I wouldn't worry about it rosesarered we are all entitled to our own opinion and yours is just as valuable and relevant as the next persons.

Excellent posts POGS and rosequartz.
To the poster who said I am opinionated...... 'pot calling the kettle black' hmmmn? I never say that all Labour MPs are bad/ lazy/arrogant unlike some who say that all the time about other political parties. I think for myself and don't get sucked into any idealogical black hole.Nor do I live in the past.
The price of flats/houses in the centre of London is astronomical, but that's market pressure and they were just as expensive a few years ago [in real terms] when Labour were in power.It has nothing to do with what party is in power.
For the other poster who asks if I have nothing better to worry about, then the answer is yes, I have family problems to worry about, but that doesn't stop me from posting an opinion on here, and was a very snide comment to make.

Excellent well written post. POGS.

I would think Ed is anything but "poor" rosequartz

I won't argue with the Guardian. POGS

Of course, with the proliferation of social media and instant communications this sort of thing happens more and more. I have heard the term 'verbal diarrrhoea' - not a very pleasant expression but it does it does describe quite aptly the ability some people have to talk endlessly without engaging brain before mouth. Nowadays these thoughts can be tweeted and instantly relayed to thousands, if not millions, of people around the world and can't be retracted.

If she is the person she purports to be then she will be regretting this bitterly, if she is the smug champagne socialist portrayed in some sections of the media then she will be bewildered and she won't understand what all the fuss is about.

However, a person who is intelligent, educated, lived life in different strata of society and who holds the position of Shadow Attorney General should have the ability to think before she acts and speaks, so perhaps she wasn't the best person for the job.

Poor Ed, this is all he needed!

Very good post, POGS

Emily Thornberry is not a child. She was the Shadow Attorney General for heavens sake and she has made a PR disaster for Labour.

Emily Thornberry has no qualms about talking about her childhood and at practically every interview or debate I have seen her taking part in she mentions it.

To those who try and say it is all to do with the right wing press who are the devil incarnate, you are wrong. Emily Thornberry tweeted this photo on the day of the Rochester and Strood election. There was a backlash on twitter and the tweet was being talked about on the BBC and SKY News very quickly afterwards. If you ever read other posts you will see the Thornberry 'gaff' was discussed all evening and into the early hours of the following day whilst t.v stations were covering the count.

The Newspapers had not even been printed and by the time they hit the shops the story was most certainly well on it's way.

Emily Thornberry was brought up in council house with little money, so were thousands of others myself included. Because she had that background some excuse her tweet saying 'because she lived in a council house she couldn't possibly be sneering'. To others the fact she was brought up in a council house means 'she was taking the p--s'.

A poster on this thread said Islington is the 8th most deprived area in the country. I can't dispute that fact.

However in the 1960's the georgian terraces were popular with the middle classes and the area was revamped, displacing a lot of poor families by the aspirational middle class and this is known as GENTRIFICATION. Even the saintly Guardian's description of Islington on wikipedia says 'Islington is widely regarded as the spiritual home of the left wing intelligentsia'. I won't argue with the Guardian.

The fact that Labour millionaires such as the Blair's, Thornberry, Hodgson, Mandelson etc. have/had homes there has obviously been under scrutiny because of Thornberry and her tweet. It has done Labour no favours trying to stop the point that the Labour Party is being run by millionaires , privately educated , champagne socialists.

She had to go, not because she made a crass error of judgement but she threw the spotlight back onto Miliband et all who are struggling to get through to their core voters.

One in the back of the net for UKIP.

Not quite sure how well off he was in 1967, when he left them, rosequartz.
He was 30 years old so had probably only just qualified. Not that it justifies it; just saying. She does not seem to blame him for their poverty in anything I've read, just states it as a fact. Maybe she'd rather not remember too much about it.

Lilygran, that is not what she tweeted. That is other people's response to what she tweeted, after having discussed it with their head office. That is other people making far more of it than it was, including Miliband.

Having worked as a legal secretary, it was my experience that many husbands/fathers found every way possible to get out of paying maintenance to their wives and children, irrespective of how well off they were.

Nelliemoser I really can't see how you can equate an incident in which an older married man sends photos of his penis to a young woman, accompanied by lewd comments, with that of somebody photographing a house.

I know several youngsters (peers of my DDs) who before Uni Fees as they are now, got full grants because parents were divorced.
Fathers were wealthy but their salary did not count in estimating household income. One of the ways the have , have!

nightowl thank you for that post of Sun 23-Nov-14 17:26:06

There are many decent politicians in all parties, and I wish we could get all the decent ones to form a coalition that would work together for the good of the country as a whole!

I do think, though, that there are some who will 'embellish' the facts of their background to make themselves more appealing to whichever part of the electorate they hope will vote them in. Someone said ambition is the driving force and I think I agree with that.

I still think, if what ET claims is true, it is appalling that a father could desert his family and leave them destitute when he was obviously earning a very large salary and at the top of his profession. Feckless fathers are not just found on sink estates.

What Emily did www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/nov/23/emily-thornberry-damaged-labour-election-prospects-rochester-tweet

rosesarered durhamjen's comment about the selling off of flats that have been rented to low income essential workers may have veered off the point - but then that often happens in these sorts of discussions.

The flats from which these families are to be evicted (because the American private equity company that purchased them is upping the rent from £600 to £2,400) are private properties on private land. Hackney Council therefore has no responsibility to re-home them and there is every possibility that many of them will have to uproot completely and leave London.

You say that you have "better things to worry about" - presumably you think someone tweeting a photo of a house falls into the "better things" category.

On face value the photo and caption tweeted with it were not offensive. If tweeted by Reckless it would have been seen as a celebration of impending UKIP success and it would not have been seen as a 'cuss' for the working man but recognition!

Just because I / MPs may not have:
*lived in a council house
*needed to claim benefits
*struggled as badly as others to make ends meet etc. etc.
does not mean I/MPs cannot empathise /understand how difficult /different that might be and be committed to trying to improve day to day life for those not having as easy time as others.
I do think that nowadays there are too few MPs who have 'working class' roots (ie their own experience) and too many who have had highly privileged family backgrounds and that is not representative of the electorate. I do think the Labour party could do more at local levels. Where I live is Tory heartland (Jeremy Hunt) and there is nothing locally to tell the local white 'working class', of whom there is a significant minority, that Labour has anything to offer them. There is no local profile and it has left a vacuum for UKIP to fill... even though they don't really give a fig for white van man and his three flags beyond his vote. Can't imagine Nigel ( or David C) intinctively wanting to be his best mate. (ps my SiL drives a white van!)

P.S. can I say that if people live in houses worth £1m+ they may not necessarily be 'posh trots' . The tiny £8000 maisonette my DH & I bought as young teachers (because only the GLC would give a mortgage on it) now sells for £600k. Property prices in London are bonkers!

SOON, 18.14

She's probably got a very good point.

Was she actually criticising the flags being draped on the house, or the fact that local residents are so against Immigrants, and for UKIP?

Gracesgran after reading all the posts on this page it's obvious that you haven't understood a word of what nightowl was trying to say. ( rosesarered )

If I haven't understood - and that is just your opinion - then remember the quote

Remember…the single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place. ~ Unknown

- It may not be my reading of what was said just the fact that it wasn't made clear. I do notice your are being quite opinionated about anyone who disagrees with you though.

No digging required.

Tweeting is mass media immediately.

I think it's another "mountain out of a molehill" developed via social media.
And directed against the Labour Party by the rightwing media press.
The UK is becoming more and more like the USA , digging the dirt pre-election.
I bet there's a newly created governmental department set up to nose out nasty stories against the opposition.

She made a serious error of judgement to post as she did. As an MP she should always think hard about any remark she makes, anywhere.

It might well have been the sort of thing I would comment on and it really is rather snide, but I am not a politician trying to win friends, influence people and appear as though my judgement could be trusted.

She has screwed up in just the same manner as the MP who sent photos of his willy to someone.

Good [and honest] post nightowl.