Saturday, October 11, 2008

Saturday Cyril: 50:50 Rochdale Obbie Run Goes ON



Two plus two. Last three weeks: Wednesdays - 10 - 2 AGAINST Sir Squirrel; Saturdays - 6 -6 LEVEL PEGGING. Click to enlarge. Pro-Asbestos ones seem desperately similar in drafting style. Rochdale Observer still farming letters to make Cyril, and Hennigan and Rowen by the way, look less bad.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Many of these letters supporting Cyril are formulaic. Not the most sophisticated spin. Clearly Cyril on the phone rather than Dave on the t'interweb. That is why there is a delay. These are the postulations put out a fortnight ago that instant blogging and web comment have already discussed. Even the most strident internet supporters of Cyril have conceded most of the points and have moved on from these crass claims.

Internet Cyril apologists and current Lib Dems must be embarressed to keep reading these crude attempts at defending Cyril by using political slurs or loyal accounts of happy workers and doting managers.

So blatant that many think the Rochdale Observer letters are spoofs.

Lions led by donkeys?

"I'd happily return to the trenches. We knew the risks and were prepared to pay the ultimate price for Christian civilisation and the British Empire"

The last gasp of deference?

Those poor, loyal, yet truly misguided souls.

Cyril Smith, as a 'Straight talking' politician probably didn't have much time for those fancy London satirical commenters back in the 1960's. Irony does seem to be missed on him.

No doubt "Beyond the Fringe" went straight over Cyril's head.

One sketch was called "Aftermyth of War" and had the memorable line about futile gestures:

"Perkins, I'm asking you to lay down your life. We need a futile gesture at this stage– it'll raise the whole tone of the war..."

The letters pages of the Rochdale Observer keep being filled with futile gestures. Grammar school boys done good, with letters after their names, protecting the industry they loved, once run by public school boy directors, long since gone but not forgotten. Fawning old mill girls, who mistook the formica and band-aid gloss of medical facilities at TBA for real medical care, is as astonishing as their blind defence of Cyril Smith.

Perhaps what they are clinging onto is trust. If that goes then the edifice crumbles. What they thought was true and decent for decades could be tarnished or destroyed. No-body likes to accept they've been 'had', especially if it invloves a cancer causing dust that could affect colleagues, friends and family. They are clinging on to trust. If trust is lost then the reality could be truly monstrous and uncontrollable.

For years, Cyril and the asbestos directors have played a sinister game. The pepetuation of collective guilt rather than individual senior executive culpability: Workers are told repeatedly they knew the risks, got well paid (to "put food on the table" a hairy old phrase oft used to defend Cyril), the workers had free will (if they didn't like it they could leave), Not as bad as Cape Asbestos, Turners was a wonderful place to work, world class etc.

Norman and Cyril Smith still cling onto their view that asbestos is safe. That the general public are not at risk.

Why?

Anonymous said...

The comment above is obviously from the Lucy Beresford School of Psychology aka Making Everybody Else's Comments Fit My Own Prejudices.

Isn't it funny how everyone that agrees with you is a free-thinker and anyone that disagrees has been brain-washed.

Utterly patronising.

Chris Paul said...

Wally range: Apart from events dear boy events we have facts dear boy facts. And sadly the facts are that Cyril and TBA lied and cheated to keep their asbestos stocks useful.

tory boys never grow up said...

The letters from Cyril supporters are now verging on the comical. So they were aware of the risks and asbestos was no worse than other industries. Well perhaps they should consider thick Norman's figure of only 20% of workers being affected. I wonder if they realise that the odds may have been a little better if they were paying Russian roulette.

Anonymous said...

Utterly patronising Wally Range?

People get cancer as a result of a fat fool abusing the trust of an entire town. Loyal folk who trusted him. He shouted, threatened and bullied anyone who dared suggest asbestos was dangerous. That is the very reason why T&N used him. Cyril Smith's parliamentary insults of other MP's by calling them alarmists and scaremongers should haunt him forever.

Ho many people will die becasue of Cyril Smith's vain meddling with asbestos?

So Wally thinks some criticism of Big Cyril is utterly patronising? That is rich defending a devious political operator who created an image of a cuddly "man of the people" character who walked through Rochdale market to buy his tripe whilst wearing his carpet slippers.

Some little old ladies loved him. He abused that admiration and trust. He sold his soul.

He knew what he was doing in his relationship with T&N. It was cold and calculating. He turned a blind eye to asbestos cancer and addressed his electorate in a way that was truly and utterly patronising.

A dirty, deadly legacy from a posionous odious politician. He personifies why people today are less innocent and more cynical.

The letters between Cyril Smith and T&N over the 1981 debate on asbestos are shocking. I have never seen a more graphic example of a political pig in the trough.

Cancerous sleeze.

Anonymous said...

Having just fully read this thread I doubt if Wally Range was suggesting that "criticism of Big Cyril is utterly patronising".

Isn't the point that your attack on Smith's supporters IS patronising.

Just because people happen to take the opposite point of view to your own they are told they in 'the last gasp of deference', 'truly misguided', 'laying down their lives as a futile gesture', 'clinging on to trust' and (my favourite) 'fawning old mill girls'.

Defintion of patronising - characteristic of those who treat others with condescension.

So, yes, patronising.

Anonymous said...

don't worry your pretty little head about it EHC.

Chris Paul said...

Amen to that. Get your own blog mate.