Talk:Bigotgate

Woah! I started something here!
My first ever attempt at writing a Wikipedia entry, so much has happened already and the article has changed sooo much! since I originally wrote it (in fact none of my text is here! Should I be angry or proud? anyway I'm prepared to translate (only using Google Translate!) should anyone want?

I hope it is not deleted as I think it is a landmark in British history, I am happy with my original entry should anyone care to look... http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Gillian_Duffy&oldid=358848588 Shadgrind (talk)

"Landmark in British history"? Oh come on, this is no different to the John Prescott punch! Now of course forgotten .. It's a significant event in the context of British elections 2010 but no more. --A Gooner (talk) 15:46, 28 April 2010 (UTC)


 * Next time can the original author of the article please give more consideration to what should have a wikipedia article and what shouldn't... Abc30 (talk) 15:50, 28 April 2010 (UTC)

Protect the article?
It's worth it, considering the fact that the whole country is interested in I see a lot of room for vandalism on the main page, should be considered. --A Gooner (talk) 15:15, 28 April 2010 (UTC)


 * The article should be deleted immediately. Abc30 (talk) 15:21, 28 April 2010 (UTC)
 * At best it should be trans-wikied to Wikinews per WP:NOTNEWS. It can come back if reliable sources cite it as important in the outcome of the election, but until then, I don't believe it's creditable to have it. Rodhull  andemu  17:05, 28 April 2010 (UTC)

Noteworthy?
Is this really noteworthy to have a whole article about the woman herself? Perhaps make one about the incident, but she clearly didn't want to talk to the press at all (both before, during and after the incident). She won't even come out and give a statement about the apology, she simply wanted the press off her driveway. A page about the woman herself doesn't exactly contribute to the actual incident at all.aslate (talk) 15:12, 28 April 2010 (UTC)
 * WP:BLP1E. Kittybrewster  &#9742;  15:21, 28 April 2010 (UTC)
 * "If the event is highly significant, and the individual's role within it is a large one, a separate article is generally appropriate. The assassins of major political leaders, such as Gavrilo Princip, fit into this category" - I somewhat doubt it qualifies for this. In a week's time (or less) it'll be completely forgotten. To be perfectly honest, the entire incident is hardly Wiki worthy. We don't create an article every time the PM is heckled by a voter, nor do we make one for every mistake made by a politician. I hardly think "bigotgate" as some papers have called it is likely to be worthy of its own article anyway, but if it was this content should be a part of that.

Transcript
Any chance we can some translations into Czech, Polish and various other "eastern" (sic) European languages to have a balance please.

And a map of Europe for Mrs Duffy to work out where they are "flocking" from?

The full transcript.

Here is the full transcript of the conversation between Gordon Brown and Rochdale voter Voter.

Voter: My family have voted Labour all their lives. My father, even, when he was in his teens, went to Free Trade Hall to sing the Red Flag. And now I’m absolutely ashamed of saying I’m Labour.

Gordon Brown: Now you mustn’t be, because what have we done? We’ve improved the health service, we’re financing more police, neighbourhood policing, we are getting better schools, and we are coming through a very, very difficult world recession. You know what my views are. I’m for fairness, for hard-working families. I want to make sure - I’ve told these guys across there - if you commit a crime you’re going to be punished. You better stop.

Voter: I don’t think it’s happening in Rochdale...

Gordon Brown: We have a bit more policing than there were but obviously we are going to do better in the future with neighbourhood policing, but neighbourhood policing is the key to it. You’re a very good woman, you’ve served your community all your life.

Voter: I have, I’ve worked for the Rochdale council for 30 years, and I worked with children and handicapped children.

Gordon Brown: Well I think working with children is so important, so important isn’t it. Have you been in some of the children’s centres?

Voter: The thing that I can’t understand is why am I still being taxed at 66 years old because my husband’s died and I had some of his pension tagged on to mine?

Gordon Brown: Well we are raising the threshold at which people start paying tax as pensioners. But yes, if you’ve got an occupational pension you may have to pay some tax but you may be eligible for the pension credit as well, you should check.

Voter: No, no I’m not. I’ve checked and checked and they said no, they can’t do it.

Gordon Brown: Well you should look at it again just to be sure, absolutely sure.

Voter: Yes, yes they’ve told me. I’ve been down to Rochdale council to try and get it off my tax.

Gordon Brown: You know we’re linking the pension to earnings in two years’ time, we’ve got the winter allowance as you know which I hope is a benefit, the winter allowance.

Voter: I agree with that, it’s very good, but every year I talk to people my age and they say they’ll be knocking it off, it will be going. It will be.

Gordon Brown: We’re keeping it. We have done the bus passes, we have done the free eye tests, free prescriptions.

Voter: But how are you going to get us out of all this debt Gordon?

Gordon Brown: Because we have got a deficit reduction plan to cut the debt in half over the next four years. We’ve got the plans, they’ve been set out today. Look I was a person who came in...

Voter: The three main things what I had drummed in when I was a child was education, health service and looking after people who are vulnerable. But there’s too many people now who aren’t vulnerable but they can claim, and people who are vulnerable can’t claim, can’t get it.

Gordon Brown: But they shouldn’t be doing that, there is no life on the dole for people any more. If you are unemployed you’ve got to go back to work. It’s six months...

Voter: You can’t say anything about the immigrants because you’re saying that you’re... but all these eastern Europeans what are coming in, where are they flocking from?

Gordon Brown: A million people have come from Europe but a million British people have gone into Europe. You do know that there’s a lot of British people staying in Europe as well. Look, come back to what were your initial principles: helping people - that’s what we’re in the business of doing. A decent health service, that’s really important, and education. Now these are the things that we have tried to do. We’re going to maintain the schools so that we can make sure that people have that chance to get on. We’re going to maintain the health service so that...

Voter: And what are you going to do about students who are coming in then, all this that you have to pay, you’ve scrapped that Gordon.

Gordon Brown: Which one?

Voter: To help people who go to university.

Gordon Brown: Tuition fees?

Voter: Yes.

Gordon Brown: Yeah but look we’ve got...

Voter: I’m thinking about my grandchildren here. What will they have to pay to get into university?

Gordon Brown: You’ve got 40% of young people now going to university, more than ever, so you’ve got to have some balance. If you get a degree and you earn twice as much after you get the degree then you’ve got to pay something back as a contribution. But there are grants for your grandchildren, there are grants, more grants than ever before. You know more young people are going to university than ever before, and for the first year the majority of people going to university are women - so there’s big opportunities for women. So education, health and helping people, that’s what I’m about. That’s what I’m about.

Voter: Well congratulations, and I hope you can keep it up.

Gordon Brown: It’s been very good to meet you, and you’re wearing the right colour today. How many grandchildren so you have?

Voter: Two. They’ve just come back from Australia where they’ve been stuck for nine, 10 days with this ash crisis.

Gordon Brown: But they got through now? Yeah we’ve been trying to get people back quickly. But are they going to go to university? That’s the plan?

Voter: I hope so. They’re only 12 and 10.

Gordon Brown: Oh they’re only 12 and 10. But they’re doing well at school?

Voter: Yeah yeah, very good.

Gordon Brown: A good family. Good to see you.

Voter: Yeah. And the education system in Rochdale - I will congratulate it.

Gordon Brown: Good. And it’s very nice to see you. Take care. Good to see you all. Thanks very much.

Gordon Brown gets in car.

Gordon Brown: That was a disaster...should never have put me with that woman. Whose idea was that?

Aide: I don’t know, I didn’t see her.

Gordon Brown: Sue’s I think. Just ridiculous.

Aide: Not sure that they’ll go with that one.

Gordon Brown: They will go with that one.

Aide: What did she say?

Mr Brown: Everything, she was just a sort of bigoted woman who said she used to be Labour.

Event not the person
This article is about an important event in the UK May 2010 election campaign, not the individual specifically. There I believe that WP:BLP1E does not really apply. Comments? — Jonathan Bowen (talk) 15:24, 28 April 2010 (UTC)


 * Then the article should be renamed "bigoted woman incident" or some such descriptive name of the incident, and all biographical information should be removed. But really a minor section in UK general election, 2010 would be sufficient. Abc30 (talk) 15:26, 28 April 2010 (UTC)
 * Move to Bigotgate. Kittybrewster  &#9742;  15:28, 28 April 2010 (UTC)
 * "Bigoted woman" incident. Why trivialise everything with a -gate suffix? 189.136.165.231 (talk) 15:32, 28 April 2010 (UTC)
 * I hate the inverted commas. And the point is that she is not bigoted. In any event we must observe BLP. Kittybrewster  &#9742;  15:51, 28 April 2010 (UTC)
 * Precisely: "scare quotes" 189.136.165.231 (talk) 15:55, 28 April 2010 (UTC)