Poor Gordon Brown - he has been caught on microphone, calling a 65-year-old woman he had met on a meet-and-greet, a "bigot". The media has played it up, and Brown has apologised on BBC radio (filmed doing so, head in hands), and also has called her to apologise in person - and then emailed his party to apologise too. The BBC is calling it the worst moment for the Labour party so far in the election - an election that already sees them likely to come third behind the Tories and Lib-Dems. However, this may garner sympathy. If the woman did want to restrict immigration to keep out Eastern Europeans, she is, by definition, a bit of a bigot. Brown actually does seem to care, and actually does have integrity. His fault seems to be that he called it like it is. Perhaps he was too quick to say he was sorry. Still, the BBC news is emphasising the Janus-faced nature of the comments - that Brown would speak to a Labour supporter one way in person, and then fulminate against them immediately after in private. Bad luck seems to hang over Brown like a fug. Tonight, this seems to be playing on and on, and snowballing. The most famous Duffy in the UK may now be Gillian, not Carol Ann, Duffy. This is Brown's Susan Boyle moment, in reverse.
THAT HANDSOME MAN A PERSONAL BRIEF REVIEW BY TODD SWIFT I could lie and claim Larkin, Yeats , or Dylan Thomas most excited me as a young poet, or even Pound or FT Prince - but the truth be told, it was Thom Gunn I first and most loved when I was young. Precisely, I fell in love with his first two collections, written under a formalist, Elizabethan ( Fulke Greville mainly), Yvor Winters triad of influences - uniquely fused with an interest in homerotica, pop culture ( Brando, Elvis , motorcycles). His best poem 'On The Move' is oddly presented here without the quote that began it usually - Man, you gotta go - which I loved. Gunn was - and remains - so thrilling, to me at least, because so odd. His elegance, poise, and intelligence is all about display, about surface - but the surface of a panther, who ripples with strength beneath the skin. With Gunn, you dressed to have sex. Or so I thought. Because I was queer (I maintain the right to lay claim to that
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Poor old Gordon! My sister said that watching him is a bit like watching a defenceless puppy get kicked. Hopefully he will harvest plenty of sympathy votes.
Best wishes from Simon