Owen Jones Watch: When Grindr Goes Wrong

Eric Pickles Watch: No Comment

Telegraph.

Eric Pickles is straight married.

There, said it.

Eric Pickles: Exclusive Interview

Hello.

Alright, pet.

How are you?

Lovely. Pickles by name, pickles by nature!

What by the many moons of Jupiter does that mean?

I'm from the North, me (chuckles).

Well done.

By 'eck, I hate poor people.

Erm, okay, What are you doing?

Eating a suckling pig sandwich for my lunch.

Are you a secret gay?

Not me, duckie, I'm married.

Has your marriage ever been constipated?

Consummated. I think we should terminate this interview, love...

Hangs up.

Fagburn: Heterosexual Of The Year

Runner-up: Eric Pickles DBE.

Sunday Express: Questions To Which The Answer Is No (Unfortunately)

Sunday Express.

The Express' columnists - from Ann Widdecombe to Frederick Forsyth - always read like Craig Brown parodies.

Update: Another question to which the answer is no - from next week's Big Issue.

The highly respected British Social Attitudes Survey estimates that roughly half of the population professes no religion, and places Anglicans at an all-time low of 20%, with Catholics and other Christians at 9% and 17% respectively. With only 14% of religious people attending services every week, and religious groups and leaders topping a 2006 Ipsos MORI poll of which domestic groups have too much influence in society, on what grounds are the Prime Minister and Communities Secretary possibly basing their claims?

British Humanist Association.

Email Of The Day: Matthew Parris

Matthew Parris, The Times.

Apropos of nothing, Fagburn wonders if Eric Pickles has been invited?

Floods: Farage Speaks Out!

Farage has actually said something even more stupid, and called for the UK foreign aid budget to be cut and the money given to those affected by the floods.

PS Seeing as they've just passed equal marriage shouldn't it be Scotland that's being flooded?
Or is the Envioronmental Agency's gay head honcho Lord Chris Smith to blame!!?
Just thank our vengeful Lord that Eric Pickles is so reassuringly heterosexual...

Independent: Rubbish!

Er... why? Birmingham council wheelie bin survey asks: Are you gay, straight or bisexual?

The horror! The horror!
The Independent further cements its reputation as having the most piss-poor gay coverage of any broadsheet by running this nonsense non-story.
The questions are standard for councils wanting to know how they're serving all residents, they included stuff unrelated to sexuality, and it was quite clear you didn't have to fill them in - it was also online, so cost next to zero.
I'm sure most people ignored it - so what's the story?
The only person who seems bothered about it is Eric Pickles - who admittedly might find being asked if he's straight or gay a bit awkward.
Can we leave this hysterical "It's political correctness gone mad!" crap to the Daily Mail?

PS Yes, the "hilarious" cartoon above comes from the Mail.

Update: Perhaps predictably Ann Widdecombe waded in to the non-debate in her Express column, No Sex Please, Just Empty My Bins.
How sad The Indie has the same take on all this as Widdecombe.  

Daily Mail: Another Nail In The Coffin Of The Nazi PC State!

"Town hall ‘sex snoopers’ will today be banned from bombarding people with intrusive questions about their private lives.
"Local Government Secretary Eric Pickles said he was appalled that residents seeking to access basic services were being grilled about their sex lives, disabilities, religion, ethnicity and employment.
"He said they should not have to reveal detailed personal information to get their bins emptied or take out a library book..."

The Daily Mail.

Thank fuck for that!
I for one have had enough about being GRILLED about my sex life every Wednesday by the PC Stasi from Brighton Council before they'll agree to empty my bins!
I was in the library the other day and there was this little old lady in tears - IN TEARS she was!
Some jumped-up little Eichmann had refused to lend her the latest large print Barbara Taylor Bradford unless she said if she'd ever done rimming.
Imagine!
The world's gone mad!
Isn't this how Hitler got started?
By enclosing short questionnaires with boring long forms and asking if people wouldn't mind terribly filling them in?
Well done Mr Pickles - it's a victory for common sense!!!

Eric Pickles: For Gay Marriage And On His Own

The Daily Mail lovingly profiles Eric Pickles, the ever-so slightly camp professional Yorkshireman and Communities and Local Government Secretary.
This bit might surprise you...
"...Pickles ­supports another Lib Dem policy, which was carried overwhelmingly at their party conference last month.
"‘I have no problem with gay ­marriage in church. It’s the ­commitment between two people that counts,’ he said."
In a near perfect segue, the Mail then reminds us that Mr Pickles is happily married himself.
"As for his own family, he has been married to Irene for 34 years. His ­Westminster office is full of ­family photos — happy shots of his nieces and nephews.
"But the ­Pickleses have no children of their own — and he won’t discuss the ­subject. ‘Some things are private,’ he said, ‘and should remain so.’"