Mail On Sunday: Scandal!

Textbook stuff from the Mail On Sunday.

A suitable end to a rather dull week.

Sorry.
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The Sun: Gay Man Wears Pink Tie Shock!

A GOVERNMENT minister quit yesterday in a bid to become Commons Speaker John Bercow’s deputy — despite once calling him a “stupid, sanctimonious dwarf”. Tory Simon Burns resigned as transport minister to fight other candidates to succeed Nigel Evans who quit after being charged with sex offences against seven men...

Evans, 55, yesterday pleaded not guilty at Preston Crown Court to rape, five sex assaults and two indecent attacks.
The gay rights campaigner sporting a pink tie was granted bail. His trial will start in March.

The Sun - and that's all you need to know about Nigel, apparently.
Hope the pink tie revelation doesn't prejudice the jury.

And, erm, how exactly is Evans a "gay rights campaigner"?

Daily Mail: Exclusive - You Can't Be Tall And Gay

Daily Mail.

IDAHO: Have A Nice Day

The NSPCC had a long running campaign whose slogan was "Children to cruelty must stop!"
Whenever I saw one of their posters I went; "It's certainly something to think about."
It's kinda how I feel about IDAHO, the International Day Against Homophobia & Transphobia.
"Okay, so long as you promise it'll be just for one day..."
Of course, I think people should be against homophobia and transphobia.
Though all that seems to happen on IDAHO each year is a few town halls fly a rainbow flag.
The UK papers have ignored it today, except The Independent.
It's perhaps instructive that the paper which writes so little about The Gays the rest of the year has blessed us with not one but two articles.
There's one by John Bercow, the Speaker of the House.
He's passionately pro-gay, but it reads like a hastily written report card;
"Good work, but hope you can do even better next year."
Then he lists a couple of countries and rates their progress, good or bad.
The second piece - another quick list of good and bad news from around the world plus a few platitudes thrown in for dull measure - is called; 'The day the world comes out for tolerance'. 
I'm sure many on reading that title will have thought of the line from Jean Cocteau;
"But I refuse to be tolerated. This damages my love of love and liberty."
Anyway, same time next year?

The Daily Mail: John Bercow's Heraldry Shame

Balls?
But I read it in The Daily Mail...

Andrew Pierce Watch: Smears And Innuendo

"Having charged the taxpayer £3,200 for his formal dress suit for the wedding of Prince William, it seems the Speaker, little Johnny Bercow, has also invested in a new coat of arms. It’s meant to be a secret but, well, here goes: it’s dominated by the gay equality symbols of rainbow flags and pink triangles.
"What is he trying to tell us?"

The Daily Mail's inhouse gay Uncle Tom, Andrew Pierce.
Well, if this is true - which seeing as it's in The Daily Mail it probably isn't - maybe he's trying to tell us he supports gay equality?
Which he's done a far better job than Andrew Pierce has.
Which seeing as John Bercow is straight and Pierce is gay is pretty shameful.

John Bercow: Thought For The Day

"Somebody once said politicians complaining about the media is like sailors complaining about the sea – it's about as fruitful. I did refer to one paper [the Daily Mail] as being sexist, racist, bigoted – somehow I missed out the adjective homophobic. I was asked if have any regrets about saying that. I do because, and this is an abiding failing of mine," he pauses, like a comedian, timing the punchline, "I was guilty of understatement.
"I've got two categories of opponent – snobs and bigots. I think bigotry can be cured because I once held those views myself. As I'm aware, there's no known cure for snobbery. I feel rather sorry that those people, usually of no very great distinction, who think that because of the school they went to, the house they live in, or the person they married, or the money they've got, that they're better than you...
"I had voted once if not twice for statutory discrimination. In discussion with [former Tory backbencher] Tim Boswell, I came to the view that this is wrong, there's no reason to have this statutory discrimination. That caused me to think about other issues on that spectrum – Section 28, civil partnerships, gay adoption. I became completely convinced of the case for LGBT equality, and I thought my party wasn't frankly very sympathetic."

John Bercow, The Speaker of the House, Conservative (but possibly and technically not anymore), The Guardian.

Daily Telegraph: House Of Commons Turned Into Gay Club

The Daily Telegraph runs a short item on its politics pages today; 'Commons Speaker John Bercow hosts a gay party'
"John Bercow, the Speaker of the House of Commons, has stepped up his campaign to "modernise" Parliament.
"Bercow, who resigned from the Conservative front bench in 2002 after defying a three-line whip and voting for Labour's bill to allow homosexuals to adopt, is throwing a party in the state rooms at Speaker's House.
"It will celebrate the launch of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Network for Parliament. How did they manage without one?"
What a silly, smug and pointless little piece.
You can almost hear the Torygraph's more Colonel Blimpish readers guffawing in the gentlemans' clubs of west London and snorting in the saloon bars of middle England.
"Whatever next!"