# Bye Bye Blunkett **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [December 16, 2004, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bye-bye-blunkett/280059 "2004-12-16T00:13:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2004, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bye-bye-blunkett/280059/1 "2004-12-16T00:13:57Z")
Fuck off, you arrogant piece of shit. Nobody will remember you fondly. Nobody wants to hear from you ever again. Even Breakfast with Frost will be out of reach. Heh heh. Serves you right, you self-important cunt. ---
**Author:** ![FinnAgain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/finnagain/32/12500_2.png) [@FinnAgain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FinnAgain)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2004, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bye-bye-blunkett/280059/2 "2004-12-16T00:22:11Z")
Um… yeh, Blunkett what a… um… cite? ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2004, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bye-bye-blunkett/280059/3 "2004-12-16T00:27:33Z")
[240 items](http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&lr=&c2coff=1&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-GB:official&tab=wn&ie=ISO-8859-1&ncl=http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,3604,1374729,00.html) on Google News. As for cites for him being a cunt, Google for Blunkett. You’ll find them. ---
**Author:** ![MysteryFellow63427](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e4f/32.png) [@MysteryFellow63427](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MysteryFellow63427)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2004, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bye-bye-blunkett/280059/4 "2004-12-16T00:27:55Z")
Hey, guess what? I was able to thoroughly appreciate your OP because I’m _psychic_. Hope everyone else is too. ---
**Author:** ![MysteryFellow63427](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e4f/32.png) [@MysteryFellow63427](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MysteryFellow63427)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2004, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bye-bye-blunkett/280059/5 "2004-12-16T00:29:34Z")
Oops, shoulda previewed. The point still stands though. ---
**Author:** ![FinnAgain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/finnagain/32/12500_2.png) [@FinnAgain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FinnAgain)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2004, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bye-bye-blunkett/280059/6 "2004-12-16T00:40:26Z")
> [@GorillaMan](#): > > [240 items](http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&lr=&c2coff=1&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-GB:official&tab=wn&ie=ISO-8859-1&ncl=http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,3604,1374729,00.html) on Google News. As for cites for him being a cunt, Google for Blunkett. You’ll find them. Honestly I don’t want to read through 20 news cites let alone 240. You created the OP, it’s kinda your responibility to give it a cohesive structure and points of interest. Otherwise viewers of this thread, like myself, will get very bored and go somewhere with a meaty OP. ---
**Author:** ![Dead\_Badger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/848f3c/32.png) [@Dead\_Badger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dead_Badger)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2004, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bye-bye-blunkett/280059/7 "2004-12-16T00:51:37Z")
You know, watching him interviewed I almost felt sorry for him. It’s a bit of a crap way to end your career, in a fit of revenge when you’re just trying to get access to your son. I say almost, because then I remembered what an authoritarian sod he is. We broke out champagne\*. It does slightly irk me that it’s _this_ that’s brought him down, and not the fact that he’s as draconian as a person who can’t spell dragons very well. Beggars can’t be choosers, though. For those wondering what the hell this is all about, David Blunkett, the UK’s erstwhile Home Secretary (deals with law enforcement, immigration and suchlike) has resigned in the wake of revelations that he fast-tracked a visa application for a filipina nanny as a favour to his then-mistress. Those of us who like the right to a trial by jury and dislike internment and ID cards are thus quite happy today. It’s quite big news over here, so now you know how we feel when you start threads about baseball. 🙂 Well, it was already open but it seemed very apt… ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2004, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bye-bye-blunkett/280059/8 "2004-12-16T00:51:44Z")
Doesn’t anybody read the newspapers? The Blunkett affair has been the main news item coming out of the UK for the past couple of weeks. ---
**Author:** ![FinnAgain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/finnagain/32/12500_2.png) [@FinnAgain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FinnAgain)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2004, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bye-bye-blunkett/280059/9 "2004-12-16T00:55:09Z")
**Dead Badger** : Thank you for the background. I, for one, will never burden you with talk of baseball. Now… Longhorns football… **Cunctator** : Actually, I’ve tried not to. Everything after November second was kinda depressing. I go through cycles where I devour all the news I can get my hands on, and when I flee from it all. ---
**Author:** ![yojimbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yojimbo/32/232_2.png) [@yojimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yojimbo)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2004, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bye-bye-blunkett/280059/10 "2004-12-16T01:15:36Z")
Publicly shitting on his cabinet colleagues in a biography didn’t help one bit. He also He also praised Michael Howard’s tenure as HS :wally Fuck him. He was starting to have the look of a man on a mission IMO. Well timed fall if you ask me. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2004, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bye-bye-blunkett/280059/11 "2004-12-16T01:17:15Z")
> [@FinnAgain](#): > > Honestly I don’t want to read through 20 news cites let alone 240. > You created the OP, it’s kinda your responibility to give it a cohesive structure and points of interest. Otherwise viewers of this thread, like myself, will get very bored and go somewhere with a meaty OP. It’s the Pit, what do you want, rational discussion? Sure, I _could_ have posted a sensible, balanced thread in Great Debates, and had plenty of replies. But that bastard needs as many kickings now he’s down as he’s given others. (And no, I’m not going to pander to US-centric “huh?” responses. This is a pitting of Blunkett. Join in, oppose, just don’t expect a rational explanation 😃 ) ---
**Author:** ![yojimbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yojimbo/32/232_2.png) [@yojimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yojimbo)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2004, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bye-bye-blunkett/280059/12 "2004-12-16T01:18:22Z")
[http://talk.workunlimited.co.uk/cartoons/stevebell/0,7371,1373351,00.html](http://talk.workunlimited.co.uk/cartoons/stevebell/0,7371,1373351,00.html) 😛 ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2004, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bye-bye-blunkett/280059/13 "2004-12-16T01:24:26Z")
> [@yojimbo](#): > > [http://talk.workunlimited.co.uk/cartoons/stevebell/0,7371,1373351,00.html](http://talk.workunlimited.co.uk/cartoons/stevebell/0,7371,1373351,00.html) > > 😛 Can I be the dog? 😃 (Goddammit Steve Bell is brilliant.) ---
**Author:** ![yojimbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yojimbo/32/232_2.png) [@yojimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yojimbo)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2004, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bye-bye-blunkett/280059/14 "2004-12-16T01:25:23Z")
> [@GorillaMan](#): > > And no, I’m not going to pander to US-centric “huh?” responses. I have to agree. There is definitely a large enough group of members who will know exactly what the OP is about to merit the lack of background in the OP. There are many US specific OP’s that I’m completely stumped on. ---
**Author:** ![yojimbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yojimbo/32/232_2.png) [@yojimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yojimbo)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2004, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bye-bye-blunkett/280059/15 "2004-12-16T01:30:31Z")
[He](http://talk.workunlimited.co.uk/cartoons/stevebell/archive/0,14955,1284265,00.html) certainly [is](http://talk.workunlimited.co.uk/cartoons/stevebell/0,7371,1362668,00.html) 😃 ---
**Author:** ![mcott](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f6c823/32.png) [@mcott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mcott)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2004, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bye-bye-blunkett/280059/16 "2004-12-16T05:53:27Z")
> [@Dead Badger](#): > > For those wondering what the hell this is all about, David Blunkett, the UK’s erstwhile Home Secretary (deals with law enforcement, immigration and suchlike) has resigned in the wake of revelations that he fast-tracked a visa application for a filipina nanny as a favour to his then-mistress. Those of us who like the right to a trial by jury and dislike internment and ID cards are thus quite happy today. It’s quite big news over here, so now you know how we feel when you start threads about baseball. 🙂 Well, that’s all well and good for those across the pond. Our Immigration Minister, the wonderful [Judy Sgro](http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/department/sgro.html) is still hanging in there (I hope, barely - the quicker the current government craps out the better!) after word got out she helped secure a [temporary resident’s permit](http://www.cbc.ca/story/canada/national/2004/11/24/stripper-speaks-041124.html) for a stripper who worked on her campaign. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Ithaka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Ithaka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ithaka)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2004, 10:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bye-bye-blunkett/280059/17 "2004-12-16T10:35:12Z")
> [@Dead Badger](#): > > It does slightly irk me that it’s _this_ that’s brought him down, and not the fact that he’s as draconian as a person who can’t spell dragons very well. Yeah, it annoys me as well. The press and the Tories hounded him because of the affair, the fast-track was just a pretext to hang their moral outrage on. Glad to see the authoritarian bastard go though - was he really once considered part of the loony left? Don’t think any of the policies will change however. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2004, 10:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bye-bye-blunkett/280059/18 "2004-12-16T10:41:15Z")
Glad to see the bugger go (I really thought it would all be glossed over); he really did try to play the victim card at the end, didn’t he? Trouble is… all those policies and stuff; he didn’t make that up on his own - he’s just a disposable puppet - we’ll just have some other wanker pushing for trial without jury etc now. ---
**Author:** ![Legolamb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4491bb/32.png) [@Legolamb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Legolamb)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2004, 10:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bye-bye-blunkett/280059/19 "2004-12-16T10:50:07Z")
> [@Ithaka](#): > > Yeah, it annoys me as well. The press and the Tories hounded him because of the affair, the fast-track was just a pretext to hang their moral outrage on. How soon they forget just how many Tory MPs were hit, and forced to resign, by exactly the same thing by Labour during Major’s government. Frankly, it’s good to see Labour getting a taste of their own medicine. Plus it couldn’t happen to a nastier person. Blunkett’s authoritarianism was the scariest part of any UK government I’ve ever seen. Hopefully all this trial without jury / ID card / national database nonsense will disappear along with him. ---
**Author:** ![Ithaka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Ithaka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ithaka)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2004, 10:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bye-bye-blunkett/280059/20 "2004-12-16T10:53:45Z")
> [@Legolamb](#): > > How soon they forget just how many Tory MPs were hit, and forced to resign, by exactly the same thing by Labour during Major’s government. I concede this and I haven’t forgotten. Don’t like it when either side uses tactics like this. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bye-bye-blunkett/280059.md?page=2)