Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Haringey Politician out of Election after Antisemitic Remark Directed at Harringay Councillor
A Haringey Councillor has pulled out of the general election as a Labour parliamentary candidate in a row over an alleged antisemitic comment.
Gideon Bull stood down as the party’s candidate in Clacton following an accusation that he used the term “Shylock” to cabinet colleague and Harringay councillor, Zena Brabazon.
But Mr Bull denied that the comment was directed at Councillor Brabazon, deputy leader of Haringey Council.
And he said he was not aware that the word was offensive or that Shylock – the money-lender villain of Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice and one of the most famous Jewish characters in English literature – was Jewish.
In a statement announcing his withdrawal from the race for the 12 December election, Mr Bull insisted it was “entirely false” to suggest that he directed the comment at Ms Brabazon.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Gordon T on
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I'm surprised he thought it wouldn't come up as an issue, it was this year and in the press, the Evening Standard for one, it wasn't ten-year-old social media (which has 'done for' a different candidate).
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Permalink Reply by Geraldine B on
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Why cannot people just simply apologize but no Bull told the Guardian he made the comment in a clumsy attempt to describe a person who relentlessly tries to get what they want.
Bull claims he did not realise the character from The Merchant of Venice was Jewish and said he would have known if his schooling had been better. AND then he said this ....... “I grew up in a working class area in Ilford where this was a common saying, but I didn’t know it was offensive. This was a genuine accident and I reiterate my sincere apology for this mistake,” he said. “If the education system had been better under Margaret Thatcher, I might have known.” !?!
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Permalink Reply by John D on
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Why are people so sensitive ?
If I call someone a bit of a Scrooge is that an anti-white christian comment ?
They're both fictional characters used in metaphors.
Grow up fgs
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No, Charles Dickens lived and wrote in a time when anti-semitism and racism was mainstream. This is why people are so sensitive. A lot of people just don't get casual racism.
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Permalink Reply by Justin Guest on
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*This is a genuine question*. Is Scrooge a Jewish character?
I too grew up under Thatcher, and my education, while extensive in some areas, is not as broad as I would like it to be in others.
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Permalink Reply by Michael Anderson on
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No, he is a Christian who finds redemption at the end of the story.
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If Cllr Bull's scriptural education had been even up to the standard of his literary schooling, he could have quoted from the Book of Judges to the effect that he, Gideon, is a most faithful Israelite chosen by Yahweh/Jehovah to hammer Israel's enemies the Midianites. So who among Gideon's rivals is more Jewish than he - though the name Gideon has been hijacked of late by evangelical Bible hawkers? Seems to me Gideon Bull may be able to pursue a valid charge of anti-Semitic discrimination against descendants of the Midianites in the Haringey Labour Party. If his middle name had been Joshua he could probably have extended the charge against any descendants of the Jebusites, Gilgashites and Girgashites as well.
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Did you know that Christmas is a pagan festival? So is Easter.
Of course teh polictcial chroisian 'stole' these feasts to associate their unigod with it.
I could go on. Religiion is politics by another name.....
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Permalink Reply by Alan Stanton on
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Until this thread, I wasn't intending to post a comment on this issue for two reasons.
First, as not everyone may know, Zena Brabazon is my wife and she is not making public comments. Second, Zena and I both consider it far more vital and important to see the end of this Tory Government than whether or not Gideon Bull is a fit person to represent the Labour Party and be a Member of Parliament.
Zena can of course speak on her own behalf at a time of her choosing.
For myself I want to say that as a member of the Labour Party since the 1970s, also a former councillor; and a former holder of several (voluntary) roles in Tottenham Labour Party, I had never heard an anti-Semitic remark made by another Party member, and certainly not by a councillor and cabinet member. So I was as shocked as Zena.
(To be clear, I exclude criticisms made of the policies and actions of the Israeli Government. Criticisms some of which I share with other people including many Israelis.)
I have read a number of recent public comments from Gideon Bull. Each of which seems to be digging deeper in the hole he has made for himself.
Thanks Geraldine B for the Guardian quote which I'd missed. Plainly Gideon Bull does know about the character of Shylock, who he states, is "a person who relentlessly tries to get what they want". (In the play, of course, the central character of a Jewish moneylender who wants his money returned.)
I wasn't in the room where Haringey "cabinet" councillors were having a heated discussion about the Red House development. But since Zena Brabazon is the only Jewish cabinet member and the only person in the cabinet who has relentlessly critiqued the Red House Development Plan, it's hard for me to imagine who else Gideon Bull might have been shouting at when he used the description: "like Shylock etc "
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