Prime Minister apologises (part 2) - Tourettes Action

Tourettes Action

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Prime Minister apologises (part 2)

Bootgates profile image
4 Replies

Just found this link after I'd written my first one & thought it interesting as not only does the ignorant twit apologise it mentions the petition that I 'think' Cath mentioned months ago??? Anyway here it is;

londonstockexchange.com/exc...

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Bootgates profile image
Bootgates
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4 Replies
catherinem profile image
catherinem

The link just goes to an empty page on the London Stock exchange website. Which Petition?

Bootgates profile image
Bootgates

londonstockexchange.com/exc...

Try this one if no good I will cut an paste the article.

catherinem profile image
catherinem in reply to Bootgates

nope :(

Bootgates profile image
Bootgates

Cameron 'sorry' for Tourette's jibe

David Cameron compared Commons heckling by Ed Balls to a Tourette Syndrome sufferer

08 Jan 2012 - 10:34

David Cameron said he was "very sorry" if he offended anyone by describing Commons heckling by Ed Balls as like "having someone with Tourette's sitting opposite you".

The Prime Minister said his jibe at the shadow chancellor, in an interview with the Sunday Telegraph, had been made "off the cuff".

It sparked an angry backlash from disability campaigners who said it showed a lack of understanding of the inherited neurological condition.

"I was speaking off the cuff and if I offended anyone of course I am very sorry about that. That was not my intention at all," Mr Cameron told BBC1's Andrew Marr Show.

The lesson he had to learn however, he suggested, was how to "tune out" barracking from opponents during noisy debates in the chamber.

"It's a lesson for me that in the Commons I have to try to tune out the noise and try to concentrate on trying to answer the question."

Speaking about Mr Balls, whose gestures and comments aimed at the premier have become a feature of his weekly question time session. Mr Cameron told the newspaper: "He just annoys me,"

"But I'm very bad, in the House of Commons, at not getting distracted, and the endless, ceaseless banter, it's like having someone with Tourette's permanently sitting opposite you."

Labour MP Ian Lucas said it was a "very nasty and ignorant comment" and campaigners called on people to sign a petition complaining at Tourette Syndrome being the butt of jokes.

The petition, set up before Mr Cameron made his comment, complains that the term "Tourette's" is often used humorously to describe any apparent inability to control sounds and movements.