Frankie Boyle is a cowardly bully, and I’m ashamed I ever stood up for him

‘Outspoken comic Frankie Boyle has called on the BBC to sack “cultural tumour” Jeremy Clarkson.’

Can anyone tell me what’s wrong with this opening sentence from a recent news report?

Clue: it’s that first word. In order to qualify as ‘outspoken’, surely, you need to be the kind of person who fearlessly, frequently and vociferously sets himself in opposition to the clamour of the times.

Does demanding that a public figure lose his job for some mildly sexist/racist/homophobic/ableist remark fit into that category? Hardly. In the current climate it’s about as heroically contentious as, say, a private school prospectus that promises ‘We believe in educating the whole person’; or a sign at a Co-op declaring its commitment to social justice, diversity and sustainability; or a Conservative Prime Minister declaring that three letters — NHS — are engraved on his heart.

The only mildly interesting aspect of the statement is that Frankie Boyle is not, contrary to all impressions, a junior policy co-ordinator at the Equality and Human Rights Commission, nor the head of diversity at a firm of chartered accountants, nor yet the health inequalities, disability and lesbian affairs officer at Strathclyde council. Amazingly — don’t laugh, because it really ain’t funny — Frankie Boyle is one of Britain’s most successful comedians.

I’ve written about him before in a Spectator TV review in which — to my eternal shame and regret — I praised him for his comedic daring. Boyle’s speciality is (or, rather, was) the kind of jokes so sick and offensive you’re really not quite sure whether to snigger guiltily or turn your TV off in disgust.

For example, during the Olympics he disgracefully mocked the looks of swimmer Rebecca Adlington, accusing her of having ‘an unfair advantage… by possessing a dolphin’s face’. He suggested that Camilla Parker Bowles was ‘what Princess Diana would look like if she survived the crash’. He made a rebarbative sexual reference to Jordan the celebrity’s disabled son, Harvey. As for his one about Jimmy Savile and Madeleine McCann, it’s so vile I don’t want to repeat it.

But I defended Boyle’s style nonetheless because I believe that testing the bounds of accepted common decency is one of a comedian’s jobs. They don’t all have to do it, obviously: look at that nice Michael McIntyre. But there’s space — or there ought to be — for those of a nearer-the-knuckle persuasion too. Comedy, after all, is one of the ways in which we expose received wisdoms and cultural taboos to ruthless scrutiny; it’s also one of our defence mechanisms against the cruelty of existence, black laughter providing cathartic release from our fear and unease over everything from cancer to child murder. Nothing ought to be off limits.

Apparently, though, there are some issues so contentious, so delicate, so manifestly evil, so far beyond discussion even in the lairiest Glasgow comedy clubs, that not even Frankie Boyle feels it is acceptable to broach them. One of them is the near-capital crime of making a laddish, self-mocking car programme in which — oh the horror! — you show a bridge with a person of oriental persuasion standing on it, and you make a sly, schoolboyish racial pun involving the word ‘slope’.

‘Slope’: it’s not an epithet in common currency. Indeed, the only time I’d ever heard it used before Jeremy Clarkson got himself into trouble recently was by my father, when referring back to his stint in the RAF in Hong Kong in the 1950s.

Which is probably one of the reasons why the Top Gear team got away with it. Or rather, why they almost did. Fortunately for the professional grievance industry, a sharp-eyed offence-taker — an actress by the name of Somi Guha — spotted the outrage and threatened the BBC with legal action. A subsequent Ofcom ruling decided that ‘slope’ was indeed a ‘pejorative racial term which has the potential to be offensive to Asian people specifically, as well as to viewers generally’. This in turn prompted the Director of BBC Television, Danny Cohen, to declare recently at the Edinburgh International Television Festival that he was ‘incredibly unhappy’ about Clarkson’s language and to threaten, ‘There’s no show or person that’s bigger than the BBC and that’s made clear to anyone who works there.’

You might have hoped, at this point, that some Pastor Niemöller figure from the media industry might have stepped in to call bull on all this fascistic nonsense. Top Gear, after all, is one of the BBC’s best-loved programmes: it accounted for half of the top 20 most viewed episodes on iPlayer last year. How so? Well partly, one suspects, because its puerile, risqué humour is so refreshingly different from the stultifyingly on-message PC crap which comprises the rest of the BBC’s repertoire. If Top Gear didn’t make jokes about lazy Mexicans, arrogant, garlic-eating French or efficient, borderline-Nazi Germans, it wouldn’t be doing its job.

And who better to speak up for Clarkson than a comedian who has himself been barred from a TV channel for his offensive humour? Step forward, Frankie Boyle. Or rather, retreat, cowering and muttering PC pieties, Frankie Boyle.

Look Frankie, I know it’s hard not sounding like yet another liberal-lefty drone when your entire industry is stuffed chock full of them. But for a brief moment I really thought you were bigger and braver than that. Clearly you’re not, and that puts your stuff about Rebecca Adlington, Camilla Parker Bowles, and Jordan’s disabled son into its proper context: not boldly transgressive but cowardly, gratuitous and cruel.

TaggedBBC, bien-pensants, Comedy, Frankie Boyle, Jeremy Clarkson, Ofcom, political correctness, Racism, Slope controversy, Television, Top Gear

Show comments

saffrin

“Turn your TV off in disgust”
That’s how it is for me with Have I Got News For You.
So PC and thought police it’s too sick to watch.
- global city
  
  It’s not just there in the comedy, ALL of the talking heads flap about with the same thoughts, controlled by the same gatekeepers.
  
  If you watch the paper review on Sky News of a night, then the media review first thing of a morning, the talking heads will be completely different but their spoutings will be exactly the same as the night before’s. It is quite weird at times.
smilingvulture

I lov frankie Boyle but I also think rebbecca adlington is one of the most beautiful women I’ve seen(Barbra Streisand look)
Kitty MLB

To be quite honest, darling James, I am not really one for the mind- numbing, mundane and repetitive rubbish that pours out of a television or the dullards who appear on them ( just the odd concert, documentary and foreign language films ).
Yet Jeremy Clarkson for all his childishness, and yes he’s not cultured in the slightest, speaks with honest straightforwardness and none of this pc deceitfulness…
he’s there to provide amusement and not culture. And so are comedians.
Yes Frankie Boyle sounds like another self- obsessed leftie drone who float around within a balloon of their own self- esteem who believes mocking others is humour..
That awful Russell Brand is another.. A diary of a Nobody– springs to mind.
- Archibald Heatherington
  
  Mr. Pooter was at least amusing, if only by his ineptitude. That can’t be said of Brand or Boyle.
  - Kitty MLB
    
    Pooter indeed was amusing like when he said of his
    two friends Cummings and Gowing.”A very extraordinary thing that strikes me Gowing is always
    coming and Cummings is always going” that was so
    funny.
    I have been reading The Life and Opinion of Tristram
    Shandy over the holidays.Enjoyed that to.
    - Fergus Pickering
      
      Good for you, Kitty. But these are great men and they write more than bookie-wookies.
      - Kitty MLB
        
        Have you heard about Brand’s new book.About
        Owen Jones being the nations new Orwell. I think Brand and Jones are both two trough dwellers from Animal Farm.
      - Fergus Pickering
        
        Yes. Has Owen Jones written a book then? Would he be able to write a book. Brand writes bookie-wookies of course.
      - Lydia Robinson
        
        Owen wrote “The Diary of Owen Jones, aged 14 and a half.” Haven’t you read it? It’s a masterpiece of adolescent angst containing many references to self flagellation of the leftist kind such as “OMG, I think, like, I might be a waycist or a secist.”
      - Fergus Pickering
        
        He remind me irresistably of Reginald Bunthorne, the fleshly poet in ‘Patience’. All the girls love him, much to the chagrin of the Heavy Dragoons, but he regards no-one but himself. In t he end the Dragoons get the girls and he is left alone with a tulip or lily. Don’t say I didn’t warn you, Owen Jones.
      - Kitty MLB
        
        A tulip or a lily oh I see. And I am sure that Owen
        Jones will, heed thy warning O wise one.
      - Noa
        
        Owen Jones would prefer the Dragoon to the lily.
      - Kitty MLB
        
        Noa the Viking man of mystery has returned from a trip as complex as the Byzantine Empire I presume. Nice to see you.
      - Noa
        
        Thank you Kitty, it’s an almost sensual pleasure to savour the strengthening revival of Common Sense at the expense of a morally bankrupt Common Purpose.
        But let’s not over-guild the lily, there’s much to be done.
      - Fergus Pickering
        
        But the dragoon would not, I think.
      - Kitty MLB
        
        Fergus, Russell Brand has written a book about
        Owen Jones…the one I mentioned above, comparing Jones to Orwell which is ludicrous.
      - Fergus Pickering
        
        But Owen Jones has written no nook at all. Orwell?
      - global city
        
        He wrote a book called Chavs, in which he turned truth on it’s head by making out that the demonisation of the working classes, calling them workshy and unwilling to take jobs that do not involve appearing on TV, etc, that we all witnessed as the work of ‘right wingers’ rather than exposing this for what it was….the deliberate left wing betrayal of ‘the heroic class’ in order to pursue their internationalist, theory based memes of multiculturalism and rubbing the right’s nose in diversity and stuff!
      - Fergus Pickering
        
        Sounds awesome!
      - Harry Pond
        
        A real page turner then?
      - Lydia Robinson
        
        Which of the two is “Napoleon?” The one with the biggest snout, I suppose.
      - Kitty MLB
        
        Napoleon is Jones and Brand is Squealer his
        Comrade propagandist both with their big snouts in Labour’s trough.
      - Ged Byrne
        
        Russell Bland is an egotistical knob cheese and a celebrity comic, nothing more. To elevate him to even Boyle’s level of credibility is pouring on the worship, for which I have no doubt he’ll be happy to share his next 3some with you over (the other being his cringe-worthy co-nasty, Jonafon Woss.
        
        In Orwellian terms he’s more like the cat or the pony.
      - global city
        
        Yes. I suggest that he calls it his Little Red bookiwooky!
RBcritique

Well put as usual, Delingpole.
john lyttle

‘Mildly sexist/racist/homophobic/ableist remarks’? Do you really want a tour of repeat offender Clarkson’s Greatest Hits? Wrong moron to be standing up for James.
- rugby god
  
  He’s not standing up for him, he’s pointing out thehy hypocrisy of that Tartan Douche
- UKSteve
  
  Yeah, OK! At least Clarkson will be funny.
  
  In 2010, Boyle joked that Gerry [McCann] must be “pleased” his daughter was missing so “he could use her bedroom as a pool room”.
  
  That Saville / McCann joke is here, if you’re twisted enough to find it funny.
  - gerontius
    
    But the Saville joke just isn’t funny. Twisted or not, doesn’t come into it.
    - UKSteve
      
      I disagree. Humour is in the eye of the receiver. Meat / poison kind of thing.
The Great and Powerful Turtle

frankie boyle is an unfunny douche and the only reason he came out with this is for the publicity,he`s just a jealous Muppet upset that Clarkson is funnier than him
Knives_and_Faux

That sinking feeling when we realise Boyle is just another establishment wallah looking for acceptance from his double plus good showbiz mafia.
- Cymrugel
  
  No time for Boyle at all- but Oh dear; the tory right winger as “rebel” talking about “the establishment”.
  
  Comedy gold!
  
  Oh my aching sides!
  - global city
    
    Have you not been watching the news? The lefties took over all of the institutions of establishment decades ago.
    
    Douglas Murray explains quite precisely why all ‘conservatives’ need to be radicals and pursue the destruction of establishment structures….these all being left wing and so not being worth ‘conserving’ any longer. he’s dead right too!
    - Ged Byrne
      
      DOUGLAS MURRAY???? OMGs are you serious? He’s nothing if not a Thatcher kissing, Israeli licking, Wall Street worshipping bullshitting arsehole of the lowest order.
      
      You quote him as any voice with any reason or semblance of intellectual integrity and you lose all credibility!
      - global city
        
        Another Jew hating left wing jerk….OMG, why are there so many of you fools?
      - Ged Byrne
        
        There you go again, answering things I didn’t write. sad sad sad… and as full of shit as ever..
        
        Gobby Shitty, do yourself a favour, and the world of reason, and die…
        
        (p.s. I’m not a self-hating Jew either..)
      - global city
        
        What ever you are, the addition of gobshoite would not steer people too far wrong.
        
        Douglas Murray loves you, he thinks that you are so bright and intellectually balanced so why do you hate him so? I think you are secretly jealous of his good looks and position in the Spectator.
      - Ged Byrne
        
        A newspaper with a circulation of around 100,000 copies is a £multi-million business. Not sure how this equates to ‘lefty takeover’. This is a massive myth. Considering that people think that Ed Milliband and Barak Obama are ‘lefties’ is very telling, seeing as they are both centre-right.
        
        This man tells it far better than I can, and I am losing patience faster than this bloke will too.
        
        He speaks primarily of the USA, but here in the UK, and most of Europe, it’s the same game and a similar layout.
        
        http://www.michaelparenti.org/MonopolyMedia.html
      - global city
        
        authoritarians, for the forthcoming, fast emerging post democratic age…left-right is so passée, don’t you feel?
      - Ged Byrne
        
        I do indeed. We have found some common ground 🙂
        
        Far left and far right? No. Far sighted is far better.
      - Dogsnob
        
        ‘Gobby Shitty’!
        Those creative writing classes are really paying off now eh?
      - Jenny Gill
        
        Hi could someone explain to me why race is taking priority over the fact that this comedian is joking about a child who suffered horric abuse!! Has this country gone pc mad or something! I dont wish to offend anyone but I am shocked by this.
      - Ged Byrne
        
        No idea why anyone would drag Hamas into this, but someone did.
        
        Someone else mention Muslims.
        
        Not sure why you aimed this comment /question at me?
        
        ‘P.C. Mad’? in what way? I like the way PC is heading these days, it gives us something to consider and encourages people to consider what they say before they speak, however I do think that jokes are jokes and somethings are funny even by shocking us.
        
        There are times when Mr Boyle gets personal and I don’t like that at all.
    - Cymrugel
      
      Yes, of course they did.
      
      That’s why the UK is about the most hard line unregulated monetarist state in the world, why the NHS is being sold off and all the jobs are being sent abroad to take advantage of cheap labour.
      
      Those cunning lefties eh?
      - global city
        
        New Left, Internationalism, Gramsiism, Agenda 21 (particularly interesting with regards to corporate lead on public service delivery) watermelon environmental leftism…stupid Common Purpose idiots, Statists and the state, the EU, Blair’s 3rd Way, the UN, International Law….yes…..cunning lefties.
      - Ged Byrne
        
        Too many comment on Agenda 21 who have evidently never taken a moment to actually read it. Have a go. It’s only about 300 pages long. About as long as a short novel. Tell me which pages, sections, chapters you find any of the bullshit conspiracy crap written into being by Big Oil and Multi-National corporations.. who are the main organs which will be, and are already, affected by Agenda 21.
        Things like FSC timber sprang from it. It’s ‘NON BINDING’ and ‘VOLUNTARY’.
        
        Twist whichever way you like, but by repeating that it’s some form of ‘Statist conspiracy’ you are actually demonstrating your utter ignorance entirely.
      - global city
        
        Boring, pretentious twit. I was one of the first people to get my hands on the original documents in this country,. being one of the first co-founders of a group dedicated to seeing that it’s aims and directives were followed up on by my local council. I am one of those people who thought, probably, quite a bit like you still do…but then I woke up to the truly sinister stuff that actually lies beneath it’s deliberately constructed woolly advocacy.
      - Ged Byrne
        
        yes yes, more ad hominem but not a single reference. Yet you call ME a pretentious twit.
        I studied the thing. I saw the updates.
        I was studying Environmental Science when it was released. It was a major breakthrough. I’ve seen SO many fuckwits like you who pretend so much that you ‘know’ it’s contents. You quote from some bizarre internet videos and can’t tell me ONE single fucking clause which backs up what you prattle on about!
        
        I am a man who marches against things. I am a man who WILL take action, if there’s something to take action for or against. You? You haven’t even got a real fucking name and you pretend you’re someone!
        
        D’oh!
      - global city
        
        I make no pretences at all. You assumed that I, and all your ‘enemies’ have not even read the document and anything associated with it’s programme. I explained that I have indeed, read the document, it’s associated releases and followed the development of the agenda.
        
        I called you a twit because you have obviously just followed the usual internal assumptions that you are a genius and conscientious traveller and saver of the world and everyone else is a liar, fool and/or conspirator….as both of your posts prove only too clearly.
      - Ged Byrne
        
        Meanwhile, your invective runs on and on, like diarrhoea dribbling from your mouth and STILL not a single, lone or solitary fact! Not even a smattering of anything like evidence.
      - Ged Byrne
        
        .. and still not..
        
        I rest my case.
- Wessex Man
  
  never mind when the Scots vote for independence we can put a banning order on him, bliss!
  - TheUntalentedRiply
    
    Yeah right; just look what happened in Quebec; when it looked like the garlic-loving citizens were likely to vote for independence (which seemingly most Canadians would now like as they are thoroughly sickened of their whinging and moaning Francophile citizens – ring a bell?), there was a mass legging it to Anglophone areas.
Ahobz

Boyle is a hunt, Clarkson is a true rebel.
- Fergus Pickering
  
  A hunt? Oh a Berk. Gotcha. But you can write cunt, you really can.
  - Ahobz
    
    but I chose not to. Hunt is the current term of art, arising spontaneously in a very funny way.
    - kefp
      
      Or a James – rhyming slang
      - UKSteve
        
        You mean a “grumble” as in “…and grunt”? 🙂
    - Fergus Pickering
      
      I long to know more.
GraveDave

or example, during the Olympics he disgracefully mocked the looks of swimmer Rebecca Adlington, accusing her of having ‘an unfair advantage… by possessing a dolphin’s face’. He suggested that Camilla Parker Bowles was ‘what Princess Diana would look like if she survived the crash’. He made a rebarbative sexual reference to Jordan the celebrity’s disabled son, Harvey. As for his one about Jimmy Savile and Madeleine McCann, it’s so vile I don’t want to repeat it.

Yep , really funny Frankie.Tell us another.He’s only doing all this on Clarkson because of the time he went through the race rack himself (when he sued the Sun). I suspect Frankie is just trying to give himself a bit of moral credibility along the way. But I’ve got no doubt that if Frankie had been about in the 70s he would have been just another Bernard Manning or Jim Davidson.
- MikeF
  
  Bernard Manning was capable of a bit of self-satire as well as of being genuinely funny. Boyle is capable of neither.
  - GraveDave
    
    I meant he would have had no qualms about telling race jokes.
    - MikeF
      
      Very possibly but if he had tried to be just another Manning or Davidson his mediocrity would have been highlighted. Charlie Williams certainly would not have thought it worth moving next door to him.
- Fergus Pickering
  
  Bernard Manning was funny. Boyle is embarrassing.
  - UKSteve
    
    True. And a quarter Jewish.
    - Ged Byrne
      
      1/4 Jewish? SO this is your assessment? WHat’s the other 3/4, catholic?
      
      Such narrow minded bigoted bullshit and prejudice, not only from UKSteve. FFS, what the hell do people DO all day? It’s amazing they can find their way out of doors with such narrow minds and viewpoints.
      
      Summarize – [great sweeping statement encompassing a few million or more people] are a bunch of [add any particularly unlikely and nasty words, ending with lefty/Guardian reader/writer, or other such naff intended insults].
      
      I see the UKIP mob have flocked to read and venerate the Spectator!
      - UKSteve
        
        No, Pottymouth, not my “assessment”, his (Manning’s) admission about one of his grandparents during an interview. I don’t know about the others he didn’t say.
        
        And we can see (from your post) that the window-licking retards have infested the Speccie columns, with their evil, poisonous and self-loathing filth dressed up with the usual profanity.
        
        You really shouldn’t be using words you clearly don’t understand; we know what you do all day, and it’s obviously not read books. More….magazines, probably.
The_greyhound

I never found comedians amusing unless they were being transfixed by a bolt from a crossbow, something one sees far too infrequently. Why am I meant to be interested in what this dullard, or brand or any of the other witless shouty creatures thinks?
amd

Clue – whatever anyone said about Frankie, he wouldn’t freak out about it, And wouldn’t whine.

Clue – you have a perfect right to whine about being offended. He has a perfect right not to care.

Clue – he’s not obliged to defend wankers he hates to please some obsessed stranger.

Clue – that he is much more intelligent and amusing than you is proven by the fact that he has been touring to sell out gigs of adoring fans for years, and is a massively popular author, and you have these sad little 14 comments.

Enjoy!
- Freedom
  
  Clue: You’ve missed the whole point.
  - amd
    
    Sorry you had nothing relevant to add, but thanks for dropping by 🙂
- Mike Power
  
  “… he has been touring to sell out gigs of adoring fans …” So have those useless and unfunny bores Sarah Millican and Michael McIntyre. So what? Big deal!
  - Fergus Pickering
    
    I like Sarah Millican. McIntyre is indeed an oaf.
    - Mike Power
      
      “I like Sarah Millican.”
      Nuff said.
  - amd
    
    Um, the answer is in my comment. “So” he’s a lot more relevant than guy whose name I have forgotten who wrote this odd little hate piece. And that’s obviously driving guy who wrote the hate piece mental. Which is really very amusing 🙂
    - Mike Power
      
      Being hugely popular doesn’t require intelligence or talent. See my previous references and add Justin Beiber et al for good measure. As for your short term memory problem, I am not qualified to comment.
      - Tim
        
        I quite like some of Justin Beiber’s stuff, actually.
    - Millennial Woes
      
      “he’s a lot more relevant”
      
      You demonstrate that lefties are interested above all in being popular.
- WFB56
  
  I’ve never watched or listened to anything he’s done and I never felt that anything was missing from my life as a result; and it still isn’t.
  - amd
    
    Fair enough. I have. He’s often funny, though not always. And offends pretty much even equally. But we’re all entitled to our own taste in humour. As Frankie would be the first to agree.
- Fergus Pickering
  
  Good God. Barbara Cartland is a massively popular author. Peter Andre has adoring fans. Twat!
  - amd
    
    Yep. And both are more relevant than whoever wrote this article. I’d have to go back up the page to even remember his name. Can’t really be bothered though 🙂
    
    Sour grapes do make good whine though, (pun intended) so he’s got that going for him.
    
    But thanks for the bizarre insult, weird internet dude. It definitely adds clout to your comment.
- UKSteve
  
  Ermmmm, well 68 comments – and incrementing.
  
  Maths classroom locked on the day you turned up at school?
  - amd
    
    Oh, dear. Clearly I made this comment when there were 14 comments there. Critical thinking not your strong suit? A swing and a miss.
    
    Never mind, better luck next time pet 🙂
    - UKSteve
      
      Nah, bless, I knocked it out of the park. Given the ridiculousness of your post, I assumed you missed a few (OK, all) days at school.
      
      Anyway, 5 / 10. Could’ve been 6, but you can’t grasp the idea that people can basically write opinion pieces on the internet.
      - amd
        
        Nah, you stuffed up completely and really embarrassed yourself, which is enraging you, so now you’re resorting to being even more weirdly abusive. Which is, I have to say, really funny 😀
        
        Never mind, sweetie, have a lie down and a nice cup of tea and you will feel much better.
        
        I’m all done now, but you have my permission to keep on ranting 🙂
      - UKSteve
        
        Nope. In the league of self-defeating and excruciatingly embarrassing trolls, I’d rate you a bronze. I’m in a generous mood 🙂
        
        Clue: you type rubbish.
        
        Clue: you can’t foilow a discussion.
        
        (And I can’t stand tea. Wrong there as well 🙂 )
- Lydia Robinson
  
  Frankie is an unfunny twat. I hope when the Scots get their independence, his work permit will be turned down dahn sarf on the basis that his work description – “comic” – is not accurate.
  - amd
    
    I hear he talks very highly of you though.
- amd
  
  Thanks for the chuckles bizarrely enraged internet weirdos. Never am I so absolutely sure I’m backing the right horse as when concern trolls start ladling in the personal abuse because someone says something they don’t like 😀
  
  So, to sum up, nobody can refute anything I’ve said and that’s pissing a few of you off. Cheers!
  - amd
    
    Oh, and finally, here’s one of my favourite Frankie tweets:
    
    “People will still be complaining about jokes while bankers fuck the holes left by their harvested organs in re-education megacamps”
    https://twitter.com/frankieboyle/status/318046154162049024
    
    You’re welcome 🙂
Freedom

I’m so innocent I wouldn’t have twigged Clarkson’s reference to ‘slope’: it would have gone right over me. The only reason it hasn’t is that berks like Boyle want to make a big deal of it. I suppose he also defends Jews, UKIP supporters, and conservatives against actual slurs while he’s at it? Why do I suspect that the answer to that is No?

By the way, I’ve heard Frankie Boyle, and I never thought he was bigger or braver than anything.
- Ged Byrne
  
  Jews, UKIP Supporters and what? You liken these to ‘slopes’ which is a pretty well known and widely used (in certain circles) term specifically from Vietnam in order to dehumanise the people being slaughtered in the 100s of 1,000s.
  
  Jews call themselves Jews and UKIP supporters choose to do that, so it’s hardly on a par!
  - Freedom
    
    You completely misunderstood what I said. It’s what comes from skimming too quickly. I questioned whether brave Mr Boyle ever stood up against the SLURS, actual slurs not merely puns that may be in poor taste, against others that are not his particular political pets. UKIP supporters are often vilified in the crassest terms, as are Jews — especially if Israeli. In short, I was asking rhetorically whether Boyle is a man of principle or whether he only goes after the non-Guardian-worshipping crowd.
    - JohnIIISobieski
      
      Do not pretend Jews and UKIP supporters are similar. Israelis and UKIP supporters could be but diaspora Jews are raging leftist multiculturalists. Especially in the United States where they have a lot of confidence. 80% of them voted for Obama and they would be the only group besides African-Americans that would vote for him a third time if they could. They are not really on your side.
      - global city
        
        Every one of them? Even the ones who control all the banks/Wall St/movie industry and killer chemical plants?
        
        Why does this idiocy continue?
      - JohnIIISobieski
        
        Where is anyone claiming that all of them are? I just stated that 80% of American Jews voted for Obama, you are not able deny that fact. You just cannot counter that claim. All you have to offer is ridicule. Please, do tell why the great Norman Podhoretz is wrong when he claims in his book “Why are all Jews liberal?” that they indeed are liberals.
      - global city
        
        Diaspora Jews are raging leftist multiculturalists… the sort of things that a wan*er would write….. it also is the point that elicited my ‘what, all of them?’ reply.
        
        the last part of your post just illustrates everything perfectly….yer big dolt!
      - JohnIIISobieski
        
        You are right I should have said most are leftist multiculturalists, Ben Shapiro is an example of one who isn´t. So Podhoretz is a dolt as well because you know all cannot really be liberals like he claims.
        
        Well I guess I am more of the Richard Nixon persuasion: A Christian Zionist with a beautiful sephardic Israeli girlfriend who thinks that Israelis are conservative, good looking and brave and who thinks the Diaspora ones are in general, well, the opposite.
        
        Nixon, branded an anti-Semite by the New York Times and simpletons like you and revered as the greatest friend that Israel ever had by Israelis themselves.
      - global city
        
        Lots, is even better than most. I find it strange that the whole bloody group can be continually condemned or identified by a while raft of contradictory factors.
        
        If you really do have a beautiful Israeli girlfriend the crap you are peddling is truly dangerous to her wellbeing.
      - Ged Byrne
        
        Careful Gobbal Shitty, or whatever, your racism is rife and running down your leg.
      - global city
        
        Ignorant…wilfully ignorant arse!
    - UKSteve
      
      it’s not that he “mis”understands. He doesn’t understand. At all. Hence the combination of stupidity and profanity.
      - Freedom
        
        Well, all right then. You won’t get an argument from me! : )
  - Guest
    
    Don´t pretend Jews and UKIP supporters are similar. Israelis and UKIP supporters maybe but diaspora Jews are raging leftist multiculturalists. Especially in the United States where they have a lot of confidence. 80% of them voted for Obama and they would be the only group besides blacks that would vote for him a third time if they could.
- whs1954
  
  In the words of the Harry & Paul parody of Mock the Week from the spring, “OH MY GOD! THE DAILY MAIL! TOTAL NAZIS!” This gives the flavour of the leanings of ‘comedians’ who appear on that show, like Mr Boyle.
nonsequiturcouk

Boyle is just another spiteful hateful left winger. No news here, move along please.
- Paul
  
  Nope, he’s just calling out an obvious racist who weird conservative types back because keeping him on telly helps them not confront their inborn bigotry.
  - TheUntalentedRiply
    
    I think by “weird conservative types” you mean the majority of people in the UK (well England anyway).
    
    As for being a racist, I’ve told a joke or two about a paedophile; by your logic does that make me one?
    - Paul
      
      Paedophiles aren’t a race, so no, joke on.
      - styants64
        
        I have never agreed with mass immigration into Britain and Enoch Powell has been proved right, it’s the manual working class that have lost out massively, aren’t you lefties supposed to be looking after their interests and am I a racist.
      - Ged Byrne
        
        “..proved right..”
        
        Are you sure? not seen ‘rivers of blood’ yet styants64, unless you mean in Iraq due to the Big Oil sponsored invasion.. but that’s NOT Britain. So I guess you’re wrong!
      - styants64
        
        There have been over twenty six thousand islamic terrorist attacks around the world since 9/11 them here in Britain give it time just wait when the percentages go up and They get more and more assertive and aggressive religion of peace my arse.
      - Ged Byrne
        
        whose arse did you pull that statistic from Styants64?
        
        I guess it makes no difference to you what stats tell us of aggressive and violent by non-Islamic groups? Are Hamas rockets in those stats? Are ISIS and ISIL and the FSA and the ANF attacks all considered in there?
      - styants64
        
        They were statistics brought out by a international organisation having read them some months ago so the figurers will be even higher now, tell me if you are a Muslim how do you justify the mass murder carried out in the name of a creative god, like the beheadings and stoning females to death.
      - Ged Byrne
        
        Styants64. I note, with gloom, that you don’t answer any of my questions… except some vague hint. I dispute your figures. I think you made them up, or got them from Britain First or some other meat-headed organisation with the kinds of narrow ideas which have trouble passing through household sewerage pipes.
        
        I ask again: Are Hamas rockets in those stats?
        Are ISIS and ISIL and the FSA and the ANF attacks all considered in
        there?
        
        Can I ask you another, more easy question? Was this an act of terrorism? I’ll even post the details here to make it easy for you.. it is quoted from Professor Noam Chomsky.
        
        <>
      - styants64
        
        By the way I think you are a muslim Troll with a agenda.
      - Ged Byrne
        
        What’s my agenda? Some balance and truth.
        
        Frankly, my religion may cause many Muslims to want to kill me. Not sure why you imagine I am a Muslim?
      - Ged Byrne
        
        I note you have, so far, failed to answer this? ^
      - styants64
        
        Go find your own stats muslim terror attacks include those in India China Philippines Bali Indonesia Spain Holland Belgium America Britain Nigeria Kenya the list goes on and on and will do because Islam is not a religion it is a death Cult, this the twenty first century and Islam is stuck in the dark ages and Islam cannot reform itself because of the words of the prophet they are disgusting.
      - Ged Byrne
        
        How about the Terrorists in Myanmar/Burma who are murdering Muslims, the Rohingyar? These terrorists are Buddhist monks.
        How about those British and American terrorists who are using fragmentation bombs?
        How about the Christian terrorists (Cuban exiles)?
        How about the Jewish terrorists occupying and annexing land, blockading 1.7 million people close to starvation, and attacking them with ultra-modern weapons every week and massive attacks every couple of years?
        How about the terrorist Indonesian government (admittedly Indonesia is a Muslim majority country, but these are operating as part of a nationalist agenda not religious) who are attempting to eradicate the West Papuans?
        How about the Indian Government’s actions in Kashmir?
        How about the Russian actions in Crimea, Chechnya and elsewhere?
        
        There are some nasty regimes operating, and ISIS and ISIL and Al qaeda, al nusra, and others like them, but they’re not alone.
        
        You can tell when a killer is not Muslim because there’s no mention of religion on the news of the story.
        
        Here’s a list of European terror attacks, offered by Interpol (I don’t think they’re pro-Islam) –
        
        http://thinkprogress.org/world/2015/01/08/3609796/islamist-terrorism-europe/
      - styants64
        
        The so-called Palestinians are mainly Lebanese and Jordanian Egyptian Arabs a mixed race, The Arab any rhinion oil states have had trillions in oil revenue money but keep the Palestinians in that confined space because it is a costant running sore on the body of Israel, The Buddists and others attack Muslims because Muslims are carrying out terrorist attacks against them so it’s reprisal islamic violence creates counter attacks,Islam cannot reform itself and also Islam is stuck in a brutal dark age death cult mentality.
      - Ged Byrne
        
        Your ignorance is staggering. I have no more patience to argue with someone who doesn’t even have the most basic grasp of facts and only considers rolling out some hasbara instead of unbias real facts.
        
        Adieu.
      - styants64
        
        Truth hurts violence begets violence that is why jesus preached turn the other cheek I hope you find enlightenment but it will not be in the Koran.
      - Ged Byrne
        
        Do you feel the same as you do about Christianity and Judaism as you do about Islam? Each are older than Islam and very similar in many ways.
      - styants64
        
        They are not similar in many ways islam is inpart a Babylonian moon God cult and stole it’s five pillars of Wisdom out of the old Testament stoning woman to death and other Draconian laws of Deuteronomy, jesus created a new loving covenant between the human race and God Islam is stuck in a dark age and there is no spirituality unlike Christianity and to a certain extent Judaism Islam cannot reform itself and is a political and military movement, when increasing numbers of Christians learnt how to read they read about Jesus’s message of never ending forgiveness love thy neighbour turn the other cheek and so on islam is a cobbled together death cult that’s why tyrants quite often end up leading Islamic countries Islamic or secular it amounts to the same thing tyrannical brutal dictatorship.
      - Ged Byrne
        
        You do realise that the majority of ‘terrorist’ attacks in the USA are not by Muslims?
        
        Here’s some info for you..
        
        http://www.globalresearch.ca/non-muslims-carried-out-more-than-90-of-all-terrorist-attacks-in-america/5333619
      - styants64
        
        The World does not begin and end with America America has done no end of damage to the World because of its materialism A subculture driven by greed on Wall Street.
      - Ged Byrne
        
        I tend to agree with your idea that America (if by this you mean the USA leaders) is messing up the world with Wall Street antics. I call this capitalism, unfettered. Ironically there is a counter to this which some look for in Islam.
        (I’m not a Muslim or an apologist for killing. ISIS and all those who do like ISIS are vicious nasty scum bags. They operate all around the Middle East EXCEPT Israel, why is this?)
      - styants64
        
        No way are most muslims terrorists but most terrorist are muslims.
      - Ged Byrne
        
        Can you provide some back up for your claim that ‘most terrorists are Muslims’?
      - GentlemanPugilist
        
        Powell, when he elaborated on the civil unrest he predicted in that speech, said that it would occur later this century if mass-immigration continued unabated. I believe it was his ‘uniform of colour’ speech.
      - Neil Hamilton
        
        “Et Thybrim multo spumantem sanguine cerno” were his actual words, weren’t they?
      - Ged Byrne
        
        I rather like these remarks on this ‘quote’,
        
        http://edithorial.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/how-enoch-powell-got-vergil-wrong.html
      - Dogsnob
        
        Got a bit bloody outside Woolwich Barracks a little while back.
        7/7 saw a bit of claret spilling around.
        But you keep sticking your head in the sand mate.
      - Ged Byrne
        
        Yes, as you say.. ‘.. a bit..’
        
        Compared to the few million dead in Iraq since the invasion and devastation in 1991 I guess a few splashes isn’t a lot. In case you need to be shown the difference I suggest as an exercise you run a tap and fill a small cup. Pour this cup over you head. Hmm.. it’s a bit damp isn’t it. This is a splash. Now walk down to the embankment, go out on a bridge and jump in the Thames at high tide. This is a river.
      - Dogsnob
        
        If it’s the numbers game you like to play, then I suggest you sort out that ‘few million’ quote?
      - Ged Byrne
        
        1991 to 1998: 1,500,000 dead (1 in 3 were children under 5 years). US Secretary of State, Madelleine Allbright said ‘We think the price is worth it.” when asked about these deaths.
        
        2003 to 2011: 500,000 from violence.
        
        The death toll has been rising the last two years month by month.
        
        You wanna split hairs over deaths you sick cunt? Go find someone else to play with!
      - Dogsnob
        
        Not at all. It is you who sets out not only to split hairs over deaths, but also to argue shamelessly, that somehow, those who died on 7/7, and Lee Rigby, have failed to provide enough blood to satisfy your crazed literal reading of what was a rhetorical speech by Enoch Powell. Sick really.
        You would do yourself a favour if you were to familiarise yourself with the word ‘hyperbole’ and how it works.
        
        Your figures are made up, your references flaky and you know it. Aside from that, although obviously regrettable, the vast number of deaths in the regions you refer to, are the result of internecine warring between tribes/factions.
        
        Classy language by the way. Try calm down eh?
      - Ged Byrne
        
        My figures are made up from what? Oh yes, research facts. How inconvenient for you.
        
        You want to stir up bigotry and hate and you ask me to ‘calm down’?
        
        Ignorance is only bliss for the ignorant. You must be in 7th heaven.
        
        I’m done with you. When you even deny facts and reason, then all else is pointless.
      - Dogsnob
        
        Perhaps we might have a link to said research or are we to take your word for it?
        Yes you do need to calm down. All you know of me, is what you read here, so from that and from your own comments, tell me: who between you and me is more open to the views of others and therefore, less the bigot? And I do not seek to stir hatred merely because I insist on stating what I see to be unjust.
        Your cheesy aphorism about ignorance is just too stupid to bother with.
        I would be hard pressed to deny any facts or reason of yours, simply because you have not supplied any; what you have so rudely and aggressively issued here is what appears to be your personal rage, by the looks of it, just after a good dinnertime session.
      - styants64
        
        52 victims of Muslim terror attacts on Londons transport system died 700 injured, a million people got out in protest in London against the invasion of Iraq, after all Saddam Hussein was such a lovable big daddy along with his two sons doing charity work, why is it Islam keeps throwing up such despotic Regimes because it’s a death cult, what’s your opinion on the Muslim rape gangs in Britain Enoch Powell could be proved right sometime in the future.
      - Ged Byrne
        
        Saddam Hussain was hardly a Muslim. In 1991 Iraq was a secular state. Saddam Hussain was a CIA asset.
        
        I suggest you get some grammar lessons in English too mate, as well as a basic course in recent history.
      - styants64
        
        Answer the critiques against Islam a death cult and I would never be your mate because you are a excuse maker for barbarism.
      - Ged Byrne
        
        You have given no ‘critique of Islam’. You have made a few comments based on a few incidents, without evidence at all, and ignored the heaps of evidence I have provided for you.
        
        I consider you an ignorant twat. Go learn something before you return with yet another falsehood, rhetoric or sweeping generalisation
      - styants64
        
        You are a Muslim in disguise admit it.
      - Ged Byrne
        
        ‘Disguise’?
        
        are you on some psychotropic drugs right now, or are you merely an utterly retarded fuckwit?
      - Mark Moises
        
        So joking about child abuse/murder should be allowed, but someone who dares to make a joke about another race, no matter how mild the joke is, is an evil racist and should get banned from tv? This pretty well sums up the absolute stupidity of the pc thickos trying to take over the country.
      - Jenny Gill
        
        I could not agree more!! I was thinking exactly the same. I would love to know what sort of people laugh at a joke refereing to a baby that suffered horrific abuse! Worrying
    - john p reid
      
      its not being one,it’s being someone who makes jokes about them
    - steviebhoy
      
      Was it about mountbatten? No, for the BBC think it outrageous for Frankie to tell a joke about his demise. Although it’s hushed up that he buggered young boys at an East Belfast childrens home.
  - sarah_13
    
    Always was nasty. He got scared when he went too far a couple of years ago, now he likes to keep in with the real bullies, hamas et al…
    - Ged Byrne
      
      Ha ha ha .. Hamas? Sarah_13>? What the holy and unholy FUCK have Hamas to do with anything here?
      Hamas are an elected party in Palestine. Frankie Boyle a crude, sarcastic and caustic cunt from Scotland, also very witty and sharp.
      - sarah_13
        
        What do Hamas have to do with anything? Good question. Ask Frankie, go look at his twitter, although I’m sure you are familiar with it he seems to know a lot about them. How its just plain dandy under a terrorist regime of islamists. Hamas are not elected, they had one election in 2006 where they intimidated their way to power and proceeded to chuck the opposition fatah off buildings. They have not had another election. That sir is not an elected government. They continue ruling having imposed a charter that is a disgrace to any decent minded individual with any respect for equality, liberty and freedom. They intimidate, execute those who dissent and eradicate all who oppose them. Their intention is to eradicate israel, but beyond that they have broader aims.
        
        That some people find Boyle funny is undoubtedly true, its a free country so good luck to him but my personal view is scratch the surface of the crude……. and he’s just plain wrong and nasty. But fortunately UK is a free country and me disagreeing with him or anyone else for that matter does not mean I’m knee capped if I’m lucky, raped if I’m a woman or shot after friday prayers in gaza city.
      - Ged Byrne
        
        Oh Sarah.. from what you’re saying I’m guessing that either you’re an Israeli, or that you actually believe what Israel tells the world to believe.
        
        Hamas, you are correct, won an election in 2006. It was an election which was described by international observers as: “free and fair as any”. The reaction to this win was that Israel, with the assistance of the USA, and with the connivance of Egypt, armed Fatah to overthrow Hamas in what was intended to be a bloody coup de tat. Fatah failed in their attempt and Hamas held onto their elected place.
        The immediate effect was that Israel instigated a siege upon Gaza (an overt act of war) and they have continued with this act of war unabated since, even describing the act as “..putting the people of Gaza on a diet.” (and you call Hamas names?
        
        Hamas were criticised by Israel during the middle of 2008 for “.. not controlling radical elements (continuing to fire rockets during a ceasefire which Hamas honoured) and were told, loudly and publicly that they could not be dealt with seriously if they couldn’t even control these ‘elements’. [N.B. during this time Israel was refusing or unable or unwilling to deal with the ever excalating violence from Israeli settlers towards Palestinians in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, since having been debated in the Knesset and criticised by many MKs.] So, Israel doesn’t like Hamas’ reluctance to ‘deal with radical elements’ and so Hamas responds to this, doing what it can to bring about a deal for peace and long term settlement of the situation (which is what they were formed for, as a resistance and solution to the occupation). The acts which followed were not wholesome and were bloody. Picture the FBI or DEA of the USA taking on the Mafia or Mexican cartels. Shit happens in a shitty situation.
        
        [N.B. at no point do I condone what Hamas does or what some of the more radical members might do, but let’s be honest here. The Hamas charter was written many years ago, and Hamas have since,very publicly been happy to accept terms which Israel has imposed, even mostly radically outrageous terms, in order to bring about peace. They’re not about to accept peace at ANY terms, and who would? Meanwhile, the Hamas Covenant has been rewritten, and does not contain some of the more unacceptable terms regarding Israel. Meanwhile, Israel’s original foundation has not changed, i.e. defining borders by actions, not by declaration, which includes all of Palestine and large parts of Jordan and Egypt and parts of Syria and Lebanon. Both sides of the Jordan River (not merely all the West Bank, already occupied and large parts annexed), Lebanon as far North as the Litani River. Syrian Golan Heights (already occupied). Note that it is an illegal act, under the Fourth Geneva Convention, article 49, to annex land. Saddam Hussain found this out in 1991 when he announced that he had annexed Kuwait. Even his former allies in the Arab world turned against him and sent troops and support to oust his troops from Kuwait. What of Israel’s imposition? Nothing!
        
        No, you’re not likely to be kneecapped by Hamas, unless you are a drug dealer or undermining the efforts for solidarity in Gaza (which I’d say was essential with 1.8 million living in a tiny area of 300 square kms, half of which has been a ‘no-go’ area for the last 7 years, on pain of being shot by Israeli troops).
        
        FYI, there are regular delegation, many of whom are Jewish and many of whom are female, who travel to and from Gaza in support of the movement to end the years long struggle for peace and a just and fair settlement and for independence.
        
        Frankie Boyle mentions all manner of things and makes jokes (some might not find them amusing) about all manner of things, but these are very radically different things and dropping in Hamas here is weird, if not telling, as he’s been asked to apologise for two jokes he made about Israel, and which he refused to do and which the BBC did on his behalf, for which he criticised them.
        Paz. Peace. Shalom. Salaam. Pax.
      - sarah_13
        
        Oh Ged……..? yeah year right. All that genocidal nonsense, just a joke, they don’t mean it even though its in their charter and hasn’t been rescinded and anyone who listens to them hears their bloom curdling incitement of death and barbarity And all that throwing opposition off buildings, just a joke, its “all free and fair” in love and war and all that killing gays, just “all free and fair”, and all that using children to build tunnels “all free and fair”….Lovely people Hamas.
        
        And wrong, i’m not israeli or part of any ” zionist conspiracy” Although your response is instructive… you state “you probably are israeli….” and for Hamas the mere statement, as though a fact, would be sufficient for the “drug dealer” charge and conviction.. No Sir i’m a woman who knows where her rights and freedoms would be preserved…. Go sell oppression somewhere else.
      - Beez
        
        You are a fucking moron with no global concept of anything. Stop talking or sterilize yourself. Stupidity is genetic.
        
        You are so fed full of zionist shit it’s honestly a little sad and disgusting. That you have some weird idea that Hamas is like the mob in gaza.. and everyone is just so scared of them….. You know who they are scared of? Disgusting people like you. People who will read so heavily into propaganda that you will let a 1st world country backed by the US militarily and monetarily rape one of the most densely populated areas on earth. That you don’t even want to talk about the disgusting IDF soldiers taking pictures of dead children, putting them in crosshairs, using white phosphorus bombs (they burn off the skin, and are universally considered inhumane and illegal). None of that? All done for good eh? You are a fucking disgusting waste of human space and enablers like you are the root of all evil in this world. Let it happen because you are too lazy/unwilling to think logically about the situation.
        
        If you didn’t need any more convincing to how zionist Israel is one of the biggest hindrances to any sort of peace in the middle east, look up “operation breaking the silence”
        If that doesn’t wake you up a bit, have fun eating the zionist propaganda dick for the rest of your life. I’m sure whatever god you believe in won’t judge you for belittling and supporting the deaths of thousands in his name. /end rant
      - sarah_13
        
        nice.
      - Beez
        
        Got some real zionist propaganda here. Bringing up hamas. I bet you are on a public computer in Tel Aviv getting paid to do this. They were democratically elected. Get the fuck over it. Stop using the same old excuses of intimidation and human shields. That’s just not how it’s happening.
        
        You zionists are the real pigs. The world is waking up too. A good reason why Israel has broken more human rights laws then anyone else in the middle east. Isn’t it also funny that two weeks after the Gaza massacre you zionists pigs are setting up new settlements again! As someone who is a US citizen and is not Islamic or zionist, i truly hope Israel crumbles into dust.
      - sarah_13
        
        yes, zionists real pigs. Israel at the fore front of Ebola research likely to cure it, cancer research etc etc etc etc. No i’m not in israel or particularly zionist but not keen on subjugation of women, vilification and killing of homosexuals, supremacists genocidal charters. i should “get the f**k over it”; islamists. nice.
      - Ged Byrne
        
        Interesting idea that Israel wants to cure Ebola, seeing how racist the country is towards black Africans… perhaps you mean ‘come up with an expensive treatment’?
        
        I remember the Ethiopian Jews who begged Israel to rescue them from the civil war where all sides were targeting them. Eventually, Israel did send some helis and lifted some to the safety of Israel, where they were told they had to ‘convert’ to Judaism. Hmm.. if being Jewish is a racial thing (i.e. Israel being historically linked to the ancestors of Jews) then how can one ‘convert’? Either it’s a religion or it’s an ethnicity, yet Israel plays all the cards, all the time, with both hands!)
        
        I’m far from interested in subjugation of women or minorities, which is why I abhor various cultures in the world, not least of these is that there are over 1 million women in Israel who want a divorce but can not obtain a get from their husbands.
        
        20% of Israelis are non-Jewish, and there are 17 laws which discriminate against this 1 in 5 Israelis.
      - Dogsnob
        
        You’ll be disappointed.
  - Terry Field
    
    There is not a hUman being in the world who does not prefer his own, group, race, or whatever you want to call it.
    And that includes you sonny boy.
    We are all, to a man and a woman, racist.
    SO bloody what???????
    - Ged Byrne
      
      Speak for yourself dick.
      - Terry Field
        
        You want your kids to be mulatoes of Bongoland origin???????????
      - Ged Byrne
        
        How do you know they’re not, you racist ignorant prick?
  - pp22pp
    
    Shut up. After Rotherham and all the other acts of evil covered up in the name of not being bigoted, I am absolutely sick of hearing this rubbish. The words racist and bigot are now officially meaningless. Go to hell. People like you have ponced around on the moral high ground for as long as I can remember. We can now see what you mean by “tolerance” and it stinks.
  - SirComeSpect
    
    This about a man who is constantly derogatory about the English.
    
    Grow up.
    - Ged Byrne
      
      He’s also extremely rude and disparaging about the Scots too 😉
The Laughing Cavalier

Not even funny.
Anthorny

Brilliant piece James. Boyle had to be a latent PC Guardian type at heart. They all are. Look at Steve Coogan. I went through a similar odyssey, first seeing him as innovative, challenging and funny with Alan Partridge. And then he started banging on endlessly about evil Tories, how New Labour are great and how Hacked Off isn’t about hiding the dalliances of Hugh Grant etc, but is meant to protect us ordinary folk.
- GUBU
  
  Look at Steve Coogan? Not if I can help it.
Pounce

Any chance we can send him to Syria to entertain his version of “Our Boys”
Colin

The problem I have with Bellends such as boyle is that they often attack ordinary people who have absolutely no way of defending themselves, a bit like that other Bellend jimmy carr. I’m assuming boyle pays his FULL share of tax.

Once you’ve worked out that boyle is just another lefty establishment bigot, you can move on, and wonder why you ever found anything he ever did funny.
Doesntplaywellwithothers

I remember having a slight difference of opinion with you over Mr Boyle some time ago. I said then I thought he was a coward and a bully, hiding behind those stylistic devices so beloved of the left; “edginess” and “irony”. He always reminded me of those snotty pillocks in the early days of chat rooms who bombarded female contributors with gang rape and paedophile “jokes” and then when you asked them to stop they screamed “WHERE’s YER SENSE OF YOOOOMARRRRRRRRRRGH!?!?111”

Boyle was the same for me, not funny and done to bully, degrade, humiliate and intimidate.
- kefp
  
  The only time I have ever seen Boyle – on a DVD shown to me by friends – I found him unfunny and utterly misogynist. After 5 minutes with none of us laughing my friends, Boyle ‘fans’, turned it off and apologized for any offense. Ben Elton, for all his lefty crap, at least stood by his belief that prejudice is not funny, it seems to be all Boyle has.
  - Ged Byrne
    
    Ben Elton, for all his ‘lefty crap’? I love the way the Thatcher onanists and Hitler wannabes imagine ‘lefty’ to be an insult.
    
    Ben Elton put his tongue so far up the establishment’s collective arse in the end it’s amazing some figures didn’t sport two tongues for a while! He’s a sell-out and a splash of a wank stain, with his best works far, FAR behind him. He used the same jokes repeatedly in some of his books and screen writings and then went off on his own tangent to suck Royal Arse. He’s a twunt, end of.
    
    Boyle, meanwhile, writes what he likes and has NEVER deviated, EVER.
    
    He can be an arse when he gets personal to people, and I find that bullying. Commenting on Clarkson /// who is more than capable and able to make his response.. fair game!
    - global city
      
      I bet you have used ‘onanist’ way too many times since you discovered it’s meaning?
      
      Actually, onanism and left wingery are interchangeable…. really, they are!
Brekfast_newz

The thesis here appears to be that Frankie Boyle was all right laying into dead or disabled kids, but as soon as he turns his bile towards the Chipping Norton set… well, he’s gone too far.
- Ridcully
  
  No, the thesis is that a comedian who bases his entire career on being offensive really shouldn’t be attacking a TV presenter who commits the same offence (on a much lesser scale to boot).
  Glass houses and all that.
  - Brekfast_newz
    
    I get that angle, really I do; but it doesn’t explain why the author should be retrospectively offended by Boyle’s long-standing comic sensibilities after his attack on Clarkson. It seems abundantly clear that’s an emotional reaction based on political tribalism – which rather undermines the hypocrisy argument.
    - Fenton!
      
      Why can’t it be a rational reaction rooted in political realism?
      - Brekfast_newz
        
        Good question. You tell me.
      - Fenton!
        
        It was a rhetorical question: it tells by itself.
edithgrove

Is he the one that brought us the dancing NHS beds and homage to Rotherham Children’s Services as part of the opening ceremony of the Olympics?
- Simon Fay
  
  That was (film director) Danny Boyle, but close enough for Jazz.
- Kitty MLB
  
  Oh I managed to confuse those two.Those flying
  nurses during the Olympics were somewhat sinister in my
  opinion.
InnitBruvz

Nothing about Frankie Boyle is exactly offensive or challenging. It doesn’t challenge society or the viewer in any way… And writing for Murdoch’s ‘The Sun’ may be offensive, but for all the wrong reasons..
Katabasis

I remember one of the Offendotron Harridans on twitter screeching and screeching about Clarkson’s capital offence of using the word “slope” (like many others here, it went over my head too initially).

She kept calling him a “cretin”.

Someone then pointed her to the historical origin of the word.

Sometimes these people are just about tolerable for the inevitable schadenfreude when they fall face first on the slippery slope of inscrutable speech codes themselves.
- UKSteve
  
  Love it! 😀
Fraziel

I used to like him as i have a black slightly twisted sense of humour, but no longer. He is a poor mans Jerry Sadowitz anyway.
- GUBU
  
  Calling anyone ‘a poor man’s Jerry Sadowitz’ is a really low blow.
- Fergus Pickering
  
  She was not trying to become a celebrity. She was trying to win an Olympic Gold medal. Which she did. So fuck off. Now THAT’s funny and satirical.
  - HFC
    
    And it’s ironic, innit?
    - Fergus Pickering
      
      Nope
      - HFC
        
        Sarc. off 😉
      - Fergus Pickering
        
        Love you too.
  - Fraziel
    
    Actually she was.She had already won the gold medals if memory serves me right and was trying to cash in on that to become famous and a celeb, which made her fair game. It was also funny imo as she did have a face like a Dolphin.Perhaps you were out the country and missed her appearing regularly on tv and in all the tabloids.You are entitled to your own opinion but not your own facts. Bye now.
    - Fergus Pickering
      
      What an ungallant oaf you are. And ugly, I’ve no doubt.
Simon Fay

I’m supposed to find this toxic foul-mouthed nihilist (Boyle) funny like I’m supposed to join in the fawning over the office (or common room) bully’s latest jape lest I become his next target. That he presumes to have the moral authority to call for action against anyone over anything is the best show of student-union-stroked hubris since the pot belittled the kettle’s racial origin during a solidarity-with-Palestine flash-mobbing.
CharlietheChump

Boyle, like you, like me, like everyone should be entitled to say anything. Anything. The fact that he has stopped being funny is sad nothing else.
- Fergus Pickering
  
  No he is not. There are many things he is not entitled to say.
CharlietheChump

And Clarkson was talking about the bridge.
William_Brown

Oh, that IS a shame. Frankie’s gone and joined the liberal elite. I suppose, without much TV work coming in these days, he feels the need to tow the party line.
- Lydia Robinson
  
  Once they’ve gone independent, he’ll need a work permit for dahn south. That should keep him off our TV screens.
abystander

Too much Clarkson on the TV.

Don’t like Boyle much either,but you Tory boys recognise your own, right?

By the way Strathclyde Council ceased to exist in 1982.
Snoopy

Word. When I read about his statements, I was disappointed more than anything else.
Indrid Kold

‘Racism’ can not exist. It’s the BELIEF one ‘race’ is superior or inferior to another. Last time I checked, there was only one race of humans left alive on the planet – Homo Sapiens. There are a variety of visibly different ethnicities and cultures but no separate ‘races’.

‘Slope’ is a little used American G.I. term, allegedly arising from the unusual appearance of Asiatic eyes to westerners. The term is an insult based on attributes of the target’s physical appearance and is now deemed wholly inappropriate.

Frankie Boyle’s insults would seem to be similarly based on physical appearance so his ‘demand’ Clarkson be sacked is more than a little hypocritical. Had he targeted the facial characteristics of a black or Asian individual, he too would no doubt have been tarred with the ‘racist’ epithet.

Humiliating someone simply because of their looks is a ploy one would hope such supposedly intelligent people had left behind in the playground.

That someone resorting to such cheap and childish tactics can then claim the moral high ground is the real ‘joke’ here.

As a race (in the singular), I think we should all grow up. An insult is an insult. You have the right in our supposed ‘free society’ to call me anything you want, so long as I have the right to do the same.
- Richard
  
  There are genetic differences between the races, though. This is denied by the Left, and yet they speak about racism. In other words, they speak about something they deny exists, and legislate about it, too. I have no problem identifying different human ethnicities (regarded as “race” in modern parlance) because they exist. I am white, and so a minority ethnic internationally, certainly more of a minority than the Indian woman who levelled the complaint.
  - Freedom
    
    There are genetic differences between the races, though. This is denied by the Left, and yet they speak about racism. In other words, they speak about something they deny exists, and legislate about it, too.
    God you are so right.
  - GraveDave
    
    I’d agree. But being white it doesn’t do for the narrative of post Nazi shame we’re all supposed to share.
- Lydia Robinson
  
  “It’s the BELIEF one ‘race’ is superior or inferior to another.”
  
  That’ll be the WHITE race that’s inferior. Unless it’s the Scottish White Race, whom, of course, Boyle will extol to the heavens.
- Dar4id
  
  Homo Sapiens is a species. The usage you mention is an inaccurate euphemism pushed to pretend that there are no differences between different geographically spread groups of Homo Sapiens.
Richard

At heart, most “Lefties” are just creatures who herd with a certain tribe. In that tribe, they find identity, belonging and security. There is nothing more to them, and nothing less. They accept the beliefs of that tribe as a precondition to belonging, and are ruthless in expelling tribe-members who do not kow-tow. In the UK, the “Lefties” are the most powerful, and most Brits are extremely gregarious and social people, so wouldn’t dream of offending their tribe. I have never met a Brit who is truly an individual, though I have met other European nationalities who are. Each country has a mentality, this is simply the British one, for better or worse.
- Freedom
  
  I have never met a Brit who is truly an individual
  Every society has its Cave, where most people live all their lives.
- GraveDave
  
  Well, you haven’t met that many Brits then have you. Though I’d give you one thing, we do seem to have some of the most useful idiots And there are just as many on the right as the left.
  - Richard
    
    Actually, I correct myself: I have met Brits who are individuals, but long ago. I restricted myself to the last twenty years or so. They are a vanished breed. We used to get lots in the colonies, where I am from (and I don’t mean America).
- Fergus Pickering
  
  You should get around more. What a fatuous comment.
  - Kitty MLB
    
    No maybe he shouldn’t, old beansprout. Fatuousness
    may be contagious.
  - Richard
    
    Explain, bitte.
benbecula

Boyle’s the kind of person that invites flak – he gives and receives a lot of it. But recently he sued a publication for calling him “racist”. It seems he can be otherwise called anything under the sun .
- amd
  
  Not only sued them, he won. And donated the payment he won to charity. The bastard.
- Fraziel
  
  He was correct, he wasnt being racist. It was the mirror who called him that as he did a sketch where someone at the ministry of defence answered a phone with the words ” hello, department of n*gg*er bombing”. He was having a go at perceived British war mongering and racism and as anyone with a brain knows,context is everything. Making a sketch implying the MOD are racist doesnt make you racist. He won the case becaise he was right and the Mirror, as usual, were behaving like ignorant morons.
Emilia

Like most people, I had never heard of the word ‘slope’ in any other context than the literal one. But if it is now felt to be “offensive to Asian people”, how much more offensive must it be for them to hear the Rotherham rapists being referred to as ‘Asian’ all the time? I bet Ofcom won’t investigate that. Clarkson is silly, but that’s hardly a major crime these days, given what some people get away with, (eg, burning poppies, shouting that all British soldiers should be killed etc).
I hadn’t heard of Boyle except in James D’s column, so he doesn’t offend me at least.
- Ged Byrne
  
  NOt sure what you’re getting at?
  
  Rotheram’s ‘grooming gang’, I imagine you mean, but that’s not really part of this debate..
  
  As you’ve never heard the term, or perhaps noticed the term, being used as an offensive slur to East Asian people, down to the shape of their eyes, then I think you are vastly confused.
  
  ‘Slope’ was a word used in Vietnam to refer to those people of that country in order to dehumanise them. I suppose that it’s a step too far to consider the implications of this and it’s better to bemoan the loss of the ‘quaint old days when we could call black people “niggers” and make sneering references to them?
  
  Fuck off back to the dark ages, and take your pet dinosaurs with you!
  - UKSteve
    
    “vastly confused”? A bit rich coming from you, who hasn’t a clue what he’s ranting on about.
    
    Pure tin-foil hatter. “Vietnam”, LOL.
    - Ged Byrne
      
      UKSteve – you’re showing your ignorance here^, vastly better than with all the other posts where you’ve done all you can to show it off, and not quite made it enough. Well done.
      
      By the way, being PC or not is not what Jeremy Clarkson deserves to lose his job for. He deserves to lose his job for being an arrogant, cock-sure ignoramus who ACTS like an un-PC bigot, for money. He KNEW he was on air and he KNEW what the ‘Slope’ remark meant as well. He was playing to his persona and on air. He’s a moron for believing in this crass nonsense of ‘humour’.
      
      So, where am I ‘vastly confused’ Steve? Do enlighten us.. or give us a laugh.
      - UKSteve
        
        I’ll get back to you, as soon as GCHQ have de-cyphered this: “…you’re showing your ignorance here^, vastly better than with all the
        other posts where you’ve done all you can to show it off, and not quite
        made it enough.”
        
        Confused about the English language, for a start, and life in general, it seems. If I want to provide big laughs, I’ll point to any of your Disqus posts, young troll.
      - Ged Byrne
        
        UKSteve – thanks for the compliment. I’ve been young for the last 20 odd years since becoming a father. Nice of you to notice.
        
        Yes, you DO seem to be easily confused.. it seems dementia is slipping in too many places these days and sadly into people who seem capable of writing on the WWW and sharing their confusion with the world. My sympathies.
        
        Please, go here and learn a bit before you care to further embarrass yourself –
        
        http://www.winwenger.com/remedial.htm
      - UKSteve
        
        Well, congrats to whoever on the reasonably coherent sentences. Did you get an adult to write them for you, or did your meds kick in? A father – jeez, I hope not.
        
        Your recommendation of that website: is that from personal experience? It would seem so, given the childish bilge you post on here.
      - whattheflip
        
        You’re acting like a prick mate
henryGrattan1800

Frankie does not follow the narrative that is being feed to the sleeping plebs
- Simon Fay
  
  Great that he’s too edgy and real for anything like entertainment, let alone civility, decency etc.
Fergus Pickering

I trust you are thoroughly ashamed of yourself. The man is about as funny as a dog turd on a duvet.
George Smiley

Someone complaining about someone complaining about someone lots of people complain about; the weekend STARTS HERE.
cambridgeelephant

The problem with morons like Boyle is that they would have been confined to the end of the pier 50 years ago. Now television makes them multi millionaires. And I understand Boyle is just that ! Along with a similar nonentity Jimmy Carr.

The ‘alternative’ comic has long had his day and simply adds up to something alternate to funny – i.e. not funny. The problem is TV guarantees their little Budda status and perpetuates it.

The real irony is that two of Britain’s best post war comics – albeit coming at the source from very different angles – were all but barred from TV at the times of their respective deaths.

I refer to Benny Hill and Bernard Manning. Both of whom were comics par excellence. Nothing ‘alternative’ about either.
The Masked Marvel

But Boyle and Cohen and the rest of the scum have no problem with Chris Addison “joking” about sending a bomb to George Bush, Toxic Toksvig saying the Tories “put the ‘n’ in cuts”, Jo Brand cheering about what she thought was Windsor Castle burning down, any number of BBC radio muppets tweeting bile on a regular basis, or a large portion of the output of Jeremy Hardy, Danny Baker, and most other ‘edgy’ comedians on the BBC.

The BBC keep Clarkson around not only for the enormous amount of cash they earn off him, but because he’s a sort of licenced jester so Lefties can moan about how he’s everything they hate about conservatives. He’s a very useful propaganda tool in that regard.
- Lydia Robinson
  
  Similarly, the “right on” ones have no problem about making rape jokes about Sarah Palin, revealing what a steaming pile of hypocritical crap they are.
  - The Masked Marvel
    
    Like everyone’s favourite coke-sniffing Blue Peter reject, Richard Bacon:
    
    http://biasedbbc.org/blog/2011/08/04/richard-bacon-this-stuff-about-palins/
    - Lydia Robinson
      
      I have never seen that before. Horrific. And Clarkson gets reams of abuse because he says “slope.”
      
      I’m surprised Boyle hasn’t used this material in his stand up. It sounds up his street.
      - The Masked Marvel
        
        He shouldn’t have said that, either. But to lose his job over it when all the BBC darlings do the same and worse on a regular basis is pathetic. Scroll down in the comments and you’ll find a quote from Boyle himself on his soapbox scolding against ethnic and fatty jokes. Yet he never demanded anyone be fired for it. Nor did Danny Cohen or any other BBC brass. The Russell Brand/Jonathan Ross incident was the exception which proves the rule.
        
        Hold the approved thoughts, and anything goes. Have a couple of unapproved thoughts, and they want you to lose your job. Hypocrites, the lot of them. We should never listen to a comedian, celebrity, or media luvvie about anything to do with moral values or human decency.
      - Lydia Robinson
        
        I don’t believe in censorship so would prefer it was “out there” but the PC brigade would have that taken down immediately if it was someone with the “wrong views” saying it. I used to participate in a lefty forum where I was subjected to horrific abuse on the basis of my age and gender, simply because my views are not left wing. I’m very familiar with the double standards of lefties and their crappy hypocrisy. They are scum.
      - The Masked Marvel
        
        I wasn’t thinking of censorship, really. It was more a thought about having a tiny bit of common sense. Then again, we’re talking about the same idiot who said identity thieves couldn’t touch him after he published his bank details in the paper. Clarkson is as stupid as Bacon.
      - whattheflip
        
        They are loathsome, joyless bullies and our institutions are riddled with them. In our age of identity politics certain groups are allowed to say things that others aren’t. Online forums confuse them because they are anonymous. I wonder if there is any hope for the future. We aren’t free – not even in our own minds.
      - Guest
        
        Well, well, well. The moderators have removed my comment about Bacon with the link to his promotion of a comedian joking about Sarah Palin’s developmentally disabled child. Yet they leave up comments expressing severe anti-Jewish sentiment and other bigoted comments about various groups. Well done, Fraser Nelson.
        
        I will post the link again and again, because people need to be reminded, and the mods can waste their time and energy deleting all of them.
        
        http://biasedbbc.org/blog/2011/08/04/richard-bacon-this-stuff-about-palins/
- Kevin Mcallister
  
  Serious question, do you really think there’s some parity between Chris Addison joking about sending a bomb to dubya (presumably the ACTUAL bombs the pres was responsible for is given a pass by you and your ilk?) is the same as using a racially loaded epithet and all the baggae that is associated with such a word.
  
  GEnuinely interested.
  - The Masked Marvel
    
    Yes. And your remark about Bush’s bombs reveals why you wouldn’t see it that way.
    - Kevin Mcallister
      
      Ok as i thought. Bit weird, like.
      - The Masked Marvel
        
        Vulgar is vulgar. Assigning value to people and their feelings based on the colour of their skin is inappropriate.
TNT

Frankie Boyle is a terrible comedian, and even less impressive as a human rights campaigner. What happened with his hungerstrike to highlight the ‘plight’ one of those poor, innocent Muslim jihadists in Guantanamo? Doesn’t look like he’s missed a meal to me.
- Lydia Robinson
  
  I think he went off the idea after the Glasgow jihadists tried to blow up the airport.
- amd
  
  He did the one week strike and passed it on to the next celebrity. From the outset, they all said they were all doing it for a week.
  
  “Having taken over from Reprieve Founder and Director, Clive Stafford Smith, Frankie had been on hunger-strike since Wednesday 17 July – he will now be passing the protest onto actress and Reprieve Patron Julie Christie.”
  
  http://www.reprieve.org.uk/blog/2013_07_23_frankie_boyle_shaker_aamer_hunger_stike/
  - TNT
    
    Thank you.
    - amd
      
      Welcome.
Lydia Robinson

Can you do a savage piece on that unfunny c***t Marcus Brigstocke next, please James?
- Freedom
  
  Well you know he’d be only too pleased. In fact he could just rework an old Telegraph piece or two on that very subject….
- Sean L
  
  Yeah I don’t think I’ve seen a face more in need of a slap than that bloke’s. Perhaps David Cameron. . .
  - Kitty MLB
    
    I think that toad who decieved all those students and
    encouraged them to vote for yoghurt knitters is more
    in need of a slapped cheek.
- whattheflip
  
  They’re all the same anyway – Brigstocke, Mitchell et al. Smug hypocrites telling everyone how to think from atop their ivory towers. If they weren’t all employed and encouraged by the state broadcaster, it wouldn’t be so sickening. Scrap the BBC, it is a cancer on our society
Sean L

Good demolition job. The bit I’d dissent from is wanting to “expose received wisdom and cultural taboos to ruthless scrutiny”. Surely the point of being a *conservative* is to a great extent to *defend* things that have no other justification than having stood the test of time; that it’s not for any single generation to presume to know better than the accumulated ancestral wisdom embodied in inherited practice. The clue is in the name.

Consider single parenthood, which in my lifetime, about the same duration as yours, has gone from being taboo to standard practice. It’s a good example of how wrongheaded it is to promote individual licence for its own sake in the name of “freedom ” or against “the oppressive state”. Because if you continually undermine other sources of authority and forms of culture that keep people in check, that’s to say maintain society, the only authority left will be that of the state.

In effect to promote an individual free for all is a licence for greater and more intrusive government, as we can see today as the repercussions of the decline of the family and promotion of gay rights and the like take effect, with ever more agents of the state filling the vacuum. Burke said that without religion society will crumble into the dust and powder of individuality. Ferdinand Mount made a comparable point re the family in his book The Subversive Family. Ultimately the only effective defence against greater state control is to defend institutions and practices that constrain people, but in doing so serve as a bulwark against the almighty state.
tjmac7

A total hypocrite and an utter bigot, who would have thought? I blame the beard.
Pelo Nord

Outrageous, sick comedy can be fantastic if that’s your bag and it is mine – but everyone needs to be targeted. I’m thinking of Jerry Sadowitz here with whom Boyle has been compared; men, women, Muslims, Jews, Christians, Nelson Mandela, Terry Waits (yes!) the vulnerable etc.
Boyle knows his demographic which is mainly young lefties who read the Guardian and Indy and see Chomsky and Pilger as their grandfather figures. Boyle plays to this crowd and in doing so shows that he’s not nearly as daring a comedian as Sadowitz – just another smug lefty.
Yes, Frankie, heard your gag about the IDF and a Palestinian woman. Now show us a you’re not a coward and slag off Hamas or Isis.
Liz

But Boyle isn’t employed by the BBC.
- Shenandoah
  
  That seems a little weak for you, Liz. Couldn’t you have worked in something about glass ceilings, skirt hems and the male gaze, and something about sausages while you were at it? I’ll lose interest in the Spectator if you lose your grip.
  - Kitty MLB
    
    Lizzie has been somewhat busy trying to find sexism
    in a monastery somewhere up North.So therefore has
    been preoccupied as late.
    - Liz
      
      Found it!
- Kevin Mcallister
  
  Lizzie! You’re using facts to make a point, kindly realise where you are, please. We need high nosed bluster and righteous sanctimony.
  
  Tsk, tsk, I’m sure you’ll learn.
ryfunere

Boyle is another of the ‘alternative’ humourists, as originated by Ben Elton who rely on berating anyone who is not ultra-PC or left-wing and by shouting long and loud and hoping it will be classed as ‘humour’. He is neither funny nor nice. We need our non-pc types and eccentrics to offset the left wing enslavers like Boyle and his ilk.
misomiso

More epsiodes from occupied Europe please James!
- RBcritique
  
  Hear, hear !
Scradje

Boyle is rather proud of the fact that he has most of the behavioral characteristics of a clinical psychopath. He is an ardent Hamas supporter. The policies of Hamas are no different from ISIL. Shouldn’t that be enough to ban him from any performing in public?
General_Patten

Another spiteful left wing nasty piece of work. What a surprise.
ohforheavensake

Oh, James. it’s tough, isn’t it? If only people would stop being offended by things that are offensive- how much easier your little life would be.
Kevin Mcallister

It’s an outrage, Jamie! I remember the good old days when racism wasn’t bad and the ethnics damn well knew their place! Keep up the good fight my good man, we can save this country by jove, one racial epithet at a time@
trace9

There was a Boyle called Frank
Who like a tumour, Stank
He grew a beard
& Disappeared,
To have a hairy W**k.
john p reid

A self mocking car program, I don’t see clarkson being the butt of any of his own jokes, and Top gear, a car program,it has nothing to do with cars, really apart from those lads, drive a few, in a stupid way.
mandelson

If you like this creep and his ‘edgy humour’ you probably egged on bullies kicking the crap out of fat kids at school.
TheBoisterousSeaofLiberty

Look at Boyle’s “controversy” over his Jew joke. He got booked, he got paid and after wards he got to play the self righteous crusader (over the mildest of mildest rebukes essentially because he said “Jew” rather than “Israeli”) which will probably help him put bums on seats for his next tour. And when the dust settles, the BBC will book him again, he’ll get paid and so on and so on. Who wants to break a virtuous circle like that?
logdon

Another one is the little creep, Russell Howard who can wholesale condemn country folk as borderline racists and in the next breath insinuate that they’re all in-bred cretins.

So far up his own horrid, juvenile fundament that he cannot see the bigotry of his idiotic generalistions, which if applied to the establishment victim classes would have him blue in the face with offended outrage.

This is the ridiculous fallacy of PC, they choose the targets of defence or offence according to their own sanctimonious rule-books and that’s precisely what Boyle is doing.
The Prez

He’s also not funny
Terry Field

Frankie Boyle.
Truly a boyle.
Barry J McC

James Dellingpole: you have revealed yourself to be as much an
anachronism as Clarkson can be. The ramblings of a bewildered grandad
trying to change channels with an iphone. For all Frankie Boyle’s vile
rantings include, they do not employ the vileness that is racism, or its
‘accepted’ antiquated terms, that you have forgiven Clarkson for.
Harvey Crusader

The only thin remotely funny about W**key Boyle is his ridiculous Beardy Weridy appearance, what a t*sser..
jonathan_smith

Boyle by name, boil by nature.
HamtunscireKippa

I do love the mock outrage from the BBC, pretending that they would cut off the huge funding stream that Top Gear represents when they flog it to everyone. They were never going to sack him because the one thing the BBC likes more than liberal hand wringing is cash.
Boyle is a nasty piece of work, I have read his book, which is quite interesting as it happens and the man behind the edgy jokes is no saint, not someone to take morality lessons from, that is for sure.
rifty

Jeremy Clarkson should be hung, drawn and quartered.
Rudy Schmidt

The promotion of hate mongers in the ratings race at the BBC is bad enough..

Endless Guardian propaganda masquerading as commentary is an unchecked violation of the BBC’s Charter obligations.
kai

Jeremy Cockson and Wankie boyle are both a pair of unfunny pricks
John Morgan

I’ll let Frankie take this one:
“If you get offended by any jokes, by the way, feel free to Tweet your outrage on a mobile phone made by a ten year old in China”.
You sad, right-wing hypocrites.
nilbud

What small pointless people.
Dogsnob

How long now has British comedy been dead? Wonder why?
Because for the last at least 30 years, the main quality sought in prospective newcomers, has been, not the ability to make people laugh, but clear evidence of left-wing zealotry.
Circuit Ben

How is it possible to “bully” someone who is the most well paid bigot on TV? Clarkson spends his time writing racist comments to a deadline in the Sunday Times, he is horrible about minorities for money – if someone is prepared to make sure that sections of the population will be treated unfairly so that he/she can get a paycheck, they don’t deserve my respect. That goes equally for the author of this apology for racism.
Owen

This man has purposefully misunderstood Boyle’s point.
stelsewhere

Another inept backwards missing the point piece of journalism .. What the hell are they teaching at journalism school in England??! … Frankie Boyle is a COMEDIAN .. ie.. what he says on stage IS NOT what he believes in real life lol .. (having to explain this is actually quite embarrassing ) … saying “i eat babies” on stage does NOT mean he eats babies in REAL life lol hahaha .. if this numpty James Delingpole wants to be taken seriously then LEARN TO SEPARATE “ENTERTAINMENT” FROM REALITY !! .. Another reason why Scotland is fighting to get away from England .. Because your country is full of IDIOTS!
Zoey Jackson

You’re all idiots.

Either everything is funny, or nothing is.

Get off your moral high horses, because I can bet there are things you find absolutely hilarious that someone, somewhere will find offensive.

Unless you find nothing funny, in which case, you are possibly the most sad, boring human to have ever walked this Earth.
- Zoey Jackson
  
  And yes, I adore Frankie Boyle. He is on the same wave length as Paul McDermott here.
  
  He is talented, intelligent, insight and fucking hilarious.
  
  The fact that he is Scottish and gorgeous are just icing on the cake.
Funkmonkey

Wow the auther of this article has (I suspect deliberately) missed the point. Frankie Boyle’s comedy is at the expense of individuals, who can fight back either verbally or via legal means if they feel so inclined. What Clarkson did was racism and discrimination against all Oriental and Asian people. Don’t try and dress it up as Frankie Boyle is being a hypocrite because you are comparing apples and oranges. The fact that the auther is trying to downplay the severity of the word ‘Slope’ in this article is also in itself a form of racism. Who is he to pass judgment on what someone from this community would find racist. Its lazy journalism at best and thought-speak at worst
Carl Barjer

Selectively taking Boyle at his word seems silly. He slagged off Rebecca, Camilla and Jordan; now he’s done it to Clarkson. When he’s mocked the chorus deifying or deriding or both, the former women (ahaha!); you applaud. When he does the same with Clarkson, you object!

Time to raise your game.
BLACK ISLE DOG

boyle is a jungle , hence the need to form ROI lite
Ron

Frankie Boyle is funniest ever comedian imo as he’s not scared to take the piss out of anything including himself(gingers)(Scotland) humour should have no boundaries if it’s funny it’s funny. Stop being so serious and laugh a little, if u don’t like it don’t listen or watch but don’t rant on about it
Ron

How does comedy, have so many serious comments ffs lighten up lol
Cherry Chongle

The UK is full of over sensitive arseholes seriously. If you can’t take a joke….your a cunt.
TheOneWhoListens

Why do you not appreciate the humour and laughs Boyle gives us. His words aren’t of his views, its comedy, not truth. To think his actual stand up performances with racist, sexist and homophobic views are actually true then think again, as this is a charade for the public’s humour. He personally admitted on stage at many of his gigs his didn’t believe many of the jokes and lines he gives, as his own views, so stop being so stubborn about the fact Boyle is a well certified man and stands with his views strongly and that he isn’t one that is actually just openly racist or homophobic.
Darbeet

What drivel. So Clarkson’s use of racist stereotypes is actually good and Frankie Boyle isn’t ballsy, it’s the ‘opposite of reality’ column, cheers!
BrettBroadband

Frankie Boyle turns his ire on little kids and Delingpole laughs. Turns it on a man who also makes a living saying outrageous things and he’s a ‘cowardly bully’. This label, itself, is a bit rich coming from this clown.

James is just jealous because he tries to pull this act too, but absolutely nobody listens.
- hamfish
  
  The word you’re looking for is assclown. Also Clarkson needs to be hit by a meteorite.
Frink

Delingpole is a dingbat.
Neeraj Kumar

you are so stupid. he doesn’t just joke he just tells the truth harshly and if you can’t handle the truth then go…
- Aidan Taylor
  
  So anyone who disagrees with you or your beloved Truthmeister’s opinions is stupid? Therefore by contrast, you must be a genius… Actually, ‘just’ joking would usually be enough but Boyle, like Clarkson, is a committed bully hiding behind the mask of ‘comedy’. Unless he causes upset he has failed and the greater the upset, the more he believes he has succeeded.
Sue Jones

Another Right-wing zealot droning on about “Left-wing drones”. If ou want a clearer picture of bullying and bigotry, you will need to look closer to home, Mr Delingpole. Just to your right …

Frankie Boyle is a cowardly bully, and I’m ashamed I ever stood up for him

I believe that it’s part of comedy’s job to test the bounds of decency. But to judge by his attack on Jeremy Clarkson, Frankie doesn’t

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Liberty is a mental illness?

Now it really is Dictator Dan

All for nothing

The Coalition’s climate stand: just like pissing in a wetsuit

Blah, blah, blah – and then you’re broke

Climate and Covid: the fact checks we had to have

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Frankie Boyle is a cowardly bully, and I’m ashamed I ever stood up for him

I believe that it’s part of comedy’s job to test the bounds of decency. But to judge by his attack on Jeremy Clarkson, Frankie doesn’t

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