Michael Pugliese writes:
One of my bad habits when there is too much e-mail to deal with but,
I
want to tell y'all of some interesting nibblet on the net. The
title/subject
line, was a quote from some intelligence spook on Harold Wilson. Who I
really doubt is gay, btw. Peter Mandelson is, though!
=====
All that email means you don't get a proper grasp of what's interesting,
nibblet or otherwise. "The queer will be dethroned" was racist,
anti-semitic and homophobic ex-Deputy Chief of MI6 George Kennedy
Young's succinct and tasteless statement regarding his efforts to depose
Edward Heath as Conservative Party leader. It had nothing to do with
Harold Wilson, whose sexuality even MI5 was absolutely clear about. And
Mandy's sexuality is not, nor ever should have been, a problem. This is
one major piece of progress that has occurred over the last 30 years or
so, where we can have openly gay government ministers, thus depriving
the security services and others of the opportunity to blackmail, as was
the case with Labour MP Tom Driberg. That Mandelson could even have been
welcomed as Secretary of State for Northern Ireland by the Ulster
Unionists is truly remarkable. Unfortunately sexual inclination or
membership of a minority, generally, is no guarantee of progressive
politics, as Mandelson's interesting CV would attest.
Michael K.
