Gordon Brown's letter

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Claymore

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Does anyone else think Gordon Brown has been set-up regarding the letter he sent to the mother of killed soldier?
OK she's upset and rightly so but how many people record phone conversations so clearly and also sound like she was reading off paper prepared comments? also newspaper was VERY quick to stir it up.
maybe Brown was baited and newspaper set-up recording equipment ready to snare him? something just doesn't seem right to me.
Also its illegal to record telephone conversations without the caller knowing so by right she could be done for it.
Brown is the biggest disaster this country has ever had and should have gone years ago but ok he's a prat, can't spell, poor handwriting (haven't most people nowadays thanks to email?) but i smell a rat and its coming from a Sun reporters direction:nono:
 
Claymore said:
Also its illegal to record telephone conversations without the caller knowing so by right she could be done for it.
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I don't know any details of this story but if you are recording a conversation for your own use, you do not have to inform the other person.


Steve.
 
Out of Focus Totally unrelated off topic type stuff, jokes, rants, raves..anything at all thats nothing to do with photography, but please, no politics or religion! :shrug:

Edit: It must pass the test :thinking:
 
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I've only seen a bit of the coverage on this, but personally I think it has been blown out of all proportion. Brown deals with issues of huge importance day in and day out, at some point or other a mistake with a name would be made. It's unfortunate that it happened to be in the case that it was.

I dislike Brown, hated him as chancellor and never wanted him to lead the party, but this issue has been blown out of all proportion.
 
To tell you the truth, I haven't really paid much attention to this story so I don't know all the exact details, but I know where you're coming from, and frankly I wouldn't put anything past these tabloids. They're capable of anything just to publish a headline story.

I can't imagine what it must be like for a parent to lose a son or daughter. It must be a terrible thing to go through. But I have to say, if I had received a letter like that from Gordon Brown, I'd be upset naturally, but I'd have more things on my mind than going to a newspaper with it, so it does make you wonder.
 
I'm amazed they let Brown use anything sharper than a wax crayon! also she's not kept the recording for her own use, if she had how would we hear it on TV and radio? ok they didn't play Browns replies but it still seems like she has let others ie newspapers listen to it and is breaking the law.
 
Claymore said:
I'm amazed they let Brown use anything sharper than a wax crayon!
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Did you see the letter? It looks as though that's exactly what he used.

As much as I loathe the man, I have to say that he doesn't deserve this k**p for expressing his sympathies.
 
Claymore said:
ok they didn't play Browns replies but it still seems like she has let others ie newspapers listen to it and is breaking the law.
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As I said, I have not seen the story or heard anything. Obviously if they only played her side of the conversation then that is with her permission and no law was broken.

As for letting others listen to it... possibly or even probably - but impossible to prove.


Steve.
 
Claymore said:
Does anyone else think Gordon Brown has been set-up regarding the letter he sent to the mother of killed soldier?
OK she's upset and rightly so but how many people record phone conversations so clearly and also sound like she was reading off paper prepared comments? also newspaper was VERY quick to stir it up.
maybe Brown was baited and newspaper set-up recording equipment ready to snare him? something just doesn't seem right to me.
Also its illegal to record telephone conversations without the caller knowing so by right she could be done for it.
Brown is the biggest disaster this country has ever had and should have gone years ago but ok he's a prat, can't spell, poor handwriting (haven't most people nowadays thanks to email?) but i smell a rat and its coming from a Sun reporters direction:nono:
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Yes, I agree, and although he has a lot to answer for I do have a degree of sympathy for him over this issue and no respect at all for the "gutter press"!!.
 
I'm not a fan of the PM by any stretch of the imagination but he's had a raw deal over this story. I also feel sorry for the mother of the dead soldier because she has been used as a pawn in the Sun newspaper's political gaming.

I was listening to a military historian on the radio the other day who said that Gordon Brown is to the best of his knowledge the only PM who has personally written to the family or a serviceman killed in action, something for which I think he deserves some credit (just a little bit though, I don't want anyone thinking I'm a GB fan-boy).
 
Kev M said:
......... who said that Gordon Brown is to the best of his knowledge the only PM who has personally written to the family or a serviceman killed in action, something for which I think he deserves some credit (just a little bit though, I don't want anyone thinking I'm a GB fan-boy).
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I agree, anyone who takes the time to write personally expressing condolence should be praised, to be crucified for it not being through a spell-checker is frankly obscene.
 
Rodintee said:
I agree, anyone who takes the time to write personally expressing condolence should be praised, to be crucified for it not being through a spell-checker is frankly obscene.
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I agree 100% this stinks. not a GB fanboy either but is getting a kick in for no reason, seems to be acase of damned if you do damned if you dont.
 
He's been set up good n proper. I'm no fan of his but he deserves good credit for taking the the time to write.
I wonder if Mrs Thatcher ever wrote to the parents of the soldiers she killed in the Falklands?
 
Yep. Seems very much like a set-up.

I don't agree with a lot of GB policies, but I do think that whereas so many of our politicians are slimey PR machine products, GB does seem to actually have some integrity.

I think too many people have a very simplistic idea of how complex running a country is. You can't possibly keep everyone happy.

For the record, I was against our initial involvement in Afghanistan and nothing that has happened since has caused me to change my mind.
 
treeman said:
I wonder if Mrs Thatcher ever wrote to the parents of the soldiers she killed in the Falklands?
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Yes, she did. She started it and all PMs since have also written to the bereaved close family members of HM Forces killed in action.
 
the woman went to the sun, what more do you need to know..

generally i dont like GB but for goodness sake cut the guy some slack. he handwrites the letters despite being blind in 1 eye and dyslexic (if i remember rightly), plus there was the scare that he may go blind in the other eye. i mean jeez i think he deserves some praise for writing the letters, especially as he must have 1,000,001 other things to do in his average day.

i mean lets face it if the letters were typed and spellchecked he'd get a slating for not giving a stuff.

yes its sad about the ladys son dying but talk about going OTT.
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by treeman
I wonder if Mrs Thatcher ever wrote to the parents of the soldiers she killed in the Falklands?
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Yes, she did. She started it and all PMs since have also written to the bereaved close family members of HM Forces killed in action.
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Sorry, I should have said "hand written letters". Which according a military historian on the radio this afternoon, means GB was the first prime minister in modern times to do so.
 
After finding this story on one of the news sites I can conclude that it it an absolute non-story.


Steve.
 
So, let me get this straight.

A mother looses her son, a totally tragic experience.
The PM personally writes to her (Because I've seen the letter, it could only be personal as someone employed to do that would make it neat) and I expect to many others. He doesn't have to do that and not many folk knew he did before this.

He mis spells a name (a name that would be quite easy to get wrong anyway IMO) and the mother decides to put her grief aside for a moment and go to the papers. I'm sorry but IMO this actually says a lot more about her integrity that that of our PM - in fact despite the political posturing I think this puts our PM in a remarkably good light.

Remember, I didn't know he did this before someone started howling about it to the papers, so IMO it is not being done for votes or popularity. Which means it is much more genuine that most of the other **** that goes on in politics.
 
What a surprise that The Sun run with this just weeks after dropping their support for Labour... not. I don't like Brown either, but if she thought he was going to spend an hour or more of his time sitting in a darkened room spell checking his every word, she's on another planet. They even complained about the type of pen he used, FFS. Just as well Churchill wasn't expected to do this, or we'd have lost the bloody war...
 
Britain is the only country in the world that could be better without the SUN :lol: I think that and the other tabloid makes people stupid

.
 
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Does the lady actually state how much she got paid for this, G Brown isnt perfect but at least he hand wrote a letter and the name was not spelt correctly..........was it his mistake or was there a memo with a mis-spelled name he copied...........give him a break
 
Seems i'm not alone in my thought's for a change LoL Like one of you said how much did The Sun pay her? who set the recording equipment up? and when Brown gets his **** kicked out of number 10, he can alway get a job advertising Tipp-Ex or maybe we should just give him some lines to do ie
"I moost lern too spelle propoorly" one hundred times before he can leave the room! LoL
 
The world's gone mad. I just can't believe that this made headline news yesterday.
I don't like the man, and there's plenty that he can legitimately be criticised for but this whole situation is ridiculous :nuts:

He took the time to personally hand write a letter and then went onto personally spend 15 minutes on the phone apologising for the spelling mistake (which was one that anyone could easily make)

Even the 100th birthday message that you get from the Queen is pre-typed with a scanned signature these days :shrug:

A sentence I didn't think I'd ever write . . . but GB really deserves some credit for this, not the hard time that the tabloids are trying to give him.
 
SarahLee said:
The world's gone mad. I just can't believe that this made headline news yesterday.
I don't like the man, and there's plenty that he can legitimately be criticised for but this whole situation is ridiculous :nuts:

He took the time to personally hand write a letter and then went onto personally spend 15 minutes on the phone apologising for the spelling mistake (which was one that anyone could easily make)

Even the 100th birthday message that you get from the Queen is pre-typed with a scanned signature these days :shrug:

A sentence I didn't think I'd ever write . . . but GB really deserves some credit for this, not the hard time that the tabloids are trying to give him.
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Sarah, Show us your card from the queen then? LoL
 
I am not Keen on Mr Brown but as someone else said i wounder how much she got paid for this.. now i know that the sun are the idiots here but she must have gone to them first off. and as a BBc reporter asked yesterday when she got the phone call why was it her first reaction to record the phone call..imop money.. sorry i am sorry for her loss but to do this is just sick..
 
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SarahLee said:
:lol: :lol: :lol:

Fortunately I've got quite a while to go yet - it was my grandmother's.
And not very inspiring. The front was a portrait of the Queen in a very unpleasantly coloured yellow dress holding a bunch of Daffs iirc.
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Mmmmmmmmmmmm you'll tell me anything! LoL
Thought you were looking well for your age and very active carry all that camera gear at your age too?
Can you get camera mounts for Zimmers? just a though 9-)
 
gumbo-67 said:
I am not Keen on Mr Brown but as someone else said i wounder how much she got paid for this.. now i know that the sun are the idiots here but she must have gone to them first off. and as a BBc reporter asked yesterday when she got the phone call why was it her first reaction to record the phone call..imop money.. sorry i am sorry for her loss but to do this is just sick..
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:agree: my thoughts exactly.
 
Just to redress the balance slightly, whilst the mother's motives may have ben questionable (and we have no proof that she has been paid although it is likely) she is a woman grieving over the loss of her son which is the most likely cause of clouding her judgement over going to the papers.
 
The Sun = Absolute pathetic scum who just bring non stories to the headline to sell papers.

They are so far detached from what theyre supposed to be about (News) it's untrue.
My children could write better stories than the completely inept monkeys that write for the Sun.

Absolute scum paper IMO, along with the rest of them, and this sort of 'journalism' proves it.

The mother's motives are questionable too IMO. If the PM wrote to me and spelled my kids name slightly wrong, I would be a bit miffed, but I'd appreciate the fact he took the time to handwrite to me, personally.
She wants to take a good hard look at herself for what she did with her 'story' and think about her own integrity.
 
Marcel said:
The Sun = Absolute pathetic scum who just bring non stories to the headline to sell papers.

They are so far detached from what theyre supposed to be about (News) it's untrue.
My children could write better stories than the completely inept monkeys that write for the Sun.

Absolute scum paper IMO, along with the rest of them, and this sort of 'journalism' proves it.

The mother's motives are questionable too IMO. If the PM wrote to me and spelled my kids name slightly wrong, I would be a bit miffed, but I'd appreciate the fact he took the time to handwrite to me, personally.
She wants to take a good hard look at herself for what she did with her 'story' and think about her own integrity.
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Totally agree with that!
 
Personally I think this is a non-issue. Typical media frenzy. I can't even spell my own name right sometimes.
 
Marcel said:
The Sun = Absolute pathetic scum who just bring non stories to the headline to sell papers.

They are so far detached from what theyre supposed to be about (News) it's untrue.
My children could write better stories than the completely inept monkeys that write for the Sun.

Absolute scum paper IMO, along with the rest of them, and this sort of 'journalism' proves it.

The mother's motives are questionable too IMO. If the PM wrote to me and spelled my kids name slightly wrong, I would be a bit miffed, but I'd appreciate the fact he took the time to handwrite to me, personally.
She wants to take a good hard look at herself for what she did with her 'story' and think about her own integrity.
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Quoted for truth! Bang on dude.
 
Probably a good job the PM in the 1st World War didn't handwrite condolence letters then.
He'd still be writing :)
 
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