Freedom of speech

but boorish & oafish man in the world

You cannot be serious! Across the world there are many men still more 'boorish and oafish' than Trump!

Maizie D

"Bercow has a perfect right to exercise his authority."

Bercow made his speech in response to 'An Early Day Motion' put forward by a Labour MP.

An Early Day Motion :-

EDMs are used to put on record the views of individual MPs or to draw attention to specific events or campaigns. Topics covered by EDMs vary widely.

By attracting the signatures of other MPs, they can be used to demonstrate the level of parliamentary support for a particular cause or point of view.

Neither the Speaker nor Deputy Speakers will sign EDMs as their role requires them to be 'POLITICALLY IMPARTIAL'.

On February 20th there will be a debate on both e.petitions regarding The President of USA's State Visit, for and against! Bercow has shown his thought already by accusing him of 'Racism and Sexism'. How can he possibly 'Chair' those debates IMPARTIALLY.?

Bercow has brought the position of Speaker into question because he has shown a clear lack of 'POLITICAL IMPARTIALITY'.

His speech was not a requirement in response to the Early Day Motion he could have shown restraint but chose to use his position to humiliate the elected President of the USA.

Bercow has ' knowingly ' embarrassed The Government of the UK and that will please many and antagonise others.

I would just love for (so-called) President Trump to pitch up at Buckingham Palace and be photographed with the Queen because.....then the world would be able to witness a meeting of the most powerful but boorish & oafish man in the world and the most famous but impeccably dignified woman in the world.

And she's got a 65 year head start on Bully-Boy Trump....

Thank you Ankers. Was completely unaware of the '4 or 5' you mention Never usually think of myself as naive! Just thought GracesGranMK2 was having a difficult day and decided to respond accordingly. Again, thank you. I don't want to leave GN. Only recently stumbled upon it and sometimes find it decidedly informative.

Kim19. No need for you or anyone else to qualify anything if you dont want to.

There are only 4 or 5 regular posters on the news and politics board who demand things.

Or he could join Gransnet. ?

Who asked the speaker? What do you mean, Annie?

But the speaker was asked and gave his reply, is it not good that we know what is going on or continue to have decisions made behind closed doors

GracesGran MK2

"Very few people have been invited to speak in this way and it was high-handed of T May to go ahead with this without consulting others in Parliament. She is not (yet) a dictator; parliamentary democracy is not one person."

I am not aware this has happened , can you provide any evidence of this please.

Trump has business interests in the countries he hasn't banned.

Hear Hear Joelsnan!

Freedom of speech does have limits. What is said has to be within the law,

I'm certainly not 'disagreeing with what I want', GracesGranMK2' because I don't 'want' anything other than proper procedures to be adhered to. As far as I understand Mr Speaker gave his opinion without being asked for it and he is supposed to be politically neutral. Others are far more personally abusive of the man than I choose to be. I only gave the bare bones of my opinion without feeling the necessity to qualify it. Hope that is now okay with you.

The 7 banned countries do seem to have been banned[whether they should have been banned or not is a different issue] for somewhat genuine reasons.
He hasnt banned all muslim countries by a long shot.

So disappointed that our parliament has come to this, not that I am a Trump fan, but he is the elected head of the US, represents the views of large numbers of Americans and indeed a fair number throughout the world. Okay, some people do not agree with his blustering and style of change but we should uphold free speech and not prevent him putting his arguments forward, at least they can then be challenged within the right environment. This should not be done in the media who sensationalise everything or by populists who probably have good intentions but are not privy to full facts and often apply the media feeds to their own localised understanding rather than a greater global understanding. A good example has been the anti Trump marches which. demonstrate this well, there are far far worse things happening in the world worthy of a good protest but the media do not find this 'tasty meat' and so they continue. Donald Trump is perfect for the media he is loud, brash, in your face, probably not the most intellectually gifted, his policy on visas are no different to many countries especially in mainly Muslim countries, its application was temporary however this was not sensationalistic. Muslim ban was newsfeed and the populous swallowed it.
We Brits are told by the FCO not to visit those countries, you cannot get insurance so if that's the case surely there is some issue. Yes Saudi etc were not included, the FCO also do not apply the same 'Do not travel' warnings to this country. Should we protest at the FCO that their travel advice is racist?
Shame on Bercow for bringing his post into disrespect, he is free to have his opinions but not to basically impose his biases on the House of Commons. Shame on Corbin for supporting him in the house.

I think it reasonable to critcise a man who thinks women are on this earth for him to a use. Who can defend this ? Should our daughters and grandsughters be subjected to these men and do we explain we accept his like because he is the president of a country not the milkman/postman/teacher /priest

Bercow has compromised the objectivity of the role of Speaker of the House and has certainly spoken aginst free speech in abusing his position to 'ban' Trump.

He has always been a mischievous and capricious choice of Speaker. The left voted him in to vex the right as, though he was a Conservative hard liner he 'crossed the floor' in spirit in opposing Conservative measures.

Here's what Wikipedia has to say about him:-

"John Simon Bercow (born 19 January 1963) is a British politician who has been the Speaker of the House of Commons since June 2009. Prior to his election to Speaker, he was a member of the Conservative Party. A former hardline right-winger who moderated his views after becoming an MP and at one time was rumoured to be likely to defect to the Labour Party, Bercow's election to the Speaker's chair depended heavily on the backing of other parties, and was deeply unpopular with many of his former colleagues."

I am not speaking as a supporter of Trump when I say that Bercow has, in my view, overstepped the mark with his words to the House.

Freedom of speech is the topic roses and I apologise for taking it off track.

The only thing I have seen online ( BBC news items) said that T May had not invited Trump to speak ( address Parliament) and that so far, not even the date had been set for a State Visit.
If anyone has more info than this, speak up?

Then we will have to wait and see Roses - or we may never be told.

City84 you are right in saying that some people only want to allow "freedom of speech" (slight nuancing) when they feel they are in the majority.

However your example is weird. Trump is trying - really - to suppress freedom of speech by attacking all who say anything he doesn't like and trying to suppress the news media.

Being shouted down, as you put it is not suppressing freedom of speech - shout louder if you believe in what your are saying. Put real information forward instead of just views and opinions. Gransnet does not suppress freedom of speech.

"whataboutery" re Obama (yet again).

In this instance I was asking you for facts GGMk2 as you seemed certain that T May had already invited Trump to speak and that's why Bercow was making such a fuss.

Members of her party are probably miffed about Bercow's high-handed behaviour. Never mind, Corbyn's behind him, and Farron!

Have I got it wrong - I didn't think he had been invited to speak to Parliament. Bercow did jump the gun by saying he would ban DT from speaking. He has been a disastrous Speaker going from one gaff to another - compare him to Betty Boothroyd. If Theresa May had invited DT to speak (which I don't think she is able to do) that would be the time for Bercow to say his piece.

We haven't said that we are right GGM2 but it isn't being made clear that she has actually made the offer to Trump to speak in Westminster Hall.

These visits are arranged by the powers that be then we are informed . Queenie has her advisors, May has hers . Bercow received a petition by MP's and gave his reply to the house , good for him.

to expect a leader of a country in the West to share our values and if he doesn't dismiss it and say well they don't in the Middle East and East is wrong in my opinion.