Are you really trying to tell me that this is a humorous remark:

‘’if gay marriage was OK – and I was uncertain on the issue – then I saw no reason in principle why a union should not be consecrated between three men, as well as two men; or indeed three men and a dog.’ (Friends, Voters, Countrymen p96)

I think it’s downright offensive and there’s only one possible interpretation of it. If you really want to argue the point about Rise you’re more than welcome to argue it on the thread I presented my thoughts clear on. My thoughts from the day I wrote it are unchanged.

There’s not much more point in discussing your wilful misinterpretation and appalling attack on me any further, because you’ve clearly ignored my response to your unnecessary threats, not to mention the contributions of others. You don’t get my hostility? Now that’s one giant sized backtrack – you could complete it by just going away.

You talked about the Israel celebrations and then said – “London Mayor Boris Johnson’s Director of Arts, Culture and the Creative Industries Munira Mirza hasn’t wiped out all the cultural events she and/or her boss disapprove of, so hopefully aside from Pride tomorrow there’ll be many more events like this to come.”

The inescapable inference of that sentence is that Boris and Mirza disapproved (or MIGHT have) of the Israel celebration. You made it clear that if they HAD wiped out all the events they disapproved of then “events like this” wouldn’t be happening. Show me one word either of them has said or written attacking Israel. So why would they disapprove?

So what DO they disapprove of?

The reality is that they disapprove of the Communist disctatorship in Cuba, as any decent democrat would, so they didn’t fancy allowing Castro’s uncritical apologists in the CSC to host a stage at Rise. Is that ‘censorship’? Or is it merely decency?

They also didn’t fancy co-hosting Rise with NAAR, an extreme Trotskysit group that peddles the politics of division and anti-British recrimination.

As for Pride, Mirza has never made any remarks hostile to gay people and Boris made some humorous remarks that could be interpreted as homophobic but has surely made up for them by his enthusiastic participation in Pride.

I just don’t get your hostility.

He could probably also do with learning that criticising Israel is not even slightly the same thing as antisemitism.

I’d suggest you ignore ill-informed words from someone who appears to be an idiot*.

* Just a hint: That’s not libellous either.

I certainly didn’t interpret them as defamatory, even before the blog writer made a few minor adjustments (which were no doubt specifically aimed at people like you who stomp around the Internet nitpicking when someone has the temerity to say something which comes into conflict with your view of the World).

One wonders if you police the rest of the Internet with such hyper-sensitivity or if this is just a personal grudge because the Author may have a number of conflicting views which breech your level of tolerance.

I didn’t smear a soul Ted – you inferred an argument which wasn’t there. And your final sentence indicates why. That Mirza and Johnson are human beings worthy of the presumption of respect is true, because it should be true for everyone. But you also don’t have the right to misrepresent the arguments of people (and threaten them) who think they stink as politicians. Mirza’s treatment of the Rise festival was reprehensible, and Johnson’s past comments on gay rights, specifically civil partnerships and Section 28 have been appalling. I was personal witness to his having had a definitive opportunity to rebut them as past misunderstandings, but he either chose not to or didn’t know how to (and he’s an intelligent man). I saw him at Pride yesterday enjoying himself immensely, and was impressed with the responsibility he showed and the future commitments he made. If he is indeed learning, he should be allowed the freedom to do so. He should also be free to determine his own battles and fight them himself.

I do hope you’re going around the internet threatening the authors of the multiplicity of articles I’ve just scanned who say outright that Boris Johnson is a bigot (rather than the point I make) with similar lawsuits for defamation, just so you don’t appear inconsistent or overzealous here.

Nuff said. Don’t smear decent people just because YOU don’t like them.