living in a bigoted world

If you live in the UK, chances are you've heard all the buzz about Gordon Brown's little mishap... aptly coined now as "Bigot-gate"

The Prime Minister is set for re-election, and in an attempt to show himself able to connect to his voters, he spent some time earlier this week talking to ordinary Brits amongst a slew of media cameras and journalists. Unfortunately for him, one such voter was a Gillian Duffy, a 66-year old Labour-supporting widow who grilled him on deficit, immigration - the typical issues a voter might bring up.

Mrs. Duffy, however wasn't going to be swayed by his typical political responses and demanded to know about those who were claiming money from the state but weren't vulnerable, namely those "Eastern Europeans" who were "flocking" into the country.

PM Brown's response was that while millions of immigrants move into the UK, millions of Brits emigrate right out...

...and after exchanging a few niceties about grandchildren and such, he walked away to the safety and privacy of his car.

Or so he thought.

Once inside, Mr. Brown called her a bigoted women, and that the encounter had been a disaster. Unfortunately for Mr. Brown, his mic was still on, and the comments were picked up and fed right into the salivating hands of the media.

Now the UK media is in a frenzy... Gordon Brown skipped out on his campaign duties to spend 45 minutes groveling at the feet of Gillian Duffy, the UK public are calling for blood and his campaign is at threat...

What gets to me though, is that despite all the chatter on twitter, the commentary on tv, the many articles written on the subject, very few people have actually come out to say that what Duffy said was, to sum it up, the words of a bigot.

What saddens me even more, what makes me reconsider my decision on whether or not to stay in the UK, is this quote I just read from Gordon Brown regarding immigration to the UK:

"I understand the worries people have about immigration. I understand the concerns about what is happening to people's neighbourhoods and I understand the fears that people have. But we have taken action with this new (immigration) point system. Net migration to the United Kingdom is now coming down."

So basically, I can kiss getting another work visa goodbye...which at the end of the day, may be a blessing in disguise.