Joe Sacco

Driver orders toddler off bus for wearing ‘offensive’ England football shirt

This story struck me last week. It was in the Daily Mail although I’ll admit to not reading it there but repeated in the equally awful Metro paper which was sitting in the canteen. I read the piece about a woman and her Toddler wearing an England shirt who was accosted by the bus driver with an Eastern European accent who said he found the shirt offensive. Apparently his exact words were “I find that really offensive. You should dress your family in less offensive clothes.” Because that’s how evil Eastern European bus drivers speak. I read it and thought, that didn’t happen, she has just made that up, I genuinely couldn’t believe that they had printed that as a story. Today I found the investigation by the bus company and they have released a statement:

“We have carried out a full investigation and can’t find any evidence to substantiate this claim. No driver fitting the description given was working on any routes in this area at that time. Our buses were busy around the time yet no one else has been in touch with us about this alleged incident.

It didn’t happen! When I read it I knew it didn’t happen but thick fucks will read that and believe it as can be seen by the comments on the piece. The worst that could have happened is that the evil Eastern European bus driver made a joke that was lost on its recipient(not sure how that could happen she looks pretty sharp). What galls me is the media is actively encouraging hatred towards immigrants and is in reality inciting racial hatred. Why is it they can get away with printing this shit and not have to prove the story was true.

There is no ban on England flags to get all riled up about, call it a hoax campaign or even moral panic if you like, created by the right wing media to promote the sale of papers and to incite hatred in order to sell more papers with stories that incite hatred, and so on and so on. Also I spent a long time watching football and in all the home games and away games I went to in 15 years I was never allowed to wear a football shirt in a pub and that wasn’t the fault of evil Eastern European Bus drivers. It was because of all the fighting between rival supporters.

I was riding home the long way through Broadbottom and Charlesworth which is mostly up hill but on a day like this was worth the extra effort. I was just cruising down past Hargate Hill when I thought that days like these made it worth it. Worth riding in the rain, sleet and hail. Worth all the drivers who try and intentionally kill you and the negligent motorway maintenance trucks that always misjudge the size of the wagons and clip your elbow as they pass you. The kids that throw bricks, sticks and spit at you. Its all worth it on a day like today, the sun shining, nice breeze as you pass through the Glossop countryside heading home on May day.

Then some knobhead flew out of the Gamesley estate in his Fiesta beeped at his mate in the pub and nearly knocked me off. Back to reality.

Its a war out there and the idiots are winning.

I took this after I’d calmed down.

A big thanks to Shelley for the new layout. She is Awsome.

One fantastic result was the first Green MP in Caroline Lucas for Brighton Pavillion and I think we can all thank the good people of Brighton for showing how demanding change and then delivering it is done. I truly believe that one Green MP will make a huge difference.

HUNG PARLIAMENT!

If the scaremongering by the right wing press is to be believed we will be heading towards a Mad Max style breakdown of society by the end of the week if Cameron is not in power. With Sky News reporting that the public are losing patience with the negotiations and are demanding a decision. I’m not losing patience, are you? I am finding the wining and dining of Nick Clegg rather amusing, so far he has got the resignation of Gordon Brown, a promised referendum on the Alternative Vote, tax concessions for earners under £10K and some cabinet seats. All he is waiting for now is once a week with Samantha Cameron and use of the comfy swivel chair at meetings and it’ll be a done deal.

On a lighter note. have you seen the Raging Boul.

So far, so annoyed. They also snuck in there the small fact that the analogue radio signal will be turned off thus rendering 100 million radios useless and everyone requiring a much more energy intensive digital DAB radio.

How was this passed you ask? It was passed at 2330 on a Wednesday night in front of around 50 MPs who debated the merits and twice as many sat in the bar until it came time for them to put down their G and T’s and go in and vote for the party line. Our elected representatives working hard for us once again, even after 20,000 people felt aggrieved enough to write to their MP’s about the bill. This is why our electoral system is broken.

When you vote in four weeks time remember how little the three main parties represent the general public and much they favour their business partners and sponsors.

Democracy in action