Aa Gill Slags Us Of Again

[Cronky]

Well, it's happened again. That twat AA Gill has written another offensive article in the Times:

 

Article

 

Quote:

It was a wonderful day out for all the family. People of all ages and sexes (and, I’d imagine, similar IQs)

 

Just imagine the ruckus if he went into an inner city area and spoke about some of the locals in that vein.

 

P.S. was he staying with Clarkson at Langness?

[Gladys]

How did he manage to connect the Bath Races with a London restaurant review? And, you have to ask, why does he keep coming back?

 

Did he ever take up the offer from some MHK to come back and see the positives here?

 

Having said that, he does seem to be carving himself a niche as an irascible, sneering, self-satisfied arbiter of good food and drink; pity he feels qualified to comment on the anthropological too!

[Declan]

I thought it was amusing.

 

You have to admit the tin bath races are a bit odd and the point of them seems to be to have a laugh. So the writer's had a laugh about it all.

 

Now call me a patriotic old fool, but I think that the Isle of Man and the Manx are mature enough and comfortable enough in our position in the World to be able to laugh at ourselves and to laugh along when outsiders poke fun. If we can't we're in trouble.

[Lost Login]

I read the article and I think we are far to sensitive. Enen if I might disagree about elements I have to admit I quite enjoyed reading it and I doubt if it would influence any of his readers impressions of the Isle of Man. In fact it will probably do more good than harm for the Island as his readers are aware of what he is like and his style so they will take the comments with a large pinch of salt and it has got the IoM outthere in front of potentially tens if not hundred of thousands of readers. Whether we like it or not Gill's style of writing is generally colourfuland irreverant. It was not his sort of event and said so in his rather OTT way. Much as he would if he had gone to a cheese rolling event. If we get upset about an article such as that it would appear that we have an awful big chip on our shoulders.

 

As to whether or not he was staying Clarkson I have no idea, but that probably was half the point of the article. The two I believe are friends but appear to enjoy the odd wind up off the other in print given half a chance. The article is probably all that was.

 

Well, it's happened again. That twat AA Gill has written another offensive article in the Times:

 

Article

 

Quote:

It was a wonderful day out for all the family. People of all ages and sexes (and, I’d imagine, similar IQs)

 

Just imagine the ruckus if he went into an inner city area and spoke about some of the locals in that vein.

 

P.S. was he staying with Clarkson at Langness?

[Cronky]

Last time Gill slagged off the Isle of Man I wrote to him suggesting he had really missed the mark by a long chalk. I have no objection to a good send up but his style is more nasty and caustic than witty or satirical. Suffice to say he ignored my letter.

 

This is the problem I have with this type of journalist. They bully and sneer from behind closed doors and won't come out to have their point of view challenged. The bit that got my goat was the jibe about "People of all ages and sexes (and, I’d imagine, similar IQs)". He can come to the Isle of Man, as a guest, and write things like that. Imagine if he stayed in a Muslem, Hindu, Jewish, Irish, Welsh, Scottish, Polish, or Somalian community in the UK and wrote something like that. The Police would be round like a shot with a complaint about racism.

 

Declan is absolutely right to say that we are mature enough to take this sort of thing on the chin. That is a huge strength of the society here. It's just be nice when someone grown up comes over and made a few positive comments for a change.

 

We are back to the thorny issue of peoples perceptions of the Isle of Man. We have had a few visitors from accross this year. Most loved the place and we were only too happy to show them around. However, an old university friend of my wife came over and was obviously uncomfortable with the place and made a load of narky comments on the way back to the airport. The last one was about the Manx flag being really 'sinister'.

 

Okay, the Isle of Man is not everyones cup of tea but there is no doubt that articles like Gills tarnish the image and some people pick up on that.

 

Well, as my wife says, if it puts lots of people off the place perhaps that's a good thing!

 

Hey Ho.

[loaf]

Declan is absolutely right to say that we are mature enough to take this sort of thing on the chin.

 

I think the most powerful branding exercise the island can perform is to get over that 'jihad to anyone who mocks us' attitude.

 

It's like children in a playground; by actually reacting to the teasing some hack or z-list celebrity says about us, it is us that are defining ourselves as victims. If we didn't flinch, said "Yeah, whatever!", and got on with our own thing, maybe the big kids would accept us more...

[The Old Git]

It seems quite obvious that he "hates" the place so much he feels compelled to come back again, this time with his family

[Declan]

"People of all ages and sexes (and, I’d imagine, similar IQs)". He can come to the Isle of Man, as a guest, and write things like that. Imagine if he stayed in a Muslem, Hindu, Jewish, Irish, Welsh, Scottish, Polish, or Somalian community in the UK and wrote something like that. The Police would be round like a shot with a complaint about racism.

 

He's talking there about the competitors in the tin bath races - not the entire Island.

[Educa]

L He can come to the Isle of Man, as a guest, and write things like that. Imagine if he stayed in a Muslem, Hindu, Jewish, Irish, Welsh, Scottish, Polish, or Somalian community in the UK and wrote something like that. The Police would be round like a shot with a complaint about racism.

 

 

Got to disagree with this comment - well the part where you mention the Irish.

 

Irish people have a good sense of humor, there are so many paddy jokes, and I have never heard one Irish person saying they thought them racist - indeed Irish people joke about themselves.

 

Lighten up.

 

As for the article - well he obviously really does like the Island else why would he visit again - I would imagine it was a wind up - and it worked.

 

Having said that, I personally thought it was a very pointless article - no literary awards due for content thats for sure.

[parchedpeas]

Most people will take it for what it is - tongue in cheek. Tin bath Races are completely daft, and that is the point of them. He makes several good points, and he makes them in his usual acerbic style.

 

Some people will come to the Island and love it. Some won't. Frankly, as long as you or I are happy here (or there) then who cares.

[The Bastard]

Quite an amusing poke, I thought.

 

The IOM fulfills a lot of personal "Deliverance" fantasies for the over-urbanized C-listers who come over - as soon as they're outside the Watford Gap, their personal paranoia kicks in & lots of "Wicker Man" stuff starts popping into their heads, even if it's not really there. I remember picking up a friend's wife off the London flight & driving her back towards Douglas - beautiful day, crops and flowers in full bloom in the fields, and a look of sheer horror on her face. "Oh my God, it's totally barren isn't it ?".

[Nitro]

Does anyone care less what he actually thinks?, Theres bound to be people who dislike the Island (for whatever reason), But equally there are thousands of people who come to the Island each year, The majority who have enjoyed their visit, Just because a few twats slag the island off (That fat, White hating/Chip shop hating Vanessa and this guy) Shouldn't make a difference.....

[victorian dad]

Quick, light the tourches & grab the pitch forks...............................

[VinnieK]

Imagine if he stayed in a Muslem, Hindu, Jewish, Irish, Welsh, Scottish, Polish, or Somalian community in the UK and wrote something like that.

 

He has done, writing that the welsh, for instance, are "loquacious dissemblers, immoral liars, stunted, bigoted, dark, ugly, pugnacious little trolls", in addition to writing articles about Albania that received complaints and one about Germany entitled 'Hunforgiven'.

 

The fact is that Gill has made a name for himself as a caricature of pungent disdain. Whether this is entirely his own personality or merely a partly contrived hook is beside the point, what it does mean is that we shouldn't be surprised when he writes about the Isle of Man in the way he does - that is, after all, the style that he's based a career on and forms the greater part of the reason people read his columns in the first place. To write in and complain, or suggest that he should come and focus on the positive aspects of the Isle of Man (or anywhere) is pointless, and in is in no small part to miss the point (being akin to complaining that Jeremy Paxman doesn't tell enough jokes or give people the benefit of the doubt).

 

I never really pay Gill's writing much time (there's something about his style that comes across as adolescent and ever so try-hard), so perhaps that's part of why why I don't feel even a pinch of offense at reading his article on the Isle of Man, but I also agree with Last Login and Declan: if this Island is as good as we like to say we should be a lot less sensitive and more impervious to the kind of flaccid jibes of the kind Gill dishes out.

[Celt]

I'm not worried about him, or what he writes, in the least.

 

He just seems to be an inadequate useless fuck-wit who was most probably bullied at school, fiddled with by his uncle, fucked by the local priest and now has to go around justifying himself to the world be making himself out to be clever and funny.

 

He fails on both counts, that could explain why he has a shoite job at a shoite paper.

 

If you want to read something with taste, humour and local interest, you need to look no further than our own Terry Cringle. Maybe next time Mr Annal Gill is over here he could ask our Tel how it's done.