Richard Littlejohn Wants Jody McIntyre To Get Up And Walk
IF Jody McIntyre needed a voiceover to accompany the video of him being dragged from a wheelchair twice by the boys in black and blue, he now has the words of Richard Littlejohn, the tabloid world’s C-grade answer to Gene Hunt (the question being: who thinks the social improvements of the past 30 years have been a disappointment?).
1970s Man tells us that “if he’s looking for sympathy, he’s come to the wrong place”.
It is unlikely McIntyre, a cerebral palsy sufferer, is looking for sympathy from Littlejohn. It is unlikely he even considered the views of the Mail’s monocular man before he went to the demo and was accosted by the police. When McIntyre went on the BBC to talk with Ben Brown, he didn’t appear to be seeking sympathy, preferring to state his case and put his argument against a rise in student fees. But columnists are vain. And having inserted himself into the story, Littlejohn continues:
A man in a wheelchair is as entitled to demonstrate as anyone else. But he should have kept a safe distance.
Mcintyre [sic] put himself on offer and his brother pushed him into the front line. It’s not as if he didn’t know there was going to be trouble.
It’s not the front line. It’s a demo in which McIntyre is sat at the front.
He was also at the last student demo in London and persuaded friends to hoist him on to the roof of the Millbank Tower. If his brakes had failed and he’d gone over the edge, who would he have blamed then?
This might be an attempt at humour. But the message seems to be that McIntyre is at one moment capable of making his own decision and the next utterly reliant on another and his wheelchair for his survival. Does he sound much of a threat?
But Littlejohn has picked his target. And now he looks down at the seated man with a severe illness and sneers:
Jody McIntyre is like Andy from Little Britain.
You mean, Andy the fictional grotesque who pretends to be handicapped for laughs? It would seem so, yes. Littlejohn then sets about writing a sketch. Again, the writers of Life On Mars may care to adapt the tableau:
‘Where do you want to go today, Jody?’
‘Riot.’
‘Are you sure? Wouldn’t you rather go to hear Bob Crow speak at the Methodist Central Hall. You like Bob Crow.’
‘Yeah, I know.’
‘So, we’ll go there, eh?’
‘Riot!’
‘Ken Livingstone will be there, too. He’s your favourite.’
‘Riot!’
‘All right, then.’
Five minutes later at the riot . . .
‘Don’t like it.’
Now listen for the sound of boots on tarmac as the lads who get the joke see if they can make Jody walk…
And on the BBC:
Posted: 15th, December 2010 | In: Key Posts, Reviews Comments (7) | TrackBack | Permalink
