Foreign Office Minister Jeremy Browne has been dubbed a racist by a heckler in the BBC's Question Time audience.
It came during a debate on the BBC One programme over the defence treaties which have been signed by the UK and French governments.
He said British soldiers would not need to speak French, wear onions round their necks or striped T-shirts following the move.
An audience member shouted: "ooh racist" at the MP as he spoke.
The Liberal Democrat minister had said: "We're not merging our Army with France. Our soldiers won't be required to speak French or wear onions round their necks or stripey t-shirts, or ride bicycles.
"Don't believe every thing you read in the newspapers."
Unlike the Beeb, I'm not convinced that the heckler wasn't taking the piss.
Only two things are infinite - the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the universe: Albert Einstein.
Deepcrush wrote:Wow, so you're a racist if you want to keep your military as your own??? Its nice to see the hippies picking their battles over worthy causes.
I think the comment was more about the remark about having to wear stupid stripy shirts and wearing onions around the necks, than the fact that the countries keep separated militaries, which as pretty stupid stereotypes.
Deepcrush wrote:No I didn't miss it... that was part of the joke.
Punch line, clothing is now its own race...
You do raise a good point. It's not "racism", but it's definetly a form of bigotry based on ethnicity/culture/nationality. (I mention "ethnicity" because of the difference of cultural heritage between UK and France, Saxon/Latin)
SolkaTruesilver wrote:What's this thing with onions and the French military?
I've seen something like that in Monty Python, referencing onions and the French. Never understood what was so funny about it.
Onions have layers, the French have layers.
...?
I really don't get it apparently.
I believe it is a reference to Dreamwork's Shrek movie
"All this has happened before --"
"But it doesn't have to happen again. Not if we make up our minds to change. Take a different path. Right here, right now."
I believe it is a reference to Dreamwork's Shrek movie
I see.
The whole "layer" joke is completely lost on me, apparently. I never understood what was the point of the joke. What's supposed to be so funny about layers?
