Sunday, October 15, 2006

Local politicians have a soft spot for Winnie the Pooh!

When our local MPs have spare time left over from sorting out our local issues, they delve into other aspects of national interest. Earlier this year, some recognisable figures put their support behind an Early Day Motion to pay tribute to A. A. Milne.

(I got this by email – it may well have featured on other NI blogs. If so, let me know and I’ll add an acknowledgement.)

Early Day Motion - EDM 2639 – 24th July 2006 - WINNIE-THE-POOH 80th ANNIVERSARY

That this House joins in celebrating the 80th birthday of Winnie-the-Pooh, the much loved golden bear with a love of hunting Woozles, gorging on honey and catching Heffalumps, whose chums include Christopher Robin, Tigger, Eeyore, Rabbit and Piglet; recognises the significant contribution Mr A. A. Milne's characters have made to influencing the early development of fine values, honest principles and decent morals amongst many generations of children worldwide; notes the timeless appeal of this great British bear and, most notably the way in which this character of fiction, who began life in the imagination of an English schoolboy, Christopher Robin Milne, has reached the farthest corners of the globe, from Poland, where Pooh-Bear has a street named after him, to Hong Kong, where he recently successfully challenged characters like Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck and Sleeping Beauty to be named the best Disney character of all time; and looks forward to another 80 years of tales from the 100 Acre Wood.

Amongst the MPs signing this Early Day Motion were some local MPs: Iris Robinson, David Simpson, Dr William McCrea, Ian Paisley and Gregory Campbell.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Posting this here as it contains one of the few mentions of Iris Robinson on your blog. Astounded by her bigoted and ignorant comments on homosexuality on the Nolan show last week. If this was any other part of the UK, the politician would be sacked immediately. Here, she doesn't even get a slap on the wrist, and astonishingly, the junior minister responsible for equality has defended her. Perhaps that's because it's DUP stablemate, pint-sized, boss-eyed Jeffrey Donaldson.

Alan in Belfast (Alan Meban) said...

She's had an amazing set of radio interviews on Nolan over the last few weeks - as if to develop a public perception that the Robinson household will be as hard line and religiously conservative as the Paisley dynasty they are replacing.

The sad thing is that she's not alone in holding those views in NI.

Interestingly, her medical advisor - when interviewed later on Friday's show - had a subtly different perspective to the one she suggested.

Anonymous said...

That's interesting, I can see how a cynical exercise like that might work.

You're right re the views of NI - probably the answer to my own question about why she hasn't been sacked, is because in NI quite a lot of people would agree with her. Optimstically, however, I would hope it's not a majority.

Well her medical advisor (the psychiatrist she referred to?) would have to have a different perspective to the issue - he/she couldn't possibly believe homosexuality was a condition to be 'cured' otherwise it would be child's play to get someone to go to him posing as a 'reluctant homosexual' and use the evidence of the treatment offered to have him struck off.