Cameron “answers” his critics

Submitted by Matthew on 1 December, 2011 - 12:50

David Cameron seems to think that child poverty is something one might act against only in order to keep Polly Toynbee happy.

In the Guardian magazine on 26 November, he answered questions from selected celebrities, and was asked about child poverty by Polly Toynbee. His response concluded: “There are many things I can do in life, but making Polly happy is not one of them…”, mocking her for making a fuss about the issue.

On another question, he said: “Once students are paying the bills [for their university educations], they will be keener on really good courses…”. By that rationale, primary school students should be paying so that they can appreciate their teachers.

Asked by Richard Dawkins why the government promotes faith schools, he sneered that “Richard Dawkins just doesn’t really get it”, suggesting that Dawkins is of inferior intelligence because he isn’t religious.

Asked about deep water oil drilling in the Arctic, Cameron responded: “But we don’t own any of the Arctic” — as if the destruction of the environment doesn’t matter as long as it happens outside the United Kingdom!

The superior attitude used in the response to Toynbee crops up again in a response when Tony Benn asks him when he would use British nuclear weapons. Cameron states that “as Tony Benn well knows, the point of… nuclear weapons is to deter… not to use them”, calling Benn “splendidly wrong”.

But not only is this evasive — Cameron says that the point isn’t to use them but doesn’t say that he won’t — it’s also extremely offensive.

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