To think Paris Brown should be sacked at once!

[seeminglyso]

What lessons otherwise are we sending to teenagers!

[K8Middleton]

I am going to stick up for Ann Barnes. She used to be a teacher in a secondary modern school in Kent so I imagine she is very protective of this young woman because she know about kids and the stupid things they do. She's also been a magistrate and chaired the body that preceded police commissioners so this role is one she is more qualified for than most.

Paris Brown should probably resign but until she does I think Ms Barnes has been fair in her comments and her support.

Just as an aside, my friends who she taught at school were always shit scared of her but respected her. I went to the grammar so she didn't teach me.

[K8Middleton]

On and I doubt very much she is related to Ann Barnes. Actually that's a very funny suggestion

[janey68]

I can see why Anne Barnes feels she has to take the line of being supportive, but she also needs to make clear that those
Comments were indefensible. Paris brown needs to go because no one can behave as she has and have any credibility in a public position. This is a publicly funded post... What does it say about our society if we are supporting someone in this post of office who holds those views? I think what society needs to be saying is 'we want someone representative (so yes, definitely state school and preferably from a comp) and it doesn't particularly matter if they are high, middle or low achieving BUT they must have credibility and integrity. Those are the prerequisites. Paris Brown has neither. It would be a really positive important statement IMO for her to be replaced with someone else. Hopefully she's got the guts to stand down, otherwise she should be dismissed.

[GrowSomeCress]

I read somewhere that there were 140 applicants for the job! Or something around that

[Floralnomad]

I read somewhere that there were 1500 applicants. I think at the moment she is working for Swale Council in some capacity .

[Eurostar]

She presumably is a product of her environment - tweeting this sort of stuff for years without censure; she was so unaware that it was offensive to many that she had not even thought to have the account closed down. She will have learnt the bitter, blaming anger from the adults and peers around her and it is sad I think what she said that she tweets because she gets wound up and doesn't know of any other way to express herself.

I expect we will see her now in some sort of reality TV similar to Jade Goody being sent to India to learn that people who do not look/dress/act/eat the same as you are still human and there to be put down to make you feel better about yourself.

Not fair to be so nasty about her hair and eyebrows, I see this look all the time in young women from certain areas. Brainwashed to think that the looks of Katie Price etc. are to be aspired to, no one to teach them to value themselves for other reasons than looking like one of the crowd.

[janey68]

Yes, I agree the comments about her looks are below the belt.
I honestly think the right thing is that she goes though.
Trying to step back and look objectively, if this job is going to have any credibility (and I think many people doubt the worth of the role to begin with) then its got to be a young person who other people will have faith in.

Sadly, no matter how much Paris brown apologises and regrets it, the damage is done. Get rid of her now, and she'll fade back into obscurity pretty fast, leaving someone fresh to do the job. If she stays, she'll be tarnished by what she did, and that will affect everything.

So if they are serious about making this role viable, she has to go

[GrowSomeCress]

Just looked and according to BBC it was 164 applicants.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-kent-22012087

[TheCrackFox]

Just seen her on the news and she seems incredibly immature for her age and I think they have made a huge mistake in hiring her. She will be on a probationary period so they don't need to sack her just let her go.

I think with the economy being in the toilet the whole role should be scrapped.

[janey68]

FWIW I think Ann Barnes came across well on the news this morning- She's not attempting to defend the tweets at all, and admitted they are disgusting. However, I believe where she is wrong is in thinking Paris can come back from this in that public role. She may well be remorseful but part of Her remorse should be having the good grace to put the ROLE before herself and step down

Many people are already sceptical about the value of the role, so to succeed there needs to be someone in it who isn't starting from a Position of causing offence.

The thing which really bugs me is that some people are trying to make a class issue out of it, suggesting that it's not her fault and that someone from a 'better' school etc would not have done it but also wouldn't have her skills to do the job
Bollocks. I am sure there are thousands of people from a similar background to Paris who find her racist and homophobic comments vile. Equally there are kids from private schools who write offensive stuff. It's not a class issue - its about basic human intelligence and respect, which people of all academic ability and class background are capable of having.

Paris brown needs to go and let someone else do the job.

[SideshoBob]

What is the actual point of the job she got anyway? 15k a year is an extraordinary amount for someone who was 16 when turned 17 a few days ago.

It seem's to me its just a ploy to make it look like the police are doing something to engage with the youth, rather than, you know, actually doing something useful. That 15k could go to a youth club and i'm sure it'd prevent more crime than this job role every will. A expensive publicity stunt that's backfired.

[shellbu]

people change , no one can judge a person by what they did at 14 , im sure no one here would want to be judged by things they said or did at 14 !

[MaryMotherOfCheeses]

What exactly is the job?

Fwiw, I agree that is this is about creating a link between police and young people who are getting into trouble frequently with the law, then that person may not have the prettiest of backgrounds.

But I haven't seen anything about what the role actually is.

[ihearsounds]

Shell, some of the vile comments she made were made 2 weeks ago. She was not 14, but almost 17. She had already applied for the position and was still making vile comments.

[ItsAllGoingToBeFine]

She's not going to resign! She's 17and being paid 15k pa...

[ExcuseTypos]

I didn't know that ihearsounds. I thought the tweets were years old.

I do think, whatever happens, that the press should back off. She's only just 17, people should remember that.

Some of the comments on this thread referring to what she looks like are below the belt too.

[WileyRoadRunner]

I am going to stick up for Ann Barnes. She used to be a teacher in a secondary modern school in Kent so I imagine she is very protective of this young woman because she know about kids and the stupid things they do

So then K8Middleton if Ann Barnes know so much about teenagers already why does she need to pay someone £15k for this "job"?

Paris Brown is not reflective of the majority of teenagers and I think it is insulting and maybe shows how out of touch Ann Barnes is to have appointed her and promote her as such.

[shellbu]

ihearsounds i never knew it was a few weeks ago she was making comments , i thought it was tweets from when she was at school .

[ihearsounds]

I also think it is another slap in the face for all the decent teens out there. They sit in school day in day out, doing their best to be decent pupils. They go about their daily lives without getting into trouble, without making homophobic, racist comments. They don't drink or smoke. Yet all they see is trouble makers getting treats in school (special days out etc), youth centres that target troubled teens and send them on the holiday camps (youth centre local to me does this).. And this person has been making these public comments and gets this cushty job at a time that her peers cannot even get a part time job, despite being model citizens.

If she made a handful of comments, it might be different. But it is being reported that she made thousands of them.

Yes teens exaggerate. But making racist and homophobic comments is not an exaggeration.

It actually wouldn't suprise me if the next installment of this, is that either Paris and Ann are related, or Ann is a close friend of the family. It wouldn't be the first time that someone in a senior position has given employment to friends and family.

[AmberLeaf]

I've said it before and I'll say it again, language varies wildly across the country. Kent/South London and "pikey" is in common usage between most teenagers. It is the replacement term for "chav

I disagree there, all the teens I know in London know that 'pikey' is offensive and don't use it.

It may well be in 'common usage' between the young bigots though.

I think there must have been a better candidate for the job and it is insulting to say that she is representative of todays youth.

[Floralnomad]

The 15k salary comes out of Ann Barnes 85k salary so that's irrelevant . I think it was a good idea ,they've just picked the wrong person and if she has any sense she will resign .

[DoesBuggerAll]

She sounds quite erudite. Pikey comes from the Latin, pika pika, which is the name for Magpie. A reference to the travelling community's liking for shiny objects.

[DoesBuggerAll]

Oh, and I don't think I know a single person who doesn't use the word pikey when referring to the travelling community. This word is used across all generations and is one of the more polite words used. Just telling it how it is.

[BackforGood]

Really Does ? I don't know who you mix with, but I've never heard anyone use it in RL.

Surely this £15K per year, would be better spent on Youth Workers, who, when the police want to "talk to the youth" , would be able to introduce them to a wide range of young people from ALL backgrounds.

I think it's awful they public money is being spent on someone who holds such views.

[janey68]

Erudite? Really? So you believe she thought about the latin origins and decided lt was an appropriate term to use? You are joking right? All language has its origins somewhere, all racist insults developed from somewhere and in many cases were not considered offensive to begin with
If she were genuinely erudite she might realise that this is the 21st century