Beware of Times and Sunday Times Readers.

[dgeorgea]

Unbelievable.

www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/rod_liddle/article3137459.ece

About 3/4 way down title 'A tip for those with doubtful disability'

WARNING: if you have a child wheelchair bound this will probably p!ss you off big time!

If someone did a similar thing on ethnic groups they would possibly be breaking the law on inciting racial hatred, but this idiot can get away with it becuase it is aimed at those with disabilities.

What a pig, he's not picky though, he'll have a go at all social groups.

Actually I think there are a good number of washed up old journalists claiming benefit.

good grief. What an arse

Isnt he the idiot who left his wife on honeymoon to go back to his mistress or something equally moronic?

f'king hell

I knew the man was a complete twat, but never realised he had descended to Jim Davidson level.

I can't believe they actually published it.

Oh God I feel a letter to The Times coming on . What a complete c*ck.

Oh God I feel a letter to The Times coming on . What a complete c*ck.

Cna you tell I'm angry?

Well, I can't wait to meet him at a dinner party!
To save anyone ploughing through the whole tedious unoriginal rant, this is the bit in question:

"A tip for those with doubtful disability

Some half a million young people claim to be too sick to work and are in receipt of state benefits for their ailments. Of those, the majority are pretending to be doolally while the rest put on a bit of a limp when the woman from the work and pensions department comes around. The number under the age of 35 claiming disability benefits exceeds the number out of work for legitimate reasons, such as idleness or stupidity.

This is a consequence of the mental health charities forever insisting that we are all crippled or bonkers in some way, that disablement is a valid lifestyle choice and that no stigma should attach to those who have no legs or howl at the moon. Well indeed ? and the message has got through: our young people think of disablement as both fashionable and lucrative.

They need to be disabused of this notion. Next time you see a young person in a wheelchair, tip it over and drag the occupant down to the nearest job centre, lecturing him or her all the while on the dignity of labour. "

I am amazed that he is so desparate for material that he has come up with something so fantastical, ridiculous and misanthropic. And why TimesOnline thinks this is worth paying for. (the preceding paras in his article cover the well trod material of TV exposure for McCs and Moss / Doherty etc etc, with no discernible new angle except the taint of his arrogance and ego)

Bizarre.

He was attempting irony I think in an attack on loafers not on the disabled. You are not supposed to take it literally.

but Rod Liddle is a twat anyway

Not that easy to be dispassionate about it when you are the parent of a 'young person in a wheelchair'. Many people won't get his feeble attempt at irony. Sorry, I still maintain he is a c*ck for writing that.

Yes, I thnk he was attempting irony, too - but it's very inept and silly and he is a moron if he didn't realise that the effect of his clever clever attempt at irony is jut banal and offensive, really. Charity's fault? Young peple think it's fashionable to be disabled? It's very badly written, because he is a twat.

no doubt he'll accuse disabled people of 'not having a sense of humour'. Often a defence when some arse says something bigoted.

Funny that isn't it NMC? I wrote to WHSmith earlier on this year to complain about a 'humour' card which had the word 'retard' on the front. The letter I got back from their customer services manager said that it was a best seller and hinted that I may be lacking a SOH

Heck, if you're coping with disability (or any of life's other challenges for that matter) and don't have a SOH you're stuffed

What a total asshat.

I remember a lack of SOH being used by those who enjoyed telling offence racial jokes and enjoyed bullying those from ethnic minorities as the reason why people objected to what they were doing.

Whether he was making a poor attempt at irony or whatever, there are sad f out there who will use it to reinforce their own bigoted views.

He is a total c*ck. I think that he should be made to apologise.

Let's just hope for his own sake that he never ends up in a wheelchair, as I can't imagine that he would stay in it for long!

I made a comment on the web page and emailed a letter of complaint.

Can i just point out that The Times is a mjor contributor (as part of NI) to the benevolent fund (NewsTraid) that funded DS1's BIBIC andhelped us loads? So more an idiot journo perhaps????

We're Times raeders so I promise we're not all like that!