Dave Clements

This woman - who was in the audience at the BAFTAs on Sunday evening - takes a fair and compassionate stance on the guest with Tourette's shouting a racial slur at two black actors. She provides important context: the audience had been briefed about John Davidson’s Tourette’s and his vocal tics had already been evident earlier in the evening. She also articulates something we don’t hear often enough. Words can cause discomfort. They can hurt. And they can do so for many reasons. But that alone does not make someone “wrong” or prove ill intent. Nor does it justify destroying someone’s reputation. Sometimes we have to hold two truths at once - that harm can be felt and that intent and context still matter. And sometimes we have to set aside our own feelings and consider the needs and vulnerabilities of others. A principle worth remembering in many areas of public life.

Those on here trying to have it both ways - claiming to sympathise with John’s Tourette’s while demanding the BBC disappear him from their BAFTAs coverage only confirm their own callous hypocrisy.

Those on here trying to have it both ways - claiming to sympathise with John’s Tourette’s while demanding the BBC disappear him from their BAFTAs coverage only confirm their own their callous hypocrisy.

@daveclements_ Yup, tourettes for saying the thing they really would otherwise suppress as their internal monologue if they didn't have it, autistic people with their bluntness, dyslexic people with their lateral thinking making people annoyed as their decisions get harder

Roughly 10 years ago, I had supper with a few friends & quite a large number of people I didn’t know, & one man brought his fiancée who suffered from severe coprolalia (a form of Tourette’s, where your brain makes you involuntarily blurt out inappropriate & offensive things.) Over the course of the evening, she happened to shout out the most derogatory homophobic slurs one could imagine whenever I spoke. Because I KNEW she had this condition she COULDN’T HELP having, there was ZERO offence taken & we all simply laughed it off. Believe me, there was NO ONE more embarrassed, distressed & upset as SHE was, despite our efforts to reassure her. Probably worth bearing in mind before mindlessly castigating someone for a condition that is already hell to live with…

The finding that relative scholastic immaturity is associated with the likelihood of an ADHD diagnosis lends support to the concern that the prevalence of diagnoses like ADHD acts like a barometer of how intolerant of children and childishness we are in modern Western culture.

I can not believe the amount of people abusing John Davidson today. What happened was deeply unfortunate and of course I know many people have been upset by it, which is regrettable. But - It clearly wasn’t deliberate, nor intended nor could it be controlled. I really hope John is ok. What happened was I imagine, his worst nightmare and I’d bet he feels terrible about it today. Shame on all of you sticking the boot in to a disabled man. Most of you of course from the ‘be kind’ brigade (when we all know, you are anything but). This lady explains it well…

John's not mad. A seminal documentary on extreme Tourettes that thankfully shaped the conversation in this nation in the 80's To our pig ignorant American cousins and those ignoring a severe disability and its consequences, take 28 minutes to watch it. Then accept your fucking ignorant musings are so wrong it's frightening. youtu.be/wxfJDpd3XcY?si…

If John had shouted it as I'm on a stage and wasn't told beforehand that he was there, I'd be embarrassed, go back stage, ask what happened, be told why, what and when then gone and found him, give him a hug, laughed and said "fuck all to worry about, how are you pal?". If I'd have been on the stage and known he was there and he shouted it out, I'd have said " we've got the amazing John Davidson in the house, I've seen both documentaries as a young man, will watch what I hear is and incredible film and look forward to a beer with him during the after party. Disability and Tourettes isn't a crime, go to Tourettes Action UK to teach yourself about John's world".

The amusing thing about the so-called ‘neurodiverse’ is that, without any ill-intent, and in this most censorious of times, they offend against the allegedly kindly sensibilities of those who pretend to celebrate them 🤯

@krishgm Yes let’s edit out the ‘neurodiverse’ guy - he doesn’t count.

There is no explanation I can think of for the BBC’s failure to edit out the involuntary racist language at last night’s BAFTA’s - which perhaps explains why there has been no explanation.

You know what today has taught me? That “inclusion & diversity” doesn’t mean a goddamn thing when it comes to people with neurological/physical disabilities. The lack of awareness or understanding is exactly WHY films like “I Swear” are so important. It’s an embarrassment.

To be fair the little thief is pound-size but still 👏👏

Mandelson - the Labour Party’s excuse for a coup.

👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼

Since Andy Burnham is apparently lining up to be the next Labour leader, here’s a reminder: Andy accused victims of Pakistani-Muslim grooming gangs of trying to “propagandise” the issue. He tried to block the grooming gangs inquiry in Manchester and nationally. He claimed that Pakistani-Muslims grooming gangs are a “thing of the past” despite clear evidence that little girls are still being victimised to this day, including in his local area. He tried to shift the blame onto victims by refusing to acknowledge them as children — Children who were raped, exploited and even murdered by Pakistani grooming gangs while powerful people like him turned a blind eye. Andy Burnham belongs in prison, not in Parliament. And certainly not in 10 Downing Street.

@HumzaYousaf @SadiqKhan Dumb and Dumber

Well said @SadiqKhan 👏 Not for the first time, Sadiq is setting out the argument that the PM should be articulating. Instead of trying to imitate Reform, this is the ground the UK Government should be fighting on.

This bland, clueless, impotent government is so dire, there is excited talk of a vacuous scouse technocrat replacing the robotic southern one.

ADHD emerges and gets popularised because of cultural, not scientific, reasons. Shifts in public and political concerns will shift interest, conversations, funding, service provision, and so on. Is this not a prime example of a social construct?