The Poor Mouth

at

tumblr_mm2me0bEiK1qgj6jvo1_400Crosthwaite-Park

Page_BC_College-General-8_W-319x195From top: Bob Geldof (top) Crostwhaite Park, Dun Laoghaire, where Geldof was raised and Blackrock College, his alma mater.

“He [former Tory Minister Andrew Mitchell] struck me as being a man eager to learn, to listen, to absorb and process information rapidly and as someone without side or guile in any respect. I am used to being patronised by ‘my betters’ there was no such nonsense from Mr Mitchell. I came from a poor Irish, not particularly well educated background and he does not. I am in fact ‘a pleb’ and he is not.”

Ah.

Here.

Bob Geldof Issues Strong Defence Of Andrew Mitchell (Telegraph)

Thanks Eddie

Sponsored Link

56 thoughts on “The Poor Mouth

    1. gallantman

      This excerpt comes from sworn character reference by Geldof handed in to Court at a Libel trial. Has Bob Geldof commited perjury here?

    1. All the good ones fly south for winter

      Like the minipops who took hormones to stay small but ended up deformed. Still touring though, those brave little lumpy things.

  1. Formerly known as @ireland.com

    Yes, he had to suffer the hardship of growing up outside the United Kingdom. He did a great job of warning the Scottish about the risks of nationalism, the scourge of growing up in a country, independent of its betters, in London.

    Arise, Sir Bob. You have earned your Queen’s shilling.

    1. bagpuss55

      yeah your right. just because he didn`t grow up in a mud hut he shouldn’t proffer any opinions.
      shinnerbot

      1. Don Pidgeoni

        He can have opinions. He shouldn’t be lying about his background to make those opinions seem more relevant or whatever he is trying to do

      2. Formerly known as @Ireland.com

        He is the one who said he was poor. I don’t know any poor people who went to Blackrock.

          1. Sidewinder

            I was going to say none of them were poor either but I remembered a story a friend told me. Her dad’s cousin grew up in a crappy flat in Temple Bar back when it was still a slum but his dad was a bit weird and decided he wanted his son to go to Blackrock college and scraped the money together in some very dodgy dealings. So the guy did grow up poor but still went to Blackrock. Not saying that’s what happened to Bob but just saying its no guarantee he wasn’t poor. Also don’t private schools like that usually have some sort of scholarship available too?

            Disclaimer: this post does not mean I think Bob Geldof is not an insufferable hypocrite.

  2. rotide

    In fairness, I grew up in what is now a pretty affluent suburb of the south side and went to a fee paying school. It wasn’t like growing up in the ballymun towers, but it wasn’t anywhere close to what all that means these days. We weren’t well off at all, not poor but it was only down to the sacrifices of my parents that we had anything at all.

    I also don’t understand this new hate for Bob. The man had an opinion about the scottish issue and voiced it. and the problem is?

    1. delacaravanio

      You do realise how out of touch you sound to those of us who grew up in areas that could never, nor ever will be, described as affluent and went to public school?

      1. All the good ones fly south for winter

        Mordor was tough it is true but the lava’s cooled and the shadows have abated a little.

        1. delacaravanio

          A scholarship, now is it? I’d say you’re a real working class hero.

          Go on, tell us a few more of your simple man of the people stories, like how you party in Lillie’s every Friday, and shop in BT’s, but it’s okay, because you do it ironically, or the one about that hilarious time you ended up in the Northside after forgetting to get off at Tara St, or the time you ate mushy peas from a chipper after thinking it was guacamole.

    2. Formerly known as @ireland.com

      The problem is, he is full of sh*te. He warned about nationalism. He grew up in an independent country. If Dublin was like Derry or Belfast or possibly Glasgow, he would be a second class subject. He benefited from growing up in a liberated country – yet, he carried on about how wonderful the UK has been to him.

      Funny, he came out on the side of the establishment, a bit like this story.

      Nationalism, while surrounded by Union Jacks. Yes, I hear it all the time from English/British people about the scourge of nationalism. Don’t they get that the UJ, the Empire, is all about British nationalism?

      He appears to be mostly about promoting himself and his mates. Why is Sinead O’Connor on the new BandAid song? I am a massive fan of her work, but I can’t see why she is there. There must be dozens of singers who are more popular in 2014.

  3. Spaghetti Hoop

    I can’t understand anyone who refers to their ‘betters’. It smacks of low self-esteem – a remnant of the old Ascendancy class and their cap-doffers.

  4. mauriac

    your hands is soft as a peach

    ’cause you ain’t never did work

    been rich ever since

    your daddy’s dick went squirt

    have you ever hurt from your back?

    ducked from rat-a-tat-tats?

    seen your mama on crack?

    lived in a pontiac?

    drank baby similac

    so you could have protein?

    (just for enough energy

    to hustle up some mo’ green?)

    _name that toon!

  5. Buzz

    It’s all relative. Maybe he thinks he was poor relative to where he is now and the circles he moves in. His dad was a travelling salesman so money was probably tight enough growing up. Being middle class in Dublin in those days did not necessarily indicate affluence. David McWilliams, who also went to Blackrock, makes no secret of the fact that his family were not at all well off.

  6. Mr. T.

    You can tell the difference between first generation new money and subtle old money by whether or not someone cobble locks their entire driveway for their two predictable black or silver SUVs.

    Old money tends a garden and understands that it provides habitat for bees and birds. They also understand the value of gardening and passing on that knowledge. They understand that a nurtured garden is also for the pleasure of passers by. You’ll find their aging Merc or just an old Micra parked out on the street. Their money will have gone on more soulful pursuits than material accumulations.

    Only new money are snobs because they are desperate to forget their humble upbringing.

Comments are closed.

Sponsored Link
Broadsheet.ie