The Beeb have announced they will play an editted version of the Xmas classic 'Fairytale of New York' by The Pogues & Kirsty MacColl this year.

It seems they get inundated with complaints each year about one line which MacColl sang "you cheap lousy fa....".

The 'fa....' word is a nasty slur often aimed at homosexual men and I'm sure if the song was new and released for the first time today, it would be banned or censored. But this is a classic right?

Some years ago, The Pogues' front man Shane MacGowan defended her lyrics, saying they weren't intended as an insult but represented the character MacColl played during the song.

It's one of the better festive songs which we'll hear repeatedly over the next few weeks. I'd prefer the Beeb to leave the song alone, keep playing its original format and to climb down from the PC shelf which they're always on.

What do you think folks?

Just change it to maggott?

The BBC 'censoring' it may just help it get to number 1!

Come on then everyone.....
I'll go with "I'm dreaming of a bame Christmas". Far more acceptable

The most annoying thing about this sort of BBC carry on is that we are paying for these people to sit around and come up with all this.
I have never heard anyone complain about the lyrics before.
If you don’t like a record or article on the radio then press the off button for 3 mins, the record will have then finished.
The sooner we don’t have to pay for the BBC the better, they forget they are there to serve us, not to dictate to us.

What about the classic one of you must not call them fishermen any more, it now has to be a Fisher person.... Even thought 99% of Fisherpeople are men. Even one lady (am I allowed to say that?) said she and the other 5 females in the entire British fishing fleet didn t have a problem with being called fishermen, as they always have done

neilcork68 wrote:What about the classic one of you must not call them fishermen any more, it now has to be a Fisher person.... Even thought 99% of Fisherpeople are men. Even one lady (am I allowed to say that?) said she and the other 5 females in the entire British fishing fleet didn t have a problem with being called fishermen, as they always have done

These days, if you say you're English, you'll be arrested and thrown in a jail

BBC1 are censoring it, BBC2 aren't.

Just listen to BBC2 if you're desperate for your fix of homophobic slurs?

Another storm in a teacup manufactured 'free speech'/'cancel culture' load of nonsense.

Ben-NCFC wrote:

neilcork68 wrote:What about the classic one of you must not call them fishermen any more, it now has to be a Fisher person.... Even thought 99% of Fisherpeople are men. Even one lady (am I allowed to say that?) said she and the other 5 females in the entire British fishing fleet didn t have a problem with being called fishermen, as they always have done

These days, if you say you're English, you'll be arrested and thrown in a jail

If only............

This is the sort of thing the government wants you to be mad about while they're destroying the economy, democracy and our global standing and killing tens of thousands of their own citizens.

[quote
These days, if you say you're English, you'll be arrested and thrown in a jail[/quote]

Gulp!

The BBC are censoring this Xmas classic & yet play Cardi B singing about her vagina. (WAP). Hypocrisy at it’s finest.

I mean really, who actually cares? It's consistent with Shane McGowan and Kirsty MacColl's position on this, as they changed the lyric themselves. As far back as 92 they were using 'haggard' instead.

Just another thing for the 'Outrage Brigade' to wet themselves over, while ironically calling other people snowflakes.

Dogger wrote:The BBC are censoring this Xmas classic & yet play Cardi B singing about her vagina. (WAP). Hypocrisy at it’s finest.

Which has also been censored for radio.

Dammed if they do Dammed if they don't

Homosexuals will be offended but will say similar things themselves

Further to how the BBC ties itself in knots.

Recently a family member worked on the production team for a BBC programme. The programme ran a competition and people from all over the U.K. entered with a judging panel awarding prizes to the best three entrants.

Somewhere within the BBC exists a group, I liken them to the House of Lords, who check that programmes conform to their ideal.

The group objected to the geographical distribution of the prize winners (all three were based in the south east of England). They initially instructed that the list of prize winners be altered but were told that the winners' names had already been broadcast.

Instead they insisted that a fourth prize be invented and awarded to someone from elsewhere. A Scottish entrant was selected.

UPTHEPORT wrote:Dammed if they do Dammed if they don't

Homosexuals will be offended but will say similar things themselves

If you're interested, UTP, here's quite a good piece that goes some way to explaining the contradictory response to use of "faggot".

https://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/lifestyle ... ot-meaning

Your point is actually addressed

But as with rappers who use the n-word, we need to be aware that those who want to harm us will see our empowerment as an excuse to feel free to use those words willy-nilly and claim that we’re attacking their freedom of speech when we challenge them.