Not until she appears on SCD and dances a shite dance, anyway.

Oh, to see that happen ...

Exactly. I'm not sure what Shrew's family history has to do with this at all.

OK, OK - it's just a spent a rather large part of my life having to defend my family and their faith/opinions when in fact their actions were actually far more politically correct, caring, generous and humane than a the very people who waving 'you're a bigot' card at them. The thing with Ann got well out of hand when there was a thread started concerning her bereavement. How far do you have to go before the vitriol gets too much? Yes she was a politician who voted in accordance with her beliefs, but people voted her into Parliament for her to do so.

Perhaps my own family history has made me a bit sensitive to various comments thrown at Ann and for that I apologise but I won't apologise for being bored with people jumping on bandwagons and generally doing the 'I hate Ann more than you, therefore I am more PC and a better person' thing.

To go back to the OP's point ...

Ann is known for her views - they are part and parcel of her career - therefore it's naive to suggest we should ignore them. If people are bothered by them, that's fine. If not, that's fine too. It's a free country. As far as I'm concerned, her political past is as flawed as her efforts at dancing - but if others enjoy her role in Strictly this year, so be it. Everyone has different ideas about what consitutes 'entertainment'.

What bothers me most is the blatant 'repackaging' of Ann as if she never said any of the things she did. There is very obviously an edict from senior BBC management to do this as part of a plan to use her to promote Strictly. On Monday, CBBC's Newsround bulletin even branded her as 'the lovely Ann'. She talks endlessly about 'having fun' and 'trying something new' and dismisses everyone else as taking the programme too seriously, whilst making the minimum effort herself. She plays the prude about costumes and fake tan, but not a word about the prejudices she has previously broadcast to the nation. I wonder why ... Does she want to win so badly that she's prepared to airbush her own convictions out of the picture?

I do not give a jot for what she did or said...when she was a politician...and I have little doubt if we had as much "information" about the pre-Strictly actions and opinions of many contestants we would find them as out of step with our own norms and values.

It's a light entertainment show/dance contest

I think this is almost a separate argument from the OP, but I do have two immediate rejoinders:

1) Costume edicts and sexy-move bans aside, how much of a hand do you think Ann has in the way she's being portrayed in the meeja? More than any other celeb whose personality is played up/played down/altered by VT editing and ITT appearance questions? If not then I'd suggest that her fluffy makeover is simply part and parcel of the show's ultimate frivolity.

2) As per my original point, what on earth do Ann's political views have to do with the show in any way, and with that in mind, why would she use SCD as a platform to promote or debunk them? I'd be just as irritated if she did the quickstep (well, her version of a quickstep) on Question Time. The two simply do not coincide, and the fact she is not mentioning it cannot be construed as evidence that she's covering anything up. It's just not the right forum.

Because one's political views are an indication of what kind of person on is ie a bigot, ignorant, nasty or nice etc, whereas whether someone is a good or bad actor only tells us about their acting skill - not about their personality.

Because without them she would not be appearing on this show.

I personally would not vote for her because of her political views. Her views aside, I would still not vote for her because I do not enjoy her dancing and neither do I find her entertaining.

However I do not criticise others who don't care about her political views or those that do find her entertaining and therefore vote for her. That is their opinion and entitlement. I only ask that others respect my right to my opinion and my right to vote for whichever reason I choose

Simply holding certain political views doesn't make you eligible. And if what you mean is that Ann's political career is what got her the spot, it would be just as easy to ask John Prescott or somebody as far away as possible from Ann's views to do the programme. (Not that I think Prescott would )

If a politician with much more popular support - I dunno, Barack Obama or someone - appeared on SCD, then I would regard any discussion of his policies as equally invalid in this context.

Hasn't the Beeb been trying to get a Widdicombe type on SCD for a while now? If so (and even if not, really) then having got her on the show, they're hardly likely to destroy her image (and serve up an SCD-bashing early Christmas for Murdoch etc.) by banging on about the potentially unpleasant nature of her political voting patterns.

Likewise, they're hardly likely to criticise her "spontaneous" quips to Craig.

Having said that, though, amongst the older generation who might watch SCD (e.g. my parents' generation) there may well be a strong amount of support for Ann because rather than in spite of her views on homosexuals, drug users and female prisoners. She did win a fair few elections in the past, whereas I'd guess it will be a while before an openly gay candidate stands for election for one of the major parties in Eastbourne, or wherever else old folk retire to.

Homosexuality being classed as mainstream is quite hard to take for some older folk, who were brought up differently to how us tolerant, liberal minded youngsters were.

Oh the irony - you criticise me for not addressing your whole post and when I do so comment on the length of my response.

As for intellect - don't be too complacent - I've seen nothing in your posts to suggest a superior acumen. On the contrary for the most part you have tried to sustain your argument with a number of irrelevancies (oops another polysyllable,) i.e. Thatcher, mother and father.

You haven't touched any nerve because I don't consider your point well argued,

Now just a further couple of points
[LIST][*]You omitted to tell me of what I'm a prime example.[*]Are you accusing me of being an attention whore?[/LIST]

I don't agree with Ann's political remarks and I think she's undoubtedly a person who speaks her mind BUT I do like her partnership with Anton. They obviously get on extremely well and he's taking all the hype very well imo. She can't dance and for that reason I wouldn't vote for her.

I much prefer them to John S with Kristina. I like Kristina but he had no 'spark' with her at all and was really quite dismissive of her.

Even so called 'popular' politicians have legions of detractors (as Obama is finding out currently ).

When you have made your living arguing in favour of your own opinions and views and having them, or attempting to have them, made the law of the land then when you engage in a popularity contest, which is what Strictly is to some degree, then it's only to be expected that for some people those views are a deal breaker. It was Ann's political reputation and stance that brought her into the public eye and it is because of that she was approached for Strictly.

People vote on SCD for any number of reasons from dance purity to komedy kontestant and any permuation in between.

I too find that sick - grief is individual to the bereaved .


Taken from the Times Online.

Yes the Armed Forces operated a 'don't ask, don't tell' policy for many years - but those who were exposed were drummed out pronto and that is fact.

But now I'm responding to your irrelevancies and in doing so I'm perpetuating this off topic discussion - so I'll rest my case.

Yep the bit in bold is what I meant

Even if a politician took part with the same political views as my own I would still expect there to be posts from forum members who didn't agree with that persons views saying that they would never vote for that person for that reason.

I'm trying to say that if that was to happen I would respect those forum members opinions whether the selected politician was a Fred Astaire or a John Sargent.

Strictly will always be part dancing contest, part personality contest (even part perving contest) and different people will always be attracted to different personalities and dances

Having Tory Ann W on this year means that they will have to balance things up next year with someone who is ex-Labour. That is how the BBC Charter works. Peter Mandlesohn anyone ? He is a fan of the show and has been in the audience.

What part of "vote for your favourite" didn't you understand?

So, if Thatcher had done Strictly, you think people should have "ignored her politics"?

Oh, sorry, feel free to not read the rest of the thread or any other comments before wading firmly in.

Since when are there rules on how someone should vote? I think Ann should be judged on everything viewers what to judge her on, including her political views.

In my eyes, the "I dislike her political views" is a much more valid reason not to vote for someone than the ever so popular "I haven't warmed up to him/her".

I couldn't stand the woman as a politician, I find her personality really grating, so even if she was the best dancer in the world I wouldn't cast my vote for her, because I simply have no desire to watch her. Is that so wrong?

By the same token, Ann's fans have every right to vote for her, even though she is a terrible dancer, for whatever reason the deem right to do so, without being critisised for their choice.

This is an entertainment program, where WE decide who we want to watch by casting our vote to keep our favourites in. It couldn't be more straight forward. Like it or not, that's the nature of the beast.

She has worked hard, has retired, looked after her mother for years and is now having a bit of fun. And she deserves it.

She isn't a prude, she is just one of a generation that thought that modesty is a virtue. And I agree with her.

As I am not a mind reader and haven't the slightest idea of the inner working of her mind I'll just stick to watching the programme and enjoying her performances.

The idea that she is on a mission to airbrush anything is absolutuely ridiculous. Everything she said in Parliament is recorded in Hansard and all her public comments are in newspaper archives.

Hazel Blears would be perfect with Vincent.. She has had a new hair do and got rid of her "red rodent" look probably on Harman's instructions. She's got a nice brown perm.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...ette-perm.html

Dear God.

Her hairdresser must despise her.

She was probably only following orders - no "red rodents" the the Labour Party.

But she is perky and lively and if she could keep her gob shut she could be a great asset to SCD.

Mmmmm - yes......if only!

She'd certainly polarise opinion - there'd be a fair few FMs frothing at the mouth, that's for sure!