back to article Cameron escapes Twitter twat rap

Ofcom has ruled that David Cameron did not break broadcasting rules when he told breakfast radio listeners that politicians who use Twitter risk making a "twat" of themselves. The Tory leader also used the words "pissed off" during his July appearance on banal guitar pop station Absolute Radio, before adding "sorry, I can't …

COMMENTS

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  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Surely not

    An OFxxxxxx Quango not being a total bunch of twats.... remarkable.

  2. Citizen Kaned

    savy?

    so, cameron is more savy that we acknowledged. after all how long have we been calling it twatter?

  3. Jimmy Floyd
    Pint

    Risky situations

    I nearly set up a Twitter account once. It was about 3am and I was at a mate's house after the pub, so pretty drunk. Thankfully, I was very fortunate in that I wasn't able to sign up. Can you imagine how embarrassing that would have been once I'd sobered up?

  4. Bassey
    FAIL

    And to think....

    And to think, some people have accused Ofcom of being a bunch of completely toothless, useless tax sponges. They showed you lot!

  5. Spleen

    "Ofcom received 20 complaints"

    For perspective, Ofcom receive an average of 74 complaints every time an unmarried woman appears on a chat show and talks to the host without the presence of a chaperone.

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Stop

    Catch 22

    Cameron want to get rid of Quango's such as ofcom.

    So do

    a) Ofcom let him off, showing that they really serve no purpose, putting themselves on his hitlist

    b) take action, peeing of Cameron, putting them on his hitlist.

    Have fun while you last boys...

  7. Bumhug

    Lets be honest

    With all this talk of cuts the guys and gals at Ofcom must be a bit nervous that come next election they will be looking for new jobs. Time to suck up to the next boss

  8. Bassey

    20 complaints

    I notice that OFCOM always quote the number of complaints as some kind of justification. Maybe I'm being naive but if someone breaks the law or some rule, then that is wrong. It's wrong if one person complains. It's wrong if a million people complain. Just as, if 400 people make a complaint but it turns out no rules were broken, then it wasn't wrong.

    Now, I can accept the argument that shifting weight of popular opinion should drive the creation/removal of rules over time but, once the rules are there, what on earth does it matter how many people complained that someone broke them?

  9. Geoff Mackenzie

    20 Complaints?

    You mean *every listener* phoned in!?

  10. DafyddG

    Watch out Jonathan Ross!

    Sounds like Davie Boy's trying to get as infamous as you with the same techniques.

    Rhonda Farr said: ‘Publicity, darling. Just publicity. Any kind is better than none at all.’

  11. Anonymous Coward
    Unhappy

    banal?

    Utter bollocks. Maybe you should listen to Absolute Radio a bit, It certainly is nothing like the shit that was Virgin Radio. They play a wide variety of 'real' music, much better than most of the pap that other radio's pump out.

  12. Jeremy Chappell
    WTF?

    You don't need twitter

    David, you don't need Twitter to make a tw@t of yourself.

  13. Anonymous Coward
    Alert

    twat

    I've never considered "twat" to be a rude word, that said I know some people who do take offence to it. Any chance of a "Twat!" icon, or a playmobil reconstruction of the radio interview?

  14. Bob 61
    Grenade

    Verification demanded

    "Ofcom received 20 complaints" #

    By Spleen Posted Monday 28th September 2009 15:12 GMT

    For perspective, Ofcom receive an average of 74 complaints every time an unmarried woman appears on a chat show and talks to the host without the presence of a chaperone.

    Link to article or it disnae happen

  15. twelvebore
    Megaphone

    OFTWAT

    I demand the creation of a new quango to regulate the usage of the T-word on public radio. A staff of a couple of hundred and a budget of £80 million pounds should do the trick I reckon. Someone has to think of the children you see.

  16. Anonymous Coward
    Pint

    Get a life!

    So some Tory toff says the words "pissed" and "twat" on a radio show listened to by about 200 people under the age of 19 and 20 people with nothing better to do, complain about it? FFS, get a pigging life! Married with kids I have zero life, but I sound like a real go-getter by comparison!

  17. Winkypop Silver badge
    Thumb Down

    20 saddos

    20 complaints

  18. wv9e

    twitter is for fools

    for fools by fools... read as you like..

  19. stizzleswick
    Coffee/keyboard

    Well, after all...

    ...people should not be punished for stating the truth.

  20. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    How DARE...

    ... a politician speak plainly.

  21. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Tw@t was rude once.

    Maybe times have changed and I have to resign myself to the fact that I'm getting old (well middle aged at least) but tw@t certainly used to be a rude word. afaik it used to mean the elusive (for some) part of the female genetalia that gives pleasure. Hence calling someone a tw@t was mildy offensive Maybe I'm just a prude without knowing it.

  22. ElNumbre
    Megaphone

    Good News Everybody.

    So, I'm OK to take a loudhailer to the Tory Party Conference, stand up and and shout into it, "Cameron, you're a tw@".

  23. Anonymous Coward
    Alert

    Twat seems quite rude...

    ...just type it into Google Image Search. Oh, NSFW, by the way.

  24. Anonymous Coward
    FAIL

    Political correctness

    He should have just called them what they really are... a bunch of c**ts.

  25. goggyturk
    Flame

    Sounds about right

    'Banal' and 'twat' are two of the first words I would associate with David Cameron.

    He's like Tony Blair, only without the ideas and that Chesire cat smile...

  26. spezzer
    Flame

    complaints???

    the average Absolute Radio listener is middle aged blokes innit? Which of these twats complained coz Ive heard far worse. Suggs told the audience to Fuck Off from Regent Street on Sunday night - have the twats complained about that one yet?!?!?

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