Is This Anyway For A British Prime Minister To Speak?

[anotheoldgit]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2271812/British-children-just-want-footballers-pop-stars-Cameron-tells-African-pupils-promises-help-tackle-poverty.html

/// Mr Cameron visited a school where pupils said they hoped to be doctors, lawyers or politicians. The PM responded that young Brits just wanted to be famous. ///

Yet more proof of a Premier who thinks more of foreigners than his own people.

One of the reader's views just about sums it up.

/// Wonderful.Thanks Dave for your patronising comments and sweeping generalisations. Your lack of loyalty and support towards the young people of Britain is shameful. You do not deserve to be prime minister. ///

[youngmafbog]

It is a sweeping generalization but he does have a point. Quite a few of our youth see 'fame' as an easy career. Sad really

[andy-hughes]

I think this is an example of an incident where a humerous remark has been taken to be serious - and it's often done by the media.

An oft quoted example of media 'spin' in just this way is an historic visit to the USA by an Archbishop of Canterbury. On alighting from his plane, he is asked by a newsman if he is going to see thedancing girls on 5th Avenue? "Are there dancing girls on Fifth Avenue?" enquired his Grace innocently. The next morning's headline shrieked - "Archbishop steps off plane, first words in America - 'ARE THERE DANCING GIRLS ON FIFTH AVENUE!'" which is the truth of what he said, just the context is twisted.

I suspect DC is a victim of the same sort of spin, and did not intend to be disrespectful to the young people of his own county.

What if he actually said "The preception of young people at home is that they all want to be footballers and popstars, wheras the reality is, like you, they want to work hard and find good careers."

You can take a quote out of the middle of that and change the message completely.

So let's not get too het up shall we?

[ludwig]

// get too het up shall we? //

^^ andy-hughes in answerbank incitement to riot shocker.

[FredPuli43]

Has much changed in the minds of youngsters? My generation dreamt of being Tom Finney, Stanley Matthews, Denis Compton and the like and fondly imagined that we could be, if only the chance arose . The girls mimicked the screen stars of the day. Now, they are presented with TV shows for the averagely talented, and imagine that they too could be as famous as the winner. And, unlike in the past, it is true that someone recording at home can become famous through being seen and heard on the internet, so the dream does come true more easily though still rarely.

How many youngsters of your day, aog, dreamt of being politicians, QCs or surgeons?

[andy-hughes]

LOL ludwig!

[sandyRoe]

I'm sure little David Lloyd George always had an eye on parliament.

[magsmay]

You can be famous for all sorts of things -some very commendable! Famous artist -poet-scientist-surgeon-businessman..etc...whats the big deal? Better to aspire to being Famous than having no aspirations what-so-ever.

[jno]

I rather imagine David Cameron did too, sandyRoe (Blair too).

Is is a bad thing if children want to grow up being famous rather than being politicians?

[modeller]

So he was telling the truth. What's the big deal ? In Afrca they are not bombarded with 'stars ' and certainly not told their grotesque salaries.
To them it is the professions that equals success.

[magsmay]

Famous: having a widespread reputation, usually of a favorable nature; renowned; celebrated: a famous writer. Synonyms: famed, notable, illustrious.

Please tell me what is derogatory about being any of the above?

DC actually said // that young Brits just wanted to be famous.//

mail online translated that as being a pop star of footballer -DC did not say this - more bad journalism .

[andy-hughes]

I think what DC was referring to - even if out of context - was the peculiar faux-ambition of being 'famous' without actually having to do anything to earn that fame.

As countless reality shows have shown, if you are in people's living-rooms weekly for twelve weeks, you are known, if not actually 'famous', but as soon as that exposure stops, so does your 'fame'.

Frankie Whatsit of The X-Factor was famous because he has floppy hair and bad behaviour - he lasted about three months. Mick Jagger is famous because he has floppy hair and bad behaviour, and has written some of the songs that changed the cultural life of this planet. He is still famous now.

Spot the difference?

[magsmay]

@andy

//Spot the difference?//

yes -well said x

[FredPuli43]

Yes, there are some unusual children who sense a vocation at an early age and who have the innate abilities to achieve success in it. But few are so blessed; think back to university or A level days and, even at that age, very few have certainty about what career they will pursue and, of those who do, few hold or express the ambition to be stars in that field. They are content to think that they may be some good at it and will love working in it.

[emmie]

perhaps it was more tongue in cheek than you believe.

" Lifting the lift on fame-obsessed youngsters in Britain, Mr Cameron joked: 'If you ask children in the UK, all they want to be is pop stars and footballers.' "

[emmie]

even if he wasn't, there are some out there who wouldn't disagree with him,

[anotheoldgit]

magsmay

// DC actually said // that young Brits just wanted to be famous.//

// mail online translated that as being a pop star of footballer -DC did not say this - more bad journalism .//

No, this is what Cameron was claimed to have said.

/// Children in Britain only want to be pop stars and footballs, David Cameron claimed today as he contrasted the ambitions of youngsters in the UK with those struggling to overcome poverty in Africa. ///

The Daily Mail also reported this,

/// Meeting children in the playground outside the school, he asked them all what they wanted to do. Many of them said they wanted to be doctors, lawyers and even government ministers. ///

This is more suspect, so why didn't you question this also?

[FredPuli43]

Yes, aog, and it is distressing that youngsters only aspire to working class jobs, isn't it? Footballers? Pop stars? Why is that? These jobs are seen as working class and though some successful practitioners in music are distinctly middle class; Mick Jagger come to mind; the tendency has been to hide that fact.

[FredPuli43]

^ comes to mind^. I was not invoking his spirit: "Mick Jagger, come to mind!"

[bazwillrun]

Whats more worrying is the trip is about him and how he intends to keep chucking money into these places .7% of gdp billions of pounds, yet here at home were doing nothing but cutting back , military, pensioners benefits, hospitals etc etc, yet hes quite happy to throw your money away overseas.

He obviously has not got a clue on what the people of this country want or need, or if he does hes totally igoring them.

[anotheoldgit]

bazwillrun

Don't worry Baz while he is swanning around the world kow-towing to those he wishes to cozy up to, he should remember it is not them he has to depend on to remain in his job.