THE right-wing sections of the British media really, really aren't happy with Scottish Greens MSP Ross Greer.
The fall-out over his comments about Winston Churchill is still ongoing, a month after he tweeted it (at least, it feels that long).
If you've somehow managed to miss the story, it began with a tweet by the Conservatives saying: "Today marks the anniversary of the death of Sir Winston Churchill, who died in 1965 at the age of 90. For many, the greatest Briton to have ever lived."
Greer responded: "Once again for the people in the back: Churchill was a white supremacist mass murderer."
The Daily Mail has been among those reacting with fury, and even sent one of its reporters to Greer's West of Scotland constituency.
People were "overwhelmingly critical", the paper reported.
Asked about the MSP's comments, it quotes one resident as saying: "Those are not nice things to say about someone. If that's his personal opinion then fair enough but Twitter is not the platform to express that."
Describing Indians as a "beastly people with a beastly religion" isn't a particularly nice thing to say about someone either – but that didn't stop Winston Churchill.
And ... Twitter probably is the place to share these views.
The Daily Mail also describes Greer "laughing and sneering" his way through his interview with Piers Morgan – saying he was trying to provoke the presenter. That's a bit unfair. Morgan doesn't need an excuse to be provoked.
PS. Bonus points to the person who said that Ross "would have been speaking German" without Churchill. That gave us our Bingo.
The Sun was furious: "Shameless: 'Ginger Turd' MSP who slammed Churchill also said Britain was 'happy to live' with Hitler and that he wanted Buckingham palace to burn to the ground."
The Sun also "uncovered" a tweet from Greer saying: "I'm not exaggerating when I say nothing would thrill me more than for Buckingham Palace to burn to the ground."
Just for balance, we've "uncovered" a quote from Churchill: "I do not understand the squeamishness about the use of gas. I am strongly in favour of using poisonous gas against uncivilised tribes."
The Guido Fawkes blog got in on the act too. "Churchill-hating MSP is self-described Communist and Kim Jong-Un fan," the headline goes.
Guido is mainly upset with his posts about being a Communist, such as: "Awesome letter in Herald couple of days ago describing Greens as 'former Communists and CND activists.' I resent the former accusation!"
They also quote Greer as saying: "Kim Jong Un has announced his marriage in celebration of Scottish #equalmarriage. I propose that @OfficialSYP send our congratulations."
That ... seems like a joke?
Anyway, well done Ross ... to wind up these people, you must be doing something right.
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