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CHAT SHOW PRESENTER Graham Norton has said that people bought a “pack of lies” on Brexit, and Britain should have held the referendum again ‘when they got the wrong answer’.
Norton, who is best known as the host of a popular UK celebrity chat show and as a regular commentator for the UK coverage of the Eurovision Song Contest, made the remarks last night on RTÉ’s The Late Late Show.
He told host Ryan Tubridy that he was “astonished” that people had voted for Brexit, and said that one of the biggest impacts it would have would be on Britain’s youth.
He said:
I was astonished that people bought the pack of lies they were sold and I feel sorry for the people who voted for it because they were lied to.
“They were promised things that are never going to happen and they were told [about] the things that are now unfolding: ‘oh don’t worry, that won’t happen’.”
Norton said that although people will focus on the economy, it is the impact of Brexit on young people that was “the most depressing thing”.
“What is great about being young is you’ve so many options. Life – all the doors are open, every door is open.
What is so sad about Brexit is that people over 60, because it was people over 60 passed that thing, closed so many doors on young people and shut down options. Shut down options about studying abroad, living abroad, working in places.
“It just seemed absolutely the wrong instinct. Don’t make the world smaller, don’t shut things down. I understand where the fear comes from but, actually, I think it is sad,” he said.
The British should have taken Ireland’s lead and run the referendum again, he added.
“You do think: ‘do you not see what they do in Ireland?’ If you get the wrong answer, you ask again! It was a no brainer,” Norton said.
“Almost offended”
As the host of Britain’s most popular chatshow, Norton said that after 19 years at the helm he is “almost offended” that he hasn’t been targetted by the media like other big name BBC personalities.
“It is sort of in my mind a bit more because of the BBC, the nature of the BBC and the way that the BBC is funded. The papers, it is like there is a whiteboard in the office and they have names on it: ‘who are we going to get next?’ – Jonathan Ross – boom; Jeremy Clarkson – boom; Chris Evans – boom.
“I am almost offended they haven’t come for me yet but they have to be on their way! Just to give the BBC a kicking and to say ‘right, we’ll get rid of him then’,” he said.
Moving from Channel 4 to the BBC brings a different dynamic to how your work is received, he added.
“You realise the papers will always hate the BBC more than you. So, even if you get a bad review, the BBC are terrible for showing it. Somehow it is their fault, not yours. Whereas on a commercial broadcaster like Channel 4, it’s your fault, you’ve done that thing,” he said.
Norton, who was born in Dublin and grew up in Co Cork, is also known for his appearances as Father Noel Furlong in the Irish comedy Father Ted.
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Some pillock with a pocket laser I bet. Seems this is a relatively common occurrence these days. Rare for the plane to turn around though.
True. And the plane would have been at 8000 to 10000 feet high a few mins out when hit bit the laser and was cruising to the West of Ireland when it turned around and went back to Heathrow.
I’d imagine this would not be the standard laser pointer you would buy in the local but someone with a stronger toy. It would also appear the crew / company made to the decision to turn back prior to Atlantic crossing as the pilot must have been in some sort of discomfort.
A medical issue? Rather odd statement I would have thought
Getting a laser in the eye? That can cause blurred vision. I’d call that medical
Yes paddy, pilots tend to rely on their vision from time to time
Someone should develop a new anti laser filter for Aircraft Windows.
Well it depends. A lot of pens in the green are frequency doubled ir diodes so could put in glass that blocks these wavelengths. Issue is that it would block in the green. So pilots would only see in blue and red. Also your visual acuity is between green and red none in blue. So would not be ideal for pilots. Also some pointers are also in red. So blocking that as well would make pilots vision even worse. So I’m not sure just how practical it would be.
Yeah that is a good point unless they can use a polarizer to reflect the beam away or have reverse mirror or something to that degree.
A Polarizer would require knowing the initial polarization of the laser pointer which you wouldn’t. I am not sure what you mean by a reverse mirror.
It is a very difficult problem to solve. Most people don’t realise just how dangerous laser pointers and how many you might buy down in the market are very powerful and will blind. What probably saves many pilots eye sight is the divergence of these lasers after 1000 feet. But kids firing these around the playground doesn’t have this distance
Find one of these jackasses and lock him up for a few years, that might help.
The thing is, it’s not just the simple laser, in face Aircraft windscreens are the opposite than anti laser, when that thing is pointed, you cannot see F*ck all, it reflects across the hole screen, so inside and out you are blind, and if that hints your eye, it can possibly do some damage , they didn’t turn around for the crac, the pilots eyes were obviously in discomfort.
Little D.ick head if hes caught with that lazer it should be stuck up his behind.
This offence should carry a 20 year jail term
Dr Evil is my guess, the “Lazer” is a give away
Can sharks survive in the Thames?
Why would anyone want to point a laser at an aircraft taking off ? I didn’t realise you can buy military grade laser pens with a 10 mile + range on Amazon and eBay ? WTF
Ye can buy them from China for half nothing
I wonder what the pilots who flew through flak would think of this?
Pilots that flew through flak didn’t have a choice, they also didn’t have a few hundred passengers. The pilots that flew through flak would have received medical assistance if they landed just like this Virgin pilot did.
Flak was not laser strength.
If a plane is at 8k ft, and climbing, the cockpit windows wouldn’t be accessible by laser from the ground, due to the angle. Or wouldn’t the laser have to be many miles forward ? ….which makes aiming in the window at such a distance without a scope pox luck ?
It was an A340 and it was 10 kilometres out from take off so there’s no way it was 8,000ft was the flight deck was struck by the laser
Very stupid stunt, could have put lives in danger. I does raise the question though how a ground based laser could accurately target the cockpit at 10,000 ft perhaps something more sinister than a messer.
I predict an increase in the purchase of these super long range laser pens. I honestly thought you would only get a short distance from them
Jesus, imagine if something more serious happened,God help his passengers.
Why would they turn around?! If they’re going to actually be shot at surely turning around isn’t going to make that less likely
Pilots just looking for attention on this one. Grow a pair pilots
Lets hope medical technology can soon grow a pair of RETINAS to transplant into pilots that are permanently blinded by this moronic crime.
Peter industrial lasers can cut steel 12 inches thick so a hand held laser can easily cause a flash burn to the back of the eyeball from a long distance away
Why would they turn around?
A medical issue Hugh. Most likely one of the crew got an eye full of it.
Fair enough I suppose
A 20 year jail term!! Have a day off
Possible attempted murder of hundreds of people, sounds lenient to me
There should be a severe jail sentence for stuff like this.
have your say