Quotes from Morrissey in NME (Apr 15, 2004)

[Aaron]

What do you think of the current furore about asylum seekers?
"I think I can hear teacups rattling. (A butler arrives with a tea trolley) You see, that's the England I miss. Perfect. Sorry, your question is?"

Because of the fuss about asylum, questions of national identity seem to be at the forefront again.
"Yes. It's so difficult, isn't it?"

Do you think there'll always be those flashpoints?
"Well, it's a question of how many people you'll continue to allow to flood into the country, regardless of where they're from or why they're arriving. It's a question of how it affects the people who still live here. It's a question of space. And they're very tight about it in the United States, so it stands to reason why they should be here. But it's very difficult when people are being persecuted."

Later, there were some letters to the editor, and the letters editor at the time claimed that he was "uncomfortable" with the comments. But, in general, no one was hyperventilating about what Morrissey said, as they are now.

 

[cinnamon]

well, for one thing, they wouldn't have been able to use the "he started it!" excuse..

 

[Kewpie]

1st December 2007 issue's cover says:

Bigmouth Strikes Again
Oh dear.
Not again.

This shows they're the one to retort the same old silly nonsense.

 

[esperanza]

Is it just me or has EVERYTHING that I have read in the press or online recently been a misrepresented/misquoted history lesson ? EVERY article has the same couple of paragraphs on the latest "scandal" lifted from the "new" NME.Then padded out with days of yore.

 

[snapyou]

Interesting stuff indeed.
Not too sure about this bit though:

"they're very tight about it in the United States, so it stands to reason why they should be here"

 

[Vauxhall95]

Interesting, thanks. Kind of puts the nail in the coffin that this was an NME ploy to sell magazines.

What do you think of the current furore about asylum seekers?
"I think I can hear teacups rattling. (A butler arrives with a tea trolley) You see, that's the England I miss. Perfect. Sorry, your question is?"

Because of the fuss about asylum, questions of national identity seem to be at the forefront again.
"Yes. It's so difficult, isn't it?"

Do you think there'll always be those flashpoints?
"Well, it's a question of how many people you'll continue to allow to flood into the country, regardless of where they're from or why they're arriving. It's a question of how it affects the people who still live here. It's a question of space. And they're very tight about it in the United States, so it stands to reason why they should be here. But it's very difficult when people are being persecuted."

Later, there were some letters to the editor, and the letters editor at the time claimed that he was "uncomfortable" with the comments. But, in general, no one was hyperventilating about what Morrissey said, as they are now.

 

[Danny_]

Might be very useful for Morrissey's case that the same editor didn't think similar ideas were worthy of any remark a few years before.

 

[faroffplaces]

Interesting, thanks. Kind of puts the nail in the coffin that this was an NME ploy to sell magazines.

Well, I don't think anyone can doubt that these are Morrissey's views. It's just a matter of how it's spun.

For me, it's yet another thing I'm struggling to understand about the difference between the US and the UK - over here I'm really not sure this would be read as an "uncomfortably" conservative view, even though it is founded mostly on a mildly depressing nostalgia (Morrissey, seriously, sighing over the sound of teacups? Do you really "miss" England in the seventies and eighties and early nineties, which in practice must be the era you mean, since you left after that? Then why did you rag on it so at the time?) - and yes, blah blah, isn't helping anybody particularly. He's not frothing, though. He has sympathy for the immigrants. He's not a politician and his phrasing is not incendiary. You're left wondering what planet he's on, and you certainly might not agree, but the opinion isn't shocking.

But again, the climate in the UK would seem to be the opposite of what it is over here - any denial of liberalism, however mild, will get you ostracized. I've just never lived in that world. I can't understand it. My planet is the Bush planet, and even under Clinton American conservatism was incredibly powerful.

(Of course, I think that, as many others have pointed out, a musician of Morrissey's stripe is always assumed to be at the extreme left whatever country he's in. These would be moderately surprising comments even over here if they came from Dylan or Springsteen, who are perhaps closest to what Moz represents in the US, though they're tied to an older generation and it's not a perfect example.)

Anyway, no, I don't think it was entirely a plot to sell papers, but I think they had to go rather too far (far enough for legal action to be justified, and possibly winnable) in order to make Morrissey's views garner more than an "Um." on readers' part. But like I say above: I think this because in my culture, they're an "Um." (Unless, of course, you're an icon either of the left or of the working class or South, in which case people's assumptions will be slightly different.)

Maybe in the UK they're an "OH FANCY JESUS GET HIM OFF ME HE BURNS HE BURNS." I just don't know.

 

[lightupvirginmary]

What do you think of the current furore about asylum seekers?
"I think I can hear teacups rattling. (A butler arrives with a tea trolley) You see, that's the England I miss. Perfect. Sorry, your question is?"

Because of the fuss about asylum, questions of national identity seem to be at the forefront again.
"Yes. It's so difficult, isn't it?"

Do you think there'll always be those flashpoints?
"Well, it's a question of how many people you'll continue to allow to flood into the country, regardless of where they're from or why they're arriving. It's a question of how it affects the people who still live here. It's a question of space. And they're very tight about it in the United States, so it stands to reason why they should be here. But it's very difficult when people are being persecuted."

Later, there were some letters to the editor, and the letters editor at the time claimed that he was "uncomfortable" with the comments. But, in general, no one was hyperventilating about what Morrissey said, as they are now.

There is nothing offensive about these comments either.

 

[2-J]

Real reason he left the UK, no matter what he says: to avoid paying Mike Joyce.

Never forget that people. Never forget that.