Typical PC madness. Ban something because it might offend some unknown person or people but ignore the seemingly constant foul-mouthed output of the BBC that does a offend a lot of people. The difference is that nobody cares if a majority actually are offended, just if a minority might be.

Michael, Cambridge,

Oh my god BBC you really are truly pathetic. A rip-off, biased, mouthpiece for a wretched corrupt government.

Bob, Barnes,

HAH! good to see the PC brigade get one in the face

Rob, Wallasey,

And I read yesterday that the decision to bleep the offensive words was final and would not be reversed.............. What a bunch of spineless, PC driven, no doubt hugely overpaid Numpties.
Well done radio 2 and the rest of the sane thinking population......

Ralph, Chesterfield, Derbys

As a professional fagottist (performer of the bassoon, fagott in German, fagotto in Italian), is the BBC going to ban me from future performances on the radio? It would no doubt be even worse if I were a niggardly fagottist.

Robin Thompson, London, UK

Is everyone else as offended as I am by constantly having to listen to whiney little people like Tatchell?

Viv, London, UK

About time the left wing BBC realised that they are not self appointed censors of what people believe or wish to hear.

chris, Woodbridge, Suffolk

Surely they should bleep the title too?
'Fairy' tale of New York?

Todd Swift, London, England

"Cheap lousy faggot" not meant to have any negative intent? Oh please, now you're just insulting our intelligence.

Mike, Munich, Germany

Surely there are more worthy people out there to comment on the subject than Peter Tachell.

The word 'extremist' is more applicable to him than the Afgahn Taliban.

Why do we need a quote from him everytime a subject that might have a 'Gay' connotation is mentioned.

He does his cause no favours

ken, Hereford,

While a "faggot" is a culinary term as a number of contributors mention, in the context of the song it seems obvious that this is not what the writer meant. "Faggot" has been and continues to be a derogatory term and the BBC were correct in bleeping it out. SInce it has come into British currency from America, it might be of interest to know its provenance, stemming from the Yiddish word Faygele, the derogatory word for gay men; it translates to "little bird. The word has no place on a publicly funded radio station let alone in use at all; common decency, not political correctness, demands that it be excised.

David Cunard, Los Angeles, United States

Gay meant something entirely different before it became associated with homosexuality, as did the word faggot - if I use the words' original meaning does that mean I'm causing offence? For goodness sake, life's difficult enough without stupid people trying to find offence in every little thing!

Anne, London,

I think whoever is in charge at the Beeb needs to grow up a little. Not everyone wants life to be one long round of miserable paranoia preventing any kind of enjoyment. No doubt Gays were beside themselves every time they heard the song.....not. They have more sense than people at the BBC that's for sure.

Judy , Liverpool, england

I have no objection to any of The Pogues work disappearing forever - fine by me! It sucks anyway!

Anthony Smales, Beverley, UK

Oh dear. What a spineless nation we have become. It's about time that this country stopped pandering to these insignificant 'americanisms'. If we're going to split hairs here, taking the bleeped line back to it's original meaning - 'A cheap lousy faggot', means an inexpensive, lice-infested bundle of twigs, used to light the main oven in a house - or is this being a bit TOO intellectual? (and yes, 'faggot' is also a foodstuff). Fortunately, I make no apologies for being ENGLISH.

James Egan, Bristol, UK

A Faggot is also a piece of wood to be put on the fire.

David Leslie, Perth, Scotland

Hello Paul,

You are quite correct, a faggot is a foodstuff, of sorts, it is also a collective noun for a bundle of sticks, the former usage is particularly offensive, unless one has a predilection for offal.

Let's all ban Shakespeare shall we? Gosh there are some offensive passages in the Bard's work....

Kidd Garrett, Bristol, UK

This was probably just a big stunt so Radio 1 could get back in to the headlines and grab listeners at Christmas. It should never have happened, and let's hope the track never becomes censored

Carl, Birmingham,

Personally I'm proud to be a Faggot, Peter Tatchell does more harm than good. I find him more offensive than any lyric.

James, Reading,

Peter Tatchell seems to enjoy being offended. Maybe he should become a strict Muslim, and ban all those teddy bears and Christmas 'fairies'

kerry peterson, London, England

Andy Parfitt, the Controller of Radio 1, announced a U-turn last night, after deciding that the Pogues had not used the word with “negative intent”.

it just gets worse. I thought the test was whether it was considered to be offensive. and, of course, it isn't. whatever peter tatchell says (and he clearly doesn't speak for the gayers on this one, given the initial response to the censorship). I find censorship offensive. some people find homosexuality offensive. most people should just shut up and mind their own business instead of looking for a headline. chris moyles was being disingenuous when saying gay means lame, though. he's not a kid. he would have been better off being honest and telling people it wasn't worth getting worked up about. which it isn't.

jem, london, uk

Interesting to listen to what Julian Fellows had to say about the BBC a few years ago; how he felt that the place was run by men trying to be kids, never growing up and being proud of it. And now we see a very good example.

This is just another piece of cultural vandalism by a clique that have hijacked the BBC. They are on dangerous ground because the mood music in the country is not what is playing in their heads. Even the young are now waking up to the fact that they have become victims of mind control...at last.

This is the battleground on which the battle for hearts and minds is being fought - the right to free speach and expression. As Morrissey found out to his cost, unless you are explicit for these half-wits then you are liable to be silenced. The political elite do not understand nuance, they only understand clunking propoganda.

Time for everyone to grow up. And maybe time is up for the BBC unless it can prove it is reflective of the views of all the people not a few.

joe, Berwickshire, Scotland

Peter Tatchell, I suggest you go and listen to some rap music, hmm? If you can't distinguish between a 20 year old Irish song and homophobia, you have serious problems!

chris, Norfolk, UK

Peter Tatchell would cross a raging torrent and climb the steepest mountain to find something to get offended about. He should get out more. I always thought faggot was a foodstuff.

Paul, London,

Radio 2 went ahead and played the 'uncensored' version straight after the news bulletin containing this story.

Obviously the adult population of this country have a more mature veiw of proceedings than the over-sensitive, politically correct stance taken by what pretends to be a vehicle for youth culture

How embarrasing

Paul Ritchie, Southampton,

I went straight out and bought the original record when I heard about this in the hope it would make number one for Christmas and really embarrass the BBC.

Have some respect!

Listen to the song.

Thalia, London,