Sir Bob Geldof: Stop banging on about transgender toilets – Europe needs a laxative

The singer said students need to turn their attention to economic issues
Political activism: Sir Bob Geldof said students should focus on economic issues
Jamie McCarthy/Getty
Emma Powell16 December 2016
The Weekender

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Sir Bob Geldof has told students to stop "banging on" about transgender toilets and instead campaign on economic issues.

Geldof, 65, encouraged students at Trinity College Dublin Law Society, to become political activists in the wake of post-Brexit Britain and Donald Trump’s election victory in the US.

He urged them to stop “banging on about transgender toilets” and instead focus on the fact that some people “hadn’t had a pay rise for eight years”.

Geldof – who fronted an anti-Brexit campaign down the Thames ahead of the EU referendum – said Europe was in desperate need of a “laxative”.

The Boomtown Rats singer said: “Europe desperately needs reform; it is sclerotic, constipated, it needs some laxative to clear it out.

“You guys are inheriting a deeply significant moment.

“My generation has failed more spectacularly than most – you have Brexit, Trump, the referendum in Italy, le Pen in France…”

Geldof made the comments as he accepted the Praeses Elit Award from the Law Society.

Hilary Hogan, auditor of the society, said Geldof’s “incredible music career coupled with his extraordinary activism on behalf of some of the most impoverished and downtrodden members of society” made him a worthy recipient.

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