Simon Callow on Russian Olympic boycott and gay rights

The actor Simon Callow has questioned the calls for a boycott of - or moving - the Winter Olympics from the Russian city of Sochi next year, as he claimed: "boycotts are rarely effective, talking is."

The actor, who said he knew what it felt like to be a "second class citizen" due to previous gay laws in the UK, compared Putin's anti-gay laws with Section 28 legislation in England, Wales and Scotland. They were introduced in 1988 and repealed in 2003.

The video includes clips posted online by a Russian vigilante group, appearing to show the persecution of a man in a bid to "cure him" of being a homosexual.

Mr Callow appeared on Wednesday's Daily Politics where he debated this personal film with two MPs

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