Is the Guardian worse than it used to be?

Another trek in the foothills of Nepal coming up?

Didn’t see a reference to last column in the Observer - but I guess she’s busy with her newish Times radio job.

the story xyz linked to is also the subject of a particularly foul comment piece by sonia sodha

which i will not be linking to. i should learn my lesson to stop clicking guardian links on a sunday.

idgaf btw if matthew parris 'one of the founders of stonewall' thinks supporting trans rights is 'extremist.' despite taking their name from a historical event led by trans women, stonewall has a long shameful history of refusing to represent trans people. anyway fuck the nasty vindictive press of this country

if these people gave a shit about women's shelters they would be angry about austerity but they don't and its so fucking obvious and its infuriating.

there seems to be a threatening tone to Sodha's piece, like step in line with liberal establishment bigotry Gays, or we'll strip away your hard-won rights next. Because that is the rules of the game. Not that I've read the fucker!

fuck stonewall forever

some of these people do give enough of a shit about women's shelters to threaten for being inclusive & are more than happy to get them shut down by if they can. these are the same people who enthusiastically support deporting migrant women for prostitution. in fact it's hard to think of any state violence against women they don't support, for feminist reasons ofc

It’s dismal, uk “liberalism” is a busted flush

This is what infuriates me about “circular firing squad” talk, I am soft and would love to believe there were a fruitful coalition to be made with a putative “soft left” but the reality of stuff like this makes it frankly intolerable. Along w the hate there’s a real cowardice to it, like if we go along with the targeting of trans ppl (or GRT or whoever) surely we will be left alone, which a) reprehensible b) dream on pal. The very idea of solidarity is seen as a bit silly to these fucks, indulging them is a hiding to nowhere

Then they will tell us that you can't win elections by believing in anything

Cunts

One thing I’ll say during my sad-about-town today I saw lots of ppl out for pride & I do have the sense that my and younger generations are way more onside & will see this “I’m just ~concerned~ about the safety of women, real women I mean” garbage for what it is

wins otm.

and i share the hope. frankly people i know just laugh at it.

stonewall finally got its act together on trans rights about half decade or so ago, which is why the whole uk establishment (including the guardian) is currently trying to tear it apart so i can't get behind 'fuck stonewall forever'

before then though my impression is it was pretty dreadful & it's not like it had a good track record even on gay rights, up until 2010 it was actively lobbying against gay marriage for baffling reasons - not some sort of principled anti-assimilation stance, it was all nonsense about "it would cost the taxpayer too much", "gay people don't even want it" etc.

otm

'fuck Stonewall' is a no when the right-wing press are trying to beat them up rn.

For #PrideMonth the UK press has declared all out war on @StonewallUK Europe's largest LGBT+ rights advocacy charity. These are just from the last 24hrs. There's been a negative article nearly every day in June. As in the 80s and 90s, the UK press are out for LGBT+ blood. pic.twitter.com/RRW7Ik80gs

— David Paisley (@DavidPaisley) June 7, 2021

not just the press of course, the government is completely on board too

This is two years old but I just came across it.

https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/society-and-culture/with-cancel-culture-political-correctness-has-indeed-gone-mad

"With “cancel culture” political correctness has indeed gone mad".

Former music journalists are bad vibes man.

— The Trashies (@TheTrashiesUK) June 6, 2021

I listened to the
You're Wrong About episode on Political Correctness yesterday which was pretty interesting. Hadn't quite taken in that the term's original usage was either a derogatory external descriptive or an ironic one used by people who were aware of the irony. But that goes into where it came from and how the idea was mainly abused. Had just viewed it as something that never worked because it ignored the dynamic nature of exchanges and people being aware of ironies so a kneejerk set of rules was absolutely wrong but it addressed an existing problem. Just seems to have been a label pinned on people who were quite happy with the abuse

'fuck Stonewall' is a no when the right-wing press are trying to beat them up rn.

Otm. Am watching developments with dismay. Especially that anyone is listening to Matthew Parris, and the realisation that this waste of space still has some influence in the Tory party.

Finding columnists very annoying at the moment and sure there is worse to come (I can guess that both Suzanne Moore and Julie Burchill will be preparing columns, both saying “see - I told you I was right!”

Parris is critical of the current PM, with no effect - so I suppose his influence is actually limited.

Burchill has created another scandal-storm with bad comments about the latest royal baby.

ok i withdraw the stonewall comment for the time being but i will never forgive the likes of PT for helping enable this

pretty unhappy about every part of this btw

PT = Peter Tatchell?

yes

there are reasons i haven't paid attention to the org for years, it seems to have changed for the better & i understand that the current attack is about more than just the org

i am uncomfortable having to certain things for strategic reasons but it's where we are at now

I wish I hadn't posted any of this

https://i.imgur.com/RjtRpMt.png

to cleanse the timeline

... any excuse...

https://c.files.bbci.co.uk/vivo/live/images/2016/6/7/cafa2d6d-d7e4-416d-b824-2bcbcb793bce.jpg

I can't remember if you can blame these cringe wankers for the rise of face-paint, jester hats and Roger Nouveau type wankers like Kieth re-inventing themselves as lifelong Gooners. But fuck it - I will.

I was living in London in '96 during this.. this special cultural moment of national unity when a load of pissed up/coked up thugs (who thought England were entitled to win all games/all competitions) trashed all the shops around Trafalgar Square and even when I'd got back home to Plumstead they were throwing pint glasses about and bricking cars and house windows!

that’s beautiful man

ok i withdraw the stonewall comment for the time being but i will never forgive the likes of PT for helping enable this

oh yeah tatchell is fucking terrible for all sorts of reasons & the guardian quoting someone as controversial as him as their 'pro-trans' voice in that article is no doubt a deliberate move

Calzino, I was living in Woolwich and watching Euro 96 -- we were only a couple of miles apart!

I moved from Conway road, Plumstead to Woolwich to .. I can't remember the road name but it was across the road from some blocks of flats and around the corner from Blockbusters and Safeways. We may have even walked past each other. I wasn't watching Euro '96, as a plastic paddy republican 4 life. I'd just done an evening shift at Camden rd Sainsburies that night and saw all the broken glass and mayhem from a bus.

Blockbusters in Woolwich was right on General Gordon Square, the main square with the old Woolwich building and next to Woolwich Arsenal station - wasn't it?

yep, but when I do streetview it all looks different now and I think where I lived was definitely Anglesea Rd. I recognise the blocks of flats that were across the road but the Victorian terrace row I lived in has been demolished and some dreary looking redbrick houses must have put up late 90's/early 00's.

emma beddington

The correction to this headline is even less accurate than the original. pic.twitter.com/terKnuDpvE

— slakieth (@akehhsbnak) June 9, 2021

uncritical support for Kieth is "mainstream" now?

his current approval rating seems to suggest otherwise.

Appalling headlines.

it reminds me of how negative coverage of Bernie in the US would often cite "Mainstream Democrats" rather than refer to them as the right-wing of the party.

I solemny declare: If anyone claims Ulysses is one of his favorite novels I will smile at him, pretend to go for another beer, turn away and never talk to him again (and yes: I read it).

— Sebastian Halm (@SebastianHalm) June 9, 2021

Father, husband, journalist

what is this person's deal exactly, apart from being a smug prick?

'solemny' feels like an accidentally cool coinage

awash in solemny, he declared his piece

A solemnycism.