Ben Cobley’s original argument “The rise of ideological feminism (Part III on Karl Popper and contemporary ideologies)” can be found here on his Free Left Blog. It is a strong critique, focusing particularly on the views of Laurie Penny and parts of the British Labour Party, but applies to the wider modern feminist movement. Continue reading
Trigger warnings: rape, sexual assault, child abuse, victim blaming.
[This essay first appeared on Open Democracy here.]
I hate it when people say “It’s time to talk about x”; “It’s time we sat down and had a serious discussion about y”; “It’s time the two sides stopped squabbling and hammered out their differences over z”. Especially if they’re protesting that their free speech is being infringed because nobody wants to listen to their views on immigration, homosexuality or climate change. Especially if there actually is a sensible debate going on across pubs, papers and screens. Continue reading
“The university is categorically not banning peaceful demonstrations that don’t involve occupations”
John Duffy, University of Sussex registrar and secretary
I wrote this some months ago, then almost let it slide because it was almost not relevant. Then this headline happened:
I wasn’t sure if there was much point writing about this. I mean, really. I’ve written about homosexual marriage. I’ve written about Christianity and alternative gender/kinship norms. I’ve written about Free Speech. Heck, I even devoted a whole post to the Slippery Slope argument. It’s like Lord Carey came on my page, looked at everything I dislike and brought it together in one resounding explosion of wobbles*. At most, I considered simply posting choice quotations from the ex-Archbishop’s speech, and leaving it up to you to connect the dots.
But then…
Then I read Tom Chivers’ article, “In Grudging Defence of Lord Carey”. Continue reading
Unhappiness is treason.
Mostly buffoonery.
Robert Peal on education and reform
Haywire Thought 