Men at Westminster

I have worked a lot in parliament over the years (though I'm employed in the far more PC environment of charity). Its a problem across parties and across houses. Don't be fooled that its only the Conservatives (I'm not one by the way), just look up of the misogynist abuse hurled at women on the internet is coming from very nasty Corbynistas.

Historically and institutionally many people have turned a blind eye and bowed to seniority and career prospects rather than championing the conduct we should be able to expect from our elected officials and leaders. Its similar to many environments that are male dominated, with a consequent power imbalance. But adding to the mix is a strong drinking culture, late hours and a certain separation from home and famillies which has lent itself to this sort of inappropriate behaviour.

I might be wrong but I'd be surprised if its as bad as the movie business, modelling and music business. Its there and real and unacceptable but I've never felt it to be endemic every hour of every day.

It needs to stop in every level of society and should be led from the top. Its abuse of power, entitlement and inequality and disrespect for women. However, it is ironic really that Theresa May is the Prime Minister during this scandal. Its not well known but she has a track record in championing Domestic Violence and supporting funding in that area since her time in the Home Office and has some history supporting other women's causes which surprised me when I first heard. I was invited to a women only reception at No 10 earlier this year where many were talking about her commitment in the area. But she's a weak leader at the moment and further problems will only exacerbate the fragility of her position.

However, I do need to say that some of the items on the 40 Conservative MPs spreadsheet are simply relationships and affairs between consenting adults so not worthy of being lumped into serious allegations of assault or rape. We need to draw the line between gossip and serious abuses of power.

Hislop's got previous on sexist bullying, he was horrible to the late Paula Yates when she was on it

Paula Yates was funny and kept her dignity. Hislop was awful.

There's a thread, titled HIGNFY, which gives details of how to complain to BBC.
Doesn't take long, and complaints get counted.
Truly shit stuff- 4 male panelists making light of sexual assaults and harassment.

hislop is a tedious unfunny ugly little nurk. Proof of double standards in broadcasting - no woman that ugly and charmless would ever get on tv

HIGNFY is too male. Hislop's got previous on sexist bullying, he was horrible to the late Paula Yates when she was on it.

Jo Brand called them out on their sexism tonight, gently, so well done to her.

I saw her doing a comedy gig in Aylesbury in the 1980s.
One of her jokes then was :
"How do you stop rape? Arm women."
Got a great laugh and cheer.
Times have changed.

Bloody Nick Robinson again on the Today programme this morning, interviewing Jess Phillips about the latest accusation against a Labour MP. Jess asks if she's allowed to say cock up on the radio. Yes, but perhaps not in this context, japes Robinson, oh so hilariously.

The Westminster gossip is Michael Fallon resigned"not because of a hand on JHB's knee, but because he couldn't guarantee there would not be another allegation made about him". Which translates as..he's done worse and is worried it will be exposed.

These men should be ripped from their positions like the toxic cancer they are.

The idea of men with those sort of attitudes possessing any sort of power or status is nauseating. It's not enough that prospective candidates should be vetted to prevent 'scandals' (a vile acceptance of moral complicity) but should be under a moral panopticon at all times. As someone said upthread, they can send men and women out to die in war, but can't maintain the most basic and simplistic moral boundaries.

this is what democracy produces, beasts voting for beasts

His resignation cannot just be about Julia Hartley-Brewer's knee. She has already protested at great length (a bit too much if you ask me) that it didn't bother her in the slightest. Hardly something a Cabinet member would fall on his sword over.

So many commentators don't seem to get that its not just about a hand on your knee. Its not like an annoying fly that you can swat away and forget about it. Its the underlying message - 'you're nothing but a bit of totty to me at the end of the day'. That must be really devastating from a man that you though was a friend, or colleague, or someone who you thought respected you, and thought you were talented or interesting and had skills and talent. Nope. He just sees you as a bit of skirt after all.

I felt sick yesterday thinking about Kate Maltby's allegations against Damien Greene. A man who is a friend of your parents, who has presumably known you since you were a child, who has experience and connections in the field you want to work in, invites you out for a drink to catch up and talk careers. Great. Next thing you know, he's brushing his hand against your knee and telling you how understanding his wife is about these things. I would have been heartbroken if it was me. Utterly vile.

And Theresa May should also be ashamed of herself for apparently trying to bury complaints that were raised by Lisa Nandy MP

Definition of casualty:

a person killed or injured in a war or accident.

"the shelling caused thousands of civilian casualties"

synonyms:victim,fatality,mortality;More

a person or thing badly affected by an event or situation.

"the building industry has been one of the casualties of the recession"

synonyms:victim,sufferer,loser,loss

"the corporation was a casualty of the weak economy"

Not "man who thought casual sexism and harassment was acceptable"

www.google.co.uk/amp/s/inews.co.uk/essentials/news/politics/sir-michael-fallon-resigns-behaviour-past/amp/

Apparently Michael Fallon was a "casualty" of the investigations which implies he's a victim. Ugh

It's a good excuse to bail on brexit.

If Michael Fallon has resigned solely for touching a female reporters knee I speculate that every MP will have to resign? I think there will be more to it but if there isn't is his resignation justified?

I think about half the male MPs could fall here.

Good. HoC and politics generally needs a good clear out.

Yes prickly that's exactly what I think
Especially when I read this kind of crap www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5037545/SARAH-VINE-hysterical-Westminster-witch-hunt.html (Sarah Vine is Michael Gove's wife)
Manufactured to do down the whole "me too" thing and get uppity women to shut up about it.
I hate being a conspiracy theorist but the whole thing is so bizarre. Also most of the more concrete allegations are already public domain.

I'm interested (from the perspective of fake news and deliberate media manipulation) in how this is playing out. The intial news was broken on the Guido Fawkes website - a list of offences without names. Now that some of the names have come out, it turns out that it's a mix of genuine sexual harrassment cases and perfectly legitimate consensual relationships.

Now "Guido Fawkes" (Paul Staines) is a self-confessed right wing libertarian who describes his politics as "Margaret Thatcher on drugs". So hardly the sort of person you'd expect to be campaigning on the side of the angels. My hunch is that he's playing a complicated propaganda game. By mixing up genuine harrassment with consensual workplace relationships, he's setting the scene for the Daily Mail, Telegraph et al. to be able to do a rebuttal along the lines of "see, I told you it was PC gorn mad - these people want forms signed in triplicate before you can so much as make a pass at a co-worker..."

Which is not to detract in the slightest from how utterly unacceptable the behaviour of the genuine sexual predators is. And I believe there are quite a number of genuine sexual predators on the list. But some are not - for example, Amber Rudd (who is divorced) is totally above board about her relationship with backbencher Kwasi Kwarteng.

I suspect that on some level we're being played - throw in some genuine cases amid a lot of deliberately misleading stuff, so that the genuine cases can be minimised. Classic piece of propaganda.

William Hague came across quite well talking about this on Radio 4 this morning.

Bumping this. Not happy at all that May has suggested claims should go to the police because of the very high burden of proof. And not happy it all appears to be being minimised by fairly ridiculous things ("fornication") being conflated and discussed with serious claims.
Plus I suspect that list is made up anyway which will massively damage credibility of women who have been harassed or assaulted

What age are you @SpookghosttiAndMeatboos

The thing is, how many of us have been in jobs where we've been warned to make sure you're not alone with X, or told that X gets a bit familiar when he's drunk etc. - we've got so used to dealing with it that I think we forget the seriousness ourselves.

I think it's a good idea to get it all out in the daylight, to say that it's not acceptable to have to have a conversation with the new girl in the ladies to warn her that if So-and-so asks her to show him how to use the photocopier then she should tell him to go to IT

All this faux shock that this goes on is ridiculous, but if we all have to pretend to be surprised to get something done about it, then so be it.

Never mind withdrawing the whip, a whip should be applied, unless they like it.

I think Bernard Jenkins and his ilk just demonstrate how out of touch they are. The sort of behaviour being discussed here has been recognised in uk corporate life as unacceptable for at least two decades and I can’t think of a major company that hasn’t put in place policies, procedures and safeguards in relation to harassment. Parliament seems to be 30 years behind in terms of established best practice.
Yet these are the people legislating for and frequently slagging off uk companies. No wonder there is so little respect for them. Do as we say not as we do, eh lads? Wankers.