Jolyon Maugham lets slip

Here you go lydia

www.gov.uk/shotgun-and-firearm-certificates

Thanks Betty, Crone, and koshkat. I live in a rural area and nearly everyone here has at least one hunting rifle or similar. That being said, a call to the proper organization to collect the stuck fox or an attempt to free it and scare it away would be the preferred course of action. Followed by an upgrade to the chicken run and coop, since it is easier to better protect your chickens than it is to wipe out all the predators in the area.

(Though here it tends to be raccoons rather than foxes, still can't imagine bludgeoning one to death)

lydiamajora Guns are very strictly controlled in the UK. My late father had a 12 bore shotgun for game shooting. You must hold a licence issued by the local police, which involves some degree of vetting/suitability check, and secure storage at home - an approved gun safe, properly secured. My father was visited at home periodically by police to check his gun safe and that his shotgun was still in his possession and properly secured.

if there was some kind of big reveal - I mean satire, spoof, not opening of kimonos - then that would be better, yes.

I think it's probably worse if he actually did it.

That is definitely worse, because the earlier tweet demonstrates it's something he's thought about doing before. What kind of person publically imagines and then acts out a scenario like this?

plus, is getting a fox caught in your netting a normal thing to happen? How weird a coincidence is it for that to happen a month after him posting the other Tweet?... I'm going to stop even thinking about this now. I hope the story isn't real.

I think it did happen - it was reported that RSPCA visited him, and removed the fox's body

lydiamajora The average chicken-owner who just keeps a few chickens to supply their family with eggs probably wouldn't have a gun, but many (most?) farmers have shotguns.

So which is worse - if he did beat it to death, or if he lied about beating it to death? I think it's probably worse if he actually did it. I think he did do it because it's such a peculiar story to make up otherwise.

I notice the other day he accused Maya Forstater and her supporters of being "moral absolutists". There's something pleasing somehow about a man who pours scorn on the idea of moral absolutism discovering that lots of people have morally absolute views on bludgeoning foxes to death.

I do feel sad for the fox, though.

I don't think it happened. It sounds fetishistic to me - Jo in his wife's kimono (not just any old dressing down) beating an animal to death, then getting off on broadcasting it. It seems to be a repeat fantasy, going by the November tweet.

If the story were true he'd have spent the next couple of hours digging a grave and burying the fox's body, then off out to the DIY store to buy some more netting to repair the coop. Not having a nice cup of coffee while catching up with social media.

chicken!

I think I would be classed as an average chicke owner and would not dream of having a gun!

Lang I hear the RSPCA recovered the body.

OldCrone - If you tell me to Google it, I will, but if someone has a good link or quick explanation of who gets to own what guns in the UK I would be grateful. I know how it is in the Wild West USA, but how likely is it for your average British chicken-owner to have a gun?

I live in a farming community. People do not bludgeon foxes to death with bats.

Also: where is the body?

But really, most people in the country don't go round killing every potential nuisance the second they see it.

And if a farmer needs to kill a fox, they'll shoot it, not batter it to death with a baseball bat.

Madame Butterfly

The emphasis that it's a "Kimono", when anyone else would just say "dressing gown" is odd.

Kimono Jo has a few issues that's for sure. Poor Claire.

I do wonder whether it's a lie,

Hmm.....well if it is then what else has he lied about?
Also, true or false, he’s supposed to be so brainy so why didn’t he realise the furore that would erupt when he tweeted about it.

I live in a rural village, baseball-battering wildlife is not something that would be considered normal behaviour here, or anywhere really.
He seems a very angry man, whose anger swiftly tips into something genuinely frightening.

Good point, Kantastic.

I also can't help thinking of the number of times TRAs have posted pictures of themselves wielding baseball bats with messages about "killing Terfs" on them, and nobody seems bothered about that.

'If he'd still been making vaguely GC-supportive noises, then "beating foxes to death with baseball bats" would have been added to the list of crimes that all TERFs everywhere do within a few hours of that tweet.'

Ha ha, that's so true.

Also bang on re the fantasy tone of the kimono tweets.

Ha, to think I was annoyed when this man went all TRA on us. Thank goodness he did! If he'd still been making vaguely GC-supportive noises, then "beating foxes to death with baseball bats" would have been added to the list of crimes that all TERFs everywhere do within a few hours of that tweet.

And there is something about that story, it reads like one of the masturbatory fantasies that pre-trans AGPs sometimes write where I just HAD to wear ladies' underwear for [contrived reason] and I got caught wearing the underwear for [other contrived reason] and oh my goodness me, wasn't my face so red! I don't know exactly what Maugham got out of posting that but it's fascinating and disturbing that women's clothing is one of the components. It's making me thinking of those old studies on imprisoned sex offenders which demonstrate that "transvestism" often occurs alongside other deeply disturbing paraphilias.

There are a number of commenters on Twitter trying to make out this is 'normal' behaviour in the countryside, as if this is a townies vs countryfolk (folx?) thing.
But really, most people in the country don't go round killing every potential nuisance the second they see it. Even most people who go shooting or don't like wildlife aren't just waiting to bash any old creature's head in. That's not normal anymore! Bizarre how he thought this would be acceptable because he has a few chickens
And he won't answer people asking what his plan for a tangled cat or dog (or hen) was. Cats and dogs both being more of a hassle than a fox.

I recommend reading The Psychopath Test by Jon Ronson. Explains a very great deal.

Women here have said for a long time that the transgender narrative provides a very useful outlet for a certain type of male to freely indulge in behaviours not usually tolerated. The fox appears to have provided a similar outlet.