SantaClawsServiette - "I'm sorry to say that I suspect some of these people are genuine.
I was struck at a recent right-think training event at my workplace how some of the other employees were just blown away by the material. They thought it was amazing, enlightening, they'd never thought about these things. They assumed the trainer had some kind of real higher knowledge to offer.
I can tell you, none of it was at that level, mostly it was pretty trite."
I can believe that. I witnessed people soak up arrant nonsense uncritically like sponges when I worked in the NHS. The worst were people working in HR but clinical staff can also be prey to unblinking acceptance of batshit notions that are given undeserved credence by being promulgated in official training sessions.
The "trainers" do not necessarily have a clue about what they are teaching either, due to the "training the trainers" initiative whereby displaced admin/HR staff are redeployed to deliver "training packages" in subjects they know absolutely nothing about. That Max character reacted the same way they would when challenged: shuffle nervously through lesson plan to find place in script and repeat whatever nonsense they had previously babbled.
Anyway, what I really came here for was to share the link to the TalkRadio YouTube video, as it includes an extra 3 mins of Max spraying bullshit and Kellie-Jay hitting him over the head with a frying pan 
James Max is a Trustee of the Royal Albert Hall - impressive CV so he cannot be excused as a dunce:
James Max BSc (Hons) MRICS
"James was elected as a Trustee in February 2012 and chairs the Marketing and PR Committee. He is also a member of the Programming and Philanthropy committees. He presents the Business Breakfast show on talkRADIO every weekday morning, is a columnist for the FT and Spectator and a regular contributor on Sky News, Channel 5 and on Radio 2. In the past has presented on LBC, BBC Radio London and TalkSPORT. He is also an advisor on strategy and investor and media relations to a number of companies in the real estate sector. Until 2017 he was an Executive Director and on the UK Board of BNP Paribas Real Estate and regularly acts as an advisor to the developer, Stanhope. He trained as a chartered surveyor at Cushman & Wakefield (formerly known as DTZ), was an investment banker at Morgan Stanley and subsequently head of UK activities for the Doughty Hanson & Co Real Estate Fund before pursuing a portfolio career in media, real estate and finance. James is also chairman of the Frinton-on-Sea Lawn Tennis Club and a committee member for the Ultimate News Quiz which raises money for two well-known children’s charities."
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Extract from James Max's interview with Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull:
7:39
KJK: Well if i want to go in a female only space and there's men in there who decide that they're women, then it's no longer a female only space is it?
JM: But then men were told, but they wanted to have men only places and then they were told that that was discrimination, they weren't allowed to do it.
KJK: So men were unsafe now they can't have golf clubs?
JM: Well it's not a question of, it's not a question of safe, it's just that it's cake and eating it, isn't it?
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James writes a column for the Financial Times called, "Rich People's Problems".
www.ft.com/stream/7db30e07-43e9-4ec5-8e88-e453f7ccf182
"Rich People’s Problems: Are private members’ clubs worth it?"
JANUARY 26, 2018
Extract
The truth is, I have a club problem — although not of the Presidents variety. (The four private members’ clubs that I belong to won’t support boorish, sexist or homophobic behaviour.)
Even if the property industry in which I have spent so much of my career is often locked in the moral dark ages, my expenditure is more wholesome. Yet the subs still drain my bank account.
As a freelancer, the whole concept of a club that’s open late, offers WiFi and flexible working space is very compelling. I don’t need an office to do my job, but I do need to meet people. All the time. WeWork will tell you that its business model will wipe out the private member’s club. I disagree. The only barrier to entry at a club is the sky-high fee. There’s no filter and part of the allure of a private member’s club is the waft of celebrity, notoriety or exclusivity.
Looking at my bank statements, Soho House is staying. Not only is its London offer superb, it would be too much to bear if I wasn’t able to bomb off to Oxfordshire to the Farmhouse — ostensibly, Center Parcs for people who shop at Waitrose. Anyway, the £1,650 annual membership fee is good value, payable in November and already done.
What about the clubs I don’t use so much? The Carlton Club, for example, is a lovely bufty tufty old place in St James’s. I have been a member for 25 years. If you wander around its curiously decorated, high-ceilinged old school rooms, with portraits of once-great politicians hanging resplendently, you might wonder if this is an old folks’ home for rich people or a waiting room for Dignitas.
And then there’s the dress code. The Carlton insists gentlemen must wear jackets and ties (if there is “exceptionally hot weather” then jackets can be removed in the Wellington Room or on the terrace).
I don’t like ties. And I rarely have time for lunches that start at noon and end at 6pm, but on balance the £1,542 they swept from my account on January 2 is money well spent. The food is economically priced and delicious, the house claret is exquisite and the ability to sink occasionally into an armchair for a snooze after lunch makes life worth living.
And then there’s the Queen’s Tennis Club which costs me £2,020 a year. But they have a great annual tennis tournament. It is worth it for that alone (I told you I had a problem!)
A good members’ club is about more than this. It helps with connections. Business is still about who you know, not what you know.
A few years ago, I joined a West End club called Century. At the time it was quite groovy. It’s been through many iterations over the years and recently on a visit I realised that it was nothing more than a smartish bar with average food and no interesting members. Ding. It’s gone. Is that enough of a cut? Of course not.
Since I am committed to my other establishments, the solution is clear. I’ll simply have to get more work. Any offers? I know a good club where we can go for lunch.
<a class="break-all" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20210524175828/www.ft.com/content/130f4ea6-01c1-11e8-9e12-af73e8db3c71" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">web.archive.org/web/20210524175828/www.ft.com/content/130f4ea6-01c1-11e8-9e12-af73e8db3c71
The Carlton Club
Membership to one of London’s leading members only clubs is open to both ladies and gentlemen.
Q: How do I join?
A: Candidates should be proposed and seconded by two existing Members who have themselves been Members for two years and have known you for two years. After consideration by the Scrutiny Committee, candidates’ names are entered into the Candidates’ Book where they must remain for at least two months before going forward for election. The procedure is the same for both UK and Overseas candidates.
Queens Club
Similar membership application rules to The Carlton.
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I wonder how many Ladies are members of The Carlton and Queens Club, which as Max says, "helps with connections. Business is still about who you know, not what you know"?
Presumably James's clubs all have mixed-sex changing rooms and toilets? If not, he must surely be lobbying his clubs to institute them? After all, why should those dratted Ladies and daughters of members have their cake and eat it??