To feel incredibly sorry for Eddie Izzard

Saw this featured on local tv when I was up in Yorkshire at the weekend. BBC made no mention if this was supposed to be an all women shortlist.
I don't agree with privileged people being helicoptered into safe seats. Leads to a furthering of their ambitions at the expense of their constituents.

Could not feel less sorry for him. Illustrious career as a man and now wants another one as a woman and we all have to cowtow to his whims. Absolutely not. He is not a woman and should not be speaking on women’s issues - he has as much right as me, a white woman, being a spokesperson for black people.

Seems a good summary of the constituency.

However the contest is not going Izzard's way at all so far. Do not be fooled by the national press. It is all about local stuff and the student vote seems fluid and not falling hiss way. If you haven't checked out the wider contest thread here please do.
www.mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/4653015-sheffield-central-labour-candidate-abtisam-mohamed-vs-eddie-izzard

Three actual local women are the frontrunners for the shortlist right now Jayne Dunne, Abtisam Mohamed and Dr Rizwana Lala. They are ahead either in Labour Branch endorsements and/or union branch support. So far Eddie has support from one branch. Two women have support from 3 Labour branches each, while Jayne has support from a bunch of union branches. Abitsam and Dr Rizwana Lala obviously might get particular support from local minorities too. Dr Lala is left leaning and that certainly has a certain support.

It is not impossible Eddie Izard will get shortlisted for cosmetic reasons. However even that is not certain and it is not looking good for him to go further as the final selection depends on local party votes.

Heard him being interviewed by Ruth Davidson on Times radio. Only caught the tail end and didn't know who it was. He was going on about inventing a flag of some sort in Northern Ireland. Then the usual stuff about the International stage he performs on. Little Sheffield obviously isn't enough for his ambitions. I really hope he isn't shortlisted he's become an insufferable narcissist.

Lets hope the people of Sheffield arn't going to be labelled transphobic if he doesn't get in.

“Oh and I’m TRANS by the way”

well there may possibly some amoeba on Saturn who didn’t know that I suppose 🙄

but nonetheless, the student population are probably who he's going to pitch to

They are very pliable.

Definitely, chosen well by Eddie.

This is the Sheffield constituency: The City of Sheffield wards of Broomhill & Sharrow Vale, City, Manor Castle, Nether Edge & Sharrow, and Walkley; and parts of the wards of Crookes & Crosspool, Ecclesall, Fulwood and Hillsborough.

So, who are the voters? It apparently has the youngest median age of voters in the UK, thanks to it covering large swathes of Studentland (Sheffield University, which has around 70000 students, is based in this constituency).

City, Manor, Castle, are relatively poorer areas - largely white working class, manual workers, unemployed etc, with a couple of big council and social housing estates. Hillsborough used to have a similar population but I think is trending more towards families these days, and more private housing stock.
Nether Edge and Sharrow have a quite a lot of students but also quite a high proportion of residents who have either immigrated to the uk themselves, or are the families of more established groups - quite a few from Pakistan and Bangladesh, most of Sheffield's older Chinese community, and increasing numbers of Somalis, Kurds etc.
Ecclesall, Fulwood are some of the wealthiest areas of town.

So it's a mixed constituency but heavy on the students. Sheffield is not well known for a gay/LGBTQ+ scene (you go to Manchester for that!) so it's not full of TRAs (as far as I know!) but nonetheless, the student population are probably who he's going to pitch to.

(Apologies to anyone who thinks I've painted their home turf inaccurately in the above generalisations!)

Then in the final three seconds of the video he gives a smug grin and states 'oh, and I'm TRANS by the way'

oh man. I’m practically cringing myself inside out just thinking about it

Yeah when you're voting in a politician you're actually looking for someone with capacity to represent you, which necessitates room inside their/his/her/xie's head for thinking about other things and other people beside the magical wonderland of them.

It's another power trip for Eddie.

The cult of personality, people using their profile to attract publicity. Will it be advantageous for the people of Sheffield to have Eddie representing them ?

He will attract attention, but I fear someone who relies so much on his public image is someone who will not be able to tell the adequate truth of a situation.
He will bow down to watever woke message is desirable.

Popular politics.

I just saw Eddie's campaign video. There was the usual stuff about sticking it to the Tories, getting more doctors and police officers, better schools. Then Eddie starting talking about 'performing around the world in 45 different countries, spekaing 4 languages' and I was like 'oooh, what's that got to do with Sheffield?" Then more about how his comedy and performances bring people together and he has had an international career. Thought it was getting just too much about Eddie, and not enough about his plans if he was elected. But I decided to give him the benefit of the doubt. Then in the final three seconds of the video he gives a smug grin and states 'oh, and I'm TRANS by the way'. FFS Eddie, it's just self-centered and cringy as shit. You don't see disabled peoples saying 'oh and i'm DISABLED by the way'. The islamic woman who is running against him hasn't ended her video with 'i'M AN ISLAMIC WOMAN by the way.' It's just all about him, him, him.

Bahahahahahaha I LOVE that

The thing with izzard is that hes made a fortune out of taking glimmers of truths and creating a whole fantasy narative that people love to listen to. Hes charismatic on stage and audiences are willing to suspend disbelief to listen to the most absurd scenarios he imagines.

I dont think this has that much to do with his childhood, mother, father or anything much. His just using his skill in real life this time.

@mauvish I’m with you; I live here too and wouldn’t vote him in if it was my ward. Absolute laughing stock.

Or even Jones recognises that despite identifying as trans, Izzard would make a really shit MP.

This has developed into a really fascinating thread.

What makes me laugh is that TRA shout loudly about how we should be non-binary in our thinking, yet what I see is an increasing push towards strict binary-ness (can't think of the word!) in society. You're a young girl but you like wearing trousers and playing in the mud, and have a crush on your female teacher? Then you're obviously trans. Well, that's a binary as you can get -- you've apparently got to be one if you don't fit conveniently into a box marked the other. And those boxes are so trammelled nowadays - the gender images are totally stereotyped. When I was a kid, girls like that were just called tomboys and no-one cared! The world was harsher towards young boys who were "feminine", but again it was pretty much accepted that that was the way some people were. It didn't make those boys more of a girl, it just made them a boy with different tastes from other men.

I really hope that EI doesn't get the nomination in Sheffield. I live here, though not in the relevant ward, and I feel he would make the city a laughing stock. And if I did live in the relevant ward, I'd vote for any party other than vote for him.

Exactly.

It's a nonsense statement. He has no way of knowing how many his 'small number' of people is, or being able to confine it to a small number of people.

And any case, as you say, it's not confined to a small number of people. It's confined to every bloody person in case they are speaking to one of those small number of people.

Jones attitude to Izzard probably mimics what would happen if a transman chatted him up. All behind the theory of trans .... in actual practice not so much.

Classic TRA in the tweets, TERF in the sheets 😉

'If your life is "unbearable" because other people won't pretend they don't know what sex you are, that is very much a you problem and something you need to work on.'

Big fat AMEN to that!

Re OJ, to me this is the absolutely central issue:

"...there are, and always will be, a small number of people for whom life is unbearable unless their gender identity - which is completely central to their sense of self - is accepted"

What he actually means is:

"...there are, and always will be, a small number of people for whom life is unbearable unless their gender identity - which is completely central to their sense of self - is accepted other people pretend not to notice what sex they are"

If your life is "unbearable" because other people won't pretend they don't know what sex you are, that is very much a you problem and something you need to work on.

That would be so funny if Eddie doesn't get the Labour candidacy after all the effort he has put in!

Latest development in Sheffield is that Izzard is trailing in Labour branch votes. Think he might not make shortlist but we shall see.

Also Owen Jones has decided not to back Izzard and has thrown his support behind a woman Doctor instead, probably because she is a more authentic left, local woman.
www.mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/4653015-sheffield-central-labour-candidate-abtisam-mohamed-vs-eddie-izzard?page=8

Jones let us remember thought that GC criticism of Izzard was proof of how evil they were:
twitter.com/OwenJones84/status/1586797706944696321

Jones attitude to Izzard probably mimics what would happen if a transman chatted him up. All behind the theory of trans .... in actual practice not so much.

Is Eddie still touring? I wonder what Eddie’s agent thinks of the recent shift?

Eddie WAS brilliant and innovative and had great charisma on stage. I saw Eddie a few times live, the last time was a political show about Brexit and it wasn’t funny, it was a manifesto.

people change and I suppose ageing makes us all concentrate on what we need or want. I hope Eddie is happy, but I have my doubts - if happiness relies on people lying to you then you will always find a child or drunk or disinhibited person who says what they see.

I see lots of things abkht Eddie, but none of them are the same as me.

Isn't it just?

I don't think we need to comment further (indeed I think we risk deletion if we do). We can see it without commenting though. We can just use Izzard's own words, which are in the public domain, to highlight the point well enough.