Hadley Freeman on Woman's Hour shortly

That was awesome! I mean the interview, it was bloody awful hearing all the details, no women allowed to cover it, TRA lobby groups allowed to come in and attack her while she was away and no one thought to mention it, what the fuck were the Guardian thinking??

Yeah of course it's "why wasn't a trans person allowed on?" from crybully twitter. Because it's about a woman talking about her experiences regarding censorship, how she was treated and why she felt there was no option but to walk away. It's not all about trans. Coincidentally, the name of the group The Guardian welcomed with open arms behind her back, and allowed them to hold court while they slagged her off. Don't see TRA twitter having a problem with that!

Unless you opened Sounds when WH was being broadcast, it's not currently available but should be maybe in an hour or two at this link:

www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001fvx6

Help!!! I can't find it!

My goodness. Upper management at the Guardian told her they only wanted men writing about womens' rights regarding trans issues as it doesn't go down well on social media otherwise.

I'm listening again; she's forensic. Which is really important.

The fact is that they should always have been taking social controversies seriously, and if their standard has been, it's progressive so we support it without asking questions, that has never been good. Progressive causes don't spring forth fully formed. Even something as broadly accepted now as racial issues - they've similarly accepted CT and id pol approaches uncritically as well, which has led to some pretty shit analysis.

I’m thinking more broadly of support for civil rights, women’s rights, worker’s rights, gay rights, awareness of environmental concerns as ‘laudable’. Not sure about the point being made that causes do not spring forth fully formed.

No, of course they don’t. Critical thinking was, had to be, applied to those issues long before as well as during the times that they could be discussed, challenged, amended.

Yet, critical thinking, IMO, seems to have suddenly been swapped for unthinking acceptance when it comes to gender ideology. Except for the work done on these threads.

I think Emma did a great job. The more she pushed back the better the interviewee is able to make a more robust point. She wasn't overly aggressive in my view.

So many TRAs on Twitter bleating about the lack of balance because no trans person was asked to speak. Totally missing the point that Hadley Freeman was invited on to talk about her own experience of being effectively forced out of her job as a journalist, because of the stories she wanted to cover.

I'm listening again!

I love an aggressive Emma, all can stand up to it

Agree it's naff the transwomen are not given the same grilling. But to me that shows their weaknesses.

Was HF on Times Radio on Saturday or this on yesterday MorrisZapp?

www.thetimes.co.uk/radio/show/20221204-12809/2022-12-04 (from 53 minutes)

Thought it was a well debated interview. Emma needed to push certain bits to make sure all is exposed with no wriggle room.

She said much of the same stuff on Saturday too, on Times Radio.

Yes, EB risks alienating people when she goes so aggressively for GC speakers in order to cover her own back.

But lovely to hear everything we've known for years confirmed in Hadley's own words. I used to be a Guardian reader and now it's out there and there's no excuse for pretending you didn't know what was going on I'm going to be giving the side-eye to anyone I know who still reads it. If it won't report on one of the biggest scandals affecting women and girls in living history, what else won't it report on?

The Guardian were also very happy to throw Jews out and to leave progressive Jews with no political home. Not surprising really given Seumas Milne's close relationship with it. Hadley being Jewish was just as much a problem as her being gender-critical (obviously this being WH there's more focus on gender issues).

That started years earlier though, they were awful on antisemitism back in the early 2000s when I was a student.

I'll take an aggressive EB so long as it is applied across the board. For example if Mermaids inexplicably decided to put someone up for her to interview.

Listening on catchup. The Guardian really hate women, don't they?

Was it though? Laudable?

The fact is that they should always have been taking social controversies seriously, and if their standard has been, it's progressive so we support it without asking questions, that has never been good. Progressive causes don't spring forth fully formed. Even something as broadly accepted now as racial issues - they've similarly accepted CT and id pol approaches uncritically as well, which has led to some pretty shit analysis.

I’ve just send positive feedback to the BBC.

It is interesting to read the responses to the WH tweet trailing the interview:

twitter.com/BBCWomansHour/status/1599697588214636544

and particularly how bonkers and reality-denying the busy trans activist comes across.

I agree. Well done Hadley!

Ouff, I must admit I hadn't expected Hadley to be quite so forthright. Well done to her. I've no problem with Emma's approach either - it's her job to push back.