Adam Buxton podcast and billy bragg

Wiki page says not. And I hadn’t thought he was, he went to a standard comp?

I like AB's podcast but can't bring myself to listen to the BB one. I know AB has come off social media but surely he hasn't been living under a rock.

I vaguely remember AB making some comment along the lines of "my wife says she wouldn't care if a trans woman uses the ladies loo so I don't see what all the fuss is about". Really quite dismissive.

I'm also going to give the Contrapoints a miss after reading this thread.

They both were educated at Westminster.

AB and not billy Bragg was educated at Westminster, is that what you meant? Sorry if I misread you.

I think AB doesn’t want to take a position, which is ok, but he tends to just agree with everyone. This chimes fine when the broad majority of his guests are reasonably well informed attuned individuals. But it’s a real clang when he yaps along with someone as egregious as BB who has shown his hand to be an enemy of women.

I’m another big fan of AB and have listened to dozens of his podcasts, particularly the ones that relate to the loss of his parents, which really chimed with me (I'm older than him but I related very much to his feelings about grief). I don’t quite agree that he's essentially a superficial interviewer - for every lighthearted podcast chat with his comedy mates there are plenty with more serious people. And I did think that his heart was very much in the right place and that he was a thoughtful person.

But…..I’m genuinely disappointed at this. Really properly disappointed.

I listened to this episode but found BB so boring.

He reminded me of my dad’s mates when I was growing up who would hold court, have inexplicably huge windows of time to explore their interests and hobbies for men with families, and think that their views were the most interesting.

His Westminster College education (that I hadn’t previously known he received) helped me to understand the sheer misplaced confidence of the man.

I agree with a PP that he's just a low-key friendly chat podcaster, not in the business of challenging his guests. Course you can broadly call him an interviewer but what he does isn't journalism or even Wogan-like chat show interviews. It's literally a 'ramble' and he'll present his vague middle class liberal views if relevant but mainly he's there to waffle and giggle and say ooh that's interesting to the more intelligent guests. As with the BB/JKR comment above, that's the most he'll say - that he'd be more careful not say anything remotely controversial. Sure you can see his choice of guests as making some statement of his alignment but really I think he's more about wanting some 'modern/relevant' SM figures in the mix with his old muso and comedy mates. He'd not be thinking he's offending anyone, and probably feels fine with you thinking JKR is brave too if it keeps the chat bubbling along in a friendly way.

All of which to say, I listened to both and they're not his best but had things of interest in, as people I don't always agree with can also be interesting.

I love this. I love her.

I thought he was good? Or is this the usual mn trans obsession, please no 🙄

OK I made it 23 minutes into the BB podcast and gave up. They talk about JK Rowling, they both agree she shouldn't have the abuse that she has got and that she is an 'impossible situation'. But then AB says 'by the same token you do look at some of the things she says and you think 'what are you doing?'

No. No, I don't look at what she says and think 'what are you doing'. I think 'what a brave woman'.

@MargotBamborough I've just reread my post - it was AB who didn't seem that authentic in raising/talking about the trans questions. And IA was very stern and challenged him.

IA was very authentic in her position and very clear that her focus was on women and trying to throw other things in dilutes her position. I imagine she has said the same to her family given the context you explained.

She was respectful and wonderfully clever but absolutely not taking any shit from AB (even if that wasn't his intention)

I think if interviewers ruled out assholes, they would cut the potential pool of interviewiees by a lot. BB might be a twat but lots of people like his music and will probably want to listen.

I just downloaded the Billy Bragg one so I'll take one for the team and report back.

I agree AB can interview whoever he likes. I'm not a fan though of him not taking any kind of standpoint on what they are saying. I've got to assume he endorses it, after all he knows their viewpoints and has chosen the guests to come on and air them.

Anyway, I'm glad I don't have to go and add another author I like to my "I'm not angry, just disappointed" list.

Oh, that's interesting.

I found this interview where she talks a lot about feminism.

She talks about how her daughter wanted her to stop going on about feminism and that women's rights had all been achieved, and then she hit the workplace and after that she knew better. Then immediately after that she talks about the "new generation" and the fact that her grandchildren all identify as non binary and she asks all their friends what pronouns they use.

It sounds to me like she's being very polite and respectful of what she privately thinks is a load of nonsense, and expects that her granddaughters will eventually realise they can't identify out of sex based oppression, they will have to face it head on.

There are obviously lots of valid reasons for not wanting to get dragged into the trans debate, of which not wanting to upset your grandchildren is one, but she sounds quite gender critical to me.

@MargotBamborough she said something along the lines of the rhetoric of trans women are women is a dog whistle and she is for women's rights and that is what she cares about and anything else draws the focus off the situation. She was quite stern with AB about not being drawn into the argument. I remember because I liked the way she phrased it and the way she told off AB!

I am almost fearful to ask, but what did Isabel Allende have to say about trans issues?

While I don’t like BB and won’t listen, I think AB should interview whoever he likes. Otherwise it’s a bit hard to complain from this side about ‘no platforming.’

Hopefully it will just shine more light on what an idiot BB is.

You know what, it really is slanderous to say JK is aligned with the far right. I’m surprised AB wasn’t jumping on the microphone. He should have been.

i only listen to the ones where I like (or have heard of) the person he’s interviewing which is possibly well definitely very narrow minded of me but it’s an entertainment podcast for me to listen to at the gym and I don’t want to be cross or irritated! The billy Bragg one is there staring at me when I open the podcast app. I’ll delete it I think.

It's astonishing that people are allowed to say things like "JK Rowling is aligned with the far right" without being robustly challenged.

It's just absurd, slanderous nonsense.

I'm a regular listener to AB's podcast. I couldn't bring myself to listen to the Billy Bragg one. I listened to the one with Contrapoints. I've never heard of her, was interested. She speaks about her position on JK Rowling and says that JK is massively privileged and aligned with the far right. At no point does she or AB address the issues that JK and other GC feminists are raising - women's safety and fairness in various spheres. I don't know if Contrapoint addresses it in her own YouTube videos. She did say she likes to take a moderate path, to try not to alienate people, but that doesn't mean she actually holds moderate or reasonable views.

I feel like AB has sided with the trans lobby by doing these podcasts back to back. Unless he brings on a GC person in the next set of interviews.

I feel like AB is far too polite and "well brought up" to be considered a robust interviewer, and so he always seems to be agreeable with his subjects rather than challenging them. Which I like, it is a chat it is always friendly and low key. He is no Jeremy Paxman

I didn't know any more than BB than few songs and his left leaning ways.