The rest is politics - “The Taliban took over the country and it's much safer”

Honestly the women on The Rest Is... podcasts really do show the men up.
Marina Hyde in particular is brilliant. I'd like her to step in on a few TRIP actually, it's not like she's not knowledgeable about that world although appreciate she's writing from the outside.

Never tolerated TRIP that much - I fancy like Alastair Campbell despite disagreeing with him on some things, but he is massively evasive on anything complex - but I thought more of Rory until going to see him interviewed live at a local venue. He's really not as impressive as all that.

I don't really listen to TRIP America either - Scaramucci was equally wrong about the election and with less excuse IMO, though he's a much more interesting character.

I like the podcast generally but yes he has said this several times and I agree with you.

I used to like Rory, for me he was one of the more tolerable Tories. Now, I think he is an absolute tool.

Trip is such a soggy biscuit of a thing. So is the New Statesman. They come put with such schoolboy howlers. You find yourself thinking ' Wow. So what else doesn't he know?'
You might get a smidgen of sense from Novara - though not on trans issues. Some American sites are good with that same caveat.

Pair of dangerous wankers.

I hope they are wankers, anyway, I can’t imagine anyone with that level of understanding of women being much good at swordsmanship.

😶

<looks around>

Well...

Do you just think that women are to be subjected to endless up-is-down trolling by men who identify as the good guys now?

I don’t forgive Brecht for putting my DS off peas for life.

Campbell I had no hopes for, but I am surprised at Stewart.

Personally I hope Rory relocates to Afghanistan permanently if he likes it so much. Maybe he could do a swap with a woman and her children? I'd much prefer to listen to whatever she has to say about the country too.

That's hilarious

I used to listen to TRIP but the US election has really exposed their inadequacies. TRIP US and Americast had much better, more balanced and more reflective coverage.

Campbell and Stewart only understand people like them and are not willing to learn, hence their appalling biases regarding anything about women.

Is he on something?
No protection from violence for women;
forced child marriage;
no right to an education
highest rate of infant mortality and death in childbirth;
and that's the short version. Life is hell for these women. Disgusting.

Ah, let's be charitable. Perhaps they can see some women, it's just the ones in Afghanistan that are specially invisible to them, for some reason.

I've just had a look at the Apple podcast charts and am much comforted to see that TRIP US and The Rest Is History - both presented by articulate, knowledgeable duos who recognise women's rights - outrank Campbell and Stewart.

More people subscribe to them, too.

It simply reveals how women are not seen in our society. Traveling around Afghanistan is DEADLY for 51% of the population Rory. Just the invisible unimportant 51%. And there are no men wanting to be women there I’d wager.

They don't see women as full human beings.

@feellikeanalien hence the nickname “Florence of Belgravia”😂

To be honest I think that Rory imagines he's something out of a Kipling novel with his travels to Afghanistan. I read an interview with him once and the privilege and superiority just dripped out of him.

https://podcasts.apple.com/in/podcast/question-time-assads-people-syria-torture-and-justice/id1611374685?i=1000683050797

Here they are, the pair of planks.

Give me Katty Kay and the Mooch any day of the week.

The pair of them are absolutely bloody awful. Forever expounding about stuff they don't understand. Campbell was whingeing recently about being 'trolled' by JK Rowling on X 🙄 just because she challenged him robustly on his blinkered complacent crap attitude to women only spaces. Women are an irrelevance to both of them

They've always been fucking awful on women's rights. But they identify as the good guys so that's fine.

This.

I also thought their US election pontifications were awful and lacking insight.

It’s a very interesting and common talking point, he's not wrong that the far right probably don't really care about women in Iran or Afghanistan. The far right will use anything they can, especially obvious injustices to point out the problems with left-wing cultural relativism.

That the far right will make use of these wrongs doesn't make them any less wrong and also doesn't make anyone with concerns far right.

But Stewart and others using that argument does make it harder for women's rights to be recognised.