Laurie Penny is actually a feminist!

What is the deal with Kath Viner and why has she been promoting this gender nonsense so relentlessly?

As for Penny, special place in hell for privileged, brain-dead dipshit types.

During lockdown Laurie Penny fell in love & married a guy then wrote this rather sweet article in Wired on "My Highly Unexpected Heterosexual Pandemic Zoom Wedding".

https://archive.ph/GfKMa

https://www.spiked-online.com/2022/03/09/dont-dish-it-out-if-you-cant-take-it/
"They" got a well deserved roasting from our Julie.

Sounds like that may not have been the first time they met. Might have been a completely proportionate response to what she's actually like.

He didn't have to be kind, but he could at least have been civil. He massively overreacted, imho.

I'll say this though, bearing in mind that the media is very much a "who you know" business...

Neil Gaiman got his big break when, as a young journalist, he was sent to interview Terry Pratchett and befriended the great man, who was good enough to recommend this talented young chap to others. I don't think they were quite as close as Gaiman has implied over the years, but Terry giving Neil his entry into publishing is quite true.

Laurie Penny, once she'd graduated from Oxford, pretty ruthlessly used whatever contacts she'd managed to acquire to get a foot in the media door. I don't blame her for that - you use what advantages you've got. One person who made some important introductions for her was Neil Gaiman. A lot of Neil's interactions were self-serving, and look like he was grooming people to be character witnesses, but to be fair to the old creep, he's been willing to help others in their careers.

Maybe I just don't move in the right circles, but I have literally never heard anyone say "Laurie Penny really helped me with my career", or even heard of her doing a good turn for someone who wasn't in a position to do something for her. I've heard of quite a few people who used to be friendly with her, who ended up being cut dead as soon as they were no longer useful to her career.

I'm quite cynical about people who talk loudly about solidarity and empathy, because they're usually the people who lack those qualities.

What, he could've been "kind" you mean.

Young women shouldn't dish it to people if they don't want to get it back. And they certainly shouldn't be let off because they ARE young women, even by ......older men

Ah yes, where would we be with Laurie to tell us that the person in the wrong is the person that notices a penis in the women's changing room, not the person who has it out on display.

Get your cock out in front of a little girl and she's the criminal.

*Tudors 🤦‍♀️

Brilliant! I’ve had a soft spot for David Starkey ever since I was a 6th former nearly 50 years ago when I heard him speak about the Tudor in a local 6th form college. This is pure gold - she is such an entitled CF.

Enjoy when she came to MN

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/3244928-Laurie-Pennys-Mirror-World

Yes, I didnt enjoy that exchange at all. Neither came away looking good.

I remember that confrontation between Starkey and Penny, which took place back in 2012.

It's true that she was very rude and interrupted him with a personal attack when he was trying to make a point.

On the other hand, he really lost the moral high ground, in my view, by responding so aggressively. I think it looks pretty crap when an older man, with a substantial public reputation and therefore a lot of social capital, lays into a young woman like that. He could simply have disagreed with her politely and asked her to let him continue making his point.

She really is insufferable

David Starkey is an old man who has been in public life for a very long time and has said plenty of things that a reasonable person might object to.

On the other hand, he's very obliging when it comes to speaking to anyone who's willing to invite him, and he won't bankrupt your group for having him as a speaker. He might appreciate dinner and some wine, but he's there to get his ideas across and entertain the audience.

He's also been generous about praising historians like David Olusoga who don't share his beliefs, and who would be very unlikely to return the compliment.

Laurie Penny, on the other hand, has from a young age had an unshakeable belief in her own celebrity, and that she deserves to be well paid for sharing her wisdom, and that morality is the exclusive property of her political tribe (or, more precisely, her small circle of friends).

If I had to choose one of them to invite to dinner, it would be Starkey every time. He'd say something to outrage me, but that comes priced in with Starkey, and he wouldn't wag his finger and scold me for not believing 100% of the things he does.

For those who fancy revisiting or haven't yet had the pleasure: https://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DBPQB9CM_ZkQ&ved=2ahUKEwjmlOXb8-yTAxU1UEEAHXyyADAQFnoECB4QAQ&usg=AOvVaw2CHV6MJ8Mh9QCLg8c_lZ2N

And as so often, damn this timeline for making me think 'ah, you're a despicable arse but you've mustered a coherent and sensible argument, unlike the other despicable arse whose politics I'm in theory more aligned with'.

Yes @GwenniMcKinney .

Didn't she a a run in with David Starkey some time back and he cut her right down to size?

Brilliant! 👏😂

It's at least a decade since I've spoken to Laurie, but in a way it's heartening to see that she's still as clueless, bumptious and self-important as ever.

When I did know her, I often felt like Terry Wogan trying to gently explain to David Icke that the audience was laughing at him.