… to ask why Giles Coren hasn’t been cancelled yet?

[mowly77]

The vile Dawn Foster tweets ffs. But he seems Teflon coated. He will never be cancelled. Three fucking columns a week … a pissing radio show, albeit on Times Radio, which surely no one listens to. I would love to be proved wrong. Absolutely love to be.

My final word on the matter (thanks insomnia) is that yes, my title was ill-thought out. I agree cancel culture is somewhat ridiculous. ‘Consequence culture’, as suggested by many PPs upthread, is much more fitting. A better title would have been:

AIBU to ask why Giles Coren still has an extremely high paying, high profile job on a national newspaper given what an abhorrent prick he clearly is?

The answer, going by some of the replies in this thread, is ‘hell, no’.

I am happythat some PP who simply thought he was an entertaining man off the telly have had their eyes opened to this wretched car crash of a human being. I feel sorry for his wife and kids frankly. Maybe Esther Walker didn’t quite know the full extent of his cuntery when she married him. She deleted her own Twitter account a while back thanks to the abuse she was getting online. And I’m sorry but her lifestyle blog is 🤮. Out of touch much?

But yeah he’ll go on. They all do.?What an utter cunt. What a world.

The people claiming that criticism of him is anti-semitic need to stop. Anti-semitism is a real and dangerous thing. Criticising someone who is clearly a cunt, is not the same.

So, the way to ensure that no-one looks at your twitter posts and cancels you out is to spread the offensive twitter posts around the internet a bit more just to make sure that everyone sees them? Oh the irony.

The reality is that when you retweet what you deem to be offensive, you are part of the problem, because you are spreading the offence a bit further.

It’s like the racist crap people were putting out there last week after the football. people want others to be offended as well, so they retweet racist posts, except not everyone who sees them is going to be offended, some people are going to agree with them, and so the range of the racist posts spreads.

Here’s the thing. If you don’t like what someone has to say then don’t read it.

If you don’t want to see their tweets then don’t follow them.

You can’t claim the high ground when you are one of their followers on twitter and essentially part of the reason why they still keep tweeting. It’s the same with e.g. piers Morgan, Katie Hopkins courts controversy wherever she goes, and yet people still keep watching her. If people just didn’t, then these people would fade into obscurity. You’re just as much a part of the reason why these people feel free to put out vile and offensive shit on social media because you are part of their audience.

Piers Morgan is alleged to be a hate figure. Yet he has over 7 million followers on twitter. No-one is going to look at that figure and think “people hate me, better tone it down.” They think “ooh look how many followers I have. people obviously want to read what I have to say.” And so they tweet more.

you can’t complain about what someone has to say on twitter when you’re encouraging it.

It’s a bit like people who say “I hate the daily mail,” then go on to read it and be outraged by it.

Here’s the thing. If you don’t like what someone has to say then don’t read it.

Easier said then done. I’m ashamed to say I followed Giles on Twitter and didn’t see all of his tweets. I saw the one about dawn foster so blocked him as a result.

I didn’t expect such nastiness to be honest.

Also I think “if you don’t like it, don’t read it” is a bit simplistic to be honest.

Ignoring and doing nothing about hateful posts achieves nothing.

Highlighting them and getting them deleted achieves more.

Alerting other people to the abhorrent nonsense that these tiny minded idiots post helps others to see what kind of person they are, and reduces their "status".

"Bad things happen when good people do nothing" - so doing nothing isn't the answer.

Is doing nothing and just not reading stuff the best response to racism and sexism as well? Not sure…

I cancelled my membership of the Times years ago and never go on Twitter though so have been blissfully unaware of GC latest nastiness

As pp said upthread, it's exactly like Boris - privileged white male allowed to get away with saying whatever he likes. Dog whistle to the right wing/fascist/sexist/gammons who love him.

I've thought he's repulsive for years. I cancelled my Times subscription two years ago partially because of him.

Amoral, untalented, arrogant.

In the bin.

"Hes the essence of small dick energy."

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

PERFECT

@Classica that’s enough for me. How vile! How is he still employed or married ?

Did anyone watch him on that Amazing Hotels series? He just acted like an absolute prat on every episode and he was rude and condescending to staff who were trying to show him the 'behind the scenes' of the hotels and generally just titted about. It seemed like he was trying to subtly take the piss out of the whole thing, but not subtly enough.

He made a particularly rude comment to someone on one of the episodes and I remarked to DH, 'Don't the editors watch this before it goes out because he is just acting like a complete arse'.

I didn't know who he was before but watching him on that was enough to out me right off him. Horrid man.

@SeaWitchly

GC's rant to the sub editors -

www.theguardian.com/media/2008/jul/23/mediamonkey

And their reply -

www.theguardian.com/media/2008/jul/29/sundaytimes.pressandpublishing

He is a seriously strange man who would definitely benefit from some therapy, also a clip around the ears and being stood in the naughty corner for an hour or two.

He also strikes me as someone who would benefit from getting over himself and getting a real job in the real world. And consider himself bloody lucky if indefinite articles and unstressed syllables are the things that ruin his weekend and keep him up at night

Surely the rant by GC was a deliberate joke? It was littered with typos (misspellings, proper nouns without initial capital letters etc) thus making the point that sub eds are needed. But his tweet about Dawn Foster was absolutely vile and says more about him than her.

"He’s the grandson of working class east end Jews?"

Good Lord - trawling back to grandparents just shows the desperation here.

He's privately educated and with a very successful well respected parent - he had a hugely privileged upbringing (Westminster, Oxford ) and has all the connections and benefits that go with that.

It's nothing to do with religion or his grandparents.

He was entertaining years ago getting drunk on TV with Sue Perkins.

Some of the stuff he’s written is OK, but nothing special. Not one article I’ve ever read by him sticks in my mind. If not for his surname would he really have a Times column? He’s quite local newspaper.

His tweets on the other hand are repugnant, however much he likes to tell us it’s all provocative showmanship. I unfollowed him years ago but they do tend to pop up all over the place. I guess if he wants this kind of worthless attention and career, then it says a lot about who he is. I’d rather lead a meaningful life.

And I adored his dad, who had real talent.

@NonShallot

Did anyone watch him on that Amazing Hotels series? He just acted like an absolute prat on every episode and he was rude and condescending to staff who were trying to show him the 'behind the scenes' of the hotels and generally just titted about. It seemed like he was trying to subtly take the piss out of the whole thing, but not subtly enough.

He made a particularly rude comment to someone on one of the episodes and I remarked to DH, 'Don't the editors watch this before it goes out because he is just acting like a complete arse'.

I didn't know who he was before but watching him on that was enough to out me right off him. Horrid man.

Vile indeed. I thought exactly the same about Jack Whitehall and his dad's travel shows.

Taking the piss out of locals and eating English food, demanding lamb chops in Asia etc. Utterly foul.

He the brother of Victoria Coren. Imagine a night out with those two!

Victoria is married to David Mitchell and Alexander Armstrong is married to Giles’s wife’s sister. A very well connect set.

@Kentuki

Hardly established upper middle class. His dad made enough wedge to send him to a half decent (non boarding) private school, just like many second gen immigrants do.

To be accurate, his parents earned enough together to send the children to private schools - his mother was a doctor. The fact that she worked also takes the family out of the established upper middle class trope.

He is a seriously strange man who would definitely benefit from some therapy, also a clip around the ears and being stood in the naughty corner for an hour or two

He said on his podcast that his father used to beat him and that he has had years of psychoanalysis.

Coren, Giles, is a very clever writer who has decided that the way to keep his career going, IMO, is through a bit of shock.

I think the letter to the subs is absolutely genius, he obviously cares about his writing and like pp above i do think he rather has a point. (if he wanted his writing to be left as-is, he needs to self-publish though). He was utterly fantastic (and quite the cutie) years ago on the book quiz, and obviously (unless they're fed answers) well read.

He reacted badly to that tweet by Foster because it's true. And it stings, maybe? But he has a job because he can write and people like to read it.

as an aside: Victoria Coren is wildly successful as a professional poker player, Maybe things like newspaper columns and Only Connect are what pay for her clothes or something? more of a hobby? security because poker is a dangerous game (in terms of you can lose a lot)? Alan Coren? A writing God.

I read his columns regularly. Sometimes they are entertaining, sometimes deeply unfunny, even self obsessed and dull. I often disagree with him but I haven't found them offensive yet. On the occasions I find them boring I scroll past and move on.

You do realise OP that just by naming him in this thread you have cemented his position as a writer and broadcaster who gains attention and sales by being controversial. It would be more effective to complain about the messages he puts out without naming him.

I also disagree with cancel culture. If we silence everyone we disagree with, we will end up living in an echo chamber of our own opinions oblivious to the fact that other people think differently. It means we cannot know 'the enemy' because we have driven them underground. It also means we don't have an opportunity to learn and grow by hearing conflicting views. My adult D.C. and I disagree on many social and political issues. Of course we do, we are different generations and grew up in different world, but we listen to each other. They haven't cancelled me. We often argue. We sometimes have to agree to differ but on occasion we learn from one another and adjust our own stance accordingly.

Nepotism.
See
Scarlett Curtis
Bella Mackie
Fringe woman
The list goes on and on.
But I need to get in the shower.

He's posh white & a man

Well, there are a lot of posh, men (50ish %?) and white (the majority?) people in the UK. Do you think they should all be 'deplatformed' and the 'platform' should be reserved for just a few? Why?

I have no strong opinion of him, I agree he is witty and a provocateur

@VashtaNerada

The people claiming that criticism of him is anti-semitic need to stop. Anti-semitism is a real and dangerous thing. Criticising someone who is clearly a cunt, is not the same.

The trouble is that some people criticising him might not share your opinion that he is a cunt. They might well be entirely driven by anti-Semitism.

I'm sure most people on this thread of them are completely justified and fair minded in what they say but you cannot second guess other people's motivations. As you quite rightly say, anti-semitism is real and out there and an anti-Semite might well join in this debate to further their own cause.

@youshallnotpass9

Am I the only one who wonders how christmas goes in the Coren household?

samed with Richard Ayoade

I've been wondering this ever since I made the connection that Giles was Victoria's brother. I was listening to her on James Acaster and Ed Gambits podcast the other day, she mentions her brother in a way that implies she doesn't think he is a massive tool, but I guess she is biased :p

Coren is loathsome.