To think allisons pearsons rant about Angela Rayner is full of nasty stereotypes about girls who are 16 and pregnant?

[Helhigh]

Well I’m not a fan of Angela Rayner and have never voted labour but Pearsons rant in the telegraph yesterday was half assumptions that Rayner must have been a bully who thumped classmates for doing their homework and distracted the class by talking about how many boys she shagged.
And of course reading books and having a child at 16 is mutually exclusive.
I don’t think Rayner has ever said she was like this Pearson has just made a load of assumptions because she was 16 and pregnant.

Anyway it’s behind a pay wall so I had to copy and paste the nasty part:

“I have noticed a tendency among politicians and commentators, particularly the posh ones, to praise Rayner’s flame-haired “authenticity”. That’s because they didn’t go to school with an Angela. Those of us who did know the harm that the Angelas do to kids from poorer homes who want to work hard and do well but whose lessons are permanently disrupted by those who don’t. The Angelas sit in the back row of the class putting on make-up, doing their nails and chatting loudly, throughout readings from the set book, about who they’ve sh---ed. They disdain the teachers who are rather scared of them.
Angelas have sex by the age of 13 (they mock those of us who are saving our virginity for later). Pregnant at 16, they leave school without any qualifications and work behind the till in Mac Fisheries before embarking on a romantic life which features at least two injunctions and a restraining order. By the age of 37, they are grandmothers (as Rayner was).
Believe me, all the kids who want to get on in life breathe an almighty sigh of relief that the Angelas have left school because now they can hand in their homework and try to pass their exams without being ridiculed or thumped by an Angela.
So you’ll have to forgive me if I don’t join in the applause for Angela Rayner’s vibrant “back story” and her ascent to the top of government through militant trade unionism. The working-class kids I admire often came from difficult council-house homes, as Rayner did, but they clung on to education like a life raft. Or they saw a job opportunity and grasped it with both hands. They did that old-fashioned thing called bettering themselves”

I stand corrected, there are so many of these occurrences, but it certainly woud have been called out by Rayner as she has done so on many occasions before, and rightly so

before she herself was caught out and is understandably quieter than she was on such matters

You’re really struggling now.

How so

that Rayner has always called out tax evasion she has been very very vocal about this and about the unfairness of how wealthy people can avoid tax

are you saying she hasn’t

or that she isn’t a hypocrite

I’m saying you accused her of something she hasn’t done, then when you were proved wrong turned yourself into a pretzel in your attempt to justify yourself.

Allison Pearson is basically a troll. I wouldn’t read or believe anything she writes.

I suppose the question isnt whether Pearson is "hateful", it's whether she's wrong, and in Rayner's case I suspect she probably isn't.

Did you bother reading the thread? Because the evidence is that AP is v v wrong as well as hateful.

i stand corrected

I also stated that this was a regular occurrence

is that wrong ? Are not many MP caught out

and isn’t this something Rayner has always called people out on in the past. Rightly so that she did

Her article is pure fiction.

She has no evidence for her claims she is basing it all on Rayner being 16 and pregnant, so she thinks all teen mums were school bullies and stupid? Imagine if someone said David lammy must have been a gang member because he’s black and grew up in London “we all knew a David”.

All we know about Rayners school days is her headmaster saying she was actually picked on by other kids

"Probably"
In other words, you haven't a clue whether it's true or not but are willing to believe a completely made up back story based on stereotypes about young mums just because it's someone you don't like!
It's bullying, pure and simple.
People doing this, writing made up shit to character assassinate and hope some of it sticks, create a pile on and sit back whilst others gormlessly lap it up make me sick.
No, I'm not Angela before some wit says I am 🙄

Ha, so true!

Like I said, I hope she sues. It’s libellous and quite astonishing that it got past The Telegraph’s lawyers.

This is my experience of who got pregnant in school. Two 14 year olds who were exceptionally quiet and well behaved and under pressure from adult "boyfriends ".

The "streetwise" girls knew about contraception.

What makes me utterly sick is presenting "saving our virginity" as a moral choice at 13. Yes I remember the pressure on boys and girls to lose it, and the enthusiasm of some friends not to wait until it was boringly legal. But as adults we need to judge 13 year olds having sex very different. These were children who needed to be better protected.

I don't like Angela Rayner at all - I think it's more middle class demographic who do.

I also knew girls like that in the 90s depicted in article.

However I know nothing about Angela Rayner school days at all - so can't say if she fitted the that sterotype or not and many wouldn't have even if they got pg at 16.

It's also hard to say she hasn't made something out of her life from a less than ideal beginning - but I still don't rate the woman as a politician.

So the article is making massive assumptions - and I do doubt same would have been written about a male politician who had a kid at 16.

You can "suspect" all you like, but given that the available evidence from Angela Rayner's former headmaster doesn't actually back you up, your suspicions say far more about your personal prejudices than they do about Rayner herself.

Apologies, didn't mean to rattle the appreciation society.

Rayner's headmaster has said she was nothing like AP's description. But don't let a little thing like the truth from someone who knows get in the way of your delightful prejudice.

It isn't an appreciation society. For me, this isn't about AR per se, it's about the horrible class prejudice that is directed against her. It's quite telling that you can't see that.

It’s nothing to do with appreciation. It’s about truth and libel.

😆 agree with the middle class loving her

its so often so bloody patronising

I have more appreciation and respect for Keir Starmer. Someone who was diligent at school, worked hard, studied well and had a proper skilled job in the real world.