This post nails it about left wing voters on Mumsnet over the last two days

[ProudAmberTurtle]

It's by an ex-academic on X, about posts on Reddit over the last 48 hours but is equally applicable to Mumsnet, where I can seeing posts stating things like:

"How stupid are Reform voters? Don't they realise they'll get fewer benefits?!"

The irony is of course that it's those posters who need to be educated, not the working class voters they mock because they think they're thick.

Here you go:

Reading through Reddit threads in which leftists/progressives express their bewilderment/confusion/fury at working class English voters for casting their lot in with Reform, one of the things I'm starting to understand is this:

They simply do not understand how a government could help working-class people in any other way besides giving them benefits, handouts, and other free things.

Their entire mental architecture is premised upon the premises that

1. Working class people are poor
2. The only way for them to not be poor is for the state to give them free stuff
3. So left-wing parties need to promise them lots of free stuff

Then, when these working-class voters instead vote for right-of-centre parties who instead promise an economy in which they can build a career, start their own business, make a financial success of themselves and start a family, they're confused.

Because, again, in their mental architecture, what the working class are supposed to want is free benefits from the state.

But what they actually want is a fair shake at making their own way in the world, making money, getting on in life.

And the left simply doesn't understand that what these voters want from the state is an economy in which they can actually do this.

x.com/i/status/2053073719086469193

Seriously? You don't think we shouldn't be able to mock things we find funny or just plain wrong? What sort of country is it that tries to police these things? Go watch a bit of Ricky Gervais won't you.

I think our values are just fine.

Trying to make the British feel guilty about their sense of humour would be one of those hard to identify cultural changes that Red Alan was asking about. I bet he really misses the British piss takers living now as he apparently does in an authoritarian country in the "Far East".

It's cultural to be a bit irreverent about serious matters but it's not meant in a malicious way.

What a load of shite.

Great post op.

Life of Brian. Funny enough I was reading about that on IMDB last week. It was banned in many UK towns at the time. It is mentioned on IMDB, but here is a list from another source. Not a great source, but this list is the same as IMDB says, but is more condensed.

"Life of Brian was banned in Ireland. It was banned in Norway. And it was suppressed throughout the United Kingdom. Screenings were forbidden in Birkenhead, Brynmawr, Cornwall, East Devon, Haverfordwest, Harrogate, Pontypridd, Swansea, and Whitehaven. The town of Watford allowed it, but only after changing the film’s rating to an X. "

Source :

How Monty Python's Life of Brian moved past culture wars and censorship to become a beloved hit - ~movies - Tildes

I am also old enough to remember Mary Whitehouse. She was not great for free speech was she ?

The past few days I have been reading about the Carry on Films. They had non stop battles with the censors.

So I am not seeing where this "we are losing freedom of speech" is coming from really.

So what if if was banned in Ireland and Norway?

It became a British classic partly because it was religious satire.

So I am not seeing where this "we are losing freedom of speech" is coming from really.
"We are losing" means 'comparing now with then'. The Life of Brian was released in 1979, 47 years ago. We had freedom of speech back then but people are worried about it being eroded now.
People are citing works which poke fun at religion - LofB, Father Ted, Book of Mormon - but haven't you noticed that they share the common subject of Christianity? Where are the equivalents for other religions? We should either hold all beliefs sacrosanct, or none. And, of course, 'all beliefs' should include atheism.
I think that a belief / religion should be able to withstand a little ribbing; if it can't argue its own corner then it's not much of a religion.

My point about Life of Brian is that it was banned in some UK towns. Now it is not. So freedom of speech, and film censorship has gotten better over the years. As in more relaxed.

But some posters are saying freedom of speech is becoming more restricted, when it is actually the opposite.

Just about any Catholic priest in a drama is a paedophile; Christian people are invariably not nice - judgemental or ignorant. (Vicar of Dibley excepted!) Are the followers of any other religions stereotyped like this?

I am not a religious person but I respect an individual’s right to worship what they want. BUT when a religion is cultural this fundamentally changes matters. In this country we do not cover women - let alone young girls (there was a girl in dd’s class wearing full covering, not just headscarf) from year 5. Women do not walk behind men. We like dogs. And in fact you would never know to look at someone if they are an atheist or go to church three times a day.

Anyone remember the teacher in Batley who had to go into hiding and received death threats for showing a Muhammed cartoon in 2021? Intolerance at it's finest and has no place in Britain.

But some posters are saying freedom of speech is becoming more restricted, when it is actually the opposite.
Could you give examples, in mainstream British media, of the equivalent of LofB for other religions please.

I don’t know why this has morphed into a rant about Muslims (well sadly I guess I do!) but this answers the OP perfectly.

Well said. spot on !

Should you not be asking the film makers of the world that ?

But you said that freedom of speech is becoming less restricted. Are you saying that you have no evidence to back up that assertion?

Have you checked the Ofcom rules for religious programming in the UK? Here is the Ofcom bit about the BBC.

"Its Annual Plan 2023-24, sets out details of religious programming in 2024:

• We will make about 200 hours of religious programming available for our audiences across our TV channels and BBC iPlayer, of which about 120 hours will be broadcast on TV with 80 hours available only on BBC iPlayer.
• We will broadcast about 70 hours of first-run religious programming across BBC iPlayer and our TV channels.

This will include:

• Long-running strands such as Songs of Praise, Sunday Morning Live and Sacred Islands; new programmes such as My Supersized Christian Family and Married, Sikh and Wanting a Baby. We will also cover a wide range of religions through the Faith and Hope for Spring season and programmes such as Pilgrimage.
• BBC radio will broadcast about 500 hours of religious programming across our stations and covering a wide range of faiths.
• Radio 2 will broadcast about 185 hours of new religious output, including Good Morning Sunday, Pause for Thought, a special evening of music and reflection to mark Good Friday with At the Foot of the Cross and a Christmas special by Mica Paris, Mica’s Gospel Christmas.
• Radio 3 will broadcast about 110 hours of religious output, with at least 60 hours being first-run. This will include: The annual EBU (European Broadcasting Union) Music Days inspired by Easter and Christmas, with two days of live music bringing performances from countries in Europe, Australia and Canada. Weekly Choral Evensong live from cathedrals, churches and chapels across the UK. Night service of Compline (Monday evenings) specially recorded for the six weeks of Lent and four weeks of Advent.
• Radio 4 will broadcast about 195 hours of programmes which represent a wide range of faiths and offer fresh insight into the spiritual condition of Britain today. This will include The Archbishop Interviews with Justin Welby, Beyond Belief relaunched with Aleem Maqbool, and Sunday Worship across the UK every week.
• The Asian Network will reflect and celebrate key South Asian religious festivals such as Diwali and Ramadan"

There is less religion than there was, But it still has to be on the BBC as per it's license.

Factsheet: the Media Bill and religious broadcasting - Religion Media Centre

I have moderate views like most people. I can absolutely see your point and can see the attitude of superiority and the belief that brexiteers and reform voters are too stupid to know what they are voting for pushes people further towards parties like reform. However I hope people are looking further into reform than the public face they are presenting. Look into the groups they align themselves with and their financial supporters and you might not be comfortable with how dark and extreme their hidden views are. I find it very ironic that they promote a Churchillian spirit while taking their core ideology from something very opposite.

As a Christian myself, I’m not offended by ‘Life of Brian’. Because it never actually mocks Jesus, as I recall he’s hardly in it at all. Except for the Sermon on the Mount scene where someone misunderstands ‘Blessed are the peacemakers’ for ‘Blessed are the cheese makers’.

The OP seems long gone.

it never actually mocks Jesus
These things seldom mock the religion itself. They mock the humans, with their systems (of hierarchy, control and hypocrisy) that they build in the name of the religion.

Yes, that's true. But the fate of someone who mocks Christianity is rather different to the fate of someone who mocks Islam. Just ask the cartoonists at Charlie Hebdo (not possible because they're dead).

True. I’d rather we kept those freedoms. Of course it’s not just humour that can end with torture / death.

Exactly. I count myself as a Christian but I found Life of Brian hilarious. I didn't find it offensive in any way. Some Christians might do. But I don't want to live in a society where people fear the consequences if they make jokes about religion. That is not healthy.

Blessed are the cheese makers. Such a great film.

Agreed. My DH is a big Monty Python fan as well as being a committed Christian.

I think my favourite line is ‘what have the Romans ever given us?’