David Starkey called Theresa May a "Hag" on LBC

[VortexofBloggery]

I was only half listening up to that point, but I think the gist was that Theresa May shouldn't be compared to some kind of "Gloriana" figure, "She is a hag" said Starkey. The studio erupted and made him retract, but he went on to say, he meant her achievements were lacking (so that made her a hag?). I then googled Starkey for past form and he's got a history of misogynist comments (WEP member being "pig-ignorant" etc). It was truly shocking to hear on the radio. I am not a Tory voter, nor agree with her politics but this is how the media / commentators still feel quite comfortable talking 'about' women, "Hag"! . Disgraceful.

It doesn't surprise me from him. He's said a lot of un-PC stuff in the past and takes pleasure in the way it annoys people.

You'd have thought a historian would know what the word 'hag' means and why it's really not ok to call women witches.

Was anyone actually comparing May to a 'Gloriana figure'? That seems like an odd comparison.

I remember seeing him on a programme where 'celebrities' became teachers for a week.
He was awful.

Link. www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1362594/Jamie-Oliver-roasts-Dr-David-Starkey-calling-boy-fat-Channel-4s-Dream-School.html

Christ, the other 'teachers' were Alistair Campbell and Rolf Harris!

He's a frightful woman hating snob and that is the least of the awful things he has said over the years. It's practically a compliment coming from him.
And the celebrity teacher thing was so awful, I don't remember all the details but wasn't he nearly thrown off it? Forced to apologise and tone it down? Anyway he caused mayhem and the producers were idiots to use him as one of the celebrities.

Here he is the episode. Odious.

You might also think a historian might learn from his own history.

www.thepoke.co.uk/2018/07/19/david-starkey-trolled-mary-beard-and-historians-totally-owned-him/

He's dreadful but sadly this is completely in keeping with past behaviour.

I have some time for Starkey.
He called out the dreadful Laurie Penny at an event a couple of years ago.

He called out the dreadful Laurie Penny at an event a couple of years ago.

I came on this thread to say the same.

Starkey is often thoughtless and says stupid things but his correcting the appalling Penny, who has done far more harm to women than he ever could, was a thing of joy.

The poor man claims to be too handsome to present on television.

www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-5960893/SEBASTIAN-SHAKESPEARE-David-Starkey-73-moans-career-ruined-old-ugly-women.html

'The only chance I have of being on TV again is if I were very ugly. I think only old, ugly women can get on TV. Like Mary Beard,' he tells me at a party in Westminster, adding that he'd only be hired now 'if I had 'tombstone' teeth and rather funny hair and made a lot of noise about that fact'.

What did he say to/about Laurie Penny?

Errol I didn't catch the discussion up to that point but I think he said something like "I don't think anyone sees Theresa May as some kind of Gloriana" so perhaps someone had compared May to Johnson, and how she (now) seems like a better PM than at the time? I took Gloriana to mean a reference to a 'Golden Age/QE1 style' and he took it further. Must be the dichotomy of dusty old dudes: virgin queen vs hag.

Penny accused Starkey of being racist, if I recall in relation to comments he had made regarding sexual abuse of girls in Rotherham and the entrenched cultural attitudes towards women in some parts of Pakistan. Got into the old 'you're a privileged white man and therefore racist if you comment negatively on another culture' routine.

Starkey pointed out Penny's background is vastly more privileged than his own. He was very pissed off and didn't pretend otherwise. It was during a debate at some university or other if I remember rightly.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not a great fan of Starkey, he often lets his mouth run away with him, he has said some rather unpleasant things down the years towards and about women, but Penny annoys me far more.

Gay men can also be as misogynist as straight men.

If you say unpleasant things about enough women, eventually you might hit on one that deserves it, I suppose.

He never has any time for female historians either. His 'pretty history girls' comments and saying female historian author's books are 'historic Mills & Boon'. Oh and his 'old ugly women like Mary Beard'. Too old or too pretty apparently.

Starkey pointed out Penny's background is vastly more privileged than his own

I think his exact words were 'jumped up petulant public schoolgirl'. Arnold is being vastly more diplomatic Earlier this week David Starkey had a ding dong with Helena Kennedy on the Today programme. He is also really rude to other men but I have never been able to decide if he gives them the same treatment as women.

I get upset when politicians or anyone else are criticised for their appearance. Theresa May has received some really vitriolic misogynistic abuse about the way she looks. I thought the £999 leather trousers were a mistake aesthetically and politically when many voters could not afford to spend £9.99 on trousers but I am 100% certain the handmade suits that many MPs wear cost a great deal more.

Starkey seems to be able to get away with anything because he is an eccentric member of the intelligentsia.

Imagine the uproar if someone described Starkey as a raddled old (insert derogatory word of choice here for homosexual).

I had a look at the transcript and photos of the Penny-Starkey row and they are both an utter embarrasment.
Her attempting to smear him as a tax exile when he's not, him getting up and jabbing his finger at her, her then trying to represent that as him physically attacking her... what the hell have we done to deserve them both as public figures? Him an out and out racist and misogynist, her self righteous, ignorant and hypocritical. Can't we just get rid of both of them and have more Mary Beard?

In general I don't like criticising derogatory phrases, swearing, etc, for being derogatory. That's kind of the point.

I think it's fine to say that a person isn't whatever they are being called, or that someone who is always using those terms is just a jerk, or to say no one should ever call anyone names. Those things make sense. But if it ever is ok to call someone a derogatory name in that way, it has to be done in terms that have an offensive quality to them.

I'd also say that it's not surprising that when people are addressed in that way that there can be a rather unpleasant personal quality to it, including references to sex or different terms for males and females you are naming in that way. Derogatory language by its nature is also pretty personal, it tends to imply the person is totally inadequate in some way, be it intellectually, morally, as a man or women, whatever. I find that in the terms I use, there are a set for men, one for women (though a smaller set as it is more socially unacceptable), and one that refers to other qualities that belong to both. I find that for men, "dick-wad" is my usual go-to for general use, for example, but I never use it for women.