RIP Deborah Orr

[myrtleWilson]

Am shocked, I knew she was ill but never expected this so soon.

Her tweets about her ex being an arse when she was at her lowest were heartbreaking and her joy at seeing reviews of her book was infectious.

RIP

I wonder if OJ had anything to do with her getting sacked from the Guardian.

She will be missed.

Why was she sacked?!

I just had a peep at Patrick Strudwick’s twitter. I don’t know who he is, has he done an about-turn then ?

She said the new tabloid Guardian didn't have space for her ideas.

twitter.com/DeborahJaneOrr/status/951776642145443840?s=19

About turn? It’s just easy to be black and white and demonize and dehumanize women as merely bigots and Terfs- forgetting they are your mum, gran, sister, friend.

Some particularly revolting TRAs are claiming she was 'abusive' to trans people. They aren't providing proof because there isn't any. Refusing to believe in the female penis is not abuse.

Yeah Patrick Strudwick is odious. But I hope it shows the TRAs that the support from ‘allies’ is very flimsy indeed and their attempts to make not believing that woman is a feeling the new neo-Nazism aren’t working.

That Strudwick is some prick. Dismissing older women and their lived experience and hard-won wisdom, including his own mother, and calling them that horrible dehumanising slur. His fawning over Deborah now she's dead rings very hollow.

I'm too sad to really know what to say, other than that she was a wonderful writer and will be missed.

Her relationship with her ex was such a classic case of a man marrying a brilliant woman and then feeling deeply threatened by her to the point where he just couldn't let it go and had to go out of his way to attempt to prove that he was superior. He isn't, though, he's just an arsehole. She was a better writer than him and there's nothing he can do to stop people acknowledging her talent now.

Oh no!

I'd no idea she was ill. When I saw her name at the top of anything, I always knew I was in for a good read.

So sorry to see this.

It's fascinating that Will Self follows no-one at all on his Twitter a/c

Um. Well. Narcissism, thy name is Self?

My wonderful, beautiful, talented cousin! RIP Deb!

So so sorry Therese

So sorry Therese , she was an incredible woman.
[choc] for Deborah.

Bugger. I so hoped she had longer. She was a wonderful writer.

Therese sorry for your loss.

Ah Therese. I'm so very sorry.

Goodnight, Deborah. Thank You.

May your children grow to be as strong and principled as their mother.

Our close family friend was one of her best friends. They had a serious fall out about a year ago and it's very sad because, you know, with the passage of time, people fall back in don't they?

Can confirm her ex is a terrible person, have heard lots of stories of his behaviour at dinner parties etc. She was a great woman and I only wish she had got the chance to start that new life in Brighton after all. Will be sorely missed.

Deborah's friend Suzanne Moore has written a lovely piece about her in the Guardian today:

"In all her complicated glory she was wild. Untamed. Never not true to herself. “Who among us can say that?” I asked her in the ever-changing light of the big Brighton sky, as the sun glinted on the sea and I saw the small boat out on the horizon."

www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/oct/22/deborah-orr-true-editor-writer-friend-broke-conventions

I could never bear Will Self. My misogyny alarm always shrieked loudly whenever I came across him.

Her Twitter account has been deleted. I understand it probably has to do with her family and privacy but it's sad - there was such a wealth of material there.

Let's hope her ex fades into the obscurity he deserves.