Baroness Nicholson 'cancelled' by Booker board

[BaronessSnippyPantsofCroneArmy]

They will not rest until every disobedient woman is purged from society.

www.thebookseller.com/news/booker-prize-nicholson-barr-1207926

Spineless cunts.

Going to send a message to the Baroness.

Trying to think of ways to use this to get the message out there.

I'm so angry about this. Double standard hypocrites and cowardly misogynists.

I don't think she has said she opposes gay marriage now.

They are on very shaky ground if they indulge in trial by twitter and don't allow for the possibility that people might have changed their minds.

No. All the pious dickheads saying it's a massive problem that she VOTED AS WAS HER ACTUAL JOB in 2013, and were so bothered about the issue that they didn't fucking notice till this week...

... Now that she's speaking up for women.

AaarrrgRrrrrrrr

Trying to be constructive but LIVID

God there are some pompous comments in those statements.

They are on very shaky ground if they indulge in trial by twitter and don't allow for the possibility that people might have changed their minds.

We are all on very shaky ground as this is the way society seems to operate now.

'And then they came for the writers.'

If this is the stance they take on this issue, isn't it going to make it very difficult for them to judge literature, which often offends somebody?

This is an interesting article on the Satanic Verses, a Booker Prize finalist in 1988.

www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/sep/29/satanic-verses-sowed-seeds-of-rift-grown-ever-wider

"The Rushdie affair was different. Muslim fury seemed driven not by questions of harassment, discrimination or poverty, but by a sense that their deepest beliefs had been offended. Today, such grievance is entrenched in the cultural landscape. Not so in 1988.

The publisher’s response also seems from a different age. The fatwa forced Rushdie into hiding for a decade. Bookshops were firebombed. Translators and publishers were murdered. Yet Penguin never wavered in its commitment to The Satanic Verses. Today, all it takes to make publishers think again is the slightest hint that they might have given offence."

Obviously Baraness Nicholson isn't comparable to Salman Rushdie, but attitudes to the Satanic Verses have changed over the years. Supporting diversity isn't always straightforward, because at face value it should mean supporting a wide variety of views. Would the Booker Prize make the same choices about books it made in the past? Should the Booker itself be judged on those choices?

Is there a list of the authors who signed the petition to remove her? I know that I certainly do not want to supporting them.

I’m not really one to post on the feminism board, but I’m becoming increasingly disturbed about all this.
There seems to be an assumption that anyone who expresses any concern about any aspect of the trans debate is now dyed in the wool transphobic. The point of debate Is to share differing opinion and learn, grow, develop new opinion. But people are no longer allowed to do this, to have or express a view that does not toe the accepted line. Regardless of my own opinions on the issue (which in fact fall very much in line with those expressed by JK Rowlings), the elimination of debate is tantamount to the elimination of free thought.

Does anyone else get the impression that they went after Baronness Nicholson because they hadn't managed to cancel JKR?

Hm. They'll go after any woman who stands up to them.

I see John Cleese is doing fine, yes? No cancelling for him?

I bet she gladly stood down, I know I would have.

Advisory board:

The Booker Prize Foundation Advisory Committee advises on any changes to the rules and on the selection of the judges, and represents all aspects of the book world.

Its members are:

Jamie Byng – Managing Director of Canongate Books 
Jonty Claypole – Head of Arts, BBC
James Daunt – Managing Director of Waterstones
Jonathan Douglas – Director of the National Literacy Trust
Adam Freudenheim – Publisher, Pushkin Press
Daniel Hahn – Writer & Translator
Peter Kemp – Chief Fiction Reviewer, The Sunday Times
Sharmaine Lovegrove – Publisher, Little Brown
Fiammetta Rocco – Culture Correspondent,The Economist and Administrator, The International Booker Prize
Michal Shavit – Publishing Director, Jonathan Cape
Eve Smith – Secretary, The Booker Prize Foundation
Boyd Tonkin – former Literary Editor, The Independent
Helen Williams – Legal Counsel of Booker Group plc

Chaired by Gaby Wood – Literary Director, The Booker Prize Foundation

Ah, sorry, wrong list, I think. This is the Trustees:

The trustees of The Booker Prize Foundation are:

Chaired by Mark Damazer
Nick Barley – Director of Edinburgh International Book Festival
Bidisha SK Mamata – writer, critic and broadcaster
Carol Lake – Managing Director, Philanthropy Executive at JPMorgan Chase
James Naughtie – broadcaster
Ben Okri - poet and author
Professor Louise Richardson – Vice Chancellor of the University of Oxford
The Rt Hon. Lord David Willetts – writer, ex-minister and advocate of fairness between the generations

Does anyone else get the impression that they went after Baronness Nicholson because they hadn't managed to cancel JKR?

They are going after Baroness Nicholson because she is currently exposing the bad and potentially dangerous advice given to schools and other organisations. (See recent apology from Asda). In many ways she is more of a threat than JKR.

She's a politician so of course she's going to have some controversial views. Has the Booker board only just noticed?
She opposed same-sex marriage in 2013. If this was about her views on same-sex marriage, she'd have been removed from her role 7 years ago.
(It's weird how gay rights were never considered beyond debate in the way that trans rights are. Indeed, Stonewall didn't even support same-sex marriage until late 2010; earlier that year, it had said it was neutral on the issue!)
So this isn't about her views on same-sex marriage. It's about the trans activists.

It's also about the times we live in - truly McCarthyite.

It’s disappointing to see Louise Richardson’s position here when previously she has appeared to be made of more robust stuff:

www.telegraph.co.uk/education/2017/09/05/oxford-student-union-offers-emotional-support-affected-vice/

Who sponsors the Booker Prize?

Course they are going after her! She won’t capitulate to them. She’s also female, white, privileged and has right wing political leanings. There is literally no possibility for her to throw the victim card at anyone so it’s a home run. It’s like shooting a sparrow with a sawn off shotgun. The easiest target you could ever imagine.

'Diversity' probably doesn't include 78yo women, for some reason.

"Literature is open, plural and questioning."

The irony...

David Willets would be hard pushed to argue against the Baroness’ voting record given his own stick-to-party line:

www.theyworkforyou.com/divisions/pw-1998-06-22-311-commons/mp/10637

The mob came for them and they fell. What they failed to realise is that had they held strong, the mob would have eventually just moved onto their next target. Mind blowing.

@MoltenLasagne

Does anyone else get the impression that they went after Baronness Nicholson because they hadn't managed to cancel JKR?

Oh yes. Just a bit.

@Onestepup

"Literature is open, plural and questioning."

The irony...

I have to say I thought exactly the same 🙄