Baroness Nicholson in Sunday Times

[BovaryX]

I haven't seen this article posted, apologise if it has been. Baroness Nicholson describes her hurt and bewilderment at being accused, denounced, judged and cancelled. If the reports of the source of these accusations are true, have their previous tweets and comments been subjected to the same critical examination? If not, why not?

‘Are activists targeting me?’ Tory peer Baroness Nicholson’s despair over Booker prize trans
Baroness Nicholson said yesterday that she was sad and surprised to be dropped as an honorary vice-president of the Booker Prize Foundation, the literary accolade founded by her husband, after being accused of offending a transgender model, Munroe Bergdorf. The Tory peer, who is deaf, had held the role since 2009. Her late husband, the businessman Sir Michael Caine, established the prize.Asked how she felt, she said: “Sad. Very sad. Somewhat surprised to be labelled by the Booker board members as homophobic, transphobic and racist'^

Referring to a black person as a ‘creature’ is unforgivable

I've heard the phrase 'beautiful creature' many times. Would that be ok?

the story is inaccurate. They didn’t drop her, actually-they got rid of all honorary positions

You are being disingenuous - you know precisely why they 'got rid of all honorary positions' - it was so they could drop her.

I use creature regularly - I called my son an odd little creature yesterday.

I think, as so often the way these days, that was the easiest route by which offence could be taken.

Oh come on. Referring to a black person as a ‘creature’ is unforgivable and claiming it’s a literary reference doesn’t mitigate it. And the story is inaccurate. They didn’t drop her, actually-they got rid of all honorary positions, which included hers.

A black person???? Oh? So, you're not nailing your flag to the mast on sex or gender for BM then. Sensible choice!

Creature... but you don't mind weird... or know the literary reference to which "weird creature" refers anymore than MB does - it wasn't an insult! You wouldn't dismiss it if you understood it! MB wouldn't have created a fuss had MB had any idea what was meant by it - it would have been an ego stroke!

And the story doeisn't lie. It just doesn't toe the TRA line, it demurs from the land of unicorn dust and linguistic marmalisation!

And yes, they did drop all honorary positions - because they were shit scred to offend eithe the Baroness individually or the TRAs who had piled on once MB had had MBs little moan!

The two faced, blind to nuance, hypocritical stance taken by so many baffles me. Dumbing down so that so many can feel triumphant in their ignorance will have long tem consequences I hope to be too old to see.

I'm now off gongoozling... save my blood pressure!

As a Christian, I'm sure the Baroness regards us all as creatures of God, which is a very different interpretation of the word to that of those who want to take offence.

Creature is a word that was used a lot back in the 40s and 50s. It could be prefaced by any number of words such as odd, terrifying, divine, beautiful, enchanting etc. Very Agatha Christie. Very much of my mum's generation.

My BIL calls people ‘ye wee creature ye’ also a midden. He’s in his 60s. No one has died of shock/affrontary a result.

Yes, I recognised that the word creature was fairly normal in Christianity, as in "all things bright and beautiful, all creatures great and small." Clearly a racist, homophobic and transphobic hymn.

Creatures and creation. We need to delete these from the language.

What about critters? Is that OK? I will ask a young person, one that regularly uses the word hos for women, I am sure they know best.

Critter is used all the time in Ireland. Often when sympathising with someone.

My younger colleagues use the term c*. Yes. Much better than creature.

Does anyone have the Baronesses email address? I know she posted in several times on her Twitter a few weeks back, inviting people who wanted to PM her to use that instead. I'd be grateful if you could share it, possibly through a PM.

Creature is a word that was used a lot back in the 40s and 50s. It could be prefaced by any number of words such as odd, terrifying, divine, beautiful, enchanting etc. Very Agatha Christie. Very much of my mum's generation.

Exactly. It doesn't necessarily carry any pejorative weight at all. It's not as if she described Bergdorf as a cockroach or something.

Remind me how Bergdorf described a woman on Twitter? "Hairy barren lesbian", wasn't it? I guess that's OK, though.

Yes. But it’s ok to call women anything you like.

Sabbatical, there's no reference to transphobia on her Wikipedia page now, though I suppose it could have been edited back and forth all day!