Ian Hislop is disappointing

[RoyalCorgi]

Glinner's latest substack mentions that the new issue of Private Eye makes a dig at him for being "unhinged" on Twitter. Glinner then reveals that four years ago he emailed Ian Hislop asking him to cover the subject of SH, and politely explaining the issues. This is the reply Hislop sent:

Dear Graham,
Hello. Thanks for the messages and for alerting me to the activities of Hayden and Bergdorf. Despite my well known belief that Twitter drives everyone bonkers and my suspicion that the Trans/TERF debate is not quite as important as those involved in it believe, I do have people looking at the issues, the areas of impact in the real world, and I will pass on your information to them. “The oxygen of publicity” is always a possible side-effect of the “letting in of sunlight” but as I say I am grateful to you for the guidance. Hope that you are ok somewhere in the social media swamp.
Best,

I've always liked Private Eye and hoped that Hislop was privately gc, even if the subject didn't feature much in the mag. (Deputy editor Francis Wheen was very gc but has now retired.)

So that's a shame.

Here's Glinner's full post:

https://grahamlinehan.substack.com/p/ian-hislop-knew

I too am very disappointed by Private Eye & Hislop's inaction & trite dismissal. It smacks of public schoolboy dismissal of women full stop as though women are concerned in some sort of trivial, pearl clutching hysteria which they, the sensible lads, see through as inconsequential nonsense. This hardly has the thrust of sound, keen journalism alert to irretrievable change that is fundamentally threatening to basic rights. In short, what many look to PE to examine & interrogate.

I can't tell you the number of men who just don't "get it".

Not that they're TRA adjacent or full on sympathetic. Indeed no men I know think this is normal in any way.

But many are just not bothered. It doesn't affect them...even women IDing as men doesn't register because only vanishingly few transmen are rivals or impediments to men in any social sphere.

So many men don't go for the philosophy, but since it's below them as a stress or everyday issue, they just let it go. No hardened opinion. No emotion. Nothing.

Whether Ian Hislop is one of those, who knows. I suspect it's a mix of below his attention and awareness that speaking out costs him socially and financially.

So much easier to attack the Tories, SNP, Brexit, vaxx deniers, and all the idiots featured in the Eye and HIGNFY. This is what gets you social status, the attention of men and women, and his stock relevant.

Take Glinner's side? What's in it for Hislop? Nothing except pain and reduced profits and social status.

Part of my reconciling the advance of this philosophy is realising that there are so many reasons why so many who are not likely TRAs will not speak out.

For some, it's pure fear and anxiety... JKR has the reputation, fortune and "who gives a fuck?!" attitude, but Glinner has been eviscerated...who amongst us if in the public eye could really tolerate canceling?

For others, it's a mix of not giving a shit, it doesn't directly impinge them, again why would you risk the shunning for an opinion that only guides the Sword of Damacles over your neck...and not giving a shit is the default for most humans.

Private Eye have run lots of GC cartoons and snippets though haven't they?

I also find this disappointing.

His response suggests being highly dismissive of the impact trans ideology has on women and children.

Which suggests he's either fairly dismissive of what I think will turn out to be a massive medical scandal against children and a major abuse of women's rights or it's a topic he CBA to look into.

I suspect the latter given his response of "other people" looking into it.

Basically it's just not anything remotely important enough to trouble his brain with.

Which frankly is suggestive of underlying misogyny (allegedly) as PE often cite.

I think a lot of men think it's a non- issue. On LBC a caller said trans issues only affects a minority, that politicians should concentrate on other issues. No caller, trans issues affects 51% of the population, at least.

It was under Hislop's editorship that Private Eye published a special edition, dedicated to promoting Andrew Wakefield's fraud.

Is this his response from 4 years ago? If so I suspect that his response would be a bit different now

That makes it worse, though, doesn't it? Private Eye prides itself on speaking truth to power, deflating cant, and uncovering scandals. Yet Hislop has hidden behind braver women and men, until it was safe to be more GC.

It's very disappointing and has me considering my subscription. The point of Private Eye is to dig deep, to go after things that MSM won't touch, and expose corruption. What we've seen with gender ideology is widespread corruption: our institutions have become vehicles for warping data and language, and for punishing people who tell the truth. This was squarely their territory, there were so many angles they could've come at it from. A few GC cartoons don't cut it. It's depressing to think here was another outlet ignoring a great story and helping to let all this happen by staying silent.

Agree wholeheartedly.

This was absolutely their turf terf.

I actually think his email is fine and very well thought through.

He's showing support and awareness of the issues whilst not nailing his colours to the mast.

I think that was sensible given that Glinner could then have shared the email publicly - which he now has done.

Totally agree. They think it doesn't affect them. They don't care about women in general, or about the women in their life to stop and listen.

The men that do listen are incredulous that we are where we are.

Just reads like dfod to me.

Yet a big part of the problem is people in positions of influence not nailing their colours to the mast.

Remember PE thrives on tackling contentious issues and calling out bullshit and the idea you can change sex is arguably the biggest lie of our ages.

As for Glinner making this public well he kept it hidden for a long bloody time hasn't he.

Just maybe he's getting fed up by people who could have helped turning a Private Blind Eye when it suited whilst he was being publicly hung, drawn and quartered.

PE sees corruption and malfeasance everywhere, so to them this is just another example. It’s very much an “old boys” mag that focuses on the minutiae of national and local politics and the media. ( It’s barely changed since I started reading it in the mid sixties, except that it’s morphed into a pillar of the Establishment, as have many other things that were once part of the “counter culture”.) As others suggest, women’s issues aren’t seen as particularly important. I suspect that gender ideology is dismissed as a rather grotesque absurdity, but from time to time pointed GC observations are made, which is encouraging.

How long ago was it that Jo Brand was hosting HIGNFY and had to remind Ian Hislop of the pervasiveness of low level but daily misogyny that is grinding and perpetual for women. He didn't get it then and I don't think he gets it now. Unfortunately, that was the point at which I realised whilst I have some values in common with him, he just doesn't get these issues at all. It was disappointing.

I think Glinner makes some comedians and journalists feel uncomfortable. They see how his life has changed from someone who was very much comedy and sitcom royalty and it makes them realise that they would not sacrifice so many aspects of their lives in the way Glinner has.

I'd be surprised if Ian Hislop was anything but GC but I think Private Eye prizes itself on not being identified with any 'side' on anything - e.g Rotten Boroughs will criticise Labour councils with as much disapproval as Conservative, Lib Dem or SNP controlled councils.

I haven't read Glinner's Sub Stack link yet. I don't like the word 'unhinged' being used about anyone. That seems needlessly cruel to Glinner whose life has been affected in so many ways.

The Mail is better at this than Private Eye

Wait… what… did Frankie Boyle really make a joke about being “balls-deep in a dead t#%€y”? OMG! That’s vile.

Sounds like a classic case of apathy from Hislop, another privileged man who hasn’t delved below the surface of the issues. To be fair, the first time I saw Glinner’s Twitter feed, before I joined the terven, I was somewhat baffled. Why is this famous comedy writer banging on about this one subject, and clearly so riled and upset and aggressive in tone, when it’s such a tiny issue, doesn’t really affect anyone, etc. It was only after I started paying attention to the gender wave that I realised there was a grave risk to women’s rights, LGB rights and the health and well-being of gender-confused children. As an intelligent journalist with an inquiring mind, Hislop should be doing more. I wonder if it’s the (incorrect) assumption that this is a left vs right issue.

What do you expect? Private Eye has always been a bunch of public school tw ats. In the 80s they were vicious about anything to do with feminism. There was a column called Wimmin, which was a pseud's corner for lampooning feminists. To be fair, much of it was probably deserved but no more so than the guff that men's rights brigade comes out with now.

The other factor is that Hislop makes a pretty penny from his BBC appearances. He plays all edgy and anti establishment. But not to the point of getting the Helen Joyce, Suzanne Moore etcetc treatment.
Cowardly little man.

CorruptedCauldron Yep, indeed he did. That's Boyle for you.

Damien Barr is another one who has reinvented himself as an ally. This despite a past that included a vile tweet saying he was "tittering sickly" at reading the account of a transwoman's suicide attempt.

Hislop’s response is typical of the tier of men who feel this issue is ‘peculiar’ but doesn’t have any influence on their lives. Like it or not Hislop is a product of privilege and the trans issue is by far the easiest way to be cancelled completely and utterly, being clear he is employed by the BBC and it is lucrative. Look at the way he tacitly agreed but ran away from looking into Jack Monroe.

Glinner has been hung out to dry and it is scandalous, I notice none of those who are doing this to him are in any way careful around his mental health. Those who could and can mitigate some of the issues he is facing refuse to and Hislop is part of that cowardly camp.

As others have said upthread this is about PE being basically a posh boys undergraduate set up. So much of their focus is on the establishment because although they poke fun at it and occassionally expose it, they see this as the "real" world.

This comes over to me as patronising and condescending:

... my suspicion that the Trans/TERF debate is not quite as important as those involved in it believe, I do have people looking at the issues, the areas of impact in the real world, and I will pass on your information to them

ie the concerns of women and an Irish comedy writer just dont match up to my personal priorities. However I have a few underlings who undertake this less important work.

Classic Enlish class privilege brush off.

Ian hislop is a condescending, supercilious twat who has an overblown sense of his own importance.

Why would things that worry women trouble him?

I'm not remotely surprised.