Hadley Freeman Article About Graham LInehan

[Igneococcus]

Not actually read it yet but here for anybody who'd like to read:

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/6f23ce7c-596a-11ee-a62b-d21c2c8f0b9b?shareToken=3adab3e87e06a1d37788d0b2482f02b6

Well, I'm obviously one of the few here who don't think she's being snipey or superior.
She's praising him for being brave while at same time saying her personal family identity makes her genuinely uncomfortable with Nazi references.
And I think she's being bittersweet with her final comments, that he's being proved right but that his being cast to the lions and his life shattered is not a fate any of us would choose for ourselves, even when the cause is the right one.

I really don't think there's any selfish subtext from Hadley to be read here.

And I think she's being bittersweet with her final comments, that he's being proved right but that his being cast to the lions and his life shattered is not a fate any of us would choose for ourselves, even when the cause is the right one

yes, that is how I read it too.

This. Except motherland is the best! I find Graham humourless in interviews and online so can't believe he has such an amazing comedy mind. I know the topic is not funny but eg Douglas Murray (regardless of what you think of him) and Magdalen Berns still made me laugh out loud

Oh yes , he's a bit chippy isn't he?

G L- No I'm not!

Ooh look , he's having a paddy. It's all very sad.

The English double bind.

I love Graham Linehan's work and I'm grateful he stepped up which is why I ordered his book. He has lost a great deal and I wanted to do my bit. However I have always been uncomfortable with, though acknowledge it's importance, the zealotry that can gradually take over. I have the same problem with KJK. Nonetheless, without these people, we would still be crying in our soup

I think Hadley was trying to make this point but for some reason it doesn't pan out/read very well. Poor editing maybe?

I think GL and KJK have both done great things to push back against GI, though I don't agree with their methods nor their plain-speaking approach.

I have a lot of respect for Glinner and am grateful for his dogged determination to expose the hypocrisies and distortions on this issue. On days when I’m most frustrated about some outrage I will look at his Twitter and know that my frustration will be getting an airing because he is on the case 24/7.

Somedays I look and think - that’s a bit much Graham - rein it in a bit. But I know where he’s coming from. And I know that anger and outrage but I have to go to work and mix with people who have other views. I choose to keep quiet in case I lose my job. Cowardice or survival, call it what you will. But Graham has gone beyond that and has paid the price.

I wish Hadley had chosen to have a private conversation with him rather than write this piece. In the same way I wish Kathy Burke had chosen to have it out with Graham LInehan (and vice versa) in private rather than the public X/Twitter spat. Sometimes the personal ‘digs’ become a distraction to the issue. Same as all the bollocks with Russell Brand and people claiming that one side is more in his camp than the other - when the ‘camps’ aren’t clearly defined. I hate all the sanctimonious finger pointing that’s going on there.

I read that Hadley piece not quite sure where it was going and was quite sad with its conclusion. I’m just wondering what the point was.

FWIW, I concur with the "bittersweet" interpretation. As a longtime reader of Freeman's work, that's what it seems she was going for here, not anything sneery. And it's a form of confessional, of her admitting (and trying to justify) her inability/unwillingness to be as committed as him. The piece clearly didn't come out as well as it could, leaving a bit too much "bitter".

But I'm inclined to be extremely generous to any article fundamentally centred around "he was right". Golden bridges. Very few people are going to come up with a totally unreserved reconciliation in the way John Boyle did recently. The most important thing is more people stepping up and saying "he was right".

A touch of rubber-necking in the article - effectively saying: ‘Look at poor Graham, he is in a right old state. That could have been me, thank goodness I was more careful!’

Hadley could have focused on the positives - that his book is selling like hot cakes, signifying that his much-deserved vindication may be just around the corner.

FWIW I strongly disapprove of the use of the word Nazi by anyone unless referring to actual Nazis. But with trans rights activists repeatedly calling women Nazis, fascists and bigots for wanting to protect their sex-based rights, I can understand why Glinner might lose his cool. He’s not perfect but he’s fought tirelessly to protect the rights of women, gay people and children, while so many others remained silent, and at huge personal cost.

As a PP has said, GL must have been driven to the brink of sanity by what has happened to him.

I can only imagine how it felt to suddenly find that your calls arent returned, meetings are cancelled, people you thought were friends suddenly no longer messaging and for what? For saying that men cant be women?? That we shouldn’t be carrying out unproven medical treatments on children? That telling lesbians they should have sex with TW is wrong?

not only that, unlike KJK who clearly has the support of her DH, his marriage broke up plus he’s had health problems

if youve Lost everything except your cause, of course you’re going to keep going with your cause ! He has nothing else Because it’s all been taken from him

I feel this article is something that should have been said in private. As it is, it serves as a reminder to anyone else high profile thinking of sticking their head above the parapet - look what you could lose….dint be like GL…

Thanks Hadley - not at all helpful

If she was aiming for 'bittersweet', it didn't come off.

Reading the thread through, amongst many supportive comments of Glinner I keep hearing things like - gone too far, should rein it in, uncomfortably forthright, obsessed, sad.
There is no sane world in which one can go too far in speaking up against children being harmed and experimented on. The Cass report has effectively told us that this has been happening. We will all know children for whom this is happening now.
To me, these phrases and this view that you can stand against genderism - just not too staunchly, but in a "measured" way, highlights the complete loss of freedom of speech and the massive shift of the overton window in the space of 5 years ish.
Part of Graham's creative gift is that he will be able to see this very clearly, and be unable not to call it out. I feel the same. The perception of those who don't will be that they are cowardly. I think this is a reasonable perception. To all those who suggest he has been injudicious in this, good for you, you are able to be "measured". But we are not all the same in the way we see and express things. We need people like GL and KJK in my opinion, thank god for them.
I feel a sense of schadenfraude in those saying these things about him. I don't like it. What will it take for you to feel for a guy who following cancer treatment tweeted in support of women and children and then watched his life go down the toilet. I feel like many people who should morally support him will just shoulder shrug and say "ah well!"

Bloody hell. Assumptions much?

This feels so unnecessary. I like and admire both Graham and Hadley. We need lots of different voices to get the message across because there are lots of different people who need to hear it. Within that we can all have our own nuanced opinions. We’re not all driven by a script from Terf HQ.

if I was Graham I’d have contacted Hadley to ask if that really was what she intended to say. But I’m not, and he’s reacted publicly as per his usual confrontational “you’re with me or against me” mode. Which is the observation Hadley made in her article about his style. She’s not saying he’s wrong, in fact the opposite. She’s expressing regret for what it’s cost him.

Totally agree @JoodyBlue

@MyLadyDisdainlsYetLiving come on - he reacted "publicly" following a piece published in the national press. He is also criticised often for privately contacting people who used to be his "friends". With that friends like that......

Reported. What a dreadful post. Completely over the top and libellous.

Part of Graham's creative gift is that he will be able to see this very clearly, and be unable not to call it out. I feel the same.

Exactly. But it goes further. Think of all the things that we all know, all suspect, have good evidence for or good suspicion of and we still can’t say it either here, on Twitter or anywhere. There’s a wealth of batshit and damaging information that most people still don’t have any idea about that will come out eventually about the ideology or people representing it. The most remarkable thing is that Glinner has, in the bigger picture, held back!

Come on - what?

I’m not looking for a fight here, and to be honest I’m a bit taken aback with so many replies in this thread showing such touchiness about the article. I’m obviously missing something.

its perfectly possible to support someone, admire them, agree with them, buy their book etc, and yet still have a different opinion from them on certain topics.

She's not a journalist, she's a fashion writer. It's full of non sequiturs and repetition; perfect for The Times in fact. The nazi analogy is more about eugenics generally and fits well with the narrative if you're looking at a comparison from history IMO.

I just read her column about Russell Brand in which she holds her hands up to being guilty of tribalism, having called him one of the good guys because they were both left wing. I wonder if she's written this other column with that in mind, wanting to state her reservations about Graham Linehan for the record. Very self-interested if so. I'm not interested in reading a columnist whose priority is protecting her own brand rather than adding anything to the discourse. Disappointed in her.

@NotBadConsidering yeah, agree.

@MyLadyDisdainlsYetLiving sorry. I'm not looking for a fight either. Having followed his story over the last few years I feel an imperative to support him. I'm glad his book is coming out, to perhaps give a sense of what he has given and what he has lost in the process.

Just gone on to his Twitter feed. To say he feels negative about this piece would be broadly accurate.

She's not a journalist, she's a fashion writer.

That's a silly, snobby remark. A journalist who specialises in fashion is a journalist. Spending the first eight years of your career writing on one subject doesn't preclude you from broadening your scope or changing direction, which she has done very successfully.

I'd say the article was more about Hadley herself than about Linehan. To me it reads like some kind of internal dialogue that she sent to The Times by mistake instead of her regular column.