Reform candidate's comments on women

[ArabellaScott]

Reform hasn't been discussed much on this board, but it's polling quite high ...

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cjmmrwexv4ko

'Ian Gribbin, the party's candidate in Bexhill and Battle, also wrote online that women were the "sponging gender" and should be "deprived of health care".
In posts from 2022 on the Unherd magazine website, seen by the BBC, he said Winston Churchill was "abysmal" and praised Russian President Vladimir Putin.
A Reform spokesman said the comments were not "endorsements" but "written with an eye to inconvenient perspectives and truths", while his remarks about women were "tongue in cheek".
...
... he criticised women, writing on the site’s message board: "Do you think you could actually work and pay for it all too like good citizens?
"Men pay 80% of tax – women spend 80% of tax revenue. On aggregate as a group you only take from society.
"Less complaining please from the 'sponging gender'."
He added that women are "subsidised by men to merely breath (sic)".
In January 2022 he posted: "Men pay 80% of tax. Women take out 80% of expenditures.
"Square that inequality first by depriving women of healthcare until their life expectancies are the same as men, Fair’s fair."
In December 2021 he wrote female soldiers "almost made me wretch (sic)" and were a "total liability".'

What a charmer. I love how the photo has a warning that it contains sensitive content. I was almost afraid to click lol. He really hates women doesn't he.

If he is Bexhill and Battle does that mean there is a chance of a debate between him and Julia Long (PoW)?

These type lurk in every party and every walk of life - maybe we should all vote for POW

Politics is at such a low when you hear this and think "well no one can accuse him of being unclear <sigh>"

he criticised women, writing on the site’s message board: "Do you think you could actually work and pay for it all too like good citizens?

I'd like to know in that case what the fuck it was being deducted from my salary every month 1975-2021 by the taxman if it wasn't my working and paying like a good citizen.

stupid arse.

while his remarks about women were "tongue in cheek"

Oh right. Only joking. Just the fault of us silly women taking him seriously.

Tosser.

Yep, not gonna vote for anyone who publishes views like that, even if their party is perfect (which, in my view, Reform isn’t!)

It gets better (I've remembered to use quotation marks this time);

''A Reform UK candidate has apologised for claiming the country would be "far better" if it had "taken Hitler up on his offer of neutrality" instead of fighting the Nazis in World War Two.''
''Ian Gribbin, the party's candidate in Bexhill and Battle, also wrote online that women were the "sponging gender" and should be "deprived of health care".

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cjmmrwexv4ko

''A Reform UK candidate has apologised for claiming the country would be "far better" if it had "taken Hitler up on his offer of neutrality" instead of fighting the Nazis in World War Two.''

Does this mean that Sunak will now no longer be the worst offender in tersm of failing to respect the signifigance of WW2 which saved us from Nazi occupation?

He's whined that his comments were from a long time ago and he oughtn't be judged on them now. Perhaps it's just me, but 2022 doesn't seem very long ago.

I'll post that BBC article on my fb page as there's a school mum who is running a fan club for Reform atm. She's a thick Twit but is constantly fawning about Farage so a bit of counter balance is needed.

I had to click on the picture because it came with a ‘sensitive content’ warning! It must have been your description that generated that! 🤣

I was thinking the same! Are we expected to believe he's had some sort of epiphany since 2022!

I do hope Reform continue to produce these dopes, it made me laugh out loud.
The supporters seem to be some sort of bizarre fan club who worship at the feet of Farage. No doubt we'll have some derivation of MAGA, perhaps MECCA, oh the irony 😂

1992 I might understand as him being an immature teenage twat. 2022? not a chance.

Fucking sponging women raising children and caring for the elderly, infirm and vulnerable, and needing public money to support their personal economic sacrifices.

This man is a stupid cunt.

I'm astonished, astonished I tell you, that a Reform candidate is a sexist, racist arsehole.

This man must be super progressive. There is a flag for spongegender. Actually, several.

Well that ugly bastard can fuck right off. I've worked full time since I was 18 and I'm 62 now.

Right wing misogynists think women are their private property. Left wing misogynists think women are public property. The only difference is that the right wing ones are usually more immediately obvious to voters, like this charmer.

In a world full of sparkly genderist misogyny, it's almost comforting to see an old skool sexist. Almost.

It's kind of charming in a way.... He sounds like a regular sexist nutjob. The ones you can properly point and laugh at without being charged for a hate crime.... I've missed them.

Ha! Snap... Great minds and all that.

I'd empty my ban account to see that.

My understanding was that this was in response to a number of people insisting that those unvaccinated (from covid) should be denied healthcare - a topical item at the time. So not an ideal response but certainly supposed to be ironic, yet it's been quoted verbatim without context.

Of course the context makes it absolutely fine . It's totally fine to make insanely misogynist statements about women if you're being ironic.

Do you not think that all the detail and repeated use of the term "spongers" goes beyond an attempt at an "ironic" quip with women as the butt of the quip. That quip also assumes that you agree that women in general don't pay tax, otherwise the comment doesn't work.

What if he'd made a really racist or homophobic quip instead? Still ok in context, or not?