11 Comments
6 hrs agoLiked by Ian Dunt

Just wondering if you did the sensible thing and at least had a draft mail in case Jenrick won? And if so, would you mind sharing it? It would be a fun read no matter how painful for you to write.

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5 hrs agoLiked by Ian Dunt

He might be able to use it in a couple of years. If batshit but principled doesn't work, I can see the Tories reverting to empty cynicism .

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Also no. I'm not that organised, especially not on a Saturday morning.

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6 hrs agoLiked by Ian Dunt

Spot on again. I have yet to disagree with your analysis.

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I agree with most of this analysis of Badenoch. But two points:

- she is not ‘.anti-trans’. She has the mainstream view that trans people should not be harassed or penalised for just being trans,

*and* that the law needs to protect single-sex spaces, women’s sport and children from harmful medicalisation.

- Foucault was a fertile thinker but there are good reasons to treat him with suspicion: he argued that the ‘sexual element’ of rape should be ignored in criminal justice (and treated like any other act of violence.) This denies the essential nature of rape. It’s saying, ‘oh, the sex act is just a trifle’. He explicitly says this in a discussion of an actual rape case.

Plus he publicly supported the decriminalisation of sex between adults and children.

These are not minor blemishes and it’s mad that liberals and progressives give him a pass on this - and open the way for reactionaries like Badenoch to say, ‘see who these lefties like’.

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I struggle to imagine Cleverly, Badenoch, Jenrick or any of the last decade’s generation of still serving Tory MPs winning the next election. They irreparably tarnished themselves by association in the same way that current Republicans are tarnished by association with Trump.

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I don’t find Badenoch in the least bit interesting. She’s just the latest in a succession of scumbags. I’m sick to absolute death of the Conservative Party. The very fact that they get to campaign even pisses me off after what they’ve done. And the list of the damage they’ve done is so big I can’t even write it all down. AND they want Trump to win. I don’t give a damn about whether they believe in their ideas. What difference does it make when they scorch the earth anyway? This is about what the members want isn’t it? This is what it takes to get ahead. A true believer or a cynical actor who are both toxic? Who’s worse for the country in Opposition? I think if you immerse yourself in their heinous kind of politics eventually you end up believing it anyway. You can convince yourself because you WANT to believe it. People with integrity are less corruptible. So people with integrity aren’t going to get anywhere in the party now.

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Can you insert the word ‘used’ before the word ‘loo’ thanks

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“Anti-trans” is wild, not many MPs have done as much to protect gender non-conforming children as her. We might still be pushing dangerous meds on gay kids if she hadn’t stepped in

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Already bought your books the fascism one and the conspiracy, I quite enjoyed them

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