Sunday, October 07, 2018



Topshop tycoon Sir Philip Green accused of tearing down feminist book display in flagship Oxford Circus store

This is the first good thing I have heard of Phil.  The feminist Harpies are no longer "fighting for equality".  They got that long ago.  They are now promoting hostility towards men and telling lies about unequal pay

Topshop tycoon Sir Philip Green was embroiled in an extraordinary row last night after a display promoting a feminist book was allegedly torn down in his flagship women’s clothing store.

The pop-up promotion for Feminists Don’t Wear Pink And Other Lies had been set up in the Oxford Street shop, only to be dismantled 20 minutes later.

The book, a collection of feminist essays, was compiled by Scarlett Curtis, daughter of comedy writer Richard Curtis and broadcaster Emma Freud.

Proceeds will go to the United Nations initiative Girl Up, which provides leadership development training for young women around the world. Its publisher, Penguin, announced the cancellation of the Topshop display on Twitter – revealing the promotion had been taken down soon after being assembled.

That prompted award-winning actress Thandie Newton to suggest Green was responsible for the move, labelling him a ‘loser’. The 45-year-old Line Of Duty star tweeted: ‘Yesterday Philip Green used his big muscles to smash up the Topshop penguinrandom FeministsDontWearPink pop-up because he thought it was too controversial!!? LOSER.’

Miss Freud, a regular on Radio 4’s Loose Ends, tweeted: ‘This is such a bizarre shocker: yesterday Topshop tore down @scarcurtis’s pop up shop for #feministsdontwearpink on the day the book came out. On the boss’s orders. No explanation given. Maybe he just doesn’t like pink.’

Last night, it was claimed that the stall was removed shortly after Green viewed it on a morning walk through the store before it opened, prompting a Penguin press officer to burst into tears.

A source told the Mail: ‘They were setting up, it was all going well, but then there was a bit of a commotion, Philip Green was stomping round…. The women from Penguin were told to go for a walk for 20 minutes, when they got back inside it had all been torn down.’

Photographs shared on Twitter before it was removed show a backdrop emblazoned with slogans including ‘Feminists don’t like fashion’ and ‘feminists don’t wear make-up’ with the word ‘don’t’ crossed out in each case.

Neither Topshop nor Penguin responded to questions about exactly what happened or who ordered the display to be removed. But Miss Curtis said: ‘It was a heartbreaking and shocking act. The fact they clothe an entire nation of teenage girls but won’t support something that fights for their equality is awful.’

SOURCE






This is chiefly about abortion. That’s the issue at the crux of opposition to Brett Kavanaugh

Melanie McDonagh

Is Kellyanne Conway proof that patriarchy has no gender? That’s what the British journalist, Suzanne Moore, says in the Guardian today. She broods over Conway’s contention that she too was sexually abused once (is there anyone out there who wasn’t?) and considers whether she deserves a bit of empathy before concluding that, because Conway is gunning for Christine Blasey Ford, empathy would be wasted on her. Actually, it’s not just that Kellyanne Conway is pro-Brett Kavanaugh. She’s Not One of Us because ‘She is anti-abortion, and though a survivor of sexual assault, works for a man accused of multiple sexual assaults.’ By which she means Donald Trump.

Now I don’t know Suzanne M personally, though on the one occasion I came across her I thought she seemed good fun, the kind of person I’d happily have a gin with. Nonetheless, this little piece usefully sums up quite a lot of what’s wrong with bits of the women’s movement. There are, it seems, only certain women who count as women for the purposes of the movement. Women who can’t possibly be feminists include Republicans – ‘Many white women supported Trump; some of them are now rallying to support Kavanaugh’ she says – and anyone who’s anti-abortion.

‘All over the world some of the staunchest defenders of systems that limit women are other women.’ Now consider framing that sentence to make it about men. You can’t, can you? All you’d be saying is that men are different: some are conservative, some are socially liberal, some are pro Trump, some are against, some are Republican, some are Democrat, some are pro-abortion, some pro-life. You’d be acknowledging that men, as a sex, are infinitely various, that human beings are infinitely various. So why this sucking of teeth, this gathering of skirts, when women turn out to be infinitely various too? Why should half the human race have to conform to a template of social attitudes, to tick boxes to certify you’re with the programme?

Let’s cut to the chase. This is chiefly about abortion – that’s mostly what Guardian columnists, not just Suzanne, mean when they talk about ‘systems that limit women’; that’s the issue at the crux of opposition to Brett Kavanaugh. Now, I am anti-abortion and I am a paid up woman. I see no incompatibility between the two things. I don’t like people killing foetuses because I take the perfectly respectable scientific view that a foetus is a human being – and therefore is entitled to protection under the law. End of. Obviously I feel for women who are pregnant and really, really don’t want to be. But even in these cases, I see two human beings; pro-choicers see just one.

Does that disqualify you from being a woman (let’s leave the whole trans issue to one side here) as far as woke, liberal women are concerned? I guess so. That’s me and Kellyanne Conway then, out of the club, propping up the patriarchy – even though there are a number of other issues where we’d almost certainly part company. If you don’t conform to the programme, you’re Not One of Us.

Looks like I’ll never be a feminist then. And you know what? I really don’t care.

SOURCE






Canada: Quebec swings Rightwards

The Parti Quebecois, founded a half-century ago with the goal of separating Quebec from the rest of Canada, suffered a humiliating defeat in Monday’s provincial elections, raising questions about the survival of the party and the future of the separatist movement.

The party managed to attract only 17 percent of the popular vote and won only nine seats in Quebec’s National Assembly, losing official party status. Its leader also lost in his Montreal constituency.

The big winner in Monday’s vote was the Coalition Avenir Quebec (Quebec Future Coalition), a right-of-center party founded in 2011 that surged to take 74 seats in the 125-seat assembly, defeating the incumbent Liberal Party, which came in a distant second.

The coalition is led by François Legault, a former Parti Quebecois politician and onetime airline executive who earlier renounced separation. He ran a populist campaign that included promises to cut taxes, curb immigration, and raise spending on health and education.

Legault called his party’s victory ‘‘historic,’’ ending the electoral battle between the separatist Parti Quebecois and the federalist Liberal Party that has long dominated politics in the largely French-speaking province.

Although Legault has said that Quebec’s place remains in Canada, he is considered a Quebec nationalist who is likely to renew traditional claims for a transfer of powers from the federal government to the province. And he has vowed to cut immigration and force newcomers to learn French and pass a ‘‘values test’’ within three years of arrival or face expulsion, seen as a largely meaningless threat since the federal government is responsible for granting permanent residency and citizenship.

SOURCE






'The one last remaining bastion of free speech': Milo Yiannopoulos praises Australia for being a liberal country - but warns it may not be for much longer

Right-wing commentator and controversial political figure Milo Yiannopoulos has cited Australia as the last remaining bastion of free speech.

The comments came as Mr Yiannopoulos was promoting his upcoming book in an interview with Sky News on Friday, aptly named 'Australia, You're My Only Hope'.

Mr Yiannopoulos outlined what he perceives to be the 'cancers' affecting Australian society; namely feminism and political correctness.

During the interview, he urged Australians to stand up to these 'cancers' of public life which he claimed have already 'utterly ruined' the public square in Europe and America.

'Australia is the one last remaining bastion of free speech where people can actually crack a joke and not get fired,' Yiannopoulos stated.

The British alt-righter claimed his new book is a 'last ditch attempt' to urge the Australian public to stand up to what he perceives to be the 'toxins' of left-wing society.

Yiannopoulos has announced a tour of seven shows down under at the end of November, in Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth.

His tour will take place despite owing a reported $50,000 to the Victorian government for unpaid police expenses.

He will be joined by US right-winger Ann Coulter. The pair have promoted their tour as 'saving Australia from a full-frontal assault by politically-correct left-wing loonies.'

SOURCE 

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Political correctness is most pervasive in universities and colleges but I rarely report the  incidents concerned here as I have a separate blog for educational matters.

American "liberals" often deny being Leftists and say that they are very different from the Communist rulers of  other countries.  The only real difference, however, is how much power they have.  In America, their power is limited by democracy.  To see what they WOULD be like with more power, look at where they ARE already  very powerful: in America's educational system -- particularly in the universities and colleges.  They show there the same respect for free-speech and political diversity that Stalin did:  None.  So look to the colleges to see  what the whole country would be like if "liberals" had their way.  It would be a dictatorship.

For more postings from me, see TONGUE-TIED, GREENIE WATCH,   EDUCATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS and  DISSECTING LEFTISM.   My Home Pages are here or   here or   here.  Email me (John Ray) here.  Email me (John Ray) here

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