Who can forget the colourful outburst by Sir Richard Mottram, the permanent secretary at the Department of Transport, in response to news that special adviser Jo Moore had suggested 9/11 was a good day to bury bad news. He said:
“We’re all fucked. I’m fucked. You’re fucked. The whole department’s fucked. It’s the biggest cock-up ever and we’re all completely fucked.”
His use of the anglo-saxon word ‘fucked’ betrays a fear of being compromised by being placed in the passive sexual role of a woman. I shall take a private bet with myself as to how long it will be before some commentator tells me that they know women who take an aggressively active sexual role, and no doubt there are; my point though, is that the phrase is generally taken to mean that one has been belittled and placed in the ‘general’ position of passive woman – not the ‘in control’ position of man the aggressor.
I say this not because I am a feminist, but because I believe that much that is wrong with our governence today stems from the belief system of the Scottish cabal of ‘men’, for want of a better word, that politics is a war zone, a testosterone rich environment, where wounds must be inflicted, battles can only be won or lost, not by debate or compromise, but by reducing ones opponenent to the feared position of passivity.
I look at Damian McBride’s pugnacious, ruddy, face, and I think, I know your sort. Propping up the bar in the hotel with the other travelling salesmen, with a stock of jokes centered round belittling women. Stand up comedian in a sweaty Liverpudlian back street club, retelling for the umpteenth time ‘how he got the better’ of his Mother in Law. Down the golf club at five to three on a Sunday lunchtime ‘having one for the road’ before finally weaving his way home to the ruined lunch. I cannot look at the man and visualise him in any kind or caring environment. He reeks of mysogyny. A man who resorts to his fists because he cannot use words.
I was wrong. He can use words, and has done so with devastating effect. Unfortunately, more devastating to his master than to his intended victims.
Listen to the words, though, and you will see that I was not far wrong in my visual appraisal.
There is a common theme to his words, and that theme betrays a fear of women.
The alleged ‘sexual infection’ of David Cameron. No allegation that DC was gay, so what is being implied was that he had been ‘damaged’ by contact with a woman.
The alleged ‘one night stand’ attributed to Nadine Dorries, implying that she was a slut, a loose woman; no mention of the man involved – so no damage to his reputation.
The alleged ‘fragile mental health’ of George Osborne’s wife, implying that here was an hysteric, not ‘properly’ controlled by her husband.
Andy McSmith has alluded to his blunt language, and fondness for drinking and talking late into the night. A man’s man, then, and one with a deep seated mistrust of women.
It is not difficult to see why Gordon Brown should have hired this pit bull; a higher than average proportion of senior Labour politicians emerged from the ‘closet’ to enter the ‘cabinet’. They like the relentless, brutal, tribal viciousness that circulates round a man like McBride. They whimper piteously ‘anywhere but the face, darling’ when it is turned on them, but they love to see a bit of ‘rough’ seeing off their enemies.
This isn’t governance for the population, this is a tawdry – and fey – group of men who never got over their fear of Mummy, using their position of power to further their own interests.
This is the playgound bully given the keys to the head master’s office.
The few women that stray into politics soon learn that they must play equally rough to survive – Harriet Harman was once a committed supporter of female achievement and involvement – as Minister for Women she was a disgrace, introducing the cut in single mothers’ allowance, leaving single mothers at the mercy of the incompetent Child Support Agency. I am thus no supporter of her policies, and if it was only her policies that were discussed or condemned, then so be it but as always with Harriet or ‘Harpy’ as she was nicknamed by the men surrounding the Prime Minister, and the other women in political life, it is accompanied by personal and gynophobic abuse.
Of course it is not restricted to Britain. When Hilary Clinton was campaigning to be Presidential nominee she was subjected to a barrage of abuse from the ‘iron my shirts’ heckle to the contemptible banner: “Life’s a bitch. Don’t vote for one”.
Politics is said to be a ‘rough, tough game’ – it shoulnd’t be. Women make up 50% of the voting population, and until men allow room for those aparently despised female skills of compromise and debate, consensus, and fairness for all, then politics will continue to be a Westminster village game, which holds no interest for, and more importantly, has no benefit to, the entire population.
Anna is the landlady of the Raccoon Arms. She lives in the Monbazillac area of South West France and still takes a keen interest in British politics.
{ 56 comments }
Speaking as a travelling salesman, I wonder whether you are even aware of the bias and animosity to people like me implicit in your post. Is there some reason why salespeople who travel should be subject to a level of scorn not considered appropriate to…oh, let’s see, now…women? Would you mind explaining what it is?
Not salespeople in general Barnaby, salespeople gathered in hotel bars telling dirty jokes – if you don’t do that then consider yourself outside the scope of my comment……..
Man’s man = wanker who can only talk about football, drinking and imaginery sexploits ‘look at the tits on that’ blah blah blah.
Step forward Mr McBride and Mr Whelan.
and meanwhile Mr Brown plays with his BlackBerry and reads the Bible.
Judge a man by his friends.
Dont worry Anna ,men hate these wankers as well.
A very pertinent comment ‘chronic’.
They are the schoolyard bullies imposing their way on all – other men as well.
Anna,these men are not what I would consider Alpha males.Who is ,in politics?Most of them are Celts – not just Scots.Let’s face it,what kind of woman would fancy the Demon,Dolly Draper or Charlie Whelan?They are typical of ugly,fat blokes who don’t actually have a well-rounded life.Heavy drinking usually masks huge insecurities – which is what so many Celts suffer from.At school and university (if they made it that far)no woman would look at them,so they mocked women and called them ‘slags’.The more rejected ,the bigger the hatred.
Anna, I find much of what you write interesting and informative, but this really just sounds like a load of “sisterhood” clit-wittering.
Your take on the smears was, quite frankly, ludicrous. “Reaching” and “grasping at straws” don’t even begin to cover it.
‘clit-wittering’ …….perfect example Obnoxio………..
For “never got over their fear of Mummy” you can insert “Margaret” too.
Indeed. AR: more needs to be written and done about testosterone fuelled politics not that it should be oestrogen fuelled either. Politics and debate should be, as much as possible, non-hormonal.
We are all products of our experience. I have grown up and engaged in jokes aimed at the ‘lesser’ sex but in the knowledge I was joking, unlike a lot of my friends. Politics is asexual it doesn’t prefer pink to blue or heels to flats or football to netball and the sooner people realise that the sooner we can start to heal our dilapidated political system. Our society is not equal, men still enjoy preference over their female counterparts and the sooner everyone can engage in frank discussions like this one the better.
Westminster is a boys club and if you can’t see that you need glasses.
Zak, you should be more than aware that I would never qualify as a feminist, and would not agree with ‘women’s lists’ nor any other form of oestrogen politics………I want to see far less government, and a balance between men and women, utilising both of their talents, not the present system which is coralling the women into behaving like men.
Anna, I agree almost completely with you except for your reference to Nadine Dorries in which you say…’no reference to the man involved – so no damage to his reputation’.
Well, of course his reputation wasn’t damaged because there was no such man. Even McPoison wasn’t going to put a name to a non-existent man.
You are right Cato – I was focussing on the slant of the allegations – I should have pointed out that there was no such man, nor any such std, nor any such ‘mental fragility’……I have found the comments, especially from the high priest of ‘testosterone’ political commentating, otherwise known as Obnoxio the clown, riveting – and side splitting!
Hi Anna,
I feel somewhat ambivalent towards some of your points. You’ve made a good case though.
To me it is an all or nothing. If we are asked to recognise misogyny I also ask that we recognise misandry too. Sexism towards men is as endemic to our society as any misogynistic tendency, even if it affects us in different ways. In fact, misandry has now become the insidious kind of sexism, occupying the place that sexism towards women had prior to the feminists of the 70s and 80s clearly identifying it.
It’s insidious because it is largely invisible.
On the sexual proclivities angle – I have to say I’ve always trusted an openly libidinous individual in a position of power than a supposedly moralistic or sexless person. There are too few of those people. It’s why I took such a shine to Craig Murray – he openly admits his fondness for sex and women.
In fact, I’ve often had this discussion with my partners – about who you would rather have in control – someone who is libidinous and lacking emotional hangups (male or female), or someone who doesn’t do sex, or at least does so with a titanic-size iceberg of insecurities in their guts?
Also I must object to your point that women entering high politics had to become like the men. This simply isn’t the case – these positions simply attracted the same kind of women as the same kind of men. It’s like chronic says above, “men hate these wankers too”. Jackboots, Harperson, the Ginger Chipmunk etc – all horribly odious individuals, just like the men. And please don’t mistake my names of abuse towards these awful creatures as driven by sexism – its something reserved for all the men and women who take these positions and think they know better than the rest of us.
If the likes of the British parliament, or Abu Ghraib has taught us – putting more women in these positions isn’t going to solve anything we just – quelle surprise – encounter just the same obscene and corrupt behaviour.
It’s the positions and the system supporting them that constitute the problem.
Another interesting point – misandry, especially in the film and advertsing industry is a disgrace. I cannot argue with that.
My difficulty with mysogeny within politics is that politics affects all of us equally. You simply can’t avoid it.
I think, on balance, that I must agree with you regarding the women who go into poliitcs, Westminster can’t have changed them that much!
There is a lot to be said for the French system, whereby only those things which have to be handled centrally – like defence – are so done, everything else is left to the Communes, where the people who are put into power are known intimately – not just names on a ballot paper, but friends and neighbours. If anybody has the disposition to be corrupted by power it is known in advance, and those that slip through the net are easily exposed and quickly voted out next time round. There simply isn’t the ability to hide a greedy ‘troughing’ attitude as easily. There is still corruption at a high level – in Paris – it just doesn’t affect our day to day lives in the same way.
Less government and decentralised government is the only way.
Katabasis. Very interesting point and exactly how I feel. We don’t need good men and women just good people. However, I do think that both men and women are, like AR says, coralled into behaving like the accepted norm.
Whilst drinking in a Bar last weekend, I was heavily involved in a discussion about the Offside Rule. On hearing my accent one of the local females took an interest in me. Later that night she took me back to her place where she proceeded to give me a good seeing to. The next morning she got her car out and gave me a lift home……….
Am I………..
a) A Man’s Man
b) A Slut
c) A Lucky Bast*rd
Don’t know.
Was she….
a) Blind
b) Desperate
c) ……………
enough with the anti-scots, anti-celtic bias!
watson, whelan, mcbride et all do look like a bunch of mysoginistic sleazebags and there is an undertone of “fear and loathing” in the language they use about women, but its got nothing to do with the scots, the celts or travelling salesemen (or any other occupation for that matter). its got to do with their total lack of self awareness, manners and respect for either themselves or the people (of any gender or orientation) around them. if you allocate a stereotype to them you’re giving them an excuse. “oh well, its because he’s a…..” there are NO excuses for their behaviour. none.
Zak’s point above re women being corralled into behaving like the accepted norm made me think back a bit. Remember the women guards at Auschwitz, Dachau, Ravensbruck et al. They are every bit as depraved as their male counterparts and in some cases, perhaps, more so.
Were they coerced into that behaviour or, for them, was it the norm?
Discuss…lol
sorry that should have read as…They were every bit…….
Saul,
You are…
D) a damn fool for not making sure you got a good breakfast too
P.S. Only kidding!
Coco 04.17.09 at 6:25 pm ………… Due to another power-cut this ended up on another thread.
I have long held the judgement that the people who want to be at the front-line in politics are just sad bastards who want to be seen as
Cato ………….. ‘Were they coerced into that behaviour or, for them, was it the norm?’
I remember having to discuss this with a group of verr’, verr’ sensitive student anthrops a long time ago! I have a vague recollection of a book called ‘Hitler’s Willing Executioners’. The author purported to take the ‘empirical view’ ………… which of course he didn’t actually do! And I must say that everybody had their own answers to the questions! To the point that some of them threw themselves into behavioural psychology full-time.
Others went into therapy – purely through what they saw as the shame of identifying themselves in it all somewhere.
‘Ere! I have just emailed the White House to let Obama know that we had a nasty death at the G2o. Something tells me that there was a bit of a short-term cover-up for the sake of not marring the talks.
I wonder what World leaders think of our abilities to host a few cosy chats now? It is very sad when a chap cannot walk down a street safely …………. especially when it is swarming with coppers. Even more sad when it’s a testosteronal copper who is seriously implicated in this unnecessary death.
THE UK POLICE ARE NOT FIT TO DEAL WITH THE PUBLIC EN MASSE. LEAVE THIS TO HM ARMED FORCES!
Tin Hat…..Check.
Cricketers Box…..Check.
Shin Guards……..Check.
Getaway Car (engine running)…..Check.
OK Boys, I’m going in.
I work in a male dominated industry, however there are many women working in it. Nobody I have met has any objections to this. The only problem I see is the women themselves. Practically all of them seem to think they have something to prove, a sort of I can do this better than a man. What they have to realise is that if they have achieved the position in the first place, then it is not necessary to continualy try to justify it. Just get on with doing your job.
When it becomes acceptable for women to get into politics, perhaps then it will attract the right kind of woman.
I realise I am contradicting myself here, without the present female MP’s, of course a lot less women would be aspiring to a place in Westminster.
I remember reading somewhere once that…….the desire to be an MP should be the reason for barring an individual from becoming one. (or something like that)
At the moment we have a lot of square pegs in round holes.
Cato, I think that a lot of the guards were brainwashed into thinking they were doing the right thing. Can’t be sure though as, thankfully, most, if not all, of them are dead. An interesting question either way; what drives or encourages human beings to be part of a genocide?
…..what drives or encourages human beings to be part of a genocide?
Unfortunately in the modern world it is self preservation.
Zak ……… ‘………. what drives or encourages human beings to be part of a genocide?’
Saul ……….. ‘Unfortunately in the modern world it is self preservation.’
Not just in the modern world. Since time immemorial humans have coveted their neighbour’s possessions. Man is but an animal. They may have the ability to think and reason with their supposed logic ………….. but at the end of the day they have envy and jealousy and want whatever their neighbours have. Be it their car or their nuclear weapons and land mass.
No matter what Governments and gentle folk think about gaining world peace and loving thy neighbour as thyself and trying to bend minds to accept each and all so that we can live in one big happy family ………. all accepting cultural and religious differences …………. there isn’t a drug on the market yet to dumb down the masses and make us all think in harmony.
I had to go to a meeting last week where there were two bunches of Nuns. Some of whom I have known for yonks and others I had not seen before. We sombrely and gravely discussed several issues before a couple of male Councillors and three Priests joined us.
To say that the Nuns visibly brightened in the company of men would be a severe understatement on my part. They were pushing and shoving and speaking with the shrillness of birds at dawn. Every time a bloke opened his mouth they giggled and clasped each others hands as if Donny Osmond was in the room. They quite literally battled to get places in groups and on committees.
When it came down to organising lifts home ……….. I ended up with two men in my car ………. No Nuns though. And they knew that I had to drive home past their Convent door! So even those purest women at heart allow men to lead …………… Even though they are married to another.
This is how people are coerced into changing personality and mind-set at the drop of a hat. Sex. And the power of knowledge, which in turn brings status and money. There is no hope. Humans are just the highest in an order of animals. The brain wants to survive ………. at all costs! Even at the cost of the Soul!
Zak ………… ‘Cato, I think that a lot of the guards were brainwashed into thinking they were doing the right thing.’
This is how the BNP are gaining power in every town and village. They start by procuring the lesser-educated mongs into the pack and take it from there. Eventually a power-hungry mobster with half an education will begin to lead. Then somebody with an education takes on the highest role.
After that, the public-school chap with half an education jumps in with some sound-bitey facts ………. and Bob’s your Uncle and you have a Party ready-made Knob-Heads.
The trick then of course is performed by the Tory who has had a full education. He swoops in and says that the nearest the mob will get to a voice in Parliament is by voting for him. Hence we have an under-class who votes Conservative …………. and reads The Sun editorial as if it is the bit of the bloody Gospel that is missing. Easy-peasy! And it is happening right now as we write.
Coco, you have just described the Conservative victory in 1979.
Saul …………. Correct amussimus! Why would people earning less than
I think you may be wrongly branding many people on housing estates. I know a lot of ordinary hard working folk who look on in horror at some of the stories published by the tabloid press. The bedrock of working class people in this country, are still the backbone of the country. If they can ever be marshalled to voice their opinions together, then we will see a shift change in politics.
Saul …………. Please don’t think I am not just talking about the public sector housing estates. I mean all estates ………… Even country estates! There is without doubt an increasingly large number of the idle rich.
So many kids and adults don’t think they have to work for a living these days ………. and they would prefer to find the easiest routes to their success ……….. and that cuts across all boundaries and all types of estates. It’s all buy now and pay later and hope for the best.
That’s my point Coco. The average working class family still instill in their kids the difference between right and wrong. I don’t want to sound like a working class hero, but they have become the silent majority. If someone can galvanise them into getting involved into the day to day running of this sceptered isle then we may see the light at the end of the tunnel.
Note to Ms Raccoon…any chance of a spel checkr on here?
New plans are afoot to ensure every child has completed 50 hrs service in the community before it finishes compulsory education. This will be in conjunction with citizenship lessons. Would that do it for you Saul?
It!?
The average family are perfectly capable of teaching their kids the difference between right and wrong. They need no help from whichever Government is in charge.
I agree the average familiy is capable of teaching its kids how to behave but is it capable of excluding the ever increasing outside influences that adulterate that teaching?
At the end of the day (hat tip to Derek Hatton) it doesn’t matter ( in my opinion) what outside influences come into play. Every person knows instinctively what is right and what is wrong. If they choose to embrace them, so be it. I prefer to think that decent people can see the truth. The trick is to make them pursue it.
The roll of august contributers to this thread is quite impressive. Whilst I may be a bit out of my depth in such company, I would just like to reiterate, if you can harnass the working class vote, you will rule the world.
You don’t seem out of depth Saul but if you are, so am I.
I think harnassing voters in the entire population is important. However, with a relatively small number of potential voters understanding exactly how government is run and how important voting is, it is hardly surprising government is a mess.
I hope the proposed citizenship lessons in school will redress this situation.
I don’t believe a lot of families are able to teach their children properly. I know of several mothers from middle class backgrounds who go out every Saturday night drinking to the point where they are still inebriated well into the next day. This kind of behaviour is transferred through the institution of family as are many of the other traits endemic to the people of this country. The average working class family is certainly not teaching their children the difference between right and wrong instead they are teaching the next generation the right way to get away with doing wrong.
janes, we can tread water together. The person who can command the votes of the non voters will have a licence to do ….. err …whatever they want.
It is only the working classes that can save this septic isle Saul. You are dead right. And of course there are a lot more of us than us than there are of other groups. Therefore it would seem possible for majority rule. But I cannot see it ever happening. The working classes are too busy working to get the time to even vote these days.
The trouble with the barmy classification of people within the whole system in the UK is that people are taught to look at themselves as a particular type of Acorn. Most people don’t even know about all this stuff until they look at the type of junk-mail and credit-card application forms they receive through the post. Some databank somewhere knows what we earn; whether we have rented or owner-occupier status …………. and even what newspapers are commonly read in our neighbourhood.
Now that the New Labour Party have shown that they will no longer be taking the responsibilty for the working classes to retain work without learning new skills …………. the workers will naturally turn to the likes of Cameron for what they see as their long-held right to work. I see people struggling to come to terms with even modest qualifications such as NVQs. Not because they are not bright enough to do them but because they are frightened of losing their over-time money to accomodate doing just a few hours a week.
What the Government forgot on the introduction of basic NVQs for all, was that during the 1970s hundreds of thousands of people lost out on the right to leave school being able to read and write …………… A frightening amount of people suddenly have anxiety, stress and bad backs and are off work. ………….. All because they could not admit to their own wives and children that they were unable to even read local road signs never mind fill forms in.
Care-workers, bin-men and security staff were suddenly off down to the doctors for sick-notes. These poor people were highly capable of doing what they were doing …………… they just couldn’t face an NVQ and having to write. So much for health and safety! I have never been able to compile figures on this or find a means of doing so. People have pride.
But after much cajoling and heated arguments, the Government did eventually put out some half-hearted advertising telling these people that they need not feel embarrassed and that help was available. In their own villages and community schools where their own children and friends went! Taught by the people they drank in their own pubs with! Ridiculous but absolutely true. The take-up was truly phenomenal ……….. initially! Then it fell to bits.
I think we would be truly shocked if we were to learn the true extent of the lack of adult literacy and numeracy. Fractions and percentages drove some poor people to run to the toilets and vomit. Like I say ……… so much for health and safety! Dyslexia became the byword. The 70s let millions down. Children growing up in the 1930s had a much better standard of writing than we have today.
Obama was voted in for his saying he would kick ass where people were not supporting their own offspring. This appealed to the people who would normally vote Republican but had just about had it with Republicans. Browneye doesn’t have the charm of Obama ………… and the country has already turned to the right. Savers have been left breathless and scared …………. more than ever before.
It suited the Establishment to have Labour running the country after Thatcher fell and Major stumbled ………. but now they want a Tory back in the driving seat. Same old. Same old tactics. Years capitalising ……….. a few staged monetary crashes. More billions missing and off we go again straightening everything out. But some mega-big bucks have been made for those at the top. Enough to make Madoff look like the shoe-shine boy!
They are currently debating in some of the southern states of the US whether Darwinian reserach should be removed from textbooks and replaced with creationism. That is the idea that earth was created in seven days and the dinosaurs were planted by god as a test of the faithful.
Citizenship courses could be a brilliant initiative as long as they are written reasonably.
Zak, I don’t want to upset you, but I doubt you are in touch with the average working class family.
janes ………. ‘You don
Unfortunately real life is calling, a shame as a real debate seems to be developing. I shall look in tomorrow with interest.
Berfore you go to bed Saul, what makes you doubt Zak is ‘in touch with the average working class family’?
Errrrr Zak! ………. ‘That is the idea that earth was created in seven days and the dinosaurs were planted by god as a test of the faithful.’
So what are you saying here Zak? Are those dinosaurs in the natural history museums real? Not papier-mache? Christ! Does this mean that I don’t have to waste every fourth Sunday in Church anymore?
I feel free now Zak. I shall email Tony and Cherie straight away. They spend hours every week doing prayers and reading The Word. TB doesn’t have to meddle in the Middle East anymore bringing the faiths together. He will be free to errrr ………. just generally fuck about a lot again!
Saul: Zak, I don
I must admit that I don’t know what any kind of average family is anymore. Especially after Charles-and-Dianagate, Edwina-and-Jon-Majorgate, McCann-Arguidogate and the Shannon-Matthewsgate.
Is there an average family left in the UK? Can anybody truly say that nobody in their family has ever touched drugs or ever dealt with alcoholism. How many can say that none of their kids have ever had trouble at school or with the police these days? It is considered normal now to F and blind in front of one’s parents or to smoke a bit of hash in front of them.
It’s a tricky little old world we inhabit. I can’t say I’ve seen average since the 60s ……….. Then years later I found out that everybody had been having sex with their neighbours and doing drugs and whoever somebody thought was their dad ………… had sometimes been found not to be quite the biological father.
DNA eh? Who needs it?
Zak …………. It would be nice if a nine year old kid said thanks when you were picking him up off the floor after his bike hits your car side on. Instead of telling you that he is, ‘Gonna fuckin’ sue you!’
This happened to a mate of mine recently ……….. who promptly used foul language back, threatened to run the little bleeder over and felt forced to wrap her cardigan around the car-bumper so she couldn’t be traced if he decided to get his mates to kick him about a bit and bring a case.
Like I said at the time. He probably couldn’t read anyway. Still. She made doubly sure. Bless her! Thank God it wasn’t a Homewatch area.
Just in case you couldn’t quite read the blurb on the Mr Leggs advert, here it is in all its ghastly glory:
Though she was a tiger lady, our hero didn
Gloria, are you sure that that’s worse than Lynx “Spray more – get more”?
Personnally, I’m sick of adverts showing that white men are just idiots; that women, and more particularly, kids are smarter.
Perhaps you’re not in favour of being shown that women who don’t have digestive system bloating are probably just too stupid to realise that they have it? They should dye their hair to improve self confidence (and wear 5 inch heel shoes)?
If you have show after kids’ show saying adults are morons, an’ us kidz kno betta – how do you expect them to grow up with any respect for adults?
Gendeau – I just put the words of the advert on the site. I was born in the 1960s and I grew up as the single female in a brood of four siblings. Thankfully our family didn’t compartmentalise us by our gender and all of us (including me, the sole female in the brood) felt that we could opt for and take exams, pass & make the grade.