Activists are a joke, comics must stand with silenced MPs Joanna Cherry & Rosie Duffield
WHEN did it get to the stage where a tiny minority of intolerant, demented activists get to decide what we can see, what we can hear and what we can do?
When did that all come about? And when was it that people first started ’fessing up to pollsters that they were scared to speak their minds on important issues?
All around about the same time, I think.
The latest victim of our authoritarian “cancel culture” is a Scottish Nationalist MP called Joanna Cherry.
She is a lesbian and has been a critic of the move to recognise all people by whatever gender they decide they are on any day of the month.
This is a policy which has caused utter chaos in Scotland and contributed to the resignation of the Scottish First Minister — wee Jimmy Krankie herself, Nicola Sturgeon.
Joanna Cherry is sensible enough to think that someone born a man cannot simply become a woman by wearing a nice blouse.
She has the science on her side, as well as common sense and — I would guess — about 80 per cent of the population.
She was booked to speak at the Edinburgh Fringe, a famous summer event of comedy gigs and plays.
But the venue she was booked to play at, The Stand, has told her the gig’s cancelled because people employed by the venue would no longer work on the show.
A senior lawyer in Scotland has said that this is “plainly unlawful”.
Sure. It is also deeply immoral.
Just because you work for a venue it doesn’t give you the right to veto performances you’re not keen on.
The Stand should have sacked those employees immediately.
It was utterly craven of the club to cave in to the views of the intolerant minority.
Cherry said: “I think I am being cancelled and no-platformed because I’m a lesbian who holds gender-critical views — that is to say that I think [somebody’s] sex is immutable.
“Somebody’s gender identity is not more important than the sex that they’re born.”
Exactly. But even if I disagreed with her I wouldn’t try to stop her from being heard.
Look, some Scottish woman being banned from speaking in a club isn’t the biggest issue facing our country today.
If I’m honest, I’d rather set fire to my own testicles than listen to an MP of any party speaking in a comedy club. Each to their own.
But what has happened to the rather admirable Ms Cherry is happening up and down our country every day.
Threatened and bullied
People being silenced because a minority don’t like what they have to say.
Lecturers losing their jobs because they don’t agree with the notion that men who wish to be women actually CAN be women.
Students indoctrinated at the behest of a very shrill and loud minority, who have no facts on their side.
The Labour MP Rosie Duffield was threatened and bullied by some in her own party because she dares to think the same as Joanna Cherry.
We have had enough of this crap.
If comedians due to perform at The Stand had any guts and morality they would cancel their appearances and stand by Cherry.
And in the meantime, let’s get the police involved.
Freedom of speech is a vital issue. If you don’t protect it, one day it will be gone for good.
Shelling out for slime
MORE news from the world of creepy-crawlies.
This time gastropods – yes, snails.
The new rage in the world of skincare “essence” is stuff made from snail mucus.
The chicks can’t get enough of the stuff and Emily Ratajkowski is a firm believer.
I’ve got loads of snails up here.
I might milk them for their mucus and flog it to gullible women under the title “Liddle’s Rejuvenating Snail Gunk”.
About time I cashed in on this kind of charlatanism.
Direct action a must
WELL done to Rishi Sunak for launching a clampdown on cold-calling scams.
The fraudsters cost the public seven billion quid per year.
Now here’s another idea for a crowd-pleasing policy.
All direct debits MUST expire after 12 months.
It is then up to the consumer to renew them. If he or she wants to.
That would save the public loads of money – and time spent ringing up businesses who are a bit shy when it comes to giving details of how to stop your payments.
I AM delighted that people with dwarfism have been banned from taking part in bullfights in Spain.
Disability groups said it was all very demeaning.
Now, just a thought – would the Spanish mind banning the bulls from taking part, too?
Swore point
I’M trying to work up some appetite for Chas’s Coronation.
Not happening for me, I’m afraid. I’m getting bored stiff of his continual curtsying before fashionable woke causes, for a start.
I’m also not wholly comfortable at the speed with which Camilla was suddenly installed as Queen.
Now the King wants us to swear allegiance to him.
You’ve got to be joking, sunshine. I swear allegiance to only two people – my wife and Gary Rowett, the manager of Millwall.
Anyway, I hope Charlie has a nice weekend.
And at least some of the guests actually turn up.
Gullty M’lud
A MAN called David Lee has been up in court for pleasuring himself in public.
This may not in itself seem remarkable, except for the fact that Mr Lee performed his sex act while holding a captured herring gull.
Further, the court heard that during the attack Mr Lee seemed to be sharing with the creature pornographic images from his mobile phone.
Having committed this act of love, Lee then kicked the bird, which squawked.
Didn’t even buy it a meal or offer it a lift home.
Try any of that business with an Arctic skua and see how far you get, mate. It’ll rip your lungs out.
Party games
THIS Sue Gray stuff is looking ever more interesting.
All the time the civil servant was supposed to be deliberating impartially over Boris Johnson’s behaviour during the Partygate affair, she may have been negotiating with Sir Keir Starmer over a new job with the Labour Party.
Surely, given this, her eventual report into Johnson must be rendered null and void?
How could she possibly argue that she is impartial?
Make no mistake, there is no impartiality among our civil servants.
They hate the Tories. And do their level best to undermine them every step of the way.
OH no! There are suggestions that the Russkies might sabotage the Eurovision Song Contest.
Hack into the transmission. Too awful to comprehend, isn’t it?
(Oi, Ivan, good luck with our plan. If it’s possible to substitute a decent film for the song contest, there’s another monkey in it for you.)
A GIRLS’ school in London has started serving the kids meals made with grasshoppers and worms.
Yes, yum. A spokesman for the North London Collegiate School said: “We’re dedicated to driving sustainability, without compromising the satisfaction of the pupils we serve.”
Didn’t she mean pupae?
A spokesbeetle for Britain’s largest insect representative body, the Amalgamated Union of Small Crawling Things (AUSCT), told me: “Oh, bloody marvellous. We’re part of your sustainable diet, are we?
“You middle-class tossers. We’re creatures, just like a cow or Jacob Rees-Mogg. It hurts when you eat us.
“Maybe we should go on strike and then you wouldn’t have any crops at all.”