Captain Willard

The Who especially the rock opera crap. Saw them at the O2 and everyone went to the bar when Pete Townsend started playing that shit. Joy division - does anyone still actually listen to them ? Manic Street Preachers - 6th form politics. Fleetwood Mac - saw them also at the 02, lots of drum solos Van Morrison - 1 decent song and a lifetime of being a surly cunt.

Fuck me I have just woken up in the Admiral hotel in Copenhagen to see this. Still one of the best countries in the world. I love it here. The drop off zone at the airport is officially called “kiss and fly”

Apparently Morrisey would get the music from Jonny marr on a cassette tape, write the lyrics at home and turn up at the studios to sing so nobody knew what the song would be about until he started singing. When he sang the opening line to how soon is now, “I am the son and the heir” the producer complained to Jonny marr that the song was going to be about the weather “the sun and the air”. Probably apocryphal but a nice joke all the same. It is of course a quote from (I think) a George Elliot novel.

The best pet shop Boys is Being Boring.

Only a matter of time I suppose.

Ha ha. You read this long and very sensible post just to make a joke about tits. Arf ! arf !

I nominated Yes so have to vote for it. Ace of spades otherwise particularly the acoustic version.

I think we’ve got to the end of this now. I’m not speculating how people feel, I’m saying how they feel doesn’t change who they are or give them rights to dictate this to others or erode the boundaries of their identity. Trans men may think they feel like a woman but that doesn’t give them the right to appropriate female culture, sport, changing rooms etc and redefine what it means to be a woman. Anyway I’m done with this now.

I think it’s the latter.

This feels like we are groping in the dark towards if not an agreement then at least an understanding of where we are relatively speaking. We seem to agree that irrespective of their country or class etc, black people share some common thread of a lived historical experience in a world which has been controlled and dominated by white people and which white people cannot appropriate however sympathetic they are. You cannot as a white personal ‘identify as black’ because you have no idea what it means however much you think you do. So far so good. I think where we disagree is I think women share a similar common historical and cultural thread of living in a patriarchal world and well meaning men cannot appropriate that either. You can’t become a women anymore than you can become black. That’s I think the main point of difference between us and this is my point of contention, men are, sometimes with the threat of violence, trying to blur and ultimately erode the meaning of what it is to br a women by denying that this history and cultural experience exists.

Well I’m confused now. To put it simply, do you feel that black people have different lived experiences to white people that cannot be appropriated however sympathetic one is ? I think that’s the case for both race and gender, do you agree or this there a difference ?

Just to be clear, are you saying that there is no such thing as a black identity and their lived experience is the same as white people ? Seriously? Or is it different and as a white person although I could imagine it and have a lot of sympathy for the negatives of that experience, I wouldn’t ever really know how it felt. I think it’s the latter and I think the same applies to gender. Secondly you refer to social acceptance as being the litmus test. I suspect most women, whilst sympathetic to trans men, don’t regard them as women and hence according to your litmus test, they aren’t.

Sorry I confused you with AoT. Genuine mistake, The point still stands though, if the starting point is how somebody subjectively ‘feels’ then how is gender different to race ? You can’t make a logical distinction because there isn’t one. All you can do is to say that ‘feeling like a women’ is somehow a legitimate feeling whereas feeling like a black women isn’t. I still don’t logically follow why not and calling it a nonsense question makes me think you don’t know the answer either.

Sorry I confused you with AoT, he said race was a social construct not you. Anyway my question still stands, if genuinely in my heart of hearts I feel like a black women an I one ?

Sorry I’m not following this. You say elsewhere that race is entirely a social construct so why can’t I identify as a black women if I feel like one ? Your argument seems to assume that I can’t feel like a different race but I can feel like a women. This makes it entirely a subjective call so if I feel like a black women then ergo I am one. Is that right ?

AoT You seem like a reasonable intelligent guy, please can you explain how you perceive the difference between the subjective self identification of gender compared to race. This is a genuine question which I can’t seem to find anyone to answer.

Lenin said all societies are only 3 missed meals away from revolution. People’s willingness to face adversity is much more finite than you would expect.

Nearly twice as many British civilians (135,000) have died in 18 months of COVID than died during the whole 5 years of WW2 (70,000). Not a widely reported comparison though.

This is just ‘yes but what about’ politics. In this thread we have seen people trying to deny the legitimacy of an elected MO Rosie Duffield claims of being threatened and now we have a female academic being scared to go to work and the response is ‘yes but what about’ . Do you not see this is the tactics of fascism ? threaten female elected politicians and academics with violence into being silent. If you can show me a report of a trans politician or academic who is scared to go to work because of death threats from women then I’ll accept you have a point. I’ve no issue with trans rights, I do have an issue with female voices being silenced by aggressive men becuase they dare to have different opinions. At the end of the day you either believe in free speech and democracy for women or you side with the people who don’t. Don’t forget when Starmer was questioned about Duffield his response was “she shouldn’t have said it”

Good interview in the Times with Kathleen Stock, the Sussex uni lecturer being sent death threats for saying biology is immutable. This is the tactic of fascists, threatening violence against women for having opposing ideas. This is happening in our country today. We should all be calling out the people making these threats for what they are, mysognist fascists.

The fact that your posting on here will soon change that.

Had a long chat at the football with a self employed builder friend this morning. He is selling his second car, cancelling his holiday etc as he says a terrible storm is about to hit the building industry. Prices of materials are going up all over Europe, qualified tradesmen are thin on the ground in the UK and as a result the price of domestic building work has shot up by at least 30%. He says people are cancelling their extensions, loft conversions etc as they can’t afford the inflated costs and his order book is going to run out in a few months. He won’t take on new jobs as even if the buyer agrees the inflated price he can’t guarantee to get the materials or the tradesmen in 3 months time. Very worrying conversation.

I think getting older helps. I’m 56 now and reckon with a fair wind, I’ve got 20 years left. I remember stuff from 20 years ago as clear as day so I know how quick that can go. Once you realise the nature of your own mortality, it gives you massive sense of perspective. You really don’t get very long on this planet so try not to sweat the small stuff. I’ve learnt never turn down the chance to have a drink, a fuck or a pee.

I think one of the owners of the mansion won a George Cross for bravery in the 1st world war then came back and shot himself in the grounds so that’s two suicides adjacent to one small cafe. Probably not plate shape related but I can’t be definitive. Today I had Breakfast B. They do a Breakfast C. This is enormous. I saw a very fat young woman eating Breakfast C today and was tempted to take a picture but didn’t want to expose her to the merciless opprobrium of the GF.

Went to see New Order at Heaven, a small but legendary gay club in the railway arches underneath Charing Cross station. Just after Ian Curtis died. Very intense night.