This is Northumberland Calling 11.11.22

The If witches say it is a witch-hunt does it count edition

"Look, I'm generally against witch hunts, but in this case it's really suspicious that all the people saying no one should be burned at the stake are actual witches." — feminist Victoria Smith (in irony mode on twitter)

Today is Remembrance day and the start of the first Remembrance weekend since Queen Elizabeth II died. It is a far bigger deal than Veterans Day in the US. People wear red poppies to raise money for the British Legion and the Festival of Remembrance is shown the Beeb as well as the laying of the wreaths at the Cenotaph on Sunday where Charles will lay his first wreath as king.  Big Ben chimed for the first time in years. https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/big-ben-chimes-for-armistice-day-after-years-of-repairs-855w9pwfk

Because I have had a stressful week the new John Lewis Christmas ad came as a welcome relief – really pull at the heart strings about foster care.  Only in Britain can the Christmas advert of a major department store be so anticipated. https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/john-lewis-christmas-advert-2022-story-children-care-cg7dxz5zh

The ministerial merry-go-round continued this week with Gavin Williamson having to resign over bullying texts he sent. The question is what political favour did he do to Sunak to get appointed in the first place as he was well known for his abrasive (shall we say?) style. https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/rishi-sunak-pmqs-latest-news-gavin-williamson-bullying-allegations-follow-live-cbkztdp2z

Suella Braverman having survived attempts to oust her last week gave a speech directing the police to focus on common sense policing such as solving crime rather than non-crime hate incidents or virtue-signalling. https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/stop-criminal-activists-sowing-misery-suella-braverman-tells-police-fhzxvcpzv

The Just Stop Oil protests are continuing to make a nuisance of themselves and it is probably only a matter of time before someone is seriously injured. https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/media-fanning-flames-of-just-stop-oil-protests-says-police-chief-b9zwhgq58

Witch-hunting continues a pace in English academia with the Institute of Contemporary Music doing a report a TERF by QR code poster. https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/music-college-accused-of-transphobia-over-qr-code-witch-hunt-gc6kkrkkk

And in Scotland the Scottish Book Trust is attempting to impost a McCarthy era style morality clause on everyone who works with them. https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/gender-row-breaks-out-as-book-trust-issues-new-code-n79b2cqc8

The members who sponsored Resolution 7 for the Society of Authors want to know  -- did the Society of Authors approve the morality code as it would be a huge change of policy. Like its US counterpart - -the Author’s Guild, they are supposed to actively oppose it. And if an author can’t get the clause struck, they are supposed to get an assurance that it would be only used in the most extreme and cynical cases. In this instance, the SBT said serious misconduct, not extreme. In this substack that are links to the Authors’ Guild’s very sensible position.   But morality clauses are a real and growing problem in most entertainment industries including publishing. https://open.substack.com/pub/loobylou/p/the-curious-case-of-the-society-of?r=8gufl&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web

As one of the people who put my head above the parapet, I have had the chair, Joanne Harris retweet a tweet about the signatories of the Charles I’s death warrant being hunted down and then a follower of hers suggest that anyone who opposes Joanne Harris be ‘literally’ hunted down. Both tweets have been deleted. Screenshots are forever, but it isn’t pleasant. I do think it is right to try to bring this out into the open, because once the Spiral of Silence is choking the Right of Dissent and that fundamentally undermines democracy. But apparently because I am a transphobe or a fascist or just a witch, my sense of alarm doesn’t count.  Mostly I am trying to finish my manuscript.