This is Northumberland Calling 19.822

The tin hat edition.

This is Northumberland UK calling 19 8 22

“We must build dikes of courage to hold back the flood of fear.”

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Courage calls to courage. Thus it is hugely important to acknowledge the unwitting part Bari and Nellie have played in what the Times of London are calling ‘the Literary Spat of the Summer.’  Because of Bari’s article on courage last year among other things I started posting here and joined the Women’s Rights Network. One thing led to another and I ended up joining forces with a group of likeminded people in the industry. The official launch was last week and then Sir Salman Rushdie was stabbed because he dared to exercise his right to freedom of expression. In the aftermath, JK Rowling was targeted with the chilling words –You’re Next. The police are currently investigating. In the meantime the chairperson of the Society of Authors management committee (there is no current president as Philip Pullman resigned after the Kate Clancy twitter spat) decided to tweet a tasteless twitter poll about death threats (basically making light of them). Anyone who knew the history between Harris and Rowling knew it was jibe at Rowling. It was in very poor taste and hugely inappropriate for the chairperson where freedom of expression is one of the Society of Authors core values. Other members of the group agreed with my assessment and decided it was time to act.

Sunday morning I wrote a letter to the Society emphasizing the need to be seen to support freedom of expression as the tweet they had up about Rushdie’s death was not good enough and mentioned they needed to support JK Rowling, maybe using similar wording to the Warner Brothers/Discovery statement. They gave that sort of statement on Monday. The group led by Julia Williams and Julie Bindel continued to work on the open letter. On Tuesday, JK Rowling made an intervention and Rowling mentioned a number of the women authors who had been threatened –Julie Bindel, Rachel Rooney, Amanda Craig, Gillian Philip and Onjali Rauf . The letter was reworked more along the freedom of expression line (channelling Bari and Nellie, I used my name. I confessed to my agent and family afterwards and they have all been hugely supportive. Better to ask forgivenenss than permission), was  published on Julie Bindel’s substack and everything went haywire. There have been op-eds in a number of papers, articles and through it all Joanne Harris has kept tweeting and mocking JK Rowling. The last line of the Times article says it all ‘you can’t help reach the conclusion that deleting Twitter from her(Harris’s) phone would be a useful first step to bringing about a ceasefire.’ https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/joanne-harris-v-jk-rowling-the-literary-spat-of-the-summer-0zrdv76vg

I have put up several tweet threads on twitter explaining my views. It is slightly crazy but principles and standards, including public morality and the not mocking of death threats by the chairperson of the Society of Authors need to be adhered to.

Michelle Styles @MichelleLStyles

I do believe in the principles and welcome them. I also believe those members of the management committee have a special duty to be seen to be upholding those values. A question of public morality and leading by example. I feel v let down by the chairperson and ashamed.1/

Society of Authors @Soc_of_Authors

A response and call for unity. https://t.co/x10bBxZ5ij

Away from this:

Because men know so well what it is to feel like a natural woman, a council in Scotland appointed a man to oversee the explanation of period products to young women. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/08/16/council-accused-mansplaining-menstruation-appointing-man-period/

Warwick University decides to put trigger warning of Far from the Madding Crowd – depicts the cruelty of nature. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/08/14/thomas-hardys-cruel-novel-given-trigger-warning/

Comedian  jerry Sadowitz whose main raison d’etre is to offend his audience cancelled by theatre for doing his show. If you are not offended by the end of the set, you haven’t listening is basically his mantra.  He has been doing this sort of thing for a long time. Then the proper context of the joke, namely calling the Tory party so stupid that they were say certain things is not reported in the media. He also exposed himself on stage. The theatre which says that it champions free speech also said: “We will not associate with content which attacks people’s dignity, and the language used on stage was, in our view, completely unacceptable.”  It is either one or the other. There should be no but after I believe in free speech. https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/jerry-sadowitz-wants-apology-after-pleasance-axes-his-racist-show-22w0b973v

The annual A level results day was yesterday. This is the day that final year high school student (yr 13) find out if they have passed their exams and which university they will be going to. Always a day of great joy for some and absolute despair for others. If you miss the grades required, you can try getting on another course through what is called clearing. There were fewer places in clearing and lower grades this year. Some people will be altering their plans. The US has nothing like this for the sheer drama and anxiety it causes. Next Thursday it is the turn of the 16 year olds to receive their GCSE grades and same deal applies about reaching a certain standard.  Lady Louise Winsor passed  her A levels and will be going to St Andrews (a fabulous uni but I’m biased as my youngest went there) https://www.telegraph.co.uk/royal-family/2022/08/18/lady-louise-windsor-read-english-st-andrews-following-a-level/

The owners of Manchester United (the Glazers) may be prepared to sell Man U for cash. Man U have had a terrible start to the season. Having lost out on Chelsea and being a Man U fan, Sir Jim Ratcliffe might be prepared to buy them. Not Elon Musk though.  https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2022/08/18/sir-jim-ratcliffe-local-lad-made-good-manchester-uniteds-potential/