Londoner’s Diary: Laurie Penny bombs The Critic magazine in the pronoun row

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UTHOR Laurie Penny has slammed right-wing magazine The Critic as “crass and childish” for not using her favorite pronouns. A review by Julie Bindel of Penny’s new book Sexual Revolution: Modern Fascism and the Feminist Fightback repeatedly referred to Penny as “her”.

Penny’s publishers, Bloomsbury, requested that Penny be referred to as “them/them”. The spokesperson declined to make the change, instead adding a reference to the request at the bottom of the review.

Penny told us, “It’s rude, and it’s childish – and it shows how fragile the quality of the debate…has become. They want to think of themselves as cool and edgy… it would be nice to see them engage with the actual arguments I present.

The Critic’s editor, Olivia Hartley, told us, “The Critic exists to push back against a selfish and dangerous consensus that finds critical voices unsettling, triggering, insensitive and disrespectful.

“The goal is not provocation or trolling… we would not expect any of our contributors to change their language to accommodate the ever-changing beliefs of others.”

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The Paddington star will carry it all in his memoirs

MR BROWN meets Little, Brown – actor Hugh Bonneville has teamed up with the publisher to write a memoir. “From getting his big break as the third shepherd in the school’s nativity play, to navigating the complex politics of Highclere Castle in Labrador,” the star’s book editors say by Downton Abbey and Paddington, which promises to answer some of life’s big questions: “What’s it like working with Judi Dench and Julia Roberts, or playing Robert De Niro’s right leg, or not not be Gary Oldman, twice?

Craig: Mr Bond, I expect you to die.

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DANIEL CRAIG nearly did what no villain could: kill Bond. “I wanted to kill him a long time ago at Casino Royale for all sorts of reasons,” the former Bond actor confesses. “A purely selfish one, which was that I felt I had to end what I had done on it, and that I would only be satisfied if I could walk away and there was nowhere to go. “, he added to Variety. A bit possessive…

Raab finds himself in a Byzantine entanglement

DOMINIC RAAB is in the bad books of the famous historian Peter Frankopan. When we asked Frankopan, historian of the Byzantine Empire and author of bestseller The Silk Roads, about an online claim that the Byzantines were largely ignored, he agreed. Frankopan revealed: “I used to get a Google alert whenever the word ‘Byzantine’ was used in Parliament by MPs, but I had to turn it off because it rang so often. Dominic Raab is particularly guilty of using the word “Byzantine” to describe overly elaborate tax codes and legislation.

Frankopan continued, “It tells me that he doesn’t know much about the Byzantine Empire; the fact that the empire has survived over 1000 years suggests that it may have gotten it pretty right, rather than being a lazy synonym for superficiality, obfuscation, or a senseless disregard for foreign affairs – something no one would accuse Raab of, probably.”

Remedial course for the Deputy Prime Minister.

Rayner’s Not So Candid Camera Moments With Keir

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As Labor leader and MP, Keir Starmer and Angela Rayner see each other a lot, but not as much as they could. Rayner told a live taping of Matt Forde’s political party podcast last night that she often attends remote Zoom shadow cabinet meetings with her camera off, due to a trauma-induced cataract from a childhood accident that makes viewing a screen painful. When Forde asked if Starmer ever asked him to put the camera on, Rayner said no. “I really don’t see Keir saying, ‘I want to see you more, Angela,'” she replied dryly.

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BORIS JOHNSON is in trouble for hosting an alleged birthday cake party in Downing Street in June 2020. Just days ago his sister Rachel said on LBC: ‘On his birthday it was me, my three brothers, Carrie and Wilf. It was six people. What party was she talking about? Maybe her cake party invitation got lost in the message.

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SIR Ian McKellen has invited Sue Gray to take center stage… at the Park Theater in Finsbury. The actor suggested on the Today show this morning that the official investigating No 10’s alleged parties join the celebrity cast of the improvised play on the Whodunnit 2 murder mystery: “She could be a really good solution to problems.”

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