Sunday 22 April 2018

Owen Jones: A True Rival to Dr North

Man of the People
Ordinarily it's bad manners to derive fun from someone's personal shortcomings, but there is a certain type of in-your-face personality that doesn't quite seem to require observance of such scruples.  High on the list is Dr Richard North, about whom I and several others around these parts have often been unkind.  We suspect there is a textbook clinical pathology at work here, but until he is finally led quietly away his own robust rudeness and strident arrogance in the public realm rather disqualifies him from the protection otherwise afforded by good manners.  IMHO.

Bidding strongly for inclusion on this rather short list is Little Owen Jones.  Just as with Dr North, fairly eloquent writing pours forth from his pen (from which, incidentally, he makes a small fortune - another reason he can be left to fend for himself).  The relevant backstory is this.

Owen "his parents met as members of the Militant Tendency" Jones, a well-regarded Grauniad columnist and firebrand lefty author (read BQ's glowing pen-portrait of his early career) decided back in 2015 to throw in his lot with the apparently foredoomed Corbyn bid for Labour Leadership.  Corbyn's campaign, subsequently to metamorphosize into the baleful Momentum, quickly took on a life of its own with some clever tech-savvy people at the helm.  One of their wheezes was to award campaign brownie-points (Corbie-points?  brownienose points?) to individual registered supporters for activities in furtherance of the mission, e.g. x points for signing up a new supporter, y for raising some money, z for a supportive social-meejah post etc etc.  It was all very competitive, with league-tables and ladders circulated amongst the faithful.   (Almost makes them sound businesslike, doesn't it?  Like the Boy Scouts; or a squash club ... why do we feel it's all rather middle-class?)

You won't be surprised to learn that Little Owen proudly came top of this ladder by a country mile.  Well done, Owen!  Oh, how chuffed he must have been.  But then, Something Went Wrong and, rather as Polly Toynbee fell out with Tony Blair and in due course with Gordon Brown, Owen concluded Jeremy was a wrong'un.  Imagine!  Yes, though candidate Corbyn had triumphed with his invaluable assistance, Owen withdrew his precious support and, compounding matters, proceeded to heap ordure onto the useless Labour leader's head.   Guido has documented all this nicely for us; and it's worth taking a look, to savour the sheer scale of the betrayal.

But then what happened?  Stone me, if Jezza didn't do really well in 2017!  Oh dear oh dear, what is poor Owen to do?  With a decent prospect of there being a genuine lefty government in office, a bright young star like Owen can't just smoulder on the sidelines - he needs to be right in the middle of things, important, influential.  Panic sets in, and Operation Desperate Grovel is launched, for all to enjoy.  A major contribution to the jollity** of the nation.

It's another pathology, of course.  Can we decently laugh out loud at such a public spectacle?

Yes, I think we can.

ND

_______________
**You can perhaps imagine how carefully I have chosen my words throughout this post ...

22 comments:

andrew said...


I wouldn't laugh.

If JC wins in 20/21/22, OJ is in there
If JC loses in 20/21/22, OJ can point out how prescient he was and that he did his best but...

Rather a lot like my e/w bet on Annabale fly in the national but larger and with more payoff.

The points list is not a middle class thing, look at the rankings on WoW or COD etc - these are things that grew from the leader boards on pinball machines in the 70s and earlier - and they are effective.

Peter Whale said...

Owen Jones a middle class brat bearing socialist robes with a dose of narcissism and percunery motivation.A person out of the Peter Hain mold which has a major monetary flaw. The universal boy trot.

Raedwald said...

It's all quite impossible to follow. Is Owen now chummie with Nick Cohen or are they still enemies? And will someone explain what's going on with gay Corbynites and transexuals - are they in favour or what? And what's a 'Turf'?

I do sort of dip in from time to time but they're all throwing horrible waspish barbed girly insults at eachother and I can't work out what's going on. It's like all those post-Tsarist factions like Mensheviks, Borotbists and Agrarian Workers ...

Lord Blagger said...

and the Popular Front for Judea. ...

Then of course there is religion

I was walking across a bridge one day, and I saw a man standing on the edge, about to jump. I ran over and said: "Stop. Don't do it."

"Why shouldn't I?" he asked.

"Well, there's so much to live for!"

"Like what?"

"Are you religious?"

He said, "Yes."

I said, "Me too. Are you Christian or Buddhist?"

"Christian."

"Me too. Are you Catholic or Protestant?"

"Protestant."

"Me too. Are you Episcopalian or Baptist?"

"Baptist."

"Wow. Me too. Are you Baptist Church of God or Baptist Church of the Lord?"

"Baptist Church of God."

"Me too. Are you original Baptist Church of God, or are you Reformed Baptist Church of God?"

"Reformed Baptist Church of God."

"Me too. Are you Reformed Baptist Church of God, Reformation of 1879, or Reformed Baptist Church of God, Reformation of 1915?"

He said: "Reformed Baptist Church of God, Reformation of 1915."

I said: "Die, heretic scum," and pushed him off.





Anonymous said...

Raedwald - a 'terf' is a 'trans-exclusionary radical feminist', and a radical feminist tends to be found (though not exclusively) at the "man-hating lesbian" (MHL) end of the feminist spectrum.

Radical feminists are traditionally keen on 'women-only spaces'. So when a biological guy tells you he identifies as female and therefore has a right to share your women-only space with you, a girl gets a bit miffed. But in the Current Year, such miffery is Hateful Transphobia.

You're now getting interesting things like "trans women" (and to be a women now you don't have to lop off bits or take hormones, just say you identify as one) looking for work in women's refuges - up to now very much a male free zone (and also a target-rich environment for an MHL).

Or there's the idea that "trans women" can compete in women's sports. A guy calling himself Lauren Jeska was women's fell running champion for three years.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4312594/Fell-runner-jailed-trying-murder-athletics-official.html

Given the difference in musculature and upper body strength, these could be a depressing few years for sporty girls.

formertory said...

I said: "Die, heretic scum," and pushed him off.

Ah yes. The wonderful Emo Phillips. Nice one, Blagger.

Lord Blagger said...

So lets see. What happens if such a law is introduced?

Change your "gender", get in as one of the quota.

They haven't thought it through.

Lord Blagger said...

I'd forgotten it was Emo.

Bill Quango MP said...

Excellent ND.

For a gay man he's the least gay man I've ever seen.
No gay man I know would dream of wearing a grey /white check long sleeve. And a pair of dullard jeans.And a v neck jumper.

Even the most in the closet homosexual men dressed better. Certainly as young men.
I've never encountered any homosexual man, of any age, that wanted to dress as their mum would dress them. Even Iain Dale, notoriously plain dressed presenter, has far more style.

And I worked in the airlines and fashion for the twenty years of working life. Where homosexuals were far more highly represented than the actual %.
This BHS affectation must be his 'image' now. One can only hope he is a more fun person than he appears. Gold hotpants under the cords?


dearieme said...

"... the difference in musculature and upper body strength ...": a mere social construct.

Anonymous said...

@ he's the least gay man I've ever seen:

(Taking our cue from ND and choosing words carefully)

But BQ, have you ever closed your eyes to his dress-sense and listened to what he says when being interviewed? @ Raedwald: "horrible waspish barbed girly insults" is spot-on.

And he flares his nostrils and huffs and puffs and interupts everyone else worse than Jon Snow (including, when its him doing the questions, whoever he's interviewing).

E-K said...

Ha ha ha ! Bwah ha ha !! Neeee-ya ha ha ha harrr !!!

CityUnslicker said...

the main thing that tickles me at the moment is the majority of this group of people spend a lot of time calling out Brexiters (brexshitters is their endearing term) for being narrow-minded, egoist, narcissists who are out of touch with the world

Too fucking shey, my dear!

andrew said...

I ate a Waitrose organic corn fed chicken for dinner last night, and found it average at best, being used to proper grown up chickens with giblets from a proper butchers.

A little distance from the world is not a bad thing if it contains a lot of chicken nuggets.

OJ shows some of his distance by following the Matthew Parris style guide.
I only wish his writing was as good.

E-K said...

OJ always looks near to breakdown.

Anonymous said...

I care not a **** about his sexual predilections, he could **** Chihuahuas for all I care.

jones the puker.

What I cannot abide and for the life of me, will never come close to comprehending just why the deadhead cultural Marxists in Broadcasting house even grant him (jones) the time of day.

For God's sakes he's just a puking, mewling child and a face like a slapped wet Monday, he has no clue, no idea of what is to hold forth on a principled standpoint. All he does is, too spout the first thing which enters his mouthpiece and then spends the rest of the time attempting to justify the verbal drivel he has just uttered, by comparison he (Jones) makes Russell Brand seem like an intellectual colossus.

Dear Lord, give me strength.

Lilith said...

Owen Jones thinks men (with penises) with a bit of lippy and a frock are ACTUALLY women and anyone who doesn't agree with him is a TERF or a Transphobe. Women are being expelled from the Labour Party for saying "Women don't have dicks".

andrew said...

H is young, articulate, middle class, does not swear on air, and has a natural hair colour
Give him 10 years and he will be presenting r4 today.

Raedwald said...

I'm still confused. So there's no point to Labour's women-only shortlists for seats as anyone can be a woman? They can't exclude men from standing?

And what do we on the centre-right support? I mean I don't give a fig about chaps dressing in girls underwear - my chum Squatter does it all the time, under his suit, and he's an eight-pint man - but if this trans rights stuff drives a horse and cart through equal opportunities surely it's just not fair?

Does it mean Labour's first woman leader could be Eddie Izzard?

Nick Drew said...

The trans rights thing also drives a coach & horses through the Laws of Natural Justice, viz:

(1) Both sides of the case to be heard
(2) No man to be the judge in his own case

(no woman, neither; nor ... whatever)

Yes, self-identification is a very tricky matter. I can't for the life of me see why the left, in particular, is so keen on this juvenile nonsense. Well, of course, some of them aren't

Lilith said...

That's right Raedwald, the first woman Labour Leader could be Eddie Izzard.
Self ID is a nightmare. Ian Huntley demands to be called Nicola. We have male sex offenders in women's prisons now. And the transactivists are going for kids too eg. Mermaids Charity

I have no problem with men in frocks. Until Owen Jones tells me that they are "literally biological women" who should be allowed into women's refuges/prisons/lesbian spaces and to recruit children. Then my foot goes down. Hard. Which makes me a TERF.

andrew said...


Can I self identify as sober later on tonight?

... no not driving.