I've never been sure where the line falls between what Piers Morgan really believes, and what he's just saying for attention. But it's instructive to look at how he behaved towards Lady Gaga back in 2016...
... spitting bile on Twitter when she first opened up about her PTSD, then turning contrite after she agreed to an interview with him (the interview ended up not happening). radiotimes.com/tv/documentari…
The only way I can make sense of this pattern of behaviour is that Piers himself doesn't want to be a total outsider, railing at woke celeb culture from the other side of the bubble. The flipside of the aggression is a latent promise to play nice *if* you grant him access.
And, viewed through that lens, it's not surprising that he's most hostile towards those people - mostly women - who don't even acknowledge his hostility.
How many times have you heard Piers say 'Meghan Markle'? And then, how many times have you heard Meghan say 'Piers Morgan'?
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Many journalists still hold to an idea that their job is solely to convey information between places where things happen, and the public; that criticism or analysis on their part would undermine their role in being a neutral means of transmitting information to ordinary people.
But that's not true any more: media has expanded exponentially, reporters are no longer the lone ferryman carrying news across the waters. Anyone with a smartphone has a direct line to the public sphere - and that has huge implications for the newsgathering role of journalists.
Norms around mental health are changing, beyond the platitudes of "it's ok not to be ok".
There's a generation of people in the public eye are making it clear that misery shouldn't be the price they pay for fame or success - and the old media guard can't stand it.
It's just quite interesting to see mental health get pulled through a culture war framing - it's presented as simultaneously weak and ruthlessly exploitative, virtue signalling through trauma.
I think something is changing in culture, that vulnerability can be seen as asserting a form of moral authority - and sure, occasionally that'll be wielded cynically. But the antiwoke, antisnowflake backlash is infinitely more hysterical than those they purport to disdain.
Look, I might be an obnoxious Londoner, but I think the Northern Independence Party presents some real challenges for Labour. There's been a lot of talk about the impact of 'splitting the vote', but I think there's more to it than that...
The gamble made by Starmer is that alienating his party's left will be at least cost neutral.
The assumption is that they have no pull with, or indeed actively put off, the bit of the electorate the leadership is focused on winning back (older voters in the North/Midlands).
The present Labour leadership have been pursuing a 'persuade' rather than 'mobilise' model. Again, there's an embedded assumption that the electorate doesn't really like politics that much, and an engaged membership is actually detrimental to winning people over.
After this week's events in Bristol, journalists have some serious questions to grapple with.
Our work was the primary means through which debunked police claims about broken bones and serious injury were amplified.
The correction, despite the best efforts of some in the media to make noise about it, was nowhere near as loud as the falsehood.
This isn't the first time this has happened.
From Hillsborough to Ian Tomlinson, Jean Charles de Menezes 'jumping the barrier' to false claims of a shootout when Mark Duggan was killed, there's a pattern of police feeding journalists misleading information when they're facing criticism for operational decisions.
In December Julie Burchill accused me of worshipping a paedophile and called me an Islamist.
After legal action, she has apologised in full for these falsehoods, for playing into “Islamophobic tropes” and making “racist and misogynist” comments about my appearance and sex life.
Women of colour in public life are subject to harassment, abuse and threats. Diane Abbott alone accounted for half of all abuse sent to female MPs in 2017.
Unfortunately, this isn't just the work of online trolls. It's facilitated and tacitly encouraged by some in the press.
Back in December, Julie Burchill encouraged people to “wade in” on social media, and referred to me as an Islamist and a nonce. For weeks after, Julie Burchill continued to publish posts on social media about me.
It's Mother's Day, and feelings of love for my mum are mixed up with a deep sense of grief following Sarah Everard and what happened at the vigil last night.
How can my generation still be fighting the same fight as hers? Why are mums still having to mourn their lost daughters?
Sarah Everard just wanted to go home. And so many women just want to be safe at home. Trans women want to be able to live in peace, sex workers want to have their basic rights respected, women of colour want respite from the every day violence of structural racism.
We can't even mourn without facing male violence - last night, from the colleagues of the man who may have killed one of us.
How many mothers were caught up in the violence last night, or were watching the footage worried sick about whether their daughters would come back safe?