Can someone with musical talent put a soundtrack to this? Smooth.

https://twitter.com/rogervondajr/status/1395680599311011844

I'll cover this in more detail tomorrow in my
@talkRADIO spot with @Iromg, but for now a few preliminaries.

First, just because I think a writer like Suzanne Moore is quality doesn't mean I agree with everything she says. [1] Second, Suzanne Moore hasn't been cancelled. She has, however, been siloed. The number of people in my mentions who've never heard of her until today is notable. [2]

I have copy to finish today & so will be off for a bit, but in the interval, I'll leave you with this piece from arguably the country's leading jurist, Lord Sumption. [1] dailymail.co.uk/debate/article… I have become increasingly alarmed at the abrogation of the rule of law (particularly its core principle, "treat like cases alike") the government's response to COVID-19 has engendered. [2]

I've been saying this for months now, but the behaviour of police globally over COVID-19 coupled with inconsistent application of draconian restrictions on civil liberties is over the top.

THREAD from a distinguished Australian legal academic. 👇👇👇

https://twitter.com/DrKatyBarnett/status/1303634413150810112

And yes, the new 6-person rule over here is a steaming pile of 💩💩💩. Over it. Sort yourselves out.

People who believe in media effects theory are so touching. Presumably they also believe watching porn produces sex offenders (it doesn’t) and playing video games produces school shooters (they don’t).

https://twitter.com/Tpopularfront/status/1302219981120245763

The thinking behind stopping people reading the paper for a day holds that humans and our social world are highly malleable, our identities susceptible to massive alterations as consequences of tiny, simple interventions. [2]

Looks like I’ll need to provide a Tony Abbott primer in this morning’s chat with @Iromg on @talkRADIO (11am). In the meantime, here’s a bit of #auspol 101 (feat. Abbott) I wrote for @StandpointMag (so with a 🇬🇧 audience in mind) last year. standpointmag.co.uk/issues/may-201… I'll give this a bump so you can read the piece I referred to while talking to @Iromg this morning.

I wonder if this dingbat bird also thinks rape is just “surprise sex” and also “joyous and liberatory”.

https://twitter.com/MrAndyNgo/status/1299824804963315712

Also, Vicky Osterweil was a dude until about five minutes ago.

Social media is very, very weird in its effects on some people.

I used to read articles about this "phenomenon" back in the day and think, "whoever wrote that must know very different - and far more suggestible - people than me." [1] But I've now seen oddities from people I know (or knew) before social media was a twinkle in anyone's eye. These include:

- Stalking (up to and including filming an internet "rival" in a shopping centre and tweeting it everywhere). [2]

For reasons which remain obscure, I’ve finished up on two US election mailing lists, one Democrat & one Republican. Initially I simply binned both sets of emails - I’m not American, and even if I were some sort of partisan, US law forbids foreign donations. [1] Of late, however, I’ve taken to reading the increasingly demented emails. Dear Americans, how do you live with this level of nonsense? If an Australian or British election campaign were run in this way, people would REFUSE to give any of these outfits money [2].

I appear to have acquired several locked-account Twitter-stalkers.

I have nothing against locked accounts following me (& have only ever blocked three people, all of whom evinced stalkerish behaviour). [1] This behaviour included attempts to track me down on other platforms (LinkedIn & AcademiaDOTedu are a stalker's paradise), following me around a venue, and following a friend of mine around a shopping centre, filming him, and then tweeting the film along with threats. [2]

What an absolute shemozzle. Excellent piece by @TimandraHarknes. unherd.com/2020/08/how-of… What strikes me about this cockup is how it parallels a controversy - that built over a decade - when I went to primary & high school. Queensland notoriously used school and district performance when calculating university entrance scores, penalising children at sink schools [2].

In light of a large number of new followers, my un-paywalled writing [1]:

1. Novels: amazon.co.uk/Helen-Dale/e/B…

2. @CapX archive: capx.co/author/helen-d…

3. @Quillette archive: quillette.com/author/helen-d…

4. @LawLiberty archive: lawliberty.org/author/helen-d… More un-paywalled writing [2]:

5. @TheCriticMag archive: thecritic.co.uk/author/helen-d…

6: @StandpointMag archive: standpointmag.co.uk/author/helen-d…

I write for paywalled outlets (like @spectator & @australian), too, but I can't guarantee that the paywalls won't bounce you out.

Genuinely hard choice. Fair.

https://twitter.com/llamper/status/1288214908111388674?s=21

https://t.co/POMTFFHuyF

Adrian Williamson QC isn't on Twitter (sensible chap!), so I can't tag him in this link to my review of his book for @LawLiberty. Reading it gave me superb insight into Labour's Brexit battles, which are both older & more convoluted than the Tory version. lawliberty.org/book-review/ba… Of interest to @michael1crowley, @bencobley, & @francesweetman.

I've now done what a lot of people won't do: read the Russia Report. I recommend you read it too. Yes, there's a bit of axe-grinding from Dominic Grieve (who has a major dose of relevance deprivation syndrome), but a great deal of it is very illuminating indeed. [1] Of note is the section on Russian oligarchs washing their money clean in the City (aided, I'm afraid, by some members of my profession). This has been going on for a while: nearly a decade ago I had a "loadsamoney" Russian try to engage me in the purchase of a grousemoor. [2]

After the last month's endless nonsense, we have bitten the bullet and cancelled the #tvlicence. The 'largely peaceful' BBC can, frankly, do one. We're directing the money to the excellent @triggerpod, hosted by @francisjfoster & @KonstantinKisin. patreon.com/triggerpod This is not something I do lightly. It's hard to shift a Shire Tory who still believes in the Lord Reith model of public broadcasting.

However, the BBC doesn't do that any more, and I expect Reith would power London these days, given how fast he's spinning in his grave.

It's becoming difficult for Tories to stay on Twitter, and I've thought about decamping before I'm pushed. I'm not going to do that yet, but I'm aware that simple disagreement with Wokies can lead to a ban. To that end, a few strategies. [1] Kibitzers and reply guys will be insta-muted, either in the form of a "mute conversation" or (in extremis) muting the individual concerned. [2]

Yes, I signed this. No, I'm not a radical feminist (I'm not any sort of feminist). I'm fed up to the back teeth with people who can't argue for toffee getting their opponents fired/no-platformed/sent to gaol/cautioned/etc because of their feelings.

https://twitter.com/JeanRhys1/status/1279815459072888836

I've also won the Australian equivalent of the Booker Prize (the Miles Franklin Award), and watched as in my year - as well as in several other years - judges, critics, and writers lost their shit over fatuous trivia of one sort or another. [2]

Dear America, your classism is showing. Right, I'm going to put a Chilli video up, because having this at the top of my feed is just depressing.

Keir Starmer executes superb combination handbreak turn/reverse ferret on BLM. Keir had to get off his knee first so Piers's will want to be good.

https://twitter.com/Karlosw11/status/1277596005106618368?s=20

Seldom seen in the wild: a Holodomor & Holocaust denier in the one dingbat package.

[Also, this gets you instamuted.] The etymology of the term; the Ukrainian transliterates into "moriti holodom", implying agency.

https://twitter.com/mykolav1985/status/1276591390764470272?s=21

https://t.co/sic0HE8GJx