[Update at end of post]
The 1970s music scene brought us Prog Rock, then it brought us Punk. And riding the wave of changing testes and times were the alleged “Hip Young Gunslingers” over at the publication which one of my then work colleagues called the New Musical Excuse. Hard as it may be to believe this, one of them was Tony Parsons, now a tedious has-been churning out bigotry to order for the Murdoch press. The other was Julie Burchill.
Ms Burchill is one of those scribes whose name provokes very different reactions, depending on whether one is part of the Pundit Establishment, or one of the rather larger number who are not subject to the code of
Omertà which, to use Nick Davies’ analogy, prevents dog from eating dog. The latter category remain unimpressed by Ms Burchill.
Indeed, many were yet more unimpressed by her after she pitched in to defend the singularly unsavoury (and mildly creepy) Rod Liddle, after one of the latter’s columns, in which he had confessed to not having gone into teaching because he would have wanted to “
shag the kids”, was unearthed. Liddle talked about Year 10, which means children between the ages of 14 and 15. One unimpressed onlooker was Ash Sarkar.
Ms Burchill fired back “
Can you please remind me of the age of the Prophet Mohammed’s first wife?” Got that wrong, eh? The answer is, in fact, 40. This information only riled Ms Burchill further. “
My mistake ya SOW … I meant his wife Aisha. 9? 10? Or was she a jaded old sophisticate of 12?” Finished yet? You jest. “
But Ash … I don’t WORSHIP a paedophile. If Aisha was 9, YOU do. Lecturer, lecture thyself!”
Just to show that she did not object to a pile-on against Ms Sarkar, or indeed anyone defending her, Ms Burchill told her Facebook
followers “
I have to go out now but PLEASE feel free to wade in on Twitter where I started a regular *kerfuffle* with the Islamists over Rod. I'm @BoozeAndFagz - thank you, playmates. and I'll be back tomorrow!”
And having defended Liddle’s Year 10 creepiness, she
then accused anyone dissenting from her view of being the guilty party. “
Could someone please post my statement below on Twitter? Just so the nonces know it wasn't MY choice to leave. And add 'PS - I'll be back!’” Yes, she left Twitter, to the relief of all those who hoped it had happened earlier.
Apparently her publisher prompted Ms Burchill to step away from Twitter, not that you would know by looking at her Facebook page right now as that part of her confession
has been deleted. But it was so very telling that she went in with both feet on Ms Sarkar in defending Liddle’s creepy confession. And yet more telling that part of the establishment closing ranks saw her defended by the likes of Julia Hartley Dooda.
That’s the same Julia Hartley Dooda who wrote back in 2006 “
I’m bored with Muslims. Bored with being told what I can and cannot say about Islam. Bored with Muslims moaning about how they are victims of racism and religious intolerance because someone dares to disagree with them”. Last year she affirmed she was “
Happy to stand by it today”.
Interesting how the Pundit Establishment, especially the Islamophobes, close ranks so readily. Especially when one of them is on the verge of becoming a has-been.
The time of Julie Burchill was for a time, but not for all time.
Just rejoice at that news.
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[UPDATE 1555 hours: Ms Burchill has now begun to realise that hate speech has consequences.
Earlier today, she howled "MY BOOK'S BEEN CANCELLED!" Soon after, she rallied: "I'M GONNA BE A *CAUSE CELEBRE*!" Maybe not. So what had happened to cause her publishers to pull the plug?
"Reason was 'hate speech' to Ash Sarkar and 'crossing a line' - 'There was also a concern that the line might be crossed again during the promotion of the book.' I'LL SAY!" So she admits that she'd misbehave all over again, had her book deal not been pulled.
So not only is Julie Burchill a has-been, she's not going to get her Christmas beer money, either. Sad, really]
Apparently I'm one of the fortunate ones. I have never read anything by either Burchill or the other far right moron.
ReplyDeleteGiven Tim's observations I have to wonder why anybody would.
It pains me massively to see parsomony and burchild have over the years morphed into everything they once claimed to despise. Weren’t they the one who set up an ‘anti establishment camp’ in the middle of the NME offices and flick fagbutts at hippy journos? It’s as bad as lydon endorsing trump and farage while parroting to anyone who’ll listen how ‘he solely’ represents the working class ... I ‘ad meningitis and used to catch rats’ blah blah blah ... less max Miller more max millet... all said from his comfy la mansion ..... depressing bunch of old arseholes.
ReplyDeleteThe self-described 'Queen of Chavs' is exactly that, and of nobody else.
ReplyDeleteIt's funny – in a rather droll sort of way – that punk (at least in terms of its original high priests) seems to have turned out to be an attention-grabbing affectation, rather than a real belief in any form of change.
ReplyDeleteAnd to think that they laughed at the New Romantics.
"MY BOOK'S BEEN CANCELLED!"
ReplyDeleteDon't worry, dearie, I'm sure you can find another one someone can read to you out of.
There's always self-publishing. Get £thousands, get shitfaced.
ReplyDeleteFunnily enuff tho, without punk they’d have been no Wally Weird or Boy Gorge ...
ReplyDeleteWell she has been well read by the public over the years, unlike some.
ReplyDeleteHow many Yes albums have you worn out?
Great blog Tim. She is an insufferable piece of racist filth. Needs to die in a fire. Screaming.
ReplyDelete" tedious has-been churning out bigotry " says who exactly ?
ReplyDelete"she's not going to get her Christmas beer money, either." actually she is .
ReplyDeleteSo ol' Helium Voice Burchill is predictably oozing ever further into a right-wing loon.
ReplyDeleteHer esteemed (lol, jk) partner Tony Parsons has gone down a similar route.
Parson's TV review co-person Allison Pearson is so barking she even contradicts herself from tweet to tweet. Oddly while both Parsons and Pearson whine about woke and the lefty BBC they spent years working there, usually reviewing and loving woke & lefty films.
How on Earth did these three ever get anywhere in the media? Is completely baffling. Perhaps newspapers could bin their celebrity 'columnists'* and use the money to pay for actual journalists?
*Newspaper columnist, the theory: Highly educated journalist who will study an issue and be able to write a researched and sourced piece condensing the complexities into a specific amount of space and still make it informative and perhaps opinionated.
Newspaper columnist, in practice: Wake up, read the Daily Mail, cough up an article about whatever the right dislikes today is really bad - Prince Harry, climate change, lefties, teenagers, The Crown etc. Do no research, happily show off ignorance, get paid enough money to buy giant house. Examples: Richard & Judy on pandemics, Pearson on science, Toby Young on everything. Special points for saying something bigoted then complaining you're being cancelled for free speech. Forget about all the stuff that's actually been cut or censored for offending the politics of the ruling class these past 50 years - which includes a Paul McCartney song and, ummm, an episode of Star Trek.
'...seems to have turned out to be an attention-grabbing affectation' - oh yes. There's always been a bit of a nazi side to punk which was supposed to be mere theatre to offend the easily offended. Looking back, there was probably more to it than that - manufactured ideology rather than grass-roots rebellion amongst the youth, perhaps.
ReplyDeleteWatched an episode of the Tomorrow People ages ago, from 1978 called 'Hitler's Last Secret'. Was wonderfully cheesy (Nicholas Lyndhurst as a Hitler youth officer!) but there's a part at the beginning where one of the teens is going out dressed in a nazi uniform and he gets an angry telling off from one of the older lads. Promoting fascism is not cool, kids.
Jumping to the present we're seeing the same thing (fascism as 'counterculture' via the chan sites & muh freeze speach right-wingers) and seems like many of the former punks grew into grumpy reactionaries pushing the same politics they supposedly railed against. Disappointing they learned nothing over the years.
The tomorrow people were never punk although it must be said Nicholas lyndhurst did rather overdo things constantly quoting goebbels throughout series three of Butterfly’s.
ReplyDeleteIf she falls on hard times she could always write the Glenda Slagg column for Private Eye.
ReplyDeleteNobody would notice the difference.
It rather proves her to be correct doesn't it!
ReplyDeleteThis, from the back of St Etienne's singles album "Too Young To Die":
ReplyDelete"Add to all this the fact that they are the music heard on the edge of sound, and it always was a foregone conclusion that you would surrender to this most mellifluous of menage a trois. Because if God truly is in the details, then St Etienne sit at his right hand holding his slide rule." Bleh. Some good tunes on there, but if I can make any sense of that drivel at all, she seems to implying that St Etienne were pioneering trailblazers, rather than a quite good alt-pop band.
Just another chancer riding on the coattails of the punk phenom (also see Danny Baker, Richard Jobson, Geldof et al). Thick nasty fat coke-addled has been.
ReplyDeleteTold you she would get her "Christmas beer money", prophecy not your best quality.
ReplyDelete