Well done Lawrence Fox!

LF most certainly was the victim of a racist attack.

I was told in a lecture at least twenty-five years ago that a white person cannot be discriminated against, only someone from a black or ethnic minority.

He was brilliant I thought. He seem to turn into bit of a 'wild child' following his divorce from Billie Piper. I'm glad he seems to be back on track.

Poor Lawrence Fox, what do you suppose the effects of this "racist abuse" will have on him? Will he be subjected to stop and search? Will he be in danger of the newpapers vilifying him? Or will his white, male, ex -public school mates who run the establishment and more and more of our arts and entertainment industries take care of him?

Why is it acceptable to say ‘you are white’ but not acceptable to say ‘ you are black ‘. ? If discussing racism
I don't understand this question. Either is acceptable, if true.

Agreed, GillT57.

Frankly, I thought that Lawrence Fox was an arrogant arse. He was sneering, looked bored most of the time, and came across as a really unpleasant person. It would be lovely to think that racism isn't behind the persecution of Meghan Markle, but it is very hard to deny that certain of the tabloid press have taken against her. As to the woman in the audience, I was unaware of her background, but fail to see how this disqualifies her from being there. QT certainly seems to be picking some controversial audience members lately, remember that silly man who was bawling and shouting a the Labour MP, telling him that his information that earning more than £80k put a person in the 5% group was completely wrong, despite the information being provided by HMRC?

Why is it acceptable to say ‘you are white’ but not acceptable to say ‘ you are black ‘. ? If discussing racism

Yes, he was a victim of racism. No doubt.

LF a victim? God give me strength.

I have just listened to it. Lawrence Fox was the victim of a racist attack, it’s not accepted as racist because he is white .

Yes, but a white person is not in position to tell a black person how they feel about the comments made (which was the context here),and more than a black person could tell a white one how to feel about comments made to the Irish.

I live in Birmingham and when the IRA blew up the pubs here, there was a lot of anger towards the Irish here which was understandable. A woman I worked with, who wasn't aware that my family are Irish, said to me 'Ive always hated the Irish, they are awful. I never buy Irish produce.' I said 'Actually my family are Irish'. At which point she said 'Oh it's not me it's my husband'. I think that was racism.

Of course white people can understand racism. As my previous post mentioned, what about prejudice towards, for instance, the Irish?

If the woman was a plant then it occurs to me that Fox is an actor and her question and his response may well have been orchestrated by the Beeb to try and make QT more lively.

Doodle in my experience racism and sexism/ misogyny are generally shared by the same people

Yes, in mine too. It's depressing.

True Opal

The QT woman was out to get Fox because of his colour, background and education. Exactly, and SHE had the cheek to call HIM racist! Racism comes from both sides of the colour "divide".

Doodle in my experience racism and sexism/ misogyny are generally shared by the same people

agree with Baggs
While you can present the academic argument against racism until you are blue in the face (sorry, SO racist!) the fact rem ains that racism has existed, does exist and will exist.
Calling it out constantly is not helpful and it is being weaponised against people whose ideas you do not like.
The QT woman was out to get Fox because of his colour, background and education. Bad idea.

He wasn't boorish or disrespectful at all, if anything she came across as arrogant and judgmental.

The ground has shifted constantly throughout this thread. It started as praising LF for 'putting a woman right', and is now about whether he can understand racism.

He didn't 'put her right'. We don't know what she was going to say, as he didn't let her finish her point. In response to his interruption, she said that as a white man he couldn't know how black people felt. Empathy is one thing, but understanding is another.

I don't know how it feels to be wrongly imprisoned (random situation off the top of my head that I am fairly confident won't be insensitive to many readers on here). I can feel very sorry for those who have been through it, and expect that they must be reeling from a massive sense of injustice, but that is based on my own understanding of situations that are nothing like as devastating, but within my own experience (eg not being believed as a child, or getting the blame for something my sister did). It is very obvious that it is not at all the same as living through wrongful imprisonment, but it is as close as I can get, as I have no real experience of it.

That is all that some of us on this thread are saying. I would also add that saying 'well done' to someone who used his position on the panel to simply sweep aside the point that the woman in the audience was trying to make, and who behaved in a boorish and disrespectful manner is a strange thing to do. I certainly don't think that that behaviour is worthy of praise.

Give LF a knighthood .
It`s about time someone spoke up about racism in reverse.

'Audience woman' is Rachel Boyle, a lecturer at Edgehill, Merseyside in, I believe, Diversity Studies, and also a paid commentator for the BBC. This is the reason I stopped watching Question Time some years ago, because it was so obvious the questioners were not straightforward members of the public picked at random, but planted.

Chakrabati, self-appointed guardian of the public morals, and accustomed to fawning adulation for her role in Liberty, does not like her opinions being challenged or being expected to defend them.

excellent post trisher. Especially the point on anti-semitism.

Oh yes he was. He didn't say "I don't think it's racism" he said "It's NOT racism" if you are telling someone they are competely wrong that's accusing them.

I don't agree. It's arguing with them. One's allowed to disagree fundamentally with someone and to say that you think what they're saying is wrong. That's what LF was doing. Because that's what he thinks: he doesn't agree that it is racism that has made Meghan want to go back to Canada.

I've read somewhere that Meghan herself has said the royal family have been sexist and racist towards her. I look forward to hearing exactly how. Until then I'm not convinced.