Lawrence Fox

I watched the relevant bit of this broadcast and was also struck by the unwillingness of the women on the programme to listen to what was being said. We do not make women's lives better by turning a blind eye to the problems that men face. The suicide stats are awful and shocking. The fact that the women on the programme were doing the raised eyebrow/body language that indicated contempt towards the speaker was unacceptable.

I am all for women aiming for equality, and also for dealing with sexual harassment, but we cannot ignore that men often have difficult lives. Sometimes I worry about my GSs - about how men are put down and seen as a threat until proven otherwise. It must be so hard to bring them up to me decent citizens, and also to maintain their self-esteem.

It is true that most men are the perpetrators of crime and violence, but it is also true that most men are not.

There had to be a moment in time when women stood up for themselves (and still should do) and part of that involved pointing out the inequalities and the entrenched attitudes that were held by society and many men. We are getting past that now and should have the decency to think about those things that adversely impinge on men.

Men making derogatory comments about women and women doing the same about men - they come from the same stable... offensive (deliberately) and sexist, arrogant and (usually) self-regarding.

Fox does appear to want to push the boundaries.

It it's true that the biggest killer of men under 50 is suicide, then it really is something that needs investigating - and to be so dismissive of the idea of a minister-for-men is, to say the least, rather insulting. It may or may not be a good idea - but each of those suicides will leave a grieving family in its wake.

I'm not sure Fox is the best person to champion the cause, though.

Watching the BBC Politics Live discussion that I understand triggered this outburst, I do understand why men would feel annoyed at the way it went. I'm a woman and I felt annoyed.

Comedian Geoff Norcott was trying to raise issues that affect men's health particularly the high levels of suicide of men under the age of 50 while Ava Santini Evans and Baroness Frances O'Grady both tried to divert the discussion to women's issues.

Here at 37:00 minutes if you want to watch:

www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m001qwx4/politics-live-25092023

That doesn't excuse Fox's appalling behaviour in the slightest (or that of Dan Wootton who sat smirking in the studio).

I didn't watch the whole exchange between Wootton and Fox.

Did Fox say similar things about O'Grady?

Sex isn’t the end all and B all, suicide is

I agree what he said was appalling but whatever happened to free speech in this country. Unless he used a swear word then giving publicity to this is plain silly. By the way no one seems to be reporting what the female in question said about male suicide.