Lawrence Fox

Welcome to gransnet Calcutta. So sorry to read what a tough time you’ve experienced

Fox is indefensible JaneJudge.

I'm sorry to hear that Calcutta, that must heart breaking

Has anyone mentioned that the journalist is young enough to be his daughter yet I really cannot understand how he can be defended

Agreed, SusieQ. So would I.

I'm so sorry to hear that Calcutta. I don't know how you cope with losing both of them like that.

Welcome to Gransnet, and now you've posted, please keep doing so.

There is being angry and there is being downright misogynistic and outrageously obnoxious.

I would take my partner, plus any of his adult sons , to task if they discussed women in this manner in front of me or their partners. Suicide is a huge issue for men to deal with and as mothers, wives, partners, females we need to support them. The media per se is not helping

Hi everyone - this is my first post although I’ve been looking at Gransnet for many years.

I have had to bear two suicides - my 20 year old son in 1989 when I was 38 and my husband of 50+ years died in 2019. I don’t know why my son took his own life. We were very young when we married - 17 and 19 - but we worked really hard and thought we had done ok when ……...For years I thought he died because of our inexperience as parents, but after joining The Compassionate Friends I met older parents whose children had died the same way.

My husband left me a letter and the code for his mobile. He took his own life because he had been coercively controlled by a women he had a child with 20 years ago. I knew about the child but I didn’t know about the cc and that she had extracted some £400K from him over the years (and indirectly from me) and he could take no more. He said he felt under a spell to give money to her, her mother, sister and other 4 children. I even used to buy the child presents at Christmas and birthdays and let him come over for Sunday lunch so he would know his dad - unlike her other children. I reported everything to the police but after about a year they said not enough evidence to bring a case. When questioned under caution with a lawyer she just replied ‘no comment’ to all questions. If only he had told me what was happening I would have gone to the police to get help. I will never understand why Lloyds didn’t pick up on thousands of pounds being sent morning and evening, day after day. In the last 6 months of his life he gave some £65K. I saw this as suspicious activity but Lloyds disagreed. I went to the Financial Ombudsman but they will only investigate if I get probate but I’m just so tired of it all.

You never really get over these events. I have a daughter and two grandchildren, but I live in fear as to what will happen next. We’ve all had counselling - except grandson (29) - but at the end of the day you just have to deal with everything as best you can.

Pragmatist

And now the insults start

Who is insulting whom?

And now the insults start

growstuff

Doodledog Look up how "cucked incel" (a phrase Fox used) is being used by the alt-right. What Fox did was respond to AE's comment, not with a reasoned argument, but be demeaning her sexuality.

I wonder why he doesn't refer to Kate Hoey or Ann Widdecombe in the same way. He also attacked her feminism directly as part of his culture war.

Was that meant for me? I know - I am not a Fox apologist at all.

It's right-wing, misogynist insult used to describe men who empathise with feminism.

Namsnanny

Can you point out where I can read it growstuff?

Just Google it. There's loads.

Pragmatist

The context of her tweets should save him - lets wait and see what Ofcom say

I certainly hope Ofcom has more sense and self-respect!!!

Find out what she actually said in the interview rather than in any tweets.

Can you point out where I can read it growstuff?

Doodledog Look up how "cucked incel" (a phrase Fox used) is being used by the alt-right. What Fox did was respond to AE's comment, not with a reasoned argument, but be demeaning her sexuality.

I wonder why he doesn't refer to Kate Hoey or Ann Widdecombe in the same way. He also attacked her feminism directly as part of his culture war.

The context of her tweets should save him - lets wait and see what Ofcom say

Have the apologists actually read what AE said in the interview?

I agree that nobody can have it both ways. But as I keep saying, the two things are not the same because of the context. What AE said was on Twitter, and cannot be compared to what is said on a TV News channel, which is subject to the rules of OFCOM. Twitter is a cesspit, and all manner of horrible things are said there, but that is because it is unregulated. TV is not.

If the debate had been about 'shaggability' (I know!) then fair enough, but it wasn't. Women should be able to be taken as they come on TV, without their appearance or fanciableness mattering at all. ( I shouldn't have to say it, but so should men!)

Her Twitter comments sound unedifying, but it is not having it both ways to say that they shouldn't follow her to a supposedly professional debate on a regulated TV channel.

If we want Tweets to be comparable to GB News, the alternative is to have GB News unregulated (and other channels would follow suit). Then we would see what people really think, and it would be hideous.

As it stands, GB News is subject to laws that Twitter is not (and this is for the best, IMO) and also subject to public opinion. Nearly 8000 people complained about Fox, so they fell foul of that public opinion, as well as of the OFCOM rules.

Pragmatist

He simply replied in her language but her language is ok and his isn't - double standards as usual

So you think that talking about "cucked incels" is OK, whatever the context? Do you have any idea how the phrase is being used?

Interesting how apologists think free speech applies to a tirade of misogynistic invective from a man to a giggling news host who has previous form for being “controversial “
One woman is murdered by a man in the UK every three days.

Ofcom are pulling the strings here

Ofcom will look at whether the comments made by Fox were in line with rules that broadcasters must ensure that material that may cause offence is justified by the context. There was a lot of context here - maybe the regulator will take this into account, lets see, perhaps I am pre-judging the outcome.

Pragmatist

He simply replied in her language but her language is ok and his isn't - double standards as usual

So why do you think that all the action that has been taken so far is by GB News themselves?

He simply replied in her language but her language is ok and his isn't - double standards as usual

Doodledog

Why does that put a different complexion on things?

If AE's tweets are unacceptable (I have no idea, but that doesn't matter to the case) then she should be judged on that. There is, however, a huge difference between personal tweets and an appearance on a TV channel as a presenter. Her tweets should not be used to excuse an entirely unacceptable and sexist tirade from someone who is being paid to debate something in public. Again, if AE moved the debate onto different territory she should have been called on that and asked to stick to the point - her 'shaggability' should not have come into it.

I am neither excusing or attacking her behaviour, as in the context of Fox's attack, I don't see it as relevant. On a thread about male suicide I would see things very differently. I wouldn't see AE's 'shaggability' as relevant then either, but I may well say that her attitude to male suicide was wrong and her comments insensitive.

I just don't think you can have it both ways. If it is wrong for men to see women in terms of shagability publicly, it is wrong for women too. It has to be equal because that is what women have been fighting for. If she is using that term as an irony, one could argue that, as this appears to have been set up in advance, so can Fox. You cannot censor one without the other That is not to say I don't believe that Fox is an out and out misogynist because I think he probably is but I think that the reporting should have also reflected that AE comments publicly about shagability. Good Lord, what has the world come to!
Whilst my personal view is that both women should have been called to account for trying to take over the suicide rate, that is not what this thread is about.
I certainly don't believe AE should be targeted with threats of violence (I don't like that with male or female) but that is yet another thread.

He’s an arrogant, entitled, opinionated misogynist. Nothing he says or does interests me.

Anniebach

His apology could not have been extended to keep his job .

Your right, the apology stands on it's own merit, and not necessarily as a weasel way to keep his job.
I doubt given the upset it has caused, it would be enough to save his tv appearances, anyway.