Lavatory, Vagina Steaming, Obsessive Men, T-shirt Nonsense, John Humprhys
Letters
Sir, When I attended Wales v England matches at Cardiff Arms Park in the 1970s, the problem of spectators leaving their seats to go to bars and lavatories did not exist – at least, not in the part of the ground where there were no seats. For those Welsh spectators who needed to lose some of the liquid they had been imbibing since opening time, the problem was solved by moving quietly behind a group of England supporters. The first you knew about this was a warm trickle down the back of your trouser legs. And no one missed seeing any of the game. (which Wales always won)
(Dr Tim
Bayliss-Smith, The Times, 2019) |
Rugby Player
Slyvain Kinsberger (1855-1935)
Photo Credit: World Rugby Museum [CC BY-NC]
|
Sir, When I attended Wales v England matches at Cardiff Arms Park in the 1970s, the problem of spectators leaving their seats to go to bars and lavatories did not exist – at least, not in the part of the ground where there were no seats. For those Welsh spectators who needed to lose some of the liquid they had been imbibing since opening time, the problem was solved by moving quietly behind a group of England supporters. The first you knew about this was a warm trickle down the back of your trouser legs. And no one missed seeing any of the game. (which Wales always won)
Health
 |
The Tree of Knowledge, unknown artist
Photo Credit: The Higgins Art Gallery & Museum, Bedford
[CC BY-NC] |
“Vaginas do not need steaming. You can get terrible burns and there are no health benefits. Rubbing your body in turmeric is not going to make you healthy. Celebrities are giving wrong information and speaking outside their areas of expertise. I can’t believe it’s OK that you go on social media and sell yourself as an expert. They’re making money out of people and giving incorrect health advice…People believe it because they want to believe it. Everyone wants a quick fix. With health there is no quick fix.
…They are not regulated. Doctors are. If they’re making money out of people, there has to be some kind of liability somewhere. The whole world is celebrity mad and all these teenagers are fascinated by women with fake lips and designer clothes, and I thought, “Why is everyone interested in aesthetics? Why is no one interested in knowledge?”
(The Times, 2019)
You are manna from heaven, Dr Mitra, and a voice crying in the wilderness.
…Men, like women, are negotiating a world of selfie obsession and Instagram’s survival-of-the-fittest culture. And to get the look, men are going beyond a few extra sit-ups. They are being sold 12-week body-transformation programmes; teenagers are bulk-buying “brotein” shakes. Others are embracing the all-meat diet advocated by the right-wing academic Jordan Peterson. But they are also using steroids and performance-enhancing drugs.
…At his Harley Street clinic Dr Tijion Esho says “jawline augmentation…is particularly sought after. Patients arrive clutching photographs of their lantern-jawed idols. They are also altering their bodies through growth hormones and abdominal etching, where fat is sucked out to give the muscles stronger definition.
…At Dr MediSpa in Essex, the clinic’s chief medical officer, Dr Munir Somji, has seen an 80% increase in surgical procedures on men in the past three years. There has been a 185% increase in non-surgical procedures. Popular treatments include hair restoration (£6,000), liposuction (£6,000-£11,000) and body contouring (£5,000). Men craving a manly, hirsute look book beard transplants (£6,000); others sign up for biceps and calf implants (£5,000) to look buff.
(The Sunday Times, 2019)
Statement T–shirts.
…Here in the UK it’s more of the same. The statement item of the moment is, literally a statement: a rhetorically inclined T-shirt – its aim perhaps to brag, perhaps to pun, perhaps to make a political, often feminist statement, perhaps (and this is particularly zeitgeist) all three.
On the Dior catwalk season after season Maria Grazia Chiuri conjures up a new iteration, as punchy as it is posh, always with a feminist angle. For the new season it’s SISTERHOOD IS GLOBAL, the title of a 1980s feminist anthology (£580, dior.com).
Whenever I wear an earlier iteration – WE SHOULD ALL BE FEMINISTS – one or two young women will come up to tell me how much they like it (It’s still available to buy, again for £580. Opinions can be expensive. There are non-designer versions on the internet from £8.99)
…I think that’s why some people get cross about slogan tees. The rent-a-quote vibe. The sciolism. The fact that, when it comes to politicisation wearing something doesn’t make it true.
…Perhaps that’s why a friend begged me not to write this piece. “We don’t want to encourage even more women to wear them,” she said, rolling her eyes. Perhaps it’s because some (a lot of) are so cheesy. I hear her – I used to be a naysayer – but I rather like them now…
My best-loved example – DO LESS…
Have I got this right? You buy a designer T shirt with some
writing on it and it could cost you £580? Or you can buy a T shirt with the
same writing on it, but without a label, for £8.99?
Add in a few words like zeitgeist, iteration and sciolism and Bob’s your uncle. You have an
article describing utter madness in a wonderfully pretentious manner.
People
John Humphrys, 76, has left Radio 4’s Today programme after 32 years.
…
What a
brilliant broadcaster this irritating old bugger is – mind you, that sentence
alone is enough to wind up the modern thought police, who can find fault in any
statement that refers to age or gender in less than the politically correct
terminology. The same people who complained about the joke which won the prize
for best gag at the Edinburgh Festival this year because it contained the word
“florets”, implying the comic suffered from Tourette’s syndrome. Or the
sensitive souls who complained about Gary Lineker’s feeble mockery of his
follicly challenged co-presenters on Match of the Day – which, by the
way, the bald blokes in question found extremely funny.
… Humphrys attracted ire for making a throwaway remark about “not punching” David Davis, when the latter ended their conversation by remarking it might be the last time they would “tango” together. This referred to the dancer in the World Tango championships who was disqualified after witnesses saw him punching his wife. Cue outrage from charities who said the men were condoning domestic abuse. Really?
… In some quarters, Humphrys’ departure can’t come soon enough – several Guardian columnists celebrated in print and the political man of the moment Dominic Cummings remarked that the Today programme was “obsolete” anyway.
… Today is the reliable companion of the silent people in Britain… People who are intelligent and want to know what’s going on in other countries. People who eat their toast and still slather on butter. Who don’t grind up flax seed on their morning fruit. People who wear elasticated trousers indoors. People who don’t use the term LGBT+ in conversation in case they get the initials in the wrong order and cause offence.
The other week, Humphrys attracted ire from feminists for openly sneering at Jessica Tye, a spokeswoman from the Advertising Standards Association, who attempted to justify the banning of a couple of advertisements for cream cheese and a new VW car on the grounds of gender stereotyping. Humphrys dared to suggest that women might like caring for babies.
… But if the BBC needs to reflect the state of the nation, then it needs to keep Mr Humphrys in the studio until he snuffs it.
Our state broadcaster can’t banish white old men because they are a bit embarrassing and not on-trend. In a democracy, we need all shades of opinion, people who are a bit edgy, people whose humour and values were formed half a century ago, not at Glastonbury or during the Poll Tax riots or as a result of signing up to MeToo.
… To complain, as some have done, that Humphrys “was” a brilliant broadcaster “but times have changed” is hogwash. Humphrys is still alive and so is his generation, with all their “outmoded” thinking, minor prejudices and politically incorrect thought processes.
There’s not much difference between the UK and China if the thought police continue to cleanse the airways of anything they find offensive.
(Janet Street-Porter, The i, 2019)
*Full marks for Janet Street-Porter’s piece on John Humphrys… One can also add, he is the gentlest when interviewing people who have had difficult experiences.
(David Lloyd, Worcester, The i, 2019)
You are manna from heaven, Dr Mitra, and a voice crying in the wilderness.
Men and Plastic Surgery
 |
Hercules, unknown artist.
Photo Credit: Lytham Art Collection of Fylde Borough Council
[CC BY-NC]
|
…The look
men are after is changing. No one wants to be a well-groomed metrosexual any
more; they want to emulate hunky alpha men.
…Men, like women, are negotiating a world of selfie obsession and Instagram’s survival-of-the-fittest culture. And to get the look, men are going beyond a few extra sit-ups. They are being sold 12-week body-transformation programmes; teenagers are bulk-buying “brotein” shakes. Others are embracing the all-meat diet advocated by the right-wing academic Jordan Peterson. But they are also using steroids and performance-enhancing drugs.
…At his Harley Street clinic Dr Tijion Esho says “jawline augmentation…is particularly sought after. Patients arrive clutching photographs of their lantern-jawed idols. They are also altering their bodies through growth hormones and abdominal etching, where fat is sucked out to give the muscles stronger definition.
…At Dr MediSpa in Essex, the clinic’s chief medical officer, Dr Munir Somji, has seen an 80% increase in surgical procedures on men in the past three years. There has been a 185% increase in non-surgical procedures. Popular treatments include hair restoration (£6,000), liposuction (£6,000-£11,000) and body contouring (£5,000). Men craving a manly, hirsute look book beard transplants (£6,000); others sign up for biceps and calf implants (£5,000) to look buff.
(The Sunday Times, 2019)
How bizarre. So to
become a hunky, alpha male you have to have a body-transformation programme,
drink “brotein” shakes, use steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs. Not
only that. You need both surgery on your jaw and to gorge on growth hormones.
Further, surgery on your hair, lips and body hair is required. Almost there,
but don’t forget those biceps and calves.
And now:
… Yours is the earth
and everything that’s in it,
And - which is more –
you’ll be a Man, my son!
PS Has there been a
large increase in bank robberies during the last three years?
Statement T–shirts.
…Here in the UK it’s more of the same. The statement item of the moment is, literally a statement: a rhetorically inclined T-shirt – its aim perhaps to brag, perhaps to pun, perhaps to make a political, often feminist statement, perhaps (and this is particularly zeitgeist) all three.
On the Dior catwalk season after season Maria Grazia Chiuri conjures up a new iteration, as punchy as it is posh, always with a feminist angle. For the new season it’s SISTERHOOD IS GLOBAL, the title of a 1980s feminist anthology (£580, dior.com).
Whenever I wear an earlier iteration – WE SHOULD ALL BE FEMINISTS – one or two young women will come up to tell me how much they like it (It’s still available to buy, again for £580. Opinions can be expensive. There are non-designer versions on the internet from £8.99)
…I think that’s why some people get cross about slogan tees. The rent-a-quote vibe. The sciolism. The fact that, when it comes to politicisation wearing something doesn’t make it true.
…Perhaps that’s why a friend begged me not to write this piece. “We don’t want to encourage even more women to wear them,” she said, rolling her eyes. Perhaps it’s because some (a lot of) are so cheesy. I hear her – I used to be a naysayer – but I rather like them now…
My best-loved example – DO LESS…
(Anna
Murphy, The Times, 2019)
Add in a few words like zeitgeist, iteration and sciolism and Bob’s your uncle. You have an
article describing utter madness in a wonderfully pretentious manner.
People
John Humphrys, 76, has left Radio 4’s Today programme after 32 years.
…
 |
Jack Russell Terrier, Charles Towne (1763-1840)
Photo Credit: Walker Art Gallery [CC BY-NC]
|
… Humphrys attracted ire for making a throwaway remark about “not punching” David Davis, when the latter ended their conversation by remarking it might be the last time they would “tango” together. This referred to the dancer in the World Tango championships who was disqualified after witnesses saw him punching his wife. Cue outrage from charities who said the men were condoning domestic abuse. Really?
… In some quarters, Humphrys’ departure can’t come soon enough – several Guardian columnists celebrated in print and the political man of the moment Dominic Cummings remarked that the Today programme was “obsolete” anyway.
… Today is the reliable companion of the silent people in Britain… People who are intelligent and want to know what’s going on in other countries. People who eat their toast and still slather on butter. Who don’t grind up flax seed on their morning fruit. People who wear elasticated trousers indoors. People who don’t use the term LGBT+ in conversation in case they get the initials in the wrong order and cause offence.
The other week, Humphrys attracted ire from feminists for openly sneering at Jessica Tye, a spokeswoman from the Advertising Standards Association, who attempted to justify the banning of a couple of advertisements for cream cheese and a new VW car on the grounds of gender stereotyping. Humphrys dared to suggest that women might like caring for babies.
… But if the BBC needs to reflect the state of the nation, then it needs to keep Mr Humphrys in the studio until he snuffs it.
Our state broadcaster can’t banish white old men because they are a bit embarrassing and not on-trend. In a democracy, we need all shades of opinion, people who are a bit edgy, people whose humour and values were formed half a century ago, not at Glastonbury or during the Poll Tax riots or as a result of signing up to MeToo.
… To complain, as some have done, that Humphrys “was” a brilliant broadcaster “but times have changed” is hogwash. Humphrys is still alive and so is his generation, with all their “outmoded” thinking, minor prejudices and politically incorrect thought processes.
There’s not much difference between the UK and China if the thought police continue to cleanse the airways of anything they find offensive.
(Janet Street-Porter, The i, 2019)
A tenacious, sceptical and forthright interviewer who is not
afraid to openly question figures of authority on their actions, views and
beliefs. A true critical commentator!
*Full marks for Janet Street-Porter’s piece on John Humphrys… One can also add, he is the gentlest when interviewing people who have had difficult experiences.
(David Lloyd, Worcester, The i, 2019)
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