So I hear you're still a racist now, David Starkey

[Twonty Gostelow]

He specifically mentioned David Lammy as an example of a respectable black person who "sounds white on the radio".

He also spoke highly of Philip Smith and had a go at Rigsby.

[idunnosomename]

you know that thing where you do a spoonerism on people's names so they don't trend? I daren't do it for Starkey

[Poirots BigGarlickyCorpse]

"Slavery was not genocide, otherwise there wouldn't be so many damn blacks in Africa or in Britain would there?"
- David Starkey, Famous Historian from the loony left Bolshevik Broadcasting Corporation.

https://twitter.com/AyoCaesar/status/1278657405807706117

We don't normally go on about the fact that Roman Catholics, once upon a time, didn't have the vote, and weren't allowed to have their own churches, because we have Catholic Emancipation. And do you know what? We had Catholic Emancipation at pretty much exactly the same time that we got rid of slavery in the 1830s. We don't go on about that.

Look across the Irish Sea, dickface.

[thenoise]

English people's idea of an intelligent person, there. Someone who says stupid things in a posh voice, with a few references to history textbooks thrown in to impress you. See also:Johnson, Mogg, ...

[Sebastian Cobb]

Didn't he get stick for upsetting some relatively outspoken feminist or something a while back on some panel. The woman might now have fell out of favour, my memory is hazy.

[pigamus]

Laurie Penny.

[Dex Sawash]

Not even the most racist drummer in The Beatles

(LJAMC scores an assist for this gag)

[Ray Travez]

A video of him saying these things popped up on Twitter, so I watched a few seconds with the sound off. It was immediately apparent that he's quite, quite mad.

[idunnosomename]

Starkey is of course a major figure regarding the history of the court of Henry VIII and its European relations however, it is my opinion, that all of his analyses suck ass and he should get in grave the useless tory cunt

[TheBrownBottle]

English people's idea of an intelligent person, there. Someone who says stupid things in a posh voice, with a few references to history textbooks thrown in to impress you. See also:Johnson, Mogg, ...

To be fair, Starkey is an intelligent person & well educated.  That doesn't preclude him being a racist shithouse.  I wouldn't include JRM in that, though. 

One thing we can say is that his mastery of the history of Tudor England also doesn't mean he's an expert in anything else - including other aspects of history.  It's odd that he's rolled out to opine on topic after topic - he never gives the impression of knowing his arse from his elbow on most things.  If being an expert on Tudor England is a qualification for pontificating on current affairs (usually with references to said period chucked in), then I look forward to eminent Egyptologists being invited on to QT to give their take on Heathrow's third runway, or Persian Literature scholars being asked on the Daily Politics for their take on badger culling.  It would be interesting to note if any parallels can be drawn with the works of Omar Khayyam and the necessity of mustelidaeicides. 

[Sebastian Cobb]

Like an old money Jordan Peterson then.

Maybe Dave could mix it up and get on the smack.

[TheBrownBottle]

I reckon Starkey would have Peterson nodding in approval at the hierarchical structure of Henry VIII's court, his attempts to create a monoculture, and his steadfastness in applying the Bible as he found convenient.

He might get upset about what Henry VIII did with lobsters, though, given that according to Peterson they're practically human.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddrink/5193572/The-Kitchen-Thinker-Henry-VIII.html

[Sebastian Cobb]

It'd be like history today but with dickhead racists instead of Rob Newman.

[TheBrownBottle]

'See that lobster, that's your mum, that is'

[Buelligan]

To be fair, Starkey is an intelligent person & well educated.  That doesn't preclude him being a racist shithouse.

He's also a sexist shithouse and a fucking misogynistic cunt.

"The only chance I have of being on TV again is if I were very ugly. I think only old, ugly women can get on TV. Like Mary Beard."

The thing about intelligence is that it places a requirement upon one to make wise choices with ones acquired education.  Starkey doesn't do that, his public pronouncements and comportment are those of a knuckle-dragging dolt.  People assume that there must be something more to him because he wears silk ties and speaks like a WASP but as anyone who cares to look may note, there is a surfeit of useless braying moronic cunts like that.  He doesn't even seem to have the fun they do.  He's sour and bitter as bile.

If someone asked me to guess, I'd say that his, in his eyes, humble origins are a source of shame and he's been attacking and denying his own class all his life.  He's a damaged individual, irrationally trying to compensate and soothe his own deluded feelings of inferiority by hurting others.  But what the fuck do I know?  I'm just a cleaner.  And a woman.

https://www.newstatesman.com/culture/tv-radio/2018/07/david-starkey-blames-his-good-looks-his-career-going-down-pan

[touchingcloth]

He's basically Peter Hitchens.

[Jockice]

He's basically Peter Hitchens.

I don't think Hitchens has ever said anything like that. Got to admit I have a soft spot for the old curmudgeon. A lot of his views are quite strange but he seems to at least have put a bit of thought into them unlike just saying things for shock effect. And I prefer him to his brother too.

[Buelligan]

Yep, Hitchens is far less unpleasant.  Even when he's thoroughly unpleasant.  Starkey seems to be powered entirely by hatred for his mother (and by extension, most of humanity and virtually all existence), whilst Hitchens seems powered by wistfulness and clutching for solidity, safety, security over his.

[monkfromhavana]

I don't think Hitchens has ever said anything like that. Got to admit I have a soft spot for the old curmudgeon. A lot of his views are quite strange but he seems to at least have put a bit of thought into them unlike just saying things for shock effect. And I prefer him to his brother too.

This. Also I think there is a touch of humour in Peter Hitchens, especially when he was batting away those Alt-Right types on Twitter.

[Buelligan]

Absolutely, Hitchens is humorous.  Like Matthew Parris, wrong, often, but likable if you can overlook the narrowness.

[touchingcloth]

I don't think Hitchens has ever said anything like that. Got to admit I have a soft spot for the old curmudgeon. A lot of his views are quite strange but he seems to at least have put a bit of thought into them unlike just saying things for shock effect. And I prefer him to his brother too.

I didn't mean they were the same in racism stakes, just in being opinionated old white dudes who hector people with their opinions in a way which tends to make you not care whether they're right or not.

Christopher was an absolute cunt in many ways, but I prefer him to his brother because at his best his writing was brilliant, and his debating style was more rapier than cudgel. The three of them can happily get in grave, Chris for a second time.

[Buelligan]

Agreed[nb]Not about the writing though[/nb] on Christopher, totes a cunt, can't even be bothered to think about him.

[touchingcloth]

I'm not a scholar of him by any means so I won't defend him any more forcefully, but when I have his writing a nod I meant literally the writing rather than the content - what is it you're supposed to do? Judge someone by the colour of their prose rather than the content of their articles? Elegantly expressed toxic opinions, which makes for a dangerous demagogue.

[TheBrownBottle]

He's also a sexist shithouse and a fucking misogynistic cunt.

The thing about intelligence is that it places a requirement upon one to make wise choices with ones acquired education.  Starkey doesn't do that, his public pronouncements and comportment are those of a knuckle-dragging dolt.  People assume that there must be something more to him because he wears silk ties and speaks like a WASP but as anyone who cares to look may note, there is a surfeit of useless braying moronic cunts like that.  He doesn't even seem to have the fun they do.  He's sour and bitter as bile.

If someone asked me to guess, I'd say that his, in his eyes, humble origins are a source of shame and he's been attacking and denying his own class all his life.  He's a damaged individual, irrationally trying to compensate and soothe his own deluded feelings of inferiority by hurting others.  But what the fuck do I know?  I'm just a cleaner.  And a woman.

https://www.newstatesman.com/culture/tv-radio/2018/07/david-starkey-blames-his-good-looks-his-career-going-down-pan

I think that's pretty much nailed on - all of it rings true.  And IIRC, his mother was a cleaner (as was mine); he'd give his right bollock to have a Norman-origin double-barrelled name.

Also agree with all comments on the Hitchens siblings.  Christopher's political proclivities seemed to change based on his audience, which along with his favourite activity ( shooting fish in a barrel by telling ludicrous preachers that Jesus wasn't real) marked him as a right wanker.  Unless, of course, socialism in the US means 'supporting George W Bush'.  In which case the fault is mine.

Edit: I do agree on his stances re the 'Elgin Marbles' and reparations for slavery.  He was still a bit of an arsehole.

[touchingcloth]

I think that's pretty much nailed on - all of it rings true.  And IIRC, his mother was a cleaner (as was mine); he'd give his right bollock to have a Norman-origin double-barrelled name.

Also agree with all comments on the Hitchens siblings.  Christopher's political proclivities seemed to change based on his audience, which along with his favourite activity ( shooting fish in a barrel by telling ludicrous preachers that Jesus wasn't real) marked him as a right wanker.  Unless, of course, socialism in the US means 'supporting George W Bush'.  In which case the fault is mine.

Edit: I do agree on his stances re the 'Elgin Marbles' and reparations for slavery.  He was still a bit of an arsehole.

Part of my very slight soft spot for Hitchens is that I had a very religious upbringing, and while never a true believer I didn't fully admit to myself it was all definitely bollocks until I read The God Delusion in my early twenties - it's not a very good book at all and I'd picked it up thinking that reading the opinions of an atheist would somehow help me overcome my doubts and push me to rather than away from the church, but it was my first experience of someone properly calling bullshit on religion and made me realise my doubts were correct.

That pushed me into atheist sub culture for a year or so, and I'd watch videos of Dawkins and Hitchens in debates shooting fish in a barrel, but it didn't take long to realise that while correct most of the vocal atheists are extremely tedious people, those two very much included. I'd picked up a copy of God Is Not Great in that time, but to this day it's sat on my bookshelf unread.

Besides prose I can't think of much to commend Chris, maybe that time he had the good grace to get himself waterboarded and then admit he was wrong to say it wasn't torture. I don't even think it was his audience which changed his political proclivities, more a desire to go against an opinion he had heard. "Think going to war in Iraq is bad, do you? Well, let me tell you why you're wrong."

[idunnosomename]

Grimesy has really fucked this. He's trying to roll back on "i am still learning the ropes as an interviewer, and should have challenged racist old cunt talking about damned blacks" as the first major exposure his new Koch-Brothers Turning Point channel is it being called blatantly racist

Even though he shared it gushingly yesterday multiple times

He is SO BAD AT IT hahaha the little fascist ball-licker

[Petey Pate]

"Slavery was not genocide, otherwise there wouldn't be so many damn blacks in Africa or in Britain would there?"
- David Starkey, Famous Historian from the loony left Bolshevik Broadcasting Corporation.

https://twitter.com/AyoCaesar/status/1278657405807706117

It would be a pretty stupid remark even if there was no racism in it. Is a genocide only a genocide if there are no survivors? By the same logic the Nazi Holocaust was not genocide, because of the millions of Jews alive today.

[thenoise]

To be fair, Starkey is an intelligent person & well educated.  That doesn't preclude him being a racist shithouse.  I wouldn't include JRM in that, though. 

One thing we can say is that his mastery of the history of Tudor England also doesn't mean he's an expert in anything else - including other aspects of history.  It's odd that he's rolled out to opine on topic after topic - he never gives the impression of knowing his arse from his elbow on most things.  If being an expert on Tudor England is a qualification for pontificating on current affairs (usually with references to said period chucked in), then I look forward to eminent Egyptologists being invited on to QT to give their take on Heathrow's third runway, or Persian Literature scholars being asked on the Daily Politics for their take on badger culling.  It would be interesting to note if any parallels can be drawn with the works of Omar Khayyam and the necessity of mustelidaeicides.

Yes, quite.  His area of interest is very specific, and every modern day political conundrum is seen through the filter of the War of the bloody Roses - just like a hammer sees every problem as a nail. BLM oh isn't that a bit like Elizabeth I persecuting Catholics?  Um, not really buddy, but heaven forbid you read about something other than your pet topic.

[thenoise]

He might get upset about what Henry VIII did with lobsters, though, given that according to Peterson they're practically human.

More of a measure of his contempt for humanity, rather than his respect for lobsters, I fear.

[Sebastian Cobb]

Grimesy has really fucked this. He's trying to roll back on "i am still learning the ropes as an interviewer, and should have challenged racist old cunt talking about damned blacks" as the first major exposure his new Koch-Brothers Turning Point channel is it being called blatantly racist

Even though he shared it gushingly yesterday multiple times

He is SO BAD AT IT hahaha the little fascist ball-licker

Thing is his rolling back is so transparent given the little shit tweeted this.


And now reasoned are calling for ofcom to have a go at radio 4 for saying they're racsts.
https://twitter.com/reasoneduk/status/1278780782522314758?s=21

free speech indeed.