(London) Have you ever tried debating with anybody from the left, and if you happen to start to gain the upper hand, they will inject into the conversation a noun which they hope will embarrass you into silence and thus allow them to try and gain the moral high-ground? And those nouns are: Racist, Neo-Con, Tory, War-monger, Zionist, Islamophobe, Banker. (In the UK, a play on words used to call somebody a wanker.)
How many times have you heard a left-wing activist attacking somebody with one of the above? And last week at the Sunday Times Festival of Education, journalist Laurie Penny opined on stage that historian David Starkey was a racist "playing xenophobia for laughs" in his statements about the Rochdale 'grooming' case.
She then tried to follow those wordy jabs with a knock out blow regarding David Starkey's tax status. (Have a look at her body language complete with laugh immediately after she asks him about how much taxes he pays.) What followed showed that old David Starkey isn't somebody you can silence with a left-wing conjecture.
Of course, as only the left can, she then tries to play the victim card, woe is me and all that tack, however, the audience were having none of it and they told her in no certain terms she lost in a game of brinkmanship which she herself started.
How many times have you heard a left-wing activist attacking somebody with one of the above? And last week at the Sunday Times Festival of Education, journalist Laurie Penny opined on stage that historian David Starkey was a racist "playing xenophobia for laughs" in his statements about the Rochdale 'grooming' case.
She then tried to follow those wordy jabs with a knock out blow regarding David Starkey's tax status. (Have a look at her body language complete with laugh immediately after she asks him about how much taxes he pays.) What followed showed that old David Starkey isn't somebody you can silence with a left-wing conjecture.
Of course, as only the left can, she then tries to play the victim card, woe is me and all that tack, however, the audience were having none of it and they told her in no certain terms she lost in a game of brinkmanship which she herself started.
