Robert Kenyon, Reform's candidate for Makerfield. Would you let him in your house?

No aggression from me Galaxy either.

I have general concerns about any rooting through social media to be honest. There is something also about those we choose to cast aside and those we don't. You see it often with famous people - so for example why is Gregg Wallace cancelled and Boy George wasn't. Those decisions always interest me.

Well, if we’re talking about tweets then I think a lot of people would escape a whipping tbh and a further lot would deserve it😁

I don't expect anyone to change their mind. If they do, however, I wouldn't castigate them or see them as hypocritical.

I also don't consider a few people agreeing as a 'pile on'. It's just a few people agreeing, and I don't think anyone has got personal or aggressive.

I don't think it's possible to get through a public life without saying the wrong thing - whether it's because you've been misinterpreted or because you've just said the wrong thing. People are human. We all sometimes express ourselves badly, get caught off guard or are frustrated and make comments we wouldn't make otherwise. To me, that's ok, and the test is whether we continue to make similar comments that suggest, collectively, that we mean what we've said. If someone makes numerous unacceptable remarks, it's fair to assume that they are sympathetic to the sentiments behind them.

I don't use Twitter/X, but have made countless posts on discussion boards over the years. I hate to think of people rooting through them to find something I shouldn't have said, or that can be taken out of context - particularly in order to dismiss or minimise comments made by others. Was it Hamlet who said 'Use every man after his desert and who would 'scape whipping?'

Then why do they keep harping on ?

I haven’t seen any posts on this thread expecting to change the mind of another poster.

Disagreeing … yes!
Expressing a different POV … yes!
Trying to change a mind … no🤷‍♀️

What’s obvious tho, is that we all regard the comments by Robert Kenyon as abhorrent.

Whitewavemark2

Galaxy

I am castigating people who have said I support misogyny and have a warped view. And who get increasingly aggressive because I won't say the words they want me to say.

I don’t think that you need to. Your position is clear. That’s fine as long as you accept it is extreme and that others do not feel the desire or need to follow suit.

Only extreme in some people’s minds.You can’t expect anyone to change their mind because of a pile on.

foxie48

That's the weakness of social media isn't it? We tend to fill in the gaps of understanding because messages are often quite short. It happens to me sometimes even though I do try to write clear concise messages, I'm often accused of saying something that I really haven't thought let alone said!
So coming back to my opener, would you have him in your house, would you vote for him and what do you think it tells you about Reform as a political party?

1 No
2 No
3 I don't live in Makerfield, so I'm not totally familiar with local issues and I don't have a vote. As an outsider, the message it gives me is that Reform doesn't care if its candidates have racist and misogynistic views. I get that this man is local, but he doesn't appear to have come up with any ideas for improving the area (nor has Reform).

That's the weakness of social media isn't it? We tend to fill in the gaps of understanding because messages are often quite short. It happens to me sometimes even though I do try to write clear concise messages, I'm often accused of saying something that I really haven't thought let alone said!
So coming back to my opener, would you have him in your house, would you vote for him and what do you think it tells you about Reform as a political party?

No I don't think they have to believe the same, I don't think I have ever said that, it isn't me who is wanting people to repeat particular phrases to prove something.
I find for example the whole manosphere thing really weird ( no one knew what it meant five minutes ago and now we are all supposed to be deeply fearful), a similar movement happened around adolescence and that faded relatively quickly. I suppose I think people are looking for simple solutions to a problem that has existed well forever really.

Galaxy I'm a feminist but I also believe that people don't have to agree with everyone else who is a feminist, it's a belief that women should have equality but it's not a single doctrine in which all feminists believe exactly the same. I also believe that people can change their mind when more information becomes available, that people sometimes say or do things that they regret and I can accept an apology as real rather than just "convenient" or self serving. I don't expect you to agree with me and I don't believe that I have to agree with you to demonstrate that I am a trust worthy feminist and I think that's where we differ.

Kenyon is a councillor, Wyllow.

He is also a gas engineer. He has a current gas safe registration number for his business which is called Makerfield Heating. He said he worked for British Gas before becoming self-employed. Reviews of hs work are all about installation and servicing of gas boilers and gas heaters. He doesn’t advertise as a general plumber, someone who is going to come around to replace a tap, fix a burst pipe or install a new bathroom. It is all about gas heating.

So why is he being promoted by Reform as the “plucky plumber”? Is it because of Hannah Spencer or could it be that the word "gas" heard rather often would remind people of Farage’s anti-Semitic behaviour at Dulwich College?

I don’t understand why people are going on about Streeting. Whataboutery doesn’t diminish the seriousness of Kenyon’s behaviour nor that it is being glossed over by a party being touted as the next government lead by a man who is dishonest to the core.

I wonder how and why men like Kenyon become such misogynists? In the official video where he is driving Farage around and talking about his life, he talks about his mother who brought up his two siblings and him alone. He fondly points out his grandmother’s house. He doesn’t mention his father or his grandfather. He says that he spends 95% of his time thinking about rugby league.

Is this all about boorish locker room behaviour and jealousy that women are now very successful in sports that were once dominated by men? I know little about rugby league but read that Wigan Warriors have a highly successful professional women's rugby league team that competes in the top-tier Betfred Women's Super League. I wonder what they think about all this.

I'm going back to the O/P.

Robert Kenyon is a disgusting piece of work and all he has said should come out in mainstream newspapers on the right as well as left so people can decide for themselves and it not covered up, we are talking about a future MP not councillor and councillors have had to resign with similar things coming out

is its utterly out of order to let a man like that in to the HoC.

No i don't think you are aggressive at all casdon.

Galaxy

I am castigating people who have said I support misogyny and have a warped view. And who get increasingly aggressive because I won't say the words they want me to say.

I don’t think that you need to. Your position is clear. That’s fine as long as you accept it is extreme and that others do not feel the desire or need to follow suit.

No aggression from me Galaxy, just an observation, that you disregard other peoples perspectives because yours is so purist.

I am castigating people who have said I support misogyny and have a warped view. And who get increasingly aggressive because I won't say the words they want me to say.

Galaxy

Warped and supporting misogyny, I can't imagine why I don't trust peopke on women's rights who say that. It's a mystery.
I had as many know relationships with women in my past, it would probably surprise you to know that those who get cross when I won't say the words they want me to say frighten me more than the homophobes who would call me names.

You censure for Streeting but you have no censure for Moir is a warped/distorted view Galaxy and I am a feminist. That is not just.

I am not cross with you just mystified. I share Casdon's view You castigate others who do not share your extreme views, which is not just

I think you often forget that the position at the extreme regarding women’s rights is yours, Galaxy, and you castigate others who do not share your view, which is not just.

Warped and supporting misogyny, I can't imagine why I don't trust peopke on women's rights who say that. It's a mystery.
I had as many know relationships with women in my past, it would probably surprise you to know that those who get cross when I won't say the words they want me to say frighten me more than the homophobes who would call me names.

Saying you'd "happily push someone under a train" as a gay man, in angry retaliation to Moir who has intentionally published vile, homophobic comments is somewhat metaphorical. She is not contrite and has not apologised unlike Streeting who is the bigger person in that incident.

Galaxy, to censure Streeting because he is a man but NOT censure Moir's vile homophobic comments merely because she is a woman- is not being a good feminist- it's a warped view.

Kenyon's vile, repeated comments are not metaphorical in the same way- they are simply vile. Unlike Streeting there is a pattern to his vile behaviour. Further, he shows no contrition or apology. Neither does Farage or other Reform spokespersons. Simply unacceptable.

Does Streeting have a history of making misogynist comments, does he share them online with other misogynists and use vulgar expressions which frankly I wouldn't even write yet alone speak? The answer to all of those questions is no. Did he respond angrily to a homophobic article written at a time that would have given huge distress to a grieving family and which as a gay man would probably have resonated more with him than some? Yes. Would he have responded in the same way if the article was written by a man rather than a woman? Almost certainly, yes. Was he exhibiting misogyny? No, not in my understanding of the concept.

Ask similar questions of Kenyon's post about CV and you would get very different opposite answers. The man is a serial misogynist who associates with others who are like him and is totally unsuitable to be an MP.

It might just be me - but I find this quite terrifying

Dickens you’re not alone

I find the current ‘manosphere’ behaviour disgusting and frightening. Their need to belittle and control women is pathetic … yet dangerous.

These sad ‘macho’ men are giving off very small di** energy!

Prospective MPs not respective. Why do I never see these mistakes until they are highlighted in pink?