Patrons are reminded that this rickety barge is kept afloat by the kindness of strangers. If you’d like to help it remain buoyant for a while longer, there’s an orange button below with which to monetise any love for this low establishment. Debit and credit cards are of course accepted. For those wishing to express their love regularly, there’s a monthly subscription option top left. Additionally, any Amazon shopping done via this link or the search widget top right, or for Amazon US via this link, results in a small fee for your host at no extra cost to you.
For newcomers wishing to know more about what’s been going on here for the last eight years or so, the reheated series and greatest hits are good places to start. There you’ll find wonderfully neurotic tips on interracial dating; a not-at-all-racist Guardian columnist complaining that living among white people is a “psychic burden” and worse than being mugged; and a Marxoid academic attempting to make you feel guilty for reading to your children and thereby causing “unfair disadvantage.” You’ll also find some unconvincing nostalgia for collective parenting in an Islington squat, some bizarre misremembering of a popular 70s sitcom, and a terribly radical artist who’s subverting “oppressive discourses” by, er, amplifying his trousers.
If you can, do take a moment to poke through the discussion threads. The posts are intended as starting points, not full stops, and the comments are where much of the good stuff is waiting to be found. And do please join in.
Again, thanks for the support, the comments, and the company.
Tip jar hit. Thanks for lots of laughs.
Posted by: jen | November 01, 2015 at 20:51
Starting my Christmas shopping via your Amazon thingie. Keep up the good work, David.
Posted by: Rafi | November 01, 2015 at 21:09
a terribly radical artist who’s subverting “oppressive discourses” by, er, amplifying his trousers.
How did I miss that one? F*cking hell. Consider your tip jar hit, sir.
Posted by: sH2 | November 01, 2015 at 21:58
Bought a fridge for my son's dorm today via your Amazon link.
Posted by: R. Sherman | November 02, 2015 at 01:29
OK. The Kraftwerk Kids got you over the line this time.
Posted by: JL | November 02, 2015 at 05:06
Thanks for the education in incredibly bad performance art. Have a nice red on me.
Posted by: J | November 02, 2015 at 08:23
Love monetized.
Posted by: [+] | November 02, 2015 at 08:52
Thanks to all who’ve chipped in so far, or subscribed, or done shopping via Amazon. It’s much appreciated and does make a difference to how much time I can spend here gassing with you lot.
In other news, I gather it’s been foggy in London.
I think this store is promising more than it can deliver.
Oh, and Laurie Penny’s ongoing theatre of personal complication reaches level two.
Posted by: David | November 02, 2015 at 09:05
Meanwhile in San Francisco, a whole new level of piety has been discovered:
It turns out that calling a thief a “criminal” is a microaggression and therefore bad, according to Malkia Cyril. Apparently, we must be more empathetic and respectful to those who steal our stuff.
Posted by: David | November 02, 2015 at 09:24
Gladly.
Posted by: Em | November 02, 2015 at 11:50
I wondered whether as an existing subscriber I ought to consider your panhandling a microaggression.....
Nah.
Keep up the good work. Going full reductio ad absurdum on her Bay Area batshit-craziness, I wonder how Malkia Cyril copes with the knowledge that she possesses an immune system?
Posted by: Lancastrian Oik | November 02, 2015 at 12:03
I wondered whether as an existing subscriber…
Please make your way to the VIP lounge, behind the purple rope and burly henchlesbians. Do help yourself to coke and hookers.
Posted by: David | November 02, 2015 at 12:09
I found this on Laurie Penny's Twitter feed. She didn't write this, but someone else tweeted it to her. Just putting it out there. Not making fun of it. In fact, I'm not even sure there is any truth to it. Just using it to show how we've encouraged an entire generation to obsess with its gender.
"I have a friend that just attempted suicide because their workplace refused to honor they/them pronouns."
Posted by: Dom | November 02, 2015 at 13:36
Do help yourself to . . . hookers.
Wait. I told my wife it was "hookahs."
Posted by: R. Sherman | November 02, 2015 at 14:13
Apparently, we must be more empathetic and respectful to those who steal our stuff.
Did she publish her home address and the times she'll be out?
Also, tipped.
Posted by: Anna | November 02, 2015 at 15:01
*hits tip jar*
How much for the henchlesbians?
Posted by: Jo | November 02, 2015 at 15:10
Done and done. Well worth the boodle.
Although it would be nice to have prizes, perhaps the chance to smack Penny Red right in the mouth.
Ah well, one can dream.
Posted by: mojo | November 02, 2015 at 15:46
"I have a friend that just attempted suicide because their workplace refused to honor they/them pronouns."
Incompetent even at that, eh?
Posted by: mojo | November 02, 2015 at 15:50
Thanks, David. Have a bottle of something on me.
Posted by: Sam | November 02, 2015 at 18:29
Three stone coming your way. No don't you boys go spending it all in one place.
Posted by: wtp | November 02, 2015 at 18:32
Climate Change is Sexist.
The circle is complete.
Posted by: Farnsworth M Muldoon | November 02, 2015 at 18:43
a terribly radical artist who’s subverting “oppressive discourses” by, er, amplifying his trousers.
LOL. Tipped.
Posted by: [a] | November 02, 2015 at 18:46
subverting “oppressive discourses” by, er, amplifying his trousers.
Of course I was into his art before all the sell-out commercial stuff like amplified trousers. Back when he was edgier, totally underground and wrapping eggplants with string.
Posted by: David | November 02, 2015 at 18:52
I wonder how Malkia Cyril copes with the knowledge that she possesses an immune system?
David beat me to that one . . . and as far as the Bay Area having to deal with debacles of hipsters, a friend of mine has stated that hipsters are a demonstration of the existence of the autonomic nervous system; when you've got someone who is clearly too stupid to remember to breathe, then something has to be keeping things going . . .
Posted by: Hal | November 02, 2015 at 22:38
"Climate Change is Sexist."
"World ends tomorrow - Women, minorities hardest hit."
Posted by: JL | November 03, 2015 at 03:01
Amplifying trousers is stupid. We all know that good performance art must be done naked.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=11538616
Oh dear. It's part of SPILL Festival of Performance Art. Oh dear.
Posted by: Chester Draws | November 03, 2015 at 03:47
Tip jar hit, David. Thank you, not least for your prose style.
Posted by: Theophrastus | November 03, 2015 at 08:25
"We all know that good performance art must be done naked."
Priceless:
"The piece investigates questions relating to temporality, the body in site, representation and gender through consideration of the use of the body in performance as an activist practice.
"The work interrogates the boundaries, access points and interaction between 'interior' and 'exterior' categories. Physical action dually presents the female body within a process of claiming space, whilst attempting to exist itself as deterritorialised space."
Jackson had previously made headlines after calling for donations of menstrual blood for an art project.
Posted by: JL | November 03, 2015 at 08:39
Commentary on the fiasco called Kids Company.
Hmmm. A question that has just come to mind . . . Based on what I've been reading, has anyone thought to ask Camila Batmanghelidjh if she through the organization was supposed to actually be instead The Kidd's Company?
Posted by: Hal | November 03, 2015 at 09:03
Laurie Penny’s ongoing theatre of personal complication reaches level two.
Is she trans this week? It's hard to keep up.
*hits tip jar*
Posted by: sk60 | November 03, 2015 at 09:15
Is she trans this week? It’s hard to keep up.
Sadly, no. At least not this week. From what I can make out, she’s currently “genderqueer” and a tiny bit bisexual.
The point, however, is that everyone paid attention and noticed just how complicated and fascinating Laurie is. And as this is at least the fourth time she’s publicly ‘come out’ as something or other, pausing only for applause and to check what’s in fashion, I’m sure there’ll be another update shortly.
Posted by: David | November 03, 2015 at 09:27
I stroked the tip jar because I bloody love it.
Posted by: Si | November 03, 2015 at 11:22
Toynbee Studios?
Not only is the circle complete, we're about to do another lap.
Posted by: Lancastrian Oik | November 03, 2015 at 11:37
The point, however, is that everyone paid attention and noticed just how complicated and fascinating Laurie is.
Had to be done.
Posted by: John D | November 03, 2015 at 11:38
For some reason, the word shampoo springs to mind.
Posted by: David | November 03, 2015 at 11:47
Also, bogies.
Posted by: David | November 03, 2015 at 11:49
"Sales end today."
https://twitter.com/DrKatyShaw/status/661485670368722944
Posted by: Joan | November 03, 2015 at 12:43
That picture of foggy London reminds me of a (doubtless apocryphal) English newspaper headline:
'Fog in the Channel: Continent isolated'.
Posted by: Theophrastus | November 03, 2015 at 18:41
Great blog, David. *tip jar hit*
Posted by: L | November 03, 2015 at 22:00
Many thanks for great blog, David.
Have a nice bottle of red on me.
Posted by: RY | November 03, 2015 at 22:41
I really enjoy this blog, and if I had money, I'd send some. I used to send money to conservative sites regularly, alas those days (and the money) are no longer dawning.
Posted by: BeckoningChasm | November 04, 2015 at 00:30
"Is she trans this week? It’s hard to keep up."
Trans-rational every week.
Posted by: pst314 | November 04, 2015 at 02:16
A transrational progressive?
Posted by: pst314 | November 04, 2015 at 02:18
Tipped.
One of my favourite blogs. I've been reading for years.
Posted by: As | November 04, 2015 at 12:14
Long time lurker. First time tipper.
Keep up the good work, Mr T.
Posted by: N | November 04, 2015 at 21:56
Danny Katz, milquetoast columnist for The Age, races a supermarket checkout chick as he uses the self-serve checkout.
http://www.theage.com.au/comment/rogue-barcodes-spoil-cheerless-checkout-sport-20151029-gkljfe.html
He "wins", and then sneeringly looks at this low-paid, hard-working girl as he leaves, wagering to himself that she and her profession will soon be redundant. And he works for The Age. Oh the irony.
No one sneers and mocks the under trodden and the lowly like the Left does.
Any hubris that I could wish upon him would never be violent or painful enough.
Posted by: briltonbrilton | November 06, 2015 at 05:08
Danny Katz, milquetoast columnist for The Age, races a supermarket checkout chick as he uses the self-serve checkout.
Posted by: Hal | November 06, 2015 at 06:32
I tried to make a donation, but my Norwegian Visa was rejected.
I'll mail you a couple of lutefisk.
Posted by: Man_With_Three_Buttocks | November 06, 2015 at 11:27
You do good work. Tip jar hit.
Posted by: B | November 06, 2015 at 11:48
If I tip, will you support a call for the nationalization of the Steve 2 industry? I'm worried I haven't been receiving the trans-cat and Limahl joke quantities I had grown to expect.
Posted by: Sporkatus | November 06, 2015 at 17:45
"amplifying his trousers"
I wonder what would be the response of Lord Vetinari, Patrician of Ankh-Morpork. Something entertaining, I'm sure.
Posted by: pst314 | November 06, 2015 at 18:01
I've been lurking for ages and just wanted to say thanks for a great blog. Token of appreciation in your tip jar.
Posted by: ~#~ | November 06, 2015 at 21:23
All tokens appreciated. It’s what keep this place here.
Posted by: David | November 06, 2015 at 21:39
Monday ok? And here's a shrieking crybaby courtesy of Ace: http://acecomments.mu.nu/?post=359966 WAH! WE DON'T WANT FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION! WAH!
Posted by: Quint&Jessel, Sea of Azof, Bly, UK | November 07, 2015 at 02:43
And don't miss the comments on little crybaby's article in the Yale Herald:
http://yaleherald.com/op-eds/hurt-at-home/
Posted by: mojo | November 07, 2015 at 12:57
Fan of your blog, David. Have tipped accordingly.
Posted by: Kay | November 08, 2015 at 09:35
Mojo's Yale Herald link has been down all morning. These are America's best and brightest? Can't keep a student newspaper web site up and running in the prime hours of a weekend day?
Posted by: WTP | November 08, 2015 at 15:44
Done. Thanks for reading the Guardian so we don't have to.
Posted by: James | November 09, 2015 at 08:44
Money sent. Your sapphic minions shall eat tonight.
Posted by: witwoud | November 10, 2015 at 12:11
Thanks to all who’ve tickled the tip jar, or subscribed, or done shopping via the Amazon widget. It’s much appreciated. I feel a warm glow of belovedness.
Posted by: David | November 10, 2015 at 12:17
Yale Herald now showing a 403 "IP Forbidden" error. Sounds like those firewall rules got tightened up considerably. Like nobody except Yale addresses.
I think THE FEAR has hit them.
Posted by: mojo | November 11, 2015 at 16:30
A little late to the party, but happy to donate. Few things on the interweb gives me more pleasure to see a new post from David.
Posted by: Spiny Norman | November 13, 2015 at 03:45
Have stuffed a few notes in your jar.
Posted by: P | November 14, 2015 at 11:11
Note stuffing complete. You have one of the few sites I consider indispensable.
Posted by: Randy | November 14, 2015 at 23:01
Bit late but happy to chip in. Keep up the good work, David.
Posted by: G | November 30, 2015 at 14:29