See what I mean Mr D. He hasn't got a bleeding clue. Never mind he's stolen the loaf though. Earl Grey, aaaaahhhhhhh I think not.

So what's you tipple angela? I'll get them in.

It appears some arse has been making some vile violent threats to LP online

I do hope they live in the uk and LP can get this person arrested. Besides the courts, making someone famous for threatening women from the safety of a keyboard would be sweet revenge.

Go get him LP.

"I can answer this. They are probably too afraid of sustained abuse and intrusion into their private lives. Who in their right mind would set themselves up for such an ordeal?"

erm..me...cos I'm not a spineless shitehawk? And if she's really "too afraid of sustained abuse and intrusion into their private lives"...she's got a fuckin funny way of showing it.

My problem is I've got a sustained history of alcohol abuse, drug use, 'philandering' and a 25 year old record of activities of a dubious legal nature...other than that...sign me up...I',m a Socialist legend down several of my locls, on various picket lines-where I didn't actually notice any student radicals, bullshitting media wannabes or anarchists with flowers in their hair-but most importantly-in my fuckin head.

"And what about the men I 'beat up' online?"
A. You don't beat men up online, that's the point, you tend to think that abuse is beating up it isn't it just makes you appear foolish when I think that you have a lot to offer.
"...am I just an all-round online thug?"
A. You said it! oh and a big prick, again you said it!
"you're right andy,"
A. Told you so.
"you're not a diamond"
A. I know.
"...diamonds can be bought and sold;"
Yes, just like some people.
"you're fuckin priceless."
A. Thanks. Manners cost nothing.
"sonny."
A. Some find it very difficult to converse with the opposite sex. Mr D can help you out here. He knows how to speak to a lady.
"PS...I had a go at Mehdi Hasan this afternoon."
A. Wow.
"...do I assume I'm a racist and Islamophobe too?"
A. To assume will only go to make an ass of both 'u' and me.As for weather you are "racist" is what you define by the word. Would this apply if Mehdi was Australian, American, Swedish, or are you referring to something else?
"I assume.."
A. As above.
"correct me if I'm wrong."
A. I already have.
"..that you consider yourself 'of the left'."
A. I do not consider, I know. But what the left represents know is so far removed from what I believe. I hate to say but I agree with what you wrote above regarding the ideology of those that are meant to represent the poor and working class. Recently Paddy Ashdown has been more left than many in the Labour party.
"You are, in microcosm, everything that's gone wrong with it.
A. I require an explanation here, how am I responsible for the failures of Brown, Blair etc.
I have never declared war on the innocent, in fact post posts will bail me out on that one. You also fail to answer the statement that you wrote earlier regarding me writing as someone else. I asked you to evidence this yet you side tracked the question.
"sonny."
A. If you say so.Sticks and stones may break my bones but whips and chains........excite me. Sorry not to have got back to you sooner but I was with the real men supping the pints last night and munching the Kebab when I returned home.

"The smacking ban came into effect in 2005."

Do you think anybody on here taking issue with Laurie Penny is doing so because they agree with Lammy and his 'thesis'?...he's a fuckin tool.

They're taking issue with Laurie Penny and the style of her performance. She's occupying a regular position on these spots which should be going to someone who's got a real Left-wing pedigree, is politically and economically literate and doesn't think childish stunts represent a refreshing new style of dissent.

...and do you think anybody actually gives a flying fuck about these 'bans' or lets them affect their behaviour...outside of middle-class locales with a self-regarding 'progressive' image? For instance, I have a choice of 4 pubs within a 5 minute walk of my front door where I can smoke to my hearts content. Personally, I'd love to use one of those electric cigarettes but I lack the 'moral courage'...I'd be a laughing stock. The last person to complain got barred.

Here's a reminder of the former minister for Higher Education's right to pontificate..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VWwyVQ2IQuE

I reckon that's about 4 points more than a certain Ms Penny would have notched up. BTW did you notice the black and red anarcho-syndicalist badge she's sporting? I wonder whether the anarchists insisted she returned her Lib Dem membership card? I'm sure it was still valid...not certain but I'm sure it must last for more than 2 years...she was still cheer-leading for them back then, no?

Accept it, Delete-at-Will, she's an opportunist fake who'd hang out a window for a bit of publicity?

"she's got a fuckin funny way of showing it."

I didn't mean her, I meant people in general. Like yourself. Plenty of people don't get through life without effectively barring themselves from certain activities i.e. public life (of whatever description). That's why I retain respect for people who do at least part of what is needed.

"I know that...you're defending her for the sake of a row." (See above).

"What do you actually think of her?" To be totally frank I have just got used to reading her NS blogs. Occasionally she writes something I think is a bit daft, but never really offensive to me intellectually. One thing that does annoy me is that she tends to review things she doesn't like. Why? why tell us, unless it is prescribed by the NS. Perhaps she simply likes juxtapositioning herself. Dunno. But there are plenty of other bloggers on this site who miss the mark who draw far less criticism, and some who barely get a reading it seems - Gavin Kelly for instance has some interesting things to say.

Is that enough of an answer?

Oh hi Spud, you're here. Hiya.

Can any of the pro-smackers explain when smacking becomes abuse? I knew a woman a while back who had been beaten as a child and ended up a runaway. Even in her mid-fourties she suffers from severe depression.

Point is when does a corrective slap become routine mistreatment? or when does 'liking a drink' become alcoholism. People can't be trusted: anyone who thinks the middle-class rational talk of 'spare the rod, spoil the child' won't turn into something far less benign in a deprived area is conning himself.

I think it is noteworthy that we haven't heard from any victims on this thread. Then again it is just the usual shouting match, not a serious discussion.

@ spud
'sad little sideswiped gibbon'
Oh dear.
One of the greatest proponents of left wing politics was Tony Benn who gave up his peerage to do so. Get over yourself and your class and ageist issues.

@jankass & @fritzel

Sounds like yuo routinely beat them 'because it does them good'.

A 'smack on the arse' I agree would snap them out of a tratrum but so will a hundred other things like giving them their lunch on time, having a routine they understand, not letting them stay up late etc etc etc

Apart from smacking them, what else have you found which works?

alright Divine

how's thing's btw? life keeping you interested? It's getting a bit iffy around here...works dried up.

I'm teaching again from next week. Looking forward to it as it goes...I know this sounds arrogant, but kid's dig the fuck outta moi. No-one does the simultaneous equation 'story' like I do...they just love the bit where the guy takes the gerbils back to Pets-at-Home cos they beat up the hamster...besides it generally turns out I know their dads and they know I'm not takin any shit.

No Passaran.

And the third pilla, the one that you rest your head on.

If ‘violence supposedly breeds violence’ why is it that in the 20 years since the abolition of corporal punishment in schools, there is now more violence in schools than ever before?

I'll put it in simple terms for the benefit of Penny and her blinkered sycophants, it is the single most effective measure which would resolve 95% of school discipline problems overnight.

The reality of British schools is one where discipline has not so much deteriorated but more accurately totally disintegrated whilst the spineless chattering classes and trendy educationalists who created this disaster will continue to propose alternative toothless methods so that we’ll be having the same debate in 5, 10 and 20 years time.

"They're taking issue with Laurie Penny and the style of her performance."

Ha!

What a bunch of middle-class luvies you are then.

Actually Mr Divine gives me the impression Gyles Brandreth is in the room.

Anyway, she was pointing out something that you agree with: that the debate is being shifted by spurious argument. Do you think they would invite someone on who they couldn't patronize? Maybe you think you are doing her a favour by telling her she's crap, but you are falling into the hands of the real enemy. They must be laughing their asses off reading this stuff. And you 'Mr solidarity' himself - solidarity with who exactly? someone else, anyone else who's performance is better.

Don't stick your fingers up your nose... $5 dolllars.

Write an article for the New Statesman ... $400. Ho ho ho we're in the money!

Yo little boys and girls .. what's it like to sell your consciousness for pennies?

Screw the money. Screw what yo really think. Do you really think? Screw you all.

Mr D, the "pilla" is for me to bite when we're together. Btw could I possibly have a Cherry with the double?
I see that spud middlemouth is still at it, a creature of habit if ever there was one. He appears to think that I'm posting as others. I wonder if he can evidence this? How long has spotty middlemouth been hanging onto your shirt? From what I read he has very few friends on here. Must be the cart.

So discipline in the home 'smacking' is to be condemned, but the murders in Birmingham and London are to be welcomed, applauded and celebrated? There’s nothing wrong with measured discipline in the home. It’s the total lack of discipline in the home and schools that’s letting down and holding back; thousands of our children who deserve better. Miss Penny rioting is not the solution to society's ills, but you applauded it. Don’t equate or link the rioters with the working class; most of them arrested had previous criminal records most arrested didn’t want a job; the vast majority were members of that idle and feral under-class which ill-discipline and state dependency has reacted in abundance.

Well said David Lammy, totally agree.

Laurie you come across as an immature child who clearly needs a good smack.

You must be so embarrassed by your performance.

Knowing the difference between right and wrong? Is it intuitive then? Or is it just what YOU think?

"What a bunch of middle-class luvies you are then"

Oh touché darling!

"Do you think they would invite someone on who they couldn't patronize?"

Possibly not...but I think there's an equal chance it's all to do with a) class b) viewing figures...but the reason 'they' can patronise her is she isn't smart enough to stop them.

"And you 'Mr solidarity' himself - solidarity with who exactly?"

The working class...the elephant in the room...or rather nowhere near the room, where this thread, the NS, the labour party and TV studios are concerned. Who else is showing solidarity with them except in a vague theoretical sense?

"You have to be a real bitter cynic not to be taken in. It takes years, unfortunately."

I think there's a lot of truth in that...so why isn't there somebody with that experience, that understanding, that 'cynicism'-if you like-speaking for the left? And if you truly believe it's because 'they' wouldn't allow it, I don't see how I can be criticised for criticisng the lightweight comedy stand-in they do bring in to give some semblance of debate...she needs telling she's just fulfilling a puppet-role allotted her by cynical corporate interests, no?

"Anyway I'm bored with you and your trolling."

"Trolling"? What is that exactly...nobody's ever told me...it's always seemed a sort of rhetorical device thrown out by people who don't like what they're hearing...and couldn't win an argument in a photo-booth.

". I don't think you are going to upset Laurie too much. Do you?"

Well, actually, yes...but that's not why I do it. See above. I'm sure she's really quite pissed off as it goes...but then again, I think unlike her ridiculous 'followers', she wouldn't strain credulity too much by calling what I do 'sexist', 'classist'...OK maybe... or misogynist. I just think she's harming the Left.

Most of society’s ills emanate from the political-left; from poor discipline in schools to anti-authority attitudes. Discipline in the home 'smacking' is condemned by the political-left, but rioting and violence against the police is actively encouraged. You really do have your political-panties in a twist.

Mister Adequate. Do you condemn the resent barbaric rioting?

All future female political writers must report to Stuart Eels office straight away, so he can ensure they are able-bodied and sensible, before allowing them to pursue their careers.

Men, however, can be as ridiculous as they like (e.g. Boris)