Lynne Choona Featherstone Interviewed by The Times

chrisn4 · March 2012

Lynne Choona Featherstone (60), Lib Dem MP for Hornsey and Wood Green,was interviewed by The Times, this Saturday.

chrisn4 · March 2012

In the interview Ms Featherstone criticises the model Kate Moss.Kate Moss said "nothing tastes as good as thin feels". Implying that these comments put pressure on women to loose weight. Ms Featherstone said: " I'm dealing with gangs and girls...you see this continuum of sexist language,lyrics in songs...I think there is something very pointed devaluation of women going on."

chrisn4 · March 2012

Ms Featherstone said : "we need to have more women in the boardroom...I'm astounded they have managed to keep us out for so long." Ms Featherstone argues it was male bankers who created the recent economic crash, saying," we can only blame men for what happened.There were only men making these decisions."

ADGS · March 2012

Didn't deregulation of the banks happen under Margaret Thatcher?

chrisn4 · March 2012

Ms Featherstone said "Men always reinforce what what someone else has said and women tend to be very thoughtfull and make a point".Commenting on how men and women behave in meetings. Ms Featherstone said " I go into a primary school and ask who wants to be a prime minister and the boys say me me me and the girls sit on their hands". Ms Featherstone said "girls must learn the confidence to push and perhaps men could withdraw a little." Ms Featherstone said "I am as tough as any man on the planet"

chrisn4 · March 2012

As Ms Featherstone said she is a feminist in this interview.It is perhaps surprising that she made comments in this interview that are sexist.As feminists say they are against sexist comments against women.But perhaps they are not against comments that are sexist towards men.Seems double standards to me.Perhaps feminists aren't bothered?

chrisn4 · March 2012

I notice that when her boiler was making alot of noise,rather than switch off the boiler,Ms Featherstone phoned the fire brigade.The fire brigade attended her house and they switched off her boiler and advised her to phone British Gas.What a waste of time and money;calling out the fire brigade because of a faulty boiler.Ms Featherstone was not criticising men then.She wasn't saying it was sexist that firemen came to switch off her boiler.This does put a question over her judgement.To waste firemens time when they could be attending a real emergency,er,lilke a fire?This was reported in the media at the time.Maybe the firebrigade should be staffed by women not men as its sexist?yeah? yeah! how many feminists call for binmen and roadsweepers jobs to be done by women.No they dont.Clean out the drains and a sewers - its an mans job. funny how the dirty jobs are done by men and feminists arent bothered....

chrisn4 · March 2012

As Ms Featherstone is so keen to say she is a feminist and to criticise men in her interview with the Times.I found it odd that she did not mention what I would guess is a main feminist issue at the moment.The fact that Saudi Arabia are not sending any female athletes to the Olympic games.Women can't drive in Saudi Arabia,they can't start a business,marry,work or travel without the permission of men.If a woman leaves the kingdom a "wife tracker" chip in her government id card will text her departure to her husband.Exercise the religious police say for women is a gateway for women to wear scanty clothes,mixing with men,rupturing their hymens or leaving the house uneccesarily.South Africa was banned from the games for 36 years.But Tessa Jowell labour's olympic minister willnot endorse a ban on Saudi's participation. saudi - the world's top oil exporting nation I am saying that feminists perhaps aren't so keep on feminist principles if they risk loosing the trade of the worlds top oil exporting nation.Otherwise why wasn't Ms Featherstone complaining about it,rather than just criticising model kate moss comments,that perhaps ms moss made in a drunken moment...

chrisn4 · March 2012

Maggie Thatcher milk snatcher; who sold off council housing in right to buy scheme - disgrace to england... but then ms featherstone wants women to become mp's so i am sure she will be delighted with the working class people not being able to get a council home because a woman - thatch- allowed people to buy them....

chrisn4 · March 2012

When Lynne Choona Featherstone was criticised for calling out the firebrigade when her boiler was faulty;she said that the man who criticised her for saying this was being sexist and should consider resigning from his job.He called her a "dizzy airhead", rightly insulting her because he believed she was wasting firemen's time,which she was.Yet Ms Featherstone thinks it's ok to make a string of sexist remarks in The Times this saturday.The hypocrisy of feminists like Ms Featherstone is there for all to see.

andy · March 2012

This is the online equivalent of standing in the street, shouting at a bin.

vetski · March 2012

@andy, ROTFLMFAO!

chrisn4 · March 2012

Lynne Choona Featherstone,who lives in a millionaires house in Highgate rather than in Hornsey and Wood Green,is the government's equalities minister.Her sexist comments against men in The Times article will perhaps provoke people to ask the question,does she actually want equality? Or does she want women to have political power over men? As it is said many feminist don't want equality they want women to have political power over men.Perhaps as equalities minister Ms Featherstone should be a bit more carefull about the language she uses...unless she doesn't care about the issue of equality...and she is just taking the opportuinity to criticise men to Times journalists... Andy you banned Slabber and Sevlow yet you come out with these sarcastic comments more than they ever did...

gardener-joe · March 2012

zzzzzz ... next time just post the link to the article ... please?

chrisn4 · March 2012

gardener-joe - you are consistently rude ,maybe that's what you are like ...perhaps the saturday 3rd march article is behind murdochs paywall so you have to pay £1 to view it ...if not maybe someone could put a link to it...thanks...

chrisn4 · March 2012

if you look at the "politicshome" website they make comments on this article which is called, "give married couples a tax break? dont get me started." The Times article is by Rachel Sylvester and Alice Thompson...

R&J · March 2012

Fucking Lynne,everyone's best mate

chrisn4 · March 2012

google "lynne featherstone sexist" and see how many comments there are accusing Ms Featherstone of anti men sexism... for example the sun newspaper article called "men rapped by lib dem mp lynne featherstone"... for the government's equality minister she does seem to be.... well the evidence is there for all to see... my reason for starting this thread is that i dont like government justice ministersn authorities like mp's that are hypocritical.... maybe tory millionaire david cameron doesnt give a sh-t about equality for both men and women either...so he doesnt give a toss...

granville · March 2012

Your ideas are intriguing to me and I wish to subscribe to your newsletter.

chrisn4 · March 2012

some of the journalists or politicans or members of political parties on here probably have a newsletter - i dont ....

yagamuffin · March 2012

Sadly, while people like Kate Moss and Rihanna are lauded in the press it is going to remain nigh on impossible for the rest of womankind to get the equality they want.

Brodiej · March 2012

Good points Chris. Takes a while to digest them all, but i do like to see hypocrits called to account. She just seems like a bit of a berk. Lots of PR in the community, few positive achievements in the community. Im sure i'll be beaten down on this, but my experience is that of positive discrimination. My company had an overt policy of female preference into management and director level roles to address the "imbalance" that supposedly existed, and to have a policy which showed that they could never be accused of discrimination. All well and good, but i can't get my head around this ever being the case, and surely having a public policy that says "we will show preference based on gender" is discrimanatory itself? In addition, women in the workplace here are deemed to be a lawsuit waiting to happen, and as such those that are pregnant or that have life balances to manage are left well alone. It is not unusual for someone to take a call from the nursery at 10am and be back home within 30 mins. No holiday, no sickness, its just considered part and parcel of working life. The others in the office roll their eyes, but accept it and pick up the pieces. Nobody is geared up to have that chat to tell Julie that "im sorry that Junior did a poo on the nursery floor, but that report that was required for 2pm that you didn't do (and this was the 3rd time its been missed), is the final straw and we're going to have to let you go". I think equality exists, but that historical roles (and biological) between men and women are making this feel like a grey area. As an onlooker it appears that many women want it all....career, family, work life balance, and they can have it too if they want. I think most men think its right and proper for that right too, but it will open them up for criticism if their work life isn't mirrored in any of their male/female colleagues. If you want equality, accept that you will be treated like any other member of staff. I don't think this part of the "equality" debate is ever talked about. Could just be my daft company though.

unattachedinfant · March 2012

So you don't like Lynne Featherstone? Yawn. Don't use your dislike of one politician to then tar all women seeking some semblance of equality.

Brodiej · March 2012

No, i just think ChrisN4 just thinks she's a tool. In this case, he's exemplified how he thinks she behaves like a tool with regards to how she makes her points about equality. Plus, i believe he enjoys sticking the boot into politicians (as we all do) from time to time.

chrisn4 · March 2012

I was interested to read what you wrote Brodiej as always.I thought you made some interesting points. The London Evening Standard's Anne McElvoy,a feminist herself, wrote this article called: "the feminist fantasies of a loopy lib-Dem",see below.Quentinn Letts has also written articles for The Daily about Ms Lynne Choona Featherstone. Choona,Ms Featherstone's middle name is the Hindi word for lime ... <DIV class="widget storyContent article widget-editable viziwyg-section-1503 inpage-widget-7423475"> 20 September 2011 </DIV> <DIV class="widget storyContent article widget-editable viziwyg-section-1825 inpage-widget-6296935"></DIV> <DIV class="widget storyContent article widget-editable viziwyg-section-1825 inpage-widget-6296795">We can still rely on the Lib-Dem conference for a sudden boost of loopy argument. The equalities minister Lynne Featherstone has just claimed that men make "terrible decisions" when they are left in charge and are thus to blame for the "mess the world is in". This must come as unwelcome news to Messrs Clegg and Cameron. By her logic, two men prone to terrible decisions must surely be worse than the usual one at the helm. </DIV> <DIV class="widget storyContent article widget-editable viziwyg-section-1825 inpage-widget-6296940"> <DIV class="body "> Even a staunch workplace feminist like me is a bit uncomfortable about the return to boiler-suit tracts claiming that women are creatures of pure virtue and men are rubbish. Let us remember, since Featherstone clearly doesn't, that Hillary Clinton is the US Secretary of State, Angela Merkel is running the powerhouse country in the eurozone and the IMF has just kicked out a randy old goat to bring in the reassuring Christine Lagarde. And how happy exactly was Ms Featherstone when Margaret Thatcher ruled the roost in Britain? Precisely. She also revives the fable that it is men who start wars and behave irresponsibly in banks, rather like Harriet Harman, who claimed "if it had been Lehman Sisters instead of Lehman Brothers, there might not have been so much difficulty". The problem with this logic is that it isn't subject to proof. Women do embezzle and commit fraud, so it's hard to know whether given more power and little regulation they would commit more or less of it. And those women with the ruthlessness and drive to make things happen are often not the template of Lib-Dem virtues. Do I think men are worse at some things? Yes. They think women talk more than they do, when the opposite is usually the case. They mistake the successful completion of one household or child-related task for the need to crack on with the rest. I suspect that women may harbour more grudges and be more prone to chewing over slights and omissions, but unlike Ms Featherstone I think it would be daft to make a political platform out of these hunches. There's also huge confusion about what female success would look like. BBC chairman Chris Patten wants more older women on TV - good for him, though the broadcaster's failure is not allowing women to match men as authorities on serious subjects on the airwaves, rather than the mere age of the faces on screen. I'm less convinced than he is that the luscious Fiona Bruce doing a programme on the royal palaces is an example of progress. Ms Featherstone, meanwhile, wants us to be morally superior to men. That's way too much to ask. We just deserve the right to shine, and, with it, the right to err.</DIV></DIV>

chrisn4 · March 2012

This is an article that Quentin Letts wrote in The Daily Mail: Steaming right-wingers tend to rage about the Coalition’s wet-lettuce tendencies and complain that David Cameron’s Government is too politically correct. It is hard not to sympathise with that view, particularly when you have the likes of Lynne Featherstone at the despatch box. On the face of it, she’s hopeless. But as we approach the anniversary of the Coalition’s formation let us re-examine the question of its soppier edges. What do the likes of Ms Featherstone bring to the feast? She is Minister for Equality. That a multi-millionaire such as she should hold that ridiculous title is, in itself, a splendid joke. There is also the fact that in a truly equal world she would never have been given a sniff of a Government job. She lacks most of the customary attributes of prominent politicians. Quick wit, a strong voice, a head for details, the ability to marshal arguments – these are absent. I have known prep school debaters possess a surer smack of command. All that can be said of ‘Dorian’ – the nickname acknowledges her similarity to that character in TV’s Birds Of A Feather – is that she is fashionably attired and less of a boot-faced menace than some of her Labour predecessors. Yesterday she and her colleague Maria Miller were answering questions in the Commons. Topics included unreported ‘hate crimes’, gay marriage, and ‘support for women wishing to enter employment’. In that last context, ‘support’ means public money. It is one of the marvels of 21st century politics that the egalitarians can demand special money for special groups yet not be prosecuted under the anti-discrimination laws they have imposed on our kingdom. Why is it not sexism to designate public funds specifically for women? How come these all-female literary prizes get away with it, too? Any prize which tried to exclude women would be hauled off to the court. Anyway, Ms Featherstone was at the despatch box, creaking like a wooden tooth in a caveman’s jaw. On the ‘hate crimes’ question she said that she envisaged the creation of ‘third-party reporting centres’ to allow alleged victims of such crimes to alert the police to possible infractions of the law.

Idoru · March 2012

But men do make terrible decisions and the world will be a better place when women take over and keep a select few men in the Fun Cage.

chrisn4 · March 2012

As Ms Featherstone is Jewish,perhaps it could be argued that Ms Featherstone is doing a disservice to the Jewish community.The reason I say this is that Ms Featherstone is aiming to destroy 800 years of British history and tradition by changing marriage from men marrying a woman to gay marriage.Men marrying men.Many christians;and it is reported in one opiniopn poll that 86% of the general public are against gay marriage.This may perhaps cause anti semitism against Jewish people.To see a jewish person such as Ms Featherstone attacking 800 years of British christian tradition.Many religious men in the church do not want to marry 2 men.They believe this is morally wrong. Perhaps people are uncomfortable with two men being parents to a child.Believing that a mother is needed to provide security for a child and a father.Not just 2 fathers.However equalities minister Lynne Featherstone does not agree.

chrisn4 · March 2012

I believe that gay marriage is wrong because it will encourage 2 gay men to adopt children. I believe;and call me old fashioned if you like! That a man and a woman's combined parenting skills are what is best for bringing up a child.And that 2 men adopting a child can lead to the child being the victim of bullying and not having the benefits of having a good mother that bring to a child. I believe however that homosexual men and women should be treated with respect.As anyone should be. I should add that many gay people are against both civil partnerships and gay marriage.

andy · March 2012

Bin! Bin! Are you listening, bin?

miss annie · March 2012

'Boot-faced menace', nice to know that women in politics are still judged first and foremost by what they look like.

Howdy, Stranger!

Categories

In this Discussion

Top Posters

Lynne Choona Featherstone Interviewed by The Times

Comments