Emily Thornberry's Mumsnet Webchat & The Children's Safeguarding Inquiry Not Worth A mention

February 5, 2020 Eleanor Scott

The webchat began at 12.30pm and at first it seemed as though Thornberry was going to be able to put in a 60 minute powerhouse performance. There were murmurs of approval and optimism. I learned a lot about her background and her frustrations with the current Labour Party culture. Women were rooting for her. It was all going so well. And then … well, something went wrong. A couple of simple questions about freedom of expression, no-platforming at universities, and women’s rights, left Thornberry - a barrister, no less - floundering in the wake of her own cognitive dissonance on sex and gender. She started closing down.

Keir Starmer's Mumsnet Webchat & the ‘Lost’ Inquiry into Children's Safeguarding

February 3, 2020 Eleanor Scott

Mumsnet is a massive website, used primarily by (millions of) women, particularly from the UK. Any British politician who doesn’t engage comprehensively with questions about women and children during a MN Webchat is pretty much pissing about on the sidelines of debate before scoring an own goal. It happened to Penny Mordaunt and now it’s happened to Keir Starmer. This is especially noteworthy given that before the webchat, Keir Starmer was very much a favourite with many of the left-leaning MN members.

Five Political Things I Love About Mumsnet This Week

September 4, 2019 Eleanor Scott

I came across the Mumsnet (‘MN’) website in 2011 while researching Sexual Entertainment Venues, as you do. (To be specific, I was sitting on a forthcoming Licensing Committee on the Council and wanted more information – from women.) MN’s strapline is ‘by parents for parents’ but this place is no trite mumsy parenting forum. This is more like a women’s space with rotating knives. Within that outer layer of the main parenting pages are nestled many arenas, in the form of its numerous talk boards – sites within a site, harbouring ever more fascinating and colourful treasures for those who look deeper inside.

Penny Mordaunt, Defence Secretary - Has Theresa May Replaced One Gaffe-Prone 'Liar' with Another?

May 2, 2019 Eleanor Scott

Mordaunt on the Andrew Marr show, as a Defence Minister - she is now elevated to Secretary of State

Penny Mordaunt, MP for Portsmouth North, is now the Secretary of State for Defence, a position she arrived at in circumstances where lying is apparently A Very Bad Thing. I was thus a little perturbed to read the view from The Guardian that ‘Mordaunt has avoided any major gaffes since joining the cabinet’. On a day of assessing the importance of truth & lies, I would say to The Guardian: well, that’s just not true. Her Mumsnet webchat just 7 weeks ago to celebrate International Women’s Day was an unmitigated disaster, whereby Mordaunt exposed herself as being hopelessly unable to define what a woman is, incapable of understanding children’s safeguarding issues, and flippant enough to dig herself an even deeper hole over the Turkey veto ‘lies’.

Penny Mordaunt, THAT Mumsnet Webchat, And A Brewing Children’s Safeguarding Scandal

April 8, 2019 Eleanor Scott

*Penny Mordaunt - Erm, What Was The Question?*

Today The Times published a piece of investigative journalism that follows on from long-standing safeguarding concerns around children. The service under scrutiny at the Tavistock reacted by rejecting the claims. This, however, is potentially a child safeguarding crisis in the making. One might now ask, is this Government up to the job of dealing with the brewing scandal? Last year we learned that Penny Mordaunt MP, in her role as Minister for Women & Equalities, had initiated an inquiry into the extremely large increase in the number of children presenting as wanting to change gender. What’s happened to her inquiry? These matters are too important for the services involved to be left to investigate themselves.

Did Mumsnet Catch Out Penny Mordaunt Over Turkey 'Lies'?

March 16, 2019 Eleanor Scott

Penny Mordaunt official portrait (wiki commons)

In the past week Penny Mordaunt MP, Secretary of State for International Development and Minister for Women & Equalities and former defence minister, performed (in the opinion of many Mumsnetters) one of the most abysmal Mumsnet webchats ever, now held in perpetuity in the influential website’s digital annals. (I wrote about it here.) The focus of the ensuing disappointment and ire has understandably been on her apparent disregard for sex-based protections and rights for women, and the safeguardng of children of both sexes, and her odd comments about the meaning of ‘mother’. Additionally there remains another nugget buried deep in the motherlode of Mordaunt’s thought-mine of doom, which goes to the heart of her credibility.

Did Mumsnet Just Hand Penny Mordaunt Her Arse?

March 14, 2019 Eleanor Scott

Penny Mordaunt MP - image from her website

It takes a certain set of tools to turn a golden opportunity to engage with hundreds of thousands of women on International Women’s Day into an unmitigated PR disaster, and Penny Mordaunt MP has somehow managed to pull it off. I’ve met Penny Mordaunt a few times in Portsmouth over the years while I was on Council-related business, and she has always seemed perfectly likeable and pleasant. But future Prime Minister material? Not unless courting disaster is now seen as prerequisite rather than unfortunate happenstance. This story involves a ‘webchat’ which followed on from a conversation between Penny Mordaunt MP, Secretary of State for International Development and Minister for Women & Equalities, and Justine Roberts CBE, co-founder of the hugely popular and influential website Mumsnet.

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