After a long campaign Murdoch’s Times Newspaper has bowed to pressure and decided not to print the Times’ Crossword in the paper any longer…a decision welcomed by campaigners from the ‘No More Times’ Elitist Crosswords’ campaign and MPs.
In an age when intellectually challenging word games became more readily available on the internet, the Times crossword came to be regarded as more of an anachronism. The status of the Intellectual in society had changed too. To a new generation, it was rather surreal to open a newspaper and see such a self-evidently intellectually elitist pursuit amid stories about Hollyoaks actresses and popstar nymphettes in bed with Premier League footballers.
Campaigner, actor and writer Lucy-Anne Holmes, started the ‘No More Times Elitist Crosswords’ campaign…she said it was a great day for those cowed by the brilliance of others that so often kept them in the shadows and made them feel intellectually inferior.
Elspeth Morris, a cleaner on Virgin Express trains, said she often felt intimidated and demeaned when she came across Times newspapers left on seats with the filled-in crossword uppermost saying that such conspicuous completion of the intellectually demanding puzzle in a public place was tantamount to a hate crime waiving people’s inadequacies in their faces and rubbing their noses in their lack of education and limited natural talent for academic subjects. ..a public humiliation for so many that made them feel they had no place in a society that put such a high value on academic achievement.
Education Secretary Nicky Morgan called it a “long-overdue decision”, which “marks a small but significant step towards improving media portrayal of those less intellectually gifted”.
She stated that we must stop celebrating academic achievement if it meant that other people were made to feel inadequate and rather stupid when in the presence of someone doing the Times Crossword especially in public spaces such as trains, or even in the corridors of power, where she understands that it is common practise for Times Crossword aficionados to ostentatiously brandish completed crosswords under the noses of those passing by, relishing in the feelings of inadequacy they were able to generate in less gifted people who couldn’t complete the crossword.
Lucy-Anne Holmes also stated that it was a great day for the intellectually challenged and a victory for society that recognised brains weren’t everything…children should not have to be pressured at school into pursuing academic excellence….school, and society, should be emphasing the softer skills, the arts, the importance of human relationships, cooperation, kindness and tolerance.
Rupert Murdoch Tweeted in response ‘Bollox’ but apparently that was just an answer to 5 across. He apologised for any confusion.
BBC presenter Jane Garvey was forced to resign when in the course of a programme discussing the issues surrounding the Times Crossword campign she made the fatal mistake of taking sides and uttered the words ‘It’s gone, we hope’ when told the news that the Times had abandoned the crossword.
Actually she said that about the Sun’s Page 3 and its apparent demise.
The BBC seems rather pleased about the news and thinks it is of great importance giving it plenty of coverage.
Didn’t bother raising a few issues that smack of hypocrisy from campaigner Lucy-Anne Holmes who started the ball rolling.
How did she get her big break for her career in writing?…she used to write a blog...about her ‘disastrous love life’….so she objects to objectifying and demeaning pictures of half-naked women but is prepared to lay bare her love life and her feminine issues to titillate the readers.
I was originally an actress, and I came to writing because in 2006 I had a blog, which detailed my largely disastrous love life! Through the blog I was approached by some agents and publishers. One agent said ‘we think you should write a novel!’ So I said ‘ok.’
And her use of makeup, a low cut dress, and the suntan and an alluring publicity photo may induce a certain perception that looks are not unimportant in her life…and maybe, me being ungallant, the lack of a ‘rack’ may indicate other issues with Page 3…..
She tells us:
You founded the ‘No More Page 3′ campaign, what was your reason behind that?
Well, I bought a copy of ‘The Sun’ newspaper during the Olympics and found I couldn’t stop thinking about the fact that the largest female image was the Page 3 image, even though Jessica Ennis had just won her terrific gold medal. I kept thinking ‘what is this saying about a woman’s place in society??’ It’s a national family newspaper and it shows page after page of pictures of men in clothes, doing stuff, ie running the country and achieving in sport and a massive image of a woman standing in their knickers showing her breasts for men. We’re sending out two very different messages about each gender, and kids see the paper, it even gives away free kids toys. What does it teach little girls about where their value lies? What does it teach boys about how to respect women? It’s 2014 if we believe in equality we can’t be showing these pictures in newspapers.
So instead of Page 3 we have a sports star whose success relies not just on some hard work but on a natural gift for running made possible by a body fit enough to do that…in other words a physical talent no different to being born attractive enough to be a pin up. If a sports person can make a living with their body why not a model?
She cheers on Jessica Ennis but she isn’t running the country, she’s running round a track….so a strange choice of role model in some respects if trying to say women are capable of running blue chip companies and even the country.
And I’m certain the Sun gave Jessica Ennis massive coverage, far more than any Page 3 girl could hope to get.
And finally and most ironically for someone championing feminist issues there’s this:
Chicklit eh? Go girl!!
It must be April 1st, it must be?
Err I think the titties are back on the menu ! What a great marketing ploy of the Sun. To get the whole country talking about it class.
Given that the end was not declared, it always looked like a toe-in-the-water to test the response. Many readers in jobs with limited breaks bought it for a quick flick-through. One of the more balanced females interviewed this week noted that one man told her Page 3 ‘cheers you up in the morning’. It was going to be less cheery without Page 3 and maybe the sales slumped. Murdoch didn’t get where he is today by giving anything greater priority than circulation.
Excellent article. All too believable.
‘All too believable’
And yet, one (plus the inevitable magic 3) appeared not to even notice any preceding comment hints, beyond digesting the article.
Rather delicious.
What is “rather delicious” is that you do not seem to realise that it was a biased BBC stalwart (TigerOC) who found the fictional quotes within the article “all too believable”.
Maybe you should take more time “digesting” the thread before spouting almost unintelligible crap!!
‘Almost’?
Improvements in comprehension clearly possible. but what made you think what appears above referred to you below?
And a pity to see it accompanied by further discourse dipping in civility.
May have to knock that one off your flounce template.
“Improvements in comprehension clearly possible. but what made you think what appears above referred to you below?
And a pity to see it accompanied by further discourse dipping in civility.”
It is not my comprehension that is at fault as the sentences above once again clearly show.
Your “one (plus the inevitable magic 3)” tag clearly shows who your comment was aimed at.
Albamen: “before spouting almost unintelligible crap!! ”
Next comment from Albamen “And a pity to see it accompanied by further discourse dipping in civility”
Albamen, you are (unintentionally) almost as funny as Alan.
Good to see you agreeing that a “sentence” originally penned by Guest Who is unintelligible.
And good to see you happy to embrace inference as legitimate again.
This is fun.
Of course my off-topic teasing posts, apparently unintelligible (if enough to know they are being teased) mainly to those keen to demonstrate limited senses of humour, do get me scolded too.
So… any thoughts on actual BBC stuff Albaman? Or sticking with chillin’ more in the comfOT zone a while longer?
Alby, it is only unintelligible to special people like you.
While it is sad to see the demise of the Page 3 girl, I think the topless tradition can be maintained with the beheading of the day. Plenty of candidates for that.
Don’t worry, page three is back in all it’s glory today and the vile femi-fascists are looking very stupid today.
They have won NOTHING!
So we have a Minister for education encouraging the dumbing down of society with the phrase;
“She stated that we must stop celebrating academic achievement if it meant that other people were made to feel inadequate and rather stupid when in the presence of someone doing the Times Crossword especially in public spaces such as trains, or even in the corridors of power, where she understands that it is common practise for Times Crossword aficionados to ostentatiously brandish completed crosswords under the noses of those passing by, relishing in the feelings of inadequacy they were able to generate in less gifted people who couldn’t complete the crossword.”
Quite unbelievable. If we are to maintain our space in the World then EVERY MINISTER should be aspiring to ensure our children have the best education possible.
Another socialist ensuring that we win the race to the bottom like many other 3rd World states that revel in poverty and desitution and handouts from countries that bother with educating their children.
But the Minister did not say what you attribute to her – Alan made it up!!!
“Another socialist ensuring that we win the race to the bottom like many other 3rd World states that revel in poverty and desitution and handouts from countries that bother with educating their children. ”
Nicky Morgan was elected for the Loughborough seat for the Conservatives in the 2010 General Election -so even Conservatives are socialists in Biased BBC world!!
‘But the Minister did not say what you attribute to her – Alan made it up!!!’
Quite brilliantly so. Alan’s best-ever piece. It needs a wider audience.
BTW: Not only Jane Garvey, Rachel Burden was giving us the benefit of her opinion on the breakfast show this morning just ahead of ‘Your Call’, hoping that Page 3, ‘would just go away’.
Well, luv, I wish that you ‘would just go away’ and take your fellow activists at the BBC with you.
At this rate women in the UK will be wearing Burkas very soon and not just the Muslims.
Quite a few of them, actually.
But there was no really need to remind us how far to the Left you are by failing to recognise the problem.
And Mr Cameron, the leader of the Conservatives(not), led the campaign for Gay marriage. Civil partnerships granted them the same legal rights as marriage according to some (BBC quaili) leading Judges.
Same mentality as Nicky. Any victim must be nourished and accommodated at the expense of the vast majority no matter what the consequences.
The “New Conservatives” are indistinguishable from the rest. i.e.LibLabCon
The “expense of the vast majority” of gay marriage being what exactly?
A few more quid for wedding planning & hosting businesses, flower shops, clothes shops etc etc etc
Think of the cost of this legislation and amendments to existing law required so that 1% of the population could feel better.
“Another socialist ensuring that we win the race to the bottom like many other 3rd World states that revel in poverty and desitution and handouts from countries that bother with educating their children. ”
Next time there’s yet more proof of that statement here on b-BBC I shall personally make sure you are invited to comment, your comments being few and far between an’ all that.
In the meantime, looky here:
http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=10&ved=0CFcQFjAJ&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.independent.co.uk%2Fnews%2Feducation%2Feducation-news%2Fgoing-backwards-uk-literacy-and-numeracy-standards-slip-down-international-rankings-8979588.html&ei=XiTBVIXQOIfV7Abtp4CYBA&usg=AFQjCNGCvIFcj_xDjq9PqVYPrAtDojlu8w&sig2=QM5zkDClu-ehOpMt49E1uw&bvm=bv.83829542,d.ZGU
coz itz the sochulists wot say itz moor importunt to eggspress yerself than get spellin an such rite innit
Bloody hell we’re winning the race to the bottom if you’re anything to go by 🙂
‘Another socialist ensuring that we win the race to the bottom’
That’s exactly what they are about, they hate to see ambition, drive and success (except for their own of course), they just want to drag everyone down to the lowest denominator.
Just come and live in the Northwest of England for proof and see the difference between leafy Cheshire,mainly run by the tories, and inner city Manchester, wholly run by labour…literally chalk and cheese, Manchester is a dog hole of a city full of litter, derelict buildings and ignorant ‘I’ll do what I want, orrright’ vermin.
The most attractive buildings are the council mansion offices and the mosques…I f***ing despise liebour.
And I bet these oh so right on female lefties who berate the picture of a topless female inside a newspaper that we are not forced to buy, are the first to get their ti*s out when on holiday in some foreign sun soaked land.
…if they have any…
I guarantee you that those whining harpies don’t complain at a picture of say….Cristiano Ronaldo, or Rafa Nadal with their shirts off in the tabloids though….No, I’d imagine they gaggle round the water cooler together, page in hand, ogling them like pieces of meat….one rule for them, many rules for your everyday man…bloody hypocrites.
And her use of makeup, a low cut dress, and the suntan and an alluring publicity photo may induce a certain perception that looks are not unimportant in her life…
Surely no story demonstrates the hypocrisy of the BBC, and the blob in general, than this one.
One minute they’re discussing Page 3 and the nakedness is demeaning to women.
Next minute, they’re discussing the Femen group and their novel idea of getting naked to empower women. You would expect the feminists to downplay the ‘alluring’ aspect, but you would be wrong.
This Google search on ‘Femen’ contains nudity and is not suitable for work:
https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=femen&biw=1366&bih=666&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=stfAVPT0K4byUN6Ug9gB&sqi=2&ved=0CD0Q7Ak
It’s hard not to conclude that these ‘feminists’ have the same exhibitionist motives as the Page 3 girls.
Or what about this story in the Gruniard yesterday.
Four years ago, intimate photographs of Danish journalist Emma Holten were posted on the web. Thousands viewed them and she still receives online harassment. The issues of revenge porn and hacked photos are part of a larger problem with our relationship to consent, she argues. So Holten decided to pose for and release a new set of pictures of her body. Here she explains why
Seems that because she chose to pose naked and publish the photos, she is empowered. But then… the Page 3 girls choose to pose as well… aren’t they empowered?
Link not suitable for work:
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/video/2015/jan/21/naked-pictures-this-is-what-i-did-revenge-porn-emma-holten-video
Again, she looks pretty… er… ‘fit’…in the photos…. could that possibly be part of the decision to show the world?
Anyone remember the ‘Slutwalks’ of a few years ago?
I remember them well, we had a right laugh about it at work, just more proof of the hypocritical bunch of feminazi cranks they are.
Absolutely brilliant piece of writing Alan, certainly cheered me up on a dreary day! 😀
Excellent use of satire, Alan.
Straight over the heads of the usual suspects, of course.
Yes. Real humour is something not seen on the BBC for years.
No, there is some left, there is some great comedy on a Sunday morning. The Big Questions with gameshow Nicky followed by Sunday Politics is some of the funniest stuff you’ll see on TV.
Alan, superb piece of satire, if only the usual suspects used it on one of their ‘comedy’ shows they might even make something genuinely funny, yeh, fat chance. Ms Welsh speaker from Barry would never allow it on her channel would she ?
Why the illiberati thought that the Sun would just roll over and give them a soft victory is beyond me. It seemed to a simple one as myself so obvious they would give them enough time to self congratulate themselves and then pull the rug out from beneath them… Obviously not as cleaver as they think are they ? So far funniest story of a rather miserable year.
Lest we forget, the BBC went all Emily Thornberry when the story broke too:
http://order-order.com/2015/01/21/bbcs-patronising-page-3-coverage/
Yes, indeed. Because of the unique way the BBC is funded, it can treat fellow citizens like it’s David Attenborough with the gorillas.
The Times Crossword may reveal intellectual snobbery but I would like the campaign extended to snobby shows like University Challenge. Surely we could find ways of reducing the number of correct answers from white middle class students, or censor out incorrect answers from ethnic and other minorities so that every group in our diverse society has an equal quota of correct answers.
Or a simpler version of the simple Celebrity Mastermind for politicians like David Lammy! (Best bits from 5:18)
Time for a song…
One big booby bouncing up and down
two big booby bouncing up and down
……
…………….
Or have a lot lost their bounce factor these days?
I have it from a good source that The Sun are removing page 3 for one reason and one reason only and that is Apple. They wish to sell Apps for the News UK group and Apple will not allow naked ladies or links that take you to naked ladies to be advertised on their Apps programme. (they have got into trouble with them for this in the past).Murdoch is not arsed about page 3. He simply wants to make money. He has not given into any feminist groups that is why he has brought it back today. I believe it will stop again after Friday.
As an aside he has turned the page number “3” on it’s side today to make it look like a pair of tits…………just because they can and it’s their little private joke. If any of you have the sun, check and you will see.
This Lucy-Anne Holmes described as an ‘ actress ‘ wouldn’t be the same one who appeared in a 20 min short released in 2012 called Roflmao would it ?
https://www.behance.net/gallery/2530961/ROFLMAO-Short-film
Only a supporting part at the start but, hey ho, a girl has to work I guess. Hum, person has ‘issues’ with Page 3 but is happy to work on a film where a man and a woman ‘get it together’ after contacting each other on line……all comes to a fight resulting in main female character charging after bloke in street with a kitchen knife and cuts his arm whilst dressed in little girl school outfit………. Surely Sume mistuk ?
I mean a woman who fight for the right of women to not flash their tits would not work on a film where a woman has to dress up as a little school girl to please the lads would she ?……would she ????? I mean, verging on hypocrisy innit ?
I am sick to death of the fact that every aspect of life in this country is being dumbed down to its lowest common denominator. As a retired university lecturer, I noted with horror over a twenty year period, how university degree courses were being dumbed down in order to improve the pass mark. In fact I was removed from the subject leadership in one modulue I taught, because I was considered to be failing too many students!! When I told the head of my department that we needed to raise the bar in order to allow students a decent standard to aim for, my argument was dismissed out of hand. There is nothing wrong with intellectual elitism if it encourages students to try and attain a higher standard. We only need to look at the educational systems of places like Singapore, Japan and China to realise that if our current attitude towards education persists, we will soon become a third world country, which will indeed be the case if Nicky Morgan continues as Minister of Education. I fear the barbarians have already brerached the gates of our educational establishments, thanks to the collusion of ministers and the teaching unions. Where are you Michael Gove?
Cor blimey! It’s clear why they got rid of you! You obviously enjoy great privilege yourself and yet there’s no indication that you made allowance for students ‘from a disadvantaged background’. Don’t you know that everyone is equally intelligent… it’s only social deprivation that holds some kids back? It’s all about fairness.
In reply to I Can See Clearly Now, I would like to point out that I treated each of my students the same, as well as devoting to the same amount of care and encouragement to each of them. I taught on a law degree course, and my argument was that if students were allowed to pass with a minimal amount of knowledge, this would eventually have an impact on those members of the public who might choose to engage them for advice and support in a legal dispute. Members of the public are already paying a high price for legal advice, particularly with the cut backs in legal aid, and therefore it is imperative that the solicitor or legal executive is in a position to provide the necessary expertise. I put this argument many times to the hierachy in my faculty, but they were only concerned with the more short-term option of churning out as many degree passes as possible.
Odo, Like your train of thought but a bit of sarcasm training might be in order.
.. a bit of sarcasm failure I think
Abject failure, I’m afraid!
Odo Saunders; apologies, but I was trying to be funny by creating a typical whinge you could expect from what Grove called ‘The Blob’. It shows how bad things are that people took it seriously!
Believe me ICSCN, some people are born thick and no amount of education will change that.
99% of chicks without brains want to be actresses, because they think actresses don’t really work much at all, get free clothes, free makeup, your pic in Heat magazine, shagged by someone famous, and earn a lot of money. After some disappointing sessions on the casting couch, they retire to something else – since 2008 that has meant writing a blog. Good luck Chicklet, I really laughed when I saw that the Sun has gone back to tits – just when the dykes were all congratulating themselves on ‘wimmin winning’. Classic.
The Times crossword is dead easy, try the one in the gay times that is difficult even for a homosexual genius like me.
Not bad for you Scotty. A better quality troll.
Let’s face it, feminazi ideology is down to self loathing wimmin who can’t stand that there are other females who like to take life a little less seriously, who are proud of their assets and who don’t want to be a ‘Uman roights’ lawyer .
I can imagine Holmes in the boudoir…’Turn the light out…no, don’t look at my behind…no, don’t touch me there…I don’t like that..hurry up!
Five minutes of soulless, slapped fish missionary sex later and the job is done and all that came out of it is a shopping list for Waitrose and what the new 50 shades movie will be like.
Feminism, socialism, left wing, liberalism..all part of the same family and all full of contradictions and lies. I know a few ‘power’ wimmin who have far less morals than most page 3 girls but it’s all about the suit.
“Five minutes of soulless, slapped fish missionary sex later and the job is done”
Five minutes? As long as that? Some people don’t know they’re born.
Across.
4. Rhymes with tubes. (5)
7. Small waves on a pond. (7)
I read this in today’s Guardians CIF article on Page 3
There is something deeply classist about the No More Page 3 brigade, who would happily visit art galleries or watch arty films full of images of naked breasts. Of course they are admiring the pictures in their proper sophisticated context, unlike the oiks who read The Sun.
The campaign has epitomised authoritarian feminism which is about anything but choice. Other, less educated women can’t be trusted to make doctrinally correct decisions about their own lives. Things must be banned to protect these poor girls from the patriarchy.
I can’t say I’m sorry the campaigners been made to look silly. I am a woman, I do not care for Page 3, and I will not buy The Sun today just as I have never bought it. But I don’t feel I need to enforce my taste on everyone else.
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/jan/23/the-sun-page-3-lust-power-women
Will Beeboids urges ‘Guardian’ to ban its crossword too, in the interests of dumbing down?
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