Tag Archives: jess phillips

Caron Lindsay

Political violence and intimidation is not new, and it needs to end

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 14th July 2024 - 10:40 am

I was about to go to bed last night when news started to filter through about shots being fired at a Trump rally in Pennsylvania. The initial pictures showing a bleeding Donald Trump being taken from the stage by the Secret Service agents who had courageously got between him and the bullets that were being sent his way were incredibly disturbing.

Thankfully, he was ok, though he is bound to be shocked but two people died and two people are, at the time of writing, critically ill.

I was incredibly impressed by how calmly and articulately BBC reporter Gary O’Donaghue described what was going on while lying on the ground taking cover behind a car outside the rally.

It should go without saying that candidates and people should be able to conduct and participate in democracy in safety. Too often, we are seeing the opposite. In this country we have seen two MPs killed while carrying out their surgeries in the past 8 years.

In the recent election, Jess Phillips described in her victory speech the intimidation and harassment she and her campaigners had experienced. It’s a tough listen. Nobody should have to go through this.

She should have been accompanied by Jo Cox’s family on polling day, but she asked them not to come out of worry that it would be too traumatic for them to see what she was going through.

She went into more detail about the emotional impact on her on the Electoral Dysfunction podcast the day after the election.

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged , and | 2 Comments
Ruth Bright

International Women’s Day: Could there ever be a Lib Dem Jess Phillips?

By Ruth Bright | Wed 8th March 2017 - 10:21 am
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Posted in Books | Also tagged | 21 Comments
Caron Lindsay

Swinson and Farron speak out against online abuse after threats sent to Labour MP Jess Phillips

By Caron Lindsay | Fri 30th October 2015 - 4:30 pm

The internet can be a torrid place, as we all know. If you’re a woman, especially one who dares express an opinion that doesn’t sit well with a very small minority of men, you are likely to get a particularly brutal form of abuse, usually coupled with threats of sexual violence.

When Labour MP Jess Phillips reacted with incredulity to Tory Phillip Davies’ request for a debate on International Men’s Day, she was subjected to some awful abuse. You know it’s bad when one of the milder things written was an observation that seeing her spirit die would be a rewarding experience. Who could possibly think that that was ok to say to anyone about anything?

Buzzfeed UK has the full story including the full tweet. They are pretty stomach turning.

It’s important to realise that women have to put up with this sort of nonsense every day. Yes, men get abuse too, but there is a gendered aspect that is chilling. A few years ago, I wrote about how demeaning it felt when a man sat next to me on a flight reading his lad’s mag with photos of very scantily clad women. I suggested that this might be something that they should not be doing in the public space and was told that I deserved to be raped, like brutal sexual violence was an acceptable reaction to disagreeing with someone.

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Posted in News | Also tagged , , and | 18 Comments
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