I have never heard of the writer Luca Veste until a few weeks ago when he started to post some tweets about how he had 'trapped' me.
The background is this. I set up this blog to scrutinise the work of the right-wing public school commentator Jeremy Duns. But Duns and his gang of right-wing writers are so sexist that they cannot accept a mere woman would dare to stand up to them. So they keep insisting this blog is the work of a man, even though I am quite open about who I am.
The latest to join the hunt was 'Veste', who laid what he described as 'traps' that led Duns to conclude this blog was written by a man called Gerrard Killoran. As it turned it, it was a mistake, and Duns had to apologise soon afterwards. But in the meantime, Veste put out some smug tweets about how clever his 'traps' were.
What sort of man I wondered can talk about laying 'traps' for a woman? The language was so extreme, and so violent, that it led me to take a look at Veste's most recent book, 'Dead Gone'. What I found in this book was I believe genuinely shocking, and it tells me that something has to be done if women are to feel safe anywhere.
Readers of crime fiction have already started to complain about the obsession male writers have with extreme violence against women. I have already blogged about this in the work of David Hewson and Ian Rankin - and suffered terrible levels of abuse from the Duns gang as a result. But Veste has taken it to the most extreme level yet.
The book opens with a genuinely creepy description of a young women being sadistically tortured and murdered. A man captures her on the way back from a nigh club, which in Veste's world automatically marks her out as a 'bad girl' who needs to be tortured and killed.
Later on when the detective discovers her, she is described as being 'spread-eagled' on the ground, a shocking use of female sexual imagery. Clearly the author believes that any woman who opens her legs deserves what is coming to her.
There is worse to come. The story develops into one of a sick individual who carries out a series of 'experiments' on women. The descriptions are horrible to read, taking a perverse pleasure, it seems to me, in what is being described. In one scene a women is told that she will be tortured unless she is 'good'. In another, there is a discussion of slowly bleeding a women to death, a clear reference to the female menstrual cycle. The women in the story are kept locked in a cellar, and subject to levels of abuse that are both psychological and physical. At one point, one of the is described as 'begging for death, in much the same way a sexist male might describe a women as 'begging' for sex.
It was shocking to read, and I was asking myself as I read it, what sort of man could write this and why? And why would they think that anyone would want to read it?
There is a regrettable trend towards the use of graphic violence against women in the crime genre, and several women writers have courageously spoken out against it. But Veste has taken it to a new and horrific level.
Violence against women has become part of our culture, and in my view men such as Veste are responsible for that.
The issue now for women is how we stop them - and protect our bodies from further violence.
I believe that it is shocking that a major publishing company would bring out a book such as 'Dead Gone' - it is published by Avon, which is owned by Harper Collins, which in turn in owned by Rupert Murdoch, the same man who gave us Page 3 girls.
I will be blogging some more about this book over the next few weeks.
But the most important question to be asked I think is how can a book like this be stopped?
Friday, 24 January 2014
Friday, 27 December 2013
Does Jeremy Duns Hate Gays?
In my views the campaigning journalist Glen Greenwald is one of the most important figures of our times. You can agree or disagree with his views, of course. And you can certainly argue that he is not right about everything, and has made some mistakes in his reporting, whilst supporting his overall purpose of limiting the ability of the state to spy on the individual.
But he is someone who is standing up for our freedom - and I find it hard to see how you can think that is a bad thing.
And yet the right-wing, public-school pundit Jerermy Duns clearly does.
He had devoted a huge amount of his time over the past few months, both on his own blog and on Twitter to attacking Greenwald. There is one example here...http://storify.com/pindarninja/an-epic-twitter-rant-against-glenn-greenwald. There are many other examples on Duns's blog, and on his Twitter feed.
For a while I was puzzled by why Duns was so aggressive towards Greenwald, and was so determined to discredit him.
And then I started to work it out. It is because he is gay?
Now, Duns will I believe now threaten legal action against me, as he frequently does. So I want to make it quite clear that this is only a theory - I have no definitive evidence that Duns hates gays. And like anyone Duns is innocent until proven otherwise. But there several facts that point clearly in this direction, and it is important that these are made public.
First, Greenwald is not the only example of Duns attacking a prominent gay journalist. A few years back, Duns devoted a huge amount of energy to attacking the gay, left-wing journalist Johan Hari. You can read examples of his attacks here and here. And Hari is openly gay. There are very few senior gay journalists working in the British media (the only other one I can think of is Matthew Parris - but Duns probably likes him because he is a Tory). So he is not just attacking one but a series of gay journalists.
Second, Duns was educated at one of the major British public schools - Winchester (see this link). It is well documented that public schools are rabidly anti-gay, perhaps because the risk of homosexual relationships is so high in a mostly male environment. So Duns may well have picked up these attitudes at schol.
Thirdly, Duns is the main supporter of the literary merit of the work of Ian Fleming. Fleming was not just a sexist writer - he was anti-gay as well. Take this except from Goldfinger -
But he is someone who is standing up for our freedom - and I find it hard to see how you can think that is a bad thing.
And yet the right-wing, public-school pundit Jerermy Duns clearly does.
He had devoted a huge amount of his time over the past few months, both on his own blog and on Twitter to attacking Greenwald. There is one example here...http://storify.com/pindarninja/an-epic-twitter-rant-against-glenn-greenwald. There are many other examples on Duns's blog, and on his Twitter feed.
For a while I was puzzled by why Duns was so aggressive towards Greenwald, and was so determined to discredit him.
And then I started to work it out. It is because he is gay?
Now, Duns will I believe now threaten legal action against me, as he frequently does. So I want to make it quite clear that this is only a theory - I have no definitive evidence that Duns hates gays. And like anyone Duns is innocent until proven otherwise. But there several facts that point clearly in this direction, and it is important that these are made public.
First, Greenwald is not the only example of Duns attacking a prominent gay journalist. A few years back, Duns devoted a huge amount of energy to attacking the gay, left-wing journalist Johan Hari. You can read examples of his attacks here and here. And Hari is openly gay. There are very few senior gay journalists working in the British media (the only other one I can think of is Matthew Parris - but Duns probably likes him because he is a Tory). So he is not just attacking one but a series of gay journalists.
Second, Duns was educated at one of the major British public schools - Winchester (see this link). It is well documented that public schools are rabidly anti-gay, perhaps because the risk of homosexual relationships is so high in a mostly male environment. So Duns may well have picked up these attitudes at schol.
Thirdly, Duns is the main supporter of the literary merit of the work of Ian Fleming. Fleming was not just a sexist writer - he was anti-gay as well. Take this except from Goldfinger -
Bond said firmly, ‘Lock that door, Pussy, take off that sweater and come into bed. You’ll catch cold.’
She did as she was told, like an obedient child. She lay in the crook of Bond’s arm and looked up at him. She said, not in a gangster’s voice, or a Lesbian’s, but in a girl’s voice, ‘Will you write to me in Sing Sing?’
Bond looked down into the deep blue-violet eyes that were no longer hard, imperious. He bent and kissed them lightly. He said, ‘They told me you only liked women.’
She said, ‘I never met a man before.’
That is only one example. There are many, many instances of Fleming's homophobia. He was a writer who hated gays - and yet Duns insists on promoting him as one of the greatest writers of the last fifty years.
So that makes three pieces of evidence. Duns frequently attacks prominent gays, he came from a traditionally gay-hating background, and his main professional occupation is praising the work of an openly homophobic writer. On my analysis, that makes Duns anti-gay.
It may be hard for men like Duns to accept, but being gay is not a deviation - it is an allowable choice. Gays are victimised, and subject to assaults just like women. And this is because men like Duns promote an agenda in which it is considered acceptable to attack gays.
Public school bullies like Duns represent everything that is wrong with our society. He has to be stopped - and can be if we all work together we can unite around an agenda that denies any space to men of his sort.
So that makes three pieces of evidence. Duns frequently attacks prominent gays, he came from a traditionally gay-hating background, and his main professional occupation is praising the work of an openly homophobic writer. On my analysis, that makes Duns anti-gay.
It may be hard for men like Duns to accept, but being gay is not a deviation - it is an allowable choice. Gays are victimised, and subject to assaults just like women. And this is because men like Duns promote an agenda in which it is considered acceptable to attack gays.
Public school bullies like Duns represent everything that is wrong with our society. He has to be stopped - and can be if we all work together we can unite around an agenda that denies any space to men of his sort.
Friday, 20 December 2013
How Jeremy Duns Smears People
I have blogged here before about how the public school Twitter bully Jeremy Duns smears people.
But the threats he has made against this blogs are a perfect illustration of how he operates.
In August, Duns put up a post threatening legal action against this blog - you can read it here.
He also clearly implies that I am responsible for other sites that scrutinise his work, although without producing a shred of evidence that I have done so.
As well as the usual abuse he heeps on a mere woman who has the temerity to question him - 'pathethic' and 'vile' are two of the words he uses, living up to his usual standards of civilised debate - he specifically states that he is planning legal action.
He has done this before - for example on September 21, 2012, he wrote this as a comment -
"IlkleyChess (Gerard Killoran) is now explaining to me via email why this wasn't him. I'm all ears.
It makes little difference. If this blog is still here tomorrow morning I will take legal steps to find the IP of this and the other blog, and sue whoever is behind it for libel. If 'Maria James' *isn't* Gerard - and I find that extraordinarily hard to believe - he or she has of course not just defamed me but also brought Steve Roach into this against his will, and now apparently Mr Killoran. So if it isn't either of them, they may also want to sue.
Either way, I'll sue if it's still here tomorrow. Try me" - the link is here.
On 15th September, 20112, he wrote this -
I do not know the IP address of this blog and other similarly names one - but Google will. If this blog is still here on Monday morning I will initiate the legal process to obtain the IP address of this blog on grounds of malicious falsehood and defamation. Whoever the IP belongs to - ie you - I will then sue." - the link is here.
So it is quite clear that Duns is accusing me of malicious falsehood, libel and defamation.
That is a very serious allegation to make. Malicious falsehood, for example, is a criminal offence. So Duns is accusing me of a crime.
But when I called him out on it, and said I would correct any errors of fact I had made, he fell strangely silent.
Duns describes himself as journalist. In fact, the evidence for this is hard to find. According to this site, the last original article he wrote was in May 2011, and the one before that was in May 2009. I am not sure if writing two articles in four years allows you to describe yourself as a journalist. But anyway, if he is a qualified journalist the he must surely be familiar with the libel laws. These state very clearly that both truth and fair comment are defences against libel.
I challeneged Duns quite clearly to state any mistaken facts in my blogs, and said I would correct them. He could not do so, because it is all true. Unlike Duns, I check things carefully before writing them.
So why is he accusing me of libel when he has no case?
Why is he bullying and throwing around accusations he is not able to back back up?
Because all he is interested in doing is smearing people.
Time and time again, he makes aggressive allegations against people, without a shred of evidence to support them - and this is just one more example.
More and more people are starting to understand that public school bullies like Duns represent everything that is wrong with our society. If we stand up to him, we can change the world for the better.
But the threats he has made against this blogs are a perfect illustration of how he operates.
In August, Duns put up a post threatening legal action against this blog - you can read it here.
He also clearly implies that I am responsible for other sites that scrutinise his work, although without producing a shred of evidence that I have done so.
As well as the usual abuse he heeps on a mere woman who has the temerity to question him - 'pathethic' and 'vile' are two of the words he uses, living up to his usual standards of civilised debate - he specifically states that he is planning legal action.
He has done this before - for example on September 21, 2012, he wrote this as a comment -
"IlkleyChess (Gerard Killoran) is now explaining to me via email why this wasn't him. I'm all ears.
It makes little difference. If this blog is still here tomorrow morning I will take legal steps to find the IP of this and the other blog, and sue whoever is behind it for libel. If 'Maria James' *isn't* Gerard - and I find that extraordinarily hard to believe - he or she has of course not just defamed me but also brought Steve Roach into this against his will, and now apparently Mr Killoran. So if it isn't either of them, they may also want to sue.
Either way, I'll sue if it's still here tomorrow. Try me" - the link is here.
On 15th September, 20112, he wrote this -
I do not know the IP address of this blog and other similarly names one - but Google will. If this blog is still here on Monday morning I will initiate the legal process to obtain the IP address of this blog on grounds of malicious falsehood and defamation. Whoever the IP belongs to - ie you - I will then sue." - the link is here.
So it is quite clear that Duns is accusing me of malicious falsehood, libel and defamation.
That is a very serious allegation to make. Malicious falsehood, for example, is a criminal offence. So Duns is accusing me of a crime.
But when I called him out on it, and said I would correct any errors of fact I had made, he fell strangely silent.
Duns describes himself as journalist. In fact, the evidence for this is hard to find. According to this site, the last original article he wrote was in May 2011, and the one before that was in May 2009. I am not sure if writing two articles in four years allows you to describe yourself as a journalist. But anyway, if he is a qualified journalist the he must surely be familiar with the libel laws. These state very clearly that both truth and fair comment are defences against libel.
I challeneged Duns quite clearly to state any mistaken facts in my blogs, and said I would correct them. He could not do so, because it is all true. Unlike Duns, I check things carefully before writing them.
So why is he accusing me of libel when he has no case?
Why is he bullying and throwing around accusations he is not able to back back up?
Because all he is interested in doing is smearing people.
Time and time again, he makes aggressive allegations against people, without a shred of evidence to support them - and this is just one more example.
More and more people are starting to understand that public school bullies like Duns represent everything that is wrong with our society. If we stand up to him, we can change the world for the better.
Friday, 6 December 2013
Who Is Jeremy Duns?
Public school Jeremy Duns has responded to my last post.
He says his name was changed by deed poll after his mother re-married.
But this just raises more important questions?
Who was his birth father?
Why the unusual arrangement of changing someone's name by deed poll? Was his mother trying to hide something.
People have a right to know.
Duns sets himself up as a public figure.
He attacks writers who don't use their real names - look at his attacks on RJ Ellory.
But that means he also needs to answer questions about who he really is and what his agenda might be.
He attacks writers who don't use their real names - look at his attacks on RJ Ellory.
But that means he also needs to answer questions about who he really is and what his agenda might be.
Wednesday, 20 November 2013
An Extraordinary Allegation Against Jeremy Duns
On his Wikipedia page, and in an article in the FT, Jeremy Duns states quite clearly that he was born in Manchester.
But on Twitter, @StephenHildon has looked him up and found that no one of that name was born in Manchester or elsewhere up until 2006.
Stephen Hildon @StephenHildon
@MariaJames9 @NeilClark66 according to an FT article he was born in Manchester but there has never been
So what is going on?
Has Duns lied about where he was born, and if so why?
Of course, it might be that he was adopted. Or that Duns is a nom de plum.
But again, why has he not said so?
Duns holds other people to account. But why is he not being honest himself?
These are important questions and Duns needs to answer them.
But on Twitter, @StephenHildon has looked him up and found that no one of that name was born in Manchester or elsewhere up until 2006.
Stephen Hildon
So what is going on?
Has Duns lied about where he was born, and if so why?
Of course, it might be that he was adopted. Or that Duns is a nom de plum.
But again, why has he not said so?
Duns holds other people to account. But why is he not being honest himself?
These are important questions and Duns needs to answer them.
Friday, 25 October 2013
Jeremy Duns - Public School Twitter Bully
A lot has been written about bullying on Twitter. Most attention has focussed on teenagers. But I want to highlight the public school bullying exemplified by the writer Jeremy Duns, who this week launched his second campaign against the obscure blogger Gerard Killoran.
I have made it quite clear in several posts that this blog is written in my own name. But Duns continues to insist that it is written by a man. At various points he has suggested it is written by the thriller writer Stephen Leather. One of his followers (or was it Duns himself?) even set up a blog to push that line. You can read it here. Leave aside the oddness of setting up an anonymous blog to complain about an anonymous blog - who knows how these people think - it provided no evidence to support that conclusion.
Duns's main candidate is Killoran. He launched a furious attack on him last year, which you can read about here. It was an attack of extraordinary verbal violence, of a sort that might cause real harm to an elderly man. But worst of all, it was untrue, as Duns later admitted.
Most people might be humbled by that. But not public school Jeremy, who is always right about everything because he went to a posh school, and is happy to trample on people because he is upper class.
On Oct 21, Duns believed he had found evidence that Killoran was in fact the author of this blog. It seems a 'trap' had been laid by one of his gang, a writer called Luca Veste (who has a book out soon featuring - you guessed - a serial killer who 'experiments' on his women victims). I cannot believe that any man in the 21st century would talk about 'trapping' a women - but Duns thinks it is fine. Based on this 'very clever trap', Duns then launched his usual barrage of tweets against Killoran. You can read them on his Twitter feed - here .
Except, whoops! It turned out this boys club was not as clever as it thought. By the end of the day, Duns had to admit he had got it wrong, and owed Killoran an apology.
What this shows us is two things.
The first is that Duns is a bully who uses Twitter to smear and attack people, but who does not have any concern at all with getting his facts right.
The second is his sexism. He clearly cannot believe that this blog is written by a woman, because they belong in the bedroom or the kitchen. They cannot be allowed to have strong opinions, or to stand up to public schoolboys like Duns. If they do, he has to deny that they are women.
Duns represents everything that is going wrong with the world. That is why we have to stand up to him and must never give up the fight.
I have made it quite clear in several posts that this blog is written in my own name. But Duns continues to insist that it is written by a man. At various points he has suggested it is written by the thriller writer Stephen Leather. One of his followers (or was it Duns himself?) even set up a blog to push that line. You can read it here. Leave aside the oddness of setting up an anonymous blog to complain about an anonymous blog - who knows how these people think - it provided no evidence to support that conclusion.
Duns's main candidate is Killoran. He launched a furious attack on him last year, which you can read about here. It was an attack of extraordinary verbal violence, of a sort that might cause real harm to an elderly man. But worst of all, it was untrue, as Duns later admitted.
Most people might be humbled by that. But not public school Jeremy, who is always right about everything because he went to a posh school, and is happy to trample on people because he is upper class.
On Oct 21, Duns believed he had found evidence that Killoran was in fact the author of this blog. It seems a 'trap' had been laid by one of his gang, a writer called Luca Veste (who has a book out soon featuring - you guessed - a serial killer who 'experiments' on his women victims). I cannot believe that any man in the 21st century would talk about 'trapping' a women - but Duns thinks it is fine. Based on this 'very clever trap', Duns then launched his usual barrage of tweets against Killoran. You can read them on his Twitter feed - here .
Except, whoops! It turned out this boys club was not as clever as it thought. By the end of the day, Duns had to admit he had got it wrong, and owed Killoran an apology.
Right. Hearty apologies to @ilkleychess for saying they were @mariajames9, who will now continue to smear me for the next decade or two.
What this shows us is two things.
The first is that Duns is a bully who uses Twitter to smear and attack people, but who does not have any concern at all with getting his facts right.
The second is his sexism. He clearly cannot believe that this blog is written by a woman, because they belong in the bedroom or the kitchen. They cannot be allowed to have strong opinions, or to stand up to public schoolboys like Duns. If they do, he has to deny that they are women.
Duns represents everything that is going wrong with the world. That is why we have to stand up to him and must never give up the fight.
Wednesday, 16 October 2013
More Shocking Allegations Against Jeremy Duns
Selena Kitt has written a devastating critique of Jeremy Duns and his way of operating on her blog.
You can read it in full here.http://selenakitt.com/blog/index.php/2013/10/15/porn-hunt-2013-gossip-boys-researching-porn-real-hard/
It is hard for me to comment in detail on her allegations in specifics.
But the bullying, the arrogance, the trashing of people's work, the disregard of the truth, and the threatening behaviour, are all precisely what I have been writing about on this blog.
I am afraid it is typical of public-school bullies like Duns.
The issue now is to band together to stop him.
You can read it in full here.http://selenakitt.com/blog/index.php/2013/10/15/porn-hunt-2013-gossip-boys-researching-porn-real-hard/
It is hard for me to comment in detail on her allegations in specifics.
But the bullying, the arrogance, the trashing of people's work, the disregard of the truth, and the threatening behaviour, are all precisely what I have been writing about on this blog.
I am afraid it is typical of public-school bullies like Duns.
The issue now is to band together to stop him.
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