About five hours ago I posted some comments in relation to a piece in today’s Times (I’ve long been a subscriber) about the poor performance of the GP service, and published a blog piece on the matter. After a time it was deleted. Ever the optimist, I posted the same comments again, and maybe six or seven minutes later it was deleted, and I got this message from a moderator. The paper’s Community Guidelines, with which my comments allegedly don’t “align”, are here. I shall write to the moderator to ask for an explanation of exactly which guidelines are allegedly flouted. The guidelines were drawn up in 2017. This one in particular could have been written to ensure feminist censorship of the paper’s comments streams:

2. Choose your words carefully and do not use language that is threatening or offensive to any individual or groups. Understand that words which you deem acceptable may be offensive to others.

I find many things published by the paper offensive – articles written by feminists including Caitlin Moran, for a start – but I wouldn’t dream of seeking censorship of the related comments streams.

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