Laurie Penny has angered Irish feminists who say she has made the repeal of abortion laws “all about her”. The prominent activist posted an error-strewn piece on her ($4,000 a month) Patreon page which infuriated grassroots campaigners. Some highlights…

Penny described the referendum result as a “fluke” and confused the Irish legislature with the Taoiseach:

“Any fluke victory for reason and compassion in the face of religious bigotry is supposed to scrape through by the narrowest of margins. Sixty-six percent, guys. Even in the bloody countryside…”

“When the proper legislation … finally gets through the Taoiseach…”

Penny continued:

“Despair is easy, you see, after a while. You get used to the dull ache of waking up every day knowing that everything will likely get worse by the time you go to bed. Really, I barely notice it anymore. But the possbility of things *not* going completely to sh*t if we just hang on in there and keep putting hope into action?

“That just hurts in way you can’t ignore. I was more or less resigned, and now I’m going to have to go back to work and get my heart broken all over again. So f*ck you, The Irish Republic, for giving me hope, and f*ck your f*cking yes vote, too. It’s too much…”

Penny has now hidden the piece behind a paywall (it was originally free) and deleted tweets promoting it. For $50 a month, Laurie’s Patreon subscribers get a personal letter and signed photo. For 250 bucks, “we can go for dinner” and “we can have a chat about what you want to receive in return”. Perhaps her subscribers can stump up to get her to end the hot takes…

Extraordinary line of questioning to Jacob Rees-Mogg from JoCo on the Daily Politics, repeatedly questioning if an abiding Catholic can take high office in politics. We had the Catholic emancipation in 1829…

Piers Morgan: “So you oppose same-sex marriage?”

Jacob Rees-Mogg: “I… I…”

Piers: “Why are you afraid to say you oppose it?”

Rees-Mogg: “The teaching of the Catholic church is completely clear.”

Susanna Reid: “You voted against it?”

Rees-Mogg: “I did. The marriage issue is the important thing…”

Susanna: “Are you completely opposed to abortion in all circumstances?”

Rees-Mogg: “Yes I am.”

Piers: “Rape and incest?”

Rees-Mogg: “I’m afraid so.”

Piers: “Really?”

Rees-Mogg: “Life is sacrosanct and begins at the point of conception.”

Nothing that should come as a surprise to any Tory familiar with Jacob. As Guido has been saying, Moggmentum is not a serious thing, Rees-Mogg himself says he is not going to be leader. The leadership talk only serves to give lefty journalists ammunition to make the Tories look silly…