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Joe

@idiotxque.bsky.social
71 followers 97 following 107 posts

(He/him) Woke moralist ✊ Music nerd 🎼 Bluenose 🔵 (for my sins)

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Joe @idiotxque.bsky.social · 08/03/2026
As today is International Women's Day, I've written about why all men should be feminists: open.substack.com/pub/awaytobl...
open.substack.com
The Crisis of Masculinity; or, Why Men Need Feminism
This International Women's Day, I make the case for all men to embrace feminism.
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Joe @idiotxque.bsky.social · 31/12/2025
I wrote about my 25 favourite albums of 2025 open.substack.com/pub/awaytobl...
open.substack.com
My Favourite Albums of 2025
Which 25 records made this year's list? Read on to find out...
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Joe @idiotxque.bsky.social · 06/12/2025
I wrote something about Rory Stewart and Zack Polanski open.substack.com/pub/awaytobl...
open.substack.com
Zack Polanski vs The Rest Is Politics
Rory Stewart's reaction to his Polanski interview wasn't just disingenuous - it shows us exactly how the mainstream media works to dismiss left-wing economics.
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Joe @idiotxque.bsky.social · 25/10/2025
I wrote a review of Deadbeat by Tame Impala open.substack.com/pub/awaytobl...
open.substack.com
Tame Impala - Deadbeat Album Review
Tame Impala's first album in five years is a change of pace that will certainly divide listeners.
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Joe @idiotxque.bsky.social · 22/06/2025
I wrote about Thom Yorke's response to criticism over Israel and why it matters open.substack.com/pub/awaytobl...
open.substack.com
Does it really matter what Radiohead think about Israel?
I take a look at the reasons why Thom Yorke has recently found himself embroiled in controversy over his stance (or lack thereof) on Israel - and whether it really matters what he thinks
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Joe @idiotxque.bsky.social · 29/04/2025
To clarify, trans women playing women's football is not a problem. It's just that if it were a problem, this new rule would do fuck all because they're not playing competitive football in Scotland anyway
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Joe @idiotxque.bsky.social · 29/04/2025
Good to see this equalities act guidance is being used to solve problems that definitely exist
Excerpt from a BBC News article saying "The new policy will apply to all competitive football in Scotland, including the grassroots game from under-13s and over. However, it is understood there are currently no transgender women playing competitive football north of the border."
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Joe @idiotxque.bsky.social · 27/04/2025
And last, I think whoever replaces Ancelotti has a huge job on their hands to reset the culture within the team. It's already been said that it'll be a tough ask to turn Mbappe and Vinicius into effective pressers, but it'll be even harder to turn them into model professionals
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Joe @idiotxque.bsky.social · 27/04/2025
I also wouldn't be surprised if some of the more marginal squad players who aren't starting regularly (Guler, Endrick, maybe even Camavinga) were looking for a move. Why on earth would you want to stay in that toxic atmosphere if you weren't playing and weren't winning things?
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Joe @idiotxque.bsky.social · 27/04/2025
I wouldn't really expect much different from the likes of Rudiger, Carvajal and Vinicius, and we've seen it in the past with senior players like Ramos and Pepe, but I'd expect better from Modric and it's a shame to see their batch of fantastic young players caught up in it
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Joe @idiotxque.bsky.social · 27/04/2025
Several of them we already knew this about (not least Vinicius Jr) but it's been another level since the Balloon d'Or and refereeing things this season, and it seems to have infected every single member of the squad. If I was a player there I would be embarrassed by it, but it seems none of them are
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Joe @idiotxque.bsky.social · 27/04/2025
One of my big takeaways from last night's Copa del Rey final is that Jude Bellingham has really had a big issue with his attitude since he moved to Real Madrid. The whole atmosphere around that club absolutely stinks in a way it really hasn't before and he's absolutely been caught up in that
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Joe @idiotxque.bsky.social · 25/04/2025
Obsessed
The album cover for A Complicated Woman by Self Esteem
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Joe @idiotxque.bsky.social · 17/04/2025
When reading about Kilmar Abregl Garcia, it's important to remember that this is not new policy for the US nor El Salvador - the US have run a torture camp for innocent people on Cuba for decades, and Bukele has consistently disregarded human rights since becoming president
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Joe @idiotxque.bsky.social · 13/04/2025
I've written a piece about Birmingham City's recent struggles ahead of today's cup final.. open.substack.com/pub/awaytobl...
open.substack.com
The fall (and rise?) of Birmingham City
After more than a decade of decline, are Birmingham City on the rise again?
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Joe @idiotxque.bsky.social · 10/04/2025
I reviewed the new Black Country New Road album open.substack.com/pub/awaytobl...
open.substack.com
Black Country, New Road - Forever Howlong Album Review
The release of Black Country, New Road’s last album, Ants From Up There, marked the end of a chapter in the band’s history. In many ways, this album feels like one too.
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Joe @idiotxque.bsky.social · 31/03/2025
Finally some fucking good news
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Joe @idiotxque.bsky.social · 21/03/2025
Yes it was only Albania, and no it wasn't perfect, particularly in the second half when the intensity dropped and we lost a bit of control, but it was a really promising start and definitely a really good place to be building from
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Joe @idiotxque.bsky.social · 21/03/2025
Quick one on the England game but the first half was genuinely some of the best football I've ever seen England play. Great positional rotations and control both in and out of possession in ways that we just didn't see under Southgate, plus a number of really good individual performances
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Joe @idiotxque.bsky.social · 21/03/2025
It's also a bit disappointing to hear someone who made such an acclaimed TV show and who's been so careful to point out that the show isn't placing the blame with one person or cause but showing that there are multiple factors, turn around and say the solution is banning social media for teenagers.
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Joe @idiotxque.bsky.social · 21/03/2025
The likes of Andrew Tate might be new, but the ideas he and his ilk espouse are not new at all - they've been around for a long time and haven't been properly addressed. If we're serious about ending violence against women, it has to be about changing how men are brought up in society.
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Joe @idiotxque.bsky.social · 21/03/2025
It also reads as though he's trying to say that back in his day, they didn't have smartphones or video games and no men were ever violent to women - I really doubt that's what he's suggesting, but that is the implication. That is obviously a ludicrous argument, especially in the context of the show.
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Joe @idiotxque.bsky.social · 21/03/2025
There's a lot of useless stuff that kids learn at school. Maybe part of the curriculum in computing should include a greater focus on critical thinking and digital literacy, learning about things like how fake news and rage bait go viral, and developing more analytical skills when consuming content.
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Joe @idiotxque.bsky.social · 21/03/2025
There's no doubt that social media has some really damaging effects on young people, but any ban on under-16s using social media is just going to end up with teenagers lying about their date of birth to sign up, just like I did when I got my first Facebook account at 11, and using it anyway.
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Joe @idiotxque.bsky.social · 21/03/2025
I don't think that a social media ban, and certainly not a gaming ban, is a realistic solutions to anything, and I'm not even sure it's desirable. We'd be far better investing in teaching children digital literacy skills so they're better equipped using the internet. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
Adolescence writer wants 'radical action not role models'
The writer behind the year's most talked-about TV show discusses the changes he hopes it will inspire.
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Joe @idiotxque.bsky.social · 21/03/2025
That's why it's important that we, particularly men, push back against comments/jokes that contribute to a culture where sex is seen differently for men/women. Jarrod Bowen isn't "fucking Danny Dyer's daughter", they're in a committed relationship and have a daughter. Also she's probably fucking him
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Joe @idiotxque.bsky.social · 21/03/2025
I'm not saying that simply encouraging women's sexuality will stop r*pes from happening, but I think a society in which women are encouraged to enjoy sex is one where consent is more obviously given (or denied), where violations of consent are more noticeable and where shame doesn't allow impunity
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Joe @idiotxque.bsky.social · 21/03/2025
TW: r*pe The most damaging part of this is that it is such a clear precursor to a r*pe culture in which sex is weaponised by men against women. By allowing a pervasive attitude that sex is humiliating for women and empowering for men, we reinforce gender power imbalances in sexual relationships
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Joe @idiotxque.bsky.social · 21/03/2025
This isn't all women, and I think we are moving away from this as a dominant attitude, but I think the change has been much slower than acceptance of women in practically every other male-dominated area of society - it's far more acceptable for a woman to like golf, coding or warhammer than sex
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Joe @idiotxque.bsky.social · 21/03/2025
I also think that as a result of this, there are also a lot of straight women who see sex as something to be ashamed of, as something they shouldn't desire or just something that happens to them that they have to do to make men happy
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Joe @idiotxque.bsky.social · 21/03/2025
This is most obvious from things where men are horrified at the idea of the women in their lives, particularly daughters, having sex with a man, and constantly use it as a way of making fun of one another (one recent example that springs to mind is the Dani Dyer/Jarrod Bowen stuff)
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Joe @idiotxque.bsky.social · 21/03/2025
(I put straight in brackets because there's a slightly different but related attitude towards giving/receiving in gay male sex that I think largely stems from seeing receiving as a female role and giving as a male one)
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Joe @idiotxque.bsky.social · 21/03/2025
Far too many people, consciously or not, see (straight) sex as something that is done by men to women, which men enjoy and women don't, and which is desirable for men and humiliating for women
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Joe @idiotxque.bsky.social · 21/03/2025
I really think this is the biggest hurdle for gender equality in our society atm and it has the deepest and most damaging knock-on effects for women
Tweet from @jzux saying "not to be the Friend Who's Too Woke but i feel like the hate against sabrina carpenter doing campy sex stuff in her music and live shows is largely because a lot of people don't think women should find sex fun"
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Joe @idiotxque.bsky.social · 19/03/2025
You should not take any politician or any prospective policy seriously unless they are serious about reducing inequality, and the bare minimum demand should be back to 2010 levels
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Joe @idiotxque.bsky.social · 19/03/2025
Just so we're clear, when the government tells you that something is "not working for the taxpayer" in the context of spiralling inequality, they really mean they're funding the super-rich's wealth increases by cutting things that actually benefit ordinary people
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Reposted by Joe
The Author, Séamas O'Reilly @seamas.bsky.social · 15/03/2025
I wrote this on young men, and why we need to stop lying about why they're easy prey for reptiles like Andrew Tate. www.irishexaminer.com/lifestyle-co...
irishexaminer.com
Séamas O'Reilly: We need to stop lying about what makes lost boys such easy marks for cons
Economically depressed young men are aggressively targeted with the oldest, most seductive pitch there is — money for nothing — by bad faith actors with enormous wealth
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Joe @idiotxque.bsky.social · 11/03/2025
I never really had a high opinion of him/ineos to begin with and I wouldn't say these interviews have particularly moved the needle but nothing he's said makes me think United are moving anywhere fast
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Joe @idiotxque.bsky.social · 11/03/2025
I think the "it's gone about as well as we expected" comments show all three of these perfectly - he doesn't understand the footballing impact of the decisions they've made, he still thinks his terrible approach is the right one and he comes across as arrogant when he's trying to be humble
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Joe @idiotxque.bsky.social · 11/03/2025
The overarching impression I'm getting from these Ratcliffe interviews is that he's not a great communicator, he's extremely ideological in his approach to all business and he just isn't really that knowledgeable when it comes to football
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Joe @idiotxque.bsky.social · 07/03/2025
I wrote something about yesterday's Glastonbury lineup announcement open.substack.com/pub/awaytobl...
open.substack.com
Why are Glastonbury line-ups getting worse?
For decades, Glastonbury Festival has been the pinnacle of UK contemporary music, with its Pyramid Stage headline slot the holy grail for musicians, not just from the UK but across the world.
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Joe @idiotxque.bsky.social · 07/03/2025
Like if he was just another tech nerd who wanted to lurk in the background he probably would have been a lot more successful. Instead he wanted his own face plastered all over it and as a result it's just turned into an even shitter version of Facebook
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Joe @idiotxque.bsky.social · 07/03/2025
I actually don't think that it would have been that hard for Elon to turn Twitter into "X The Everything App" if he wasn't such a pathetic human being who insisted on being so publicly visible
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Joe @idiotxque.bsky.social · 27/02/2025
Why is it that every time Onana makes a mistake, people are calling for De Gea to be brought back? Yes, Onana has underperformed and made several huge blunders, but De Gea was consistently the biggest weakness in United's setup for years and he needed replacing about 5 years before he finally was
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Joe @idiotxque.bsky.social · 21/02/2025
Ah yes, the left should just use language that's easier for centrists to digest, that'll definitely stop the entire forces of the billionaire-owned press from smearing us on the front pages of every paper
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Joe @idiotxque.bsky.social · 14/02/2025
None of this is me trying to diminish how anyone feels about it and I'm not saying he should have come out with something more explicitly anti-America or anti-Trump or whatever, I just think it's in-fitting with lots of his output that he managed to make it seem like a bigger statement than it was
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Joe @idiotxque.bsky.social · 14/02/2025
I think it's as true on e.g. Aunty Diaries or Luther, where he makes it seem like he's saying something a lot more insightful than he actually is, as it is w the HT show - sure there's a message there but he's managed to get a lot of people to think it's a lot more meaningful than it actually is
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Joe @idiotxque.bsky.social · 14/02/2025
I don't think that's a bad thing - a big part of his popularity is that the messages in his songs and albums are reasonably easy to follow - but often the ways that he conveys those messages make it come across as though he's saying something more profound than he actually is
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Joe @idiotxque.bsky.social · 14/02/2025
I'm not really gonna go into it in much depth because I don't feel particularly strongly about this but I think the reactions to Kendrick's HT performance (both positive and negative) show how well he uses his songwriting and rapping ability to make simple ideas seem more complex than they are
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Joe @idiotxque.bsky.social · 13/02/2025
Tells you all you need to know
Paragraph from BBC News: "When questioned after the session, the prime minister's official spokesperson did not specify what the "loophole" that needed closing was."
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