Geoff Norcott

Also, you are bald.

In a pub, these moments pass quickly enough, amid the general ping-pong of masculine word rallies.

But from a stranger, disembodied at 3am, I dare say they lose some of their charm.

But online insults are at the lighter end of things, and there are sadly people who systematically abuse others, often bringing in race and gender as an aggravating factor.

But where does that come from, and why does it seem to be on the rise in the online sphere?

An LSE report as far back as 2017 chronicled a number of reasons why working class white men felt they were losing their social status.

This kind of anxiety gets short shrift in liberal circles who presume that merely being white and owning a penis is a lifelong golden ticket from Willy Wonka.

But that's a very broad view of being male, which doesn't take into account the qualifying issue of class.

Personally, throughout history, I'd have preferred to be a middle-class woman than a working-class man.

I mean, who would you rather be, Lady Chatterley or her lover?

LAUGHTER I mean, I'm sure Lamellas would have loved to spend the afternoon collecting wildflowers, but he was too busy yanking the guts out of a pheasant.

I mean... LAUGHTER Yeah, it did sound euphemistic out loud.

LAUGHTER

Class means that the very concept of privilege is more slippery than some people let on.

I mean, imagine being a young white male who never had much power to begin with.

Then you turn on a late-night discussion to see someone called Hegemony talk about how you as a man should surrender your privilege.

I mean, if you're a manual worker in Wigan, you might ask, exactly which privilege of mine would she like?

Does she want to get up at 5am to stand in the cold?

Does she fancy getting arthritis?

And why do all Geoff's examples of underprivileged men live in Wigan?