Disabled lady Aliya Rahman, US citizen, on the way to an appointment at the Traumatic Brain Injury Center, hemmed in with contrary instructions, dragged out of her car, trussed up and put in a cell in the gulag, denied medication, denied a physician, lost consciousness.
She eventually recovered at the ER.
Homeland Security: "The Department of Homeland Security said she was an agitator who was obstructing ICE agents conducting arrests in the area."
They are using Signal groups to warn people where they are. They are following ICE vehicles around. And they are filiming ICE agents.
Little wonder the ICE agents get frustrated.
The problem is that we pay our law enforcement to remain unflustered in the face of provocations. That's the nature of law enforcement. You are paid to be the arm of the State, but you are also therefore subserviant to the people the State serves - i.e. its citizens. They are allowed to film you, to follow you, and to broadcast your location on Signal.
And whenever ICE overreacts, it means more people join in these resistance groups, making ICE's job that much harder.
Which does raise the question of why ICE is behaving as it does. It certainly doesn't seem a very effective way of removing illegal immigrants from the US.
It must be pretty damn close to c***l w*r in some cities now, with State and Federal police opposed to each other.
How does the temperature get turned down?
Thankfully guns are not widely distributed or anything…
Indeed, the amusing thing being that those who oppose the actions of the government are also those opposing the general population being armed.
Which is entirely consistent if the aim is a less violent society.
Cops kill ~1300 people every year in the USA with their guns. For all the gun holders, it's a little under 50k including suicides.
UK? Cops discharged a firearm at a person in 2024 and 2025 at 2 and 4 incidents respectively.
Another thing the blessed Farage would like to change in favour of the U.S.'s direction, from what he has said.
That will be to add to the Great Patriot's approach to selling U.K. tech expertise to the American oligarchs.
Strongly recommend the German Language movie “Tank” on Amazon Prime. Compelling and intelligent - it manages to humanise a Tiger tank crew on the Eastern Front in WW2, but doesn’t shy away from the horrors - including the Final Solution
VG
Really?! Watched it last night and to me it seemed a clumsy fusion of Apocalypse Now and An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge, they even had a bridge. Good sense of what being inside a tank involved nevertheless, though the U-boat Tiger bit was a bit far fetched.
1,370 soldiers and 51 artillery and MLRS no longer reporting for duty in the Russian Army after yesterday...
They’re also losing ground on the front lines, having spread themselves too thin to try and avoid the drone wave.
Meanwhile, Russian newspapers aren’t holding back with stories of economic woes, and the Chinese are slowly moving border fences in the far East.
The optimist in me thinks this war must be close to being over now.
I hope you're right: Zelenskky has agreed to freezing the front lines several times, but Putin has always refused - not least because Ukraine will not give up uncaptured land.
Do you think Putin is ready to change his mind?
Not yet, because the word won’t be getting back to him just how much ground they’re losing on the battlefield.
He still thinks they hold Kupyansk and Prokovsk, because that’s what his generals last told him. They’ve held neither town.
I do wonder how much Putin knows, and how much is Putin "wish casting".
He (and those around him) know how to use liveuamap and isw just like the rest of us. The idea that he doesn't know what is going because everybody lies to him and he believes it is fucking ludicrous.
What's notable is that Taz and turbotubbs have already decided on the facts without apparently reading the judgment.
I have about 3000 words of notes on the judgement as I read it this afternoon so forgive the jumble of thoughts... but for anyone seeking to skim the judgement, here's where to look:
- In paras 371-373 and 431-432 the tribunal found that 'men' and 'women' in the Workplace (health, safety and welfare) regulations 1992 must be interpreted as biological sex, consistent with the Supreme Court's FWS decision. The NHS trust was therefore in breach of Reg 24(2) by allowing Rose (described as a 'biological male') into the female changing room.
- The tribunal found the trans woman in question was 'simply doing what the Trust permitted Rose to do... nothing that Rose did manifested itself in such a way as to demonstrate to us any purpose or intent to violate anyone’s dignity or create a hostile environment' (para 350) and concluded she (the trans woman) did not personally harass the claimants (paras 329-356).
- The tribunal found the nurses' perceptions of being stared at were genuine and came from a place of heightened tension but that the trans woman didn't actually engage in the alleged inappropriate behaviour (paras 200-221). The sheer number of paras here suggest how much of this section (and indeed much of the wider case) hinges on perceptions over facts.
- Management screwed up by keeping the complaints about the trans woman a secret from her for several months. So she had no ability during this time to understand the nature of the complaints and opt to use an alternative facility. (Paras 67-73, 89, 135, and 196). So by the time she was made aware of the complaints there was already a hostile environment towards her which again contributes to the problem of heightened tensions / differences in perception between the trans woman and the other nurses.
- The situation is complicated by distinctions between 'gender identity' and 'gender reassignment' i.e. one is something that you believe, the other is a process you are undergoing. In this case, the trans woman in question was off hormones and supposedly trying to have a baby (paras 125 and 221).
Here I roll my eyes because, while everyone has the right to try for children the usual approach is to freeze sperm before hormones. This case is complicated by the fact that she had a transgender identity but was not yet medically transitioning in the conventional sense.
IMHO she's doing trans women in general no favours by being in a female space while not actively medically transitioning. Again, my personal view is that access to female spaces should be based on medical transition process not 'how you feel inside'. Be on hormones, have the operation, etc.
But prima facie this judgement looks like an argument for trans women to be relegated to third spaces in workplaces irrespective of medical transition (including after genital surgery) which I find odd as this would be largely unenforceable in practice (how can you tell?).
...None of us was there when 'Rose' stripped to his tatty and full of holes boxer shorts and stared at women undressing (allegedly). So we cannot know. But I know who I believe...
"It is a symptom of the fact that a biological male was in such close proximity with women who were or who might be in states of partial undress that has led, in our judgement, to various people holding these perceptions that Rose was staring or taking longer than normal...Where people were already anxious and concerned about Rose’s presence, as was the case of those who gave evidence on these things, any eye contact, or question is likely to be interpreted adversely."
"No ladies, he wasn't staring at your tits, you just thought he was..."
My eyebrows were raised on reading that bit, I must say. Although this is a much superior judgment the weight given by both Tribunals to how the transwoman felt about it rather than those whose right to a single gender space was being trampled is remarkable and, in my view, wrong.
How do you mean, David?
My understanding of the judgement is it validated the women feeling uncomfortable about a transgender woman sharing their space and deemed it unacceptable that they had had to. There is no 'don't be so silly' air about it.
What it didn't do, based on the evidence presented, was judge that the transgender woman herself behaved in a pervy manner.
What are you taking issue with?
The second part. I don't believe it was necessary for her to have acted in a "pervy manner" to have been found to breach the rights of the women to a single gender changing place. It was sufficient that she insisted on using the facility when she was aware that her female colleagues felt very uncomfortable about it. The Tribunal said, well, she was only doing what her employer told her to do. I don't think that is a defence given the rights that the women had. I of course defer to those who heard the evidence as to whether or not she was acting in a "pervy" way. I can make no comment on that. I just don't think that was a necessary step for the case against her to succeed.
But I really don't want to get down this rabbit hole yet again so please excuse me for not replying further on the topic.
Disabled lady Aliya Rahman, US citizen, on the way to an appointment at the Traumatic Brain Injury Center, hemmed in with contrary instructions, dragged out of her car, trussed up and put in a cell in the gulag, denied medication, denied a physician, lost consciousness.
She eventually recovered at the ER.
Homeland Security: "The Department of Homeland Security said she was an agitator who was obstructing ICE agents conducting arrests in the area."
They are using Signal groups to warn people where they are. They are following ICE vehicles around. And they are filiming ICE agents.
Little wonder the ICE agents get frustrated.
The problem is that we pay our law enforcement to remain unflustered in the face of provocations. That's the nature of law enforcement. You are paid to be the arm of the State, but you are also therefore subserviant to the people the State serves - i.e. its citizens. They are allowed to film you, to follow you, and to broadcast your location on Signal.
And whenever ICE overreacts, it means more people join in these resistance groups, making ICE's job that much harder.
Which does raise the question of why ICE is behaving as it does. It certainly doesn't seem a very effective way of removing illegal immigrants from the US.
“ It certainly doesn't seem a very effective way of removing illegal immigrants from the US.”
That’s implying it’s just done with authoritarian force and violence for show, rather like NAZI’s would choose to do it.
But that’s not why I’m posting. I’m wondering if your post means you have in mind more effective ways of removing illegal immigrants?
There are available empirical examples. Bush, Obama and Biden all managed to deport immigrants at a greater rate without resorting to quite such extreme tactics.
Disabled lady Aliya Rahman, US citizen, on the way to an appointment at the Traumatic Brain Injury Center, hemmed in with contrary instructions, dragged out of her car, trussed up and put in a cell in detention, denied medication, denied a physician, lost consciousness.
She eventually recovered at the ER.
Homeland Security: "The Department of Homeland Security said she was an agitator who was obstructing ICE agents conducting arrests in the area."
Renee Good was alive when the bystander physician asked to check her pulse. She was alive when ICE refused to let him help. She was alive when they told him “I don’t care.”
I have repeatedly said that the refusal to allow medical care is the biggest issue.
People react badly in stressful situations. It's entirely possible for the ICE officer to have behaved wrongly, without it being a case of murder. But actively preventing medical care from reachin Ms Good, when she was in no way a threat is in no way defensible.
Unless I'm much mistaken, Robert, the woman was very quickly beyond the point where medics could have been of any assistance to her. If that is so your otherwise well made point is somewhat academic. The biggest issue then becomes the excessive use of force in response to minimal provocation - or murder, as we tend to call it around here.
What's notable is that Taz and turbotubbs have already decided on the facts without apparently reading the judgment.
I have about 3000 words of notes on the judgement as I read it this afternoon so forgive the jumble of thoughts... but for anyone seeking to skim the judgement, here's where to look:
- In paras 371-373 and 431-432 the tribunal found that 'men' and 'women' in the Workplace (health, safety and welfare) regulations 1992 must be interpreted as biological sex, consistent with the Supreme Court's FWS decision. The NHS trust was therefore in breach of Reg 24(2) by allowing Rose (described as a 'biological male') into the female changing room.
- The tribunal found the trans woman in question was 'simply doing what the Trust permitted Rose to do... nothing that Rose did manifested itself in such a way as to demonstrate to us any purpose or intent to violate anyone’s dignity or create a hostile environment' (para 350) and concluded she (the trans woman) did not personally harass the claimants (paras 329-356).
- The tribunal found the nurses' perceptions of being stared at were genuine and came from a place of heightened tension but that the trans woman didn't actually engage in the alleged inappropriate behaviour (paras 200-221). The sheer number of paras here suggest how much of this section (and indeed much of the wider case) hinges on perceptions over facts.
- Management screwed up by keeping the complaints about the trans woman a secret from her for several months. So she had no ability during this time to understand the nature of the complaints and opt to use an alternative facility. (Paras 67-73, 89, 135, and 196). So by the time she was made aware of the complaints there was already a hostile environment towards her which again contributes to the problem of heightened tensions / differences in perception between the trans woman and the other nurses.
- The situation is complicated by distinctions between 'gender identity' and 'gender reassignment' i.e. one is something that you believe, the other is a process you are undergoing. In this case, the trans woman in question was off hormones and supposedly trying to have a baby (paras 125 and 221).
Here I roll my eyes because, while everyone has the right to try for children the usual approach is to freeze sperm before hormones. This case is complicated by the fact that she had a transgender identity but was not yet medically transitioning in the conventional sense.
IMHO she's doing trans women in general no favours by being in a female space while not actively medically transitioning. Again, my personal view is that access to female spaces should be based on medical transition process not 'how you feel inside'. Be on hormones, have the operation, etc.
But prima facie this judgement looks like an argument for trans women to be relegated to third spaces in workplaces irrespective of medical transition (including after genital surgery) which I find odd as this would be largely unenforceable in practice (how can you tell?).
Great stuff. Now do "loos". We're all fucking gagging for it.
Strongly recommend the German Language movie “Tank” on Amazon Prime. Compelling and intelligent - it manages to humanise a Tiger tank crew on the Eastern Front in WW2, but doesn’t shy away from the horrors - including the Final Solution
VG
Did you watch Culinary Class Wars second series ? You should get commissioned to do restaurant reports on the finalists, who were a seriously impressive bunch this time.
Great stuff. Now do "loos". We're all fucking gagging for it.
Viewcode is actively writing a thread header on this subject so the information is of use, as it is also of use to those commenting on the judgement without having read it.
If you're not interested, feel free to scroll past, or drone on about cars as you usually do.
What's notable is that Taz and turbotubbs have already decided on the facts without apparently reading the judgment.
I have about 3000 words of notes on the judgement as I read it this afternoon so forgive the jumble of thoughts... but for anyone seeking to skim the judgement, here's where to look:
- In paras 371-373 and 431-432 the tribunal found that 'men' and 'women' in the Workplace (health, safety and welfare) regulations 1992 must be interpreted as biological sex, consistent with the Supreme Court's FWS decision. The NHS trust was therefore in breach of Reg 24(2) by allowing Rose (described as a 'biological male') into the female changing room.
- The tribunal found the trans woman in question was 'simply doing what the Trust permitted Rose to do... nothing that Rose did manifested itself in such a way as to demonstrate to us any purpose or intent to violate anyone’s dignity or create a hostile environment' (para 350) and concluded she (the trans woman) did not personally harass the claimants (paras 329-356).
- The tribunal found the nurses' perceptions of being stared at were genuine and came from a place of heightened tension but that the trans woman didn't actually engage in the alleged inappropriate behaviour (paras 200-221). The sheer number of paras here suggest how much of this section (and indeed much of the wider case) hinges on perceptions over facts.
- Management screwed up by keeping the complaints about the trans woman a secret from her for several months. So she had no ability during this time to understand the nature of the complaints and opt to use an alternative facility. (Paras 67-73, 89, 135, and 196). So by the time she was made aware of the complaints there was already a hostile environment towards her which again contributes to the problem of heightened tensions / differences in perception between the trans woman and the other nurses.
- The situation is complicated by distinctions between 'gender identity' and 'gender reassignment' i.e. one is something that you believe, the other is a process you are undergoing. In this case, the trans woman in question was off hormones and supposedly trying to have a baby (paras 125 and 221).
Here I roll my eyes because, while everyone has the right to try for children the usual approach is to freeze sperm before hormones. This case is complicated by the fact that she had a transgender identity but was not yet medically transitioning in the conventional sense.
IMHO she's doing trans women in general no favours by being in a female space while not actively medically transitioning. Again, my personal view is that access to female spaces should be based on medical transition process not 'how you feel inside'. Be on hormones, have the operation, etc.
But prima facie this judgement looks like an argument for trans women to be relegated to third spaces in workplaces irrespective of medical transition (including after genital surgery) which I find odd as this would be largely unenforceable in practice (how can you tell?).
In Crown Office we now have toilets which are marked specifically as gender neutral toilets, expressly for the use of everyone (these were previously for disabled people which is another story). I don't see any problem or embarrassment for any trans people using them. I appreciate that these options may not be available everywhere but hospitals strike me as an unlikely place to have a problem.
...None of us was there when 'Rose' stripped to his tatty and full of holes boxer shorts and stared at women undressing (allegedly). So we cannot know. But I know who I believe...
"It is a symptom of the fact that a biological male was in such close proximity with women who were or who might be in states of partial undress that has led, in our judgement, to various people holding these perceptions that Rose was staring or taking longer than normal...Where people were already anxious and concerned about Rose’s presence, as was the case of those who gave evidence on these things, any eye contact, or question is likely to be interpreted adversely."
"No ladies, he wasn't staring at your tits, you just thought he was..."
My eyebrows were raised on reading that bit, I must say. Although this is a much superior judgment the weight given by both Tribunals to how the transwoman felt about it rather than those whose right to a single gender space was being trampled is remarkable and, in my view, wrong.
Does not the law compel them to consider all sides to the case, which they do in quite some detail ?
I think you are mischaracterising the judgment, and the "weight given". What they said is that they weren't convinced by quite a lot of the evidence given by the plaintiffs. It is part of their task to make findings of fact, and they did so; you're entitled to disagree with them, but you did not hear that evidence in full.
What's notable is that Taz and turbotubbs have already decided on the facts without apparently reading the judgment.
I don't think so. The question before the Tribunal was whether the statutory rights of the complainers were being breached. They concluded that they were. They had to address whether those rights were being breached by their employer (which they obviously were because they allowed this to continue) and by the transwoman. I think that the fact that a functioning male was using female changing facilities even after she was aware that some of the females were finding this upsetting is frankly enough. Whether she meant to cause that upset or actually did anything to aggravate it was not the point.
This is not a weighing of rights situation. FWS was clear about that. As I said, I think both Tribunals have to some degree fallen into error in focusing on the transwoman's (non existent in relation to this facility) rights. They are right to go on to consider the implications of that and the duties on the employer to her but that was not the point they actually had to decide. Woman's rights are not secondary. In fact, in this context at least, they are primary.
Except that the individual in question was told in terms by their employer to use those facilities, and "non existent rights" is only in retrospect.
As I said, the judgment seems entirely sensible to me.
Can anyone explain how Jenricks defection unites the right? I would have thought it makes arrangements between Reform and the Conservatives more difficult. Its personal. Badenoch will not work with Jenrick.
Hopefully the Tories will now clock that they have to fight Reform.
That is exactly it. Good post.
It will now dawn in the Conservative Party, you cannot beat Reform by photocopying their policies, but explaining why your own policies are different.
Ironically it’s Farage who yesterday has told the Conservative Party exactly how to take him on and better him.
“you know” [you know it’s Farage when it’s starts with you know and then a pause] “we will not be a Tory party 2.0 because we have a completely different set of policies and people [who join] have to say they admit that net zero, mass migration, North Sea taxes and many other things were a terrible mistake.
Okay. Simples. Defending immigration over the last 100 years, and the successful racially integrated country we have become is one policy differential the Conservatives can hammer Farage with. The success of the Conservatives Net Zero initiatives to combat climate change is another. Under the Conservatives the UK lead the world on combatting climate change. Some to reel off - UK first advanced economy in the world to pass a net zero target. Reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 25% since 2010. Commitment to phasing out unabated coal power by 2025.
The trouble is, Kemi is terminally online and supping from the alt-right meme goblet. That means she gets a constant stream of extremely anti-net zero American messaging and probably thinks the British public is united in dismissing climate change as a hoax.
The polling reality is that the fight against global warming is one of the topics Brits are most united in supporting. But her social feed isn’t going to be telling her that.
There is a lot of truth in your post. Following Farage down the “Climate Change not a priority” hole is huge policy error from Kemi right now.
But party policy it’s not just one person with one feed in reality is it. It’s a whole team of policy wonks, close colleagues, business managers etc, and what extent they all draw from the same Mad, US Neo Con feed so they are an echo chamber, and not robust discussion group.
Conservative Party policy under Badenoch now needs to come under the spotlight. Is Badenoch Policy platform actually shrinking the parties appeal across the electorate, and puts it in direct fight with Reform for the same group of “not enough to win” voters?
If there isn’t policy clarity by the time of the campaign, it will be as disastrous as the one under Sunak. You can’t just put meat on the bones at the last moment, you need to be winning voters back long before that, with the aroma of beef rib roasting in your oven.
She does have this problem now of looking like the more moderate alternative to Honest Bob and his friends, and handling yesterday's issues with a certain amount of wittier, airier aplomb than him, but still with her track record of being friendly with people like Vance, contradicting this potential image.
She needs to decide what horse to ride, which sounds like a Beatles song.
As TSE was quick to point out in his breaking news header, Badenoch owes an amount of her getting top job from being the Bobby Blocker, so this instantly changes things in many ways for her. a lot of Conservative voices share the same view TSE had - like George Osbornes comments, with the immediate feeling this is not necessarily such a great thing for the Conservatives.
Isn’t the point of politics to build broad tent with everybody pissing out? At the moment because Bobby was such a marmite figure, within the Conservative Party and outside, we have Labour and Lib Dem’s joining in on the Con campaign to discredit him. But he is top of the Conservative home members poll. He was final 2 in the last leadership election. If Bobbys attacks on Badenoch’s Conservatives are punchy and effective, and the defections increase, it will turn round to ask was losing Bobby down to policy, or Badenoch’s Psychological Immaturity and personality type?
On the Eve of Badenoch telling her business team to let it be known she has sacked him, Bobby and Kemi had a chat - of course there were attempts to keep him. How long did Badenoch’s call with Jenrick this week urging him to stay actually last, before she snapped and said, okay, fuck off then - and hung up on him?
No idea where you sourced your last paragraph but here is the BBC report
Are you still insisting there was no call from Kemi to Bobby to try and keep him in the tent?
There were talks and he insisted he was staying and he simply lied to Badenoch and his colleagues
He was at the shadow cabinet meeting the day before notwithstanding he was about to jump ship
I read all your advice to Kemi but I do not expect she will sees it as you do
She should see it as I do. These are not just the centre ground differentials to Farage’s ruinous madness, that the voters will turn to as alternative to Labours failed term in office, these are traditional Conservative Party centre ground differentials to Farages ruinous madness.
Yesterday Jenrick said Britain is Broken. Kemi has no choice now but come out and state that Britain is not Broken. Labour have only been in power 17 months! The Conservatives must now stand up to Farage, explain to voters they are different, and why Farage policies are wrong and ruinous. Explain the difference. We can’t just keep photocopying Farage’s policies and allow him to do all leading of the right without confrontation.
As for knowing Jenrick was lying, Where’s the “smoking gun” found on the photocopier that killed Bobby J’s Conservative membership? What if it was a sting? a false flag so faked it can’t be faxed to a newsroom?
Strongly recommend the German Language movie “Tank” on Amazon Prime. Compelling and intelligent - it manages to humanise a Tiger tank crew on the Eastern Front in WW2, but doesn’t shy away from the horrors - including the Final Solution
VG
Really?! Watched it last night and to me it seemed a clumsy fusion of Apocalypse Now and An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge, they even had a bridge. Good sense of what being inside a tank involved nevertheless, though the U-boat Tiger bit was a bit far fetched.
I'm currently reading James Holland's Brothers in Arms about the Sherwood Foresters Yeomanry in WW2 (mainly Northern Europe). Utterly compelling and utterly horrifying. The idea of seeing your mates tank brew up, unable to escape and thus burn to death, or cut down by mortars/machine guns as they exit and still having to keep going blows the mind.
Thus of us who never had to go to war are truly blessed.
Disabled lady Aliya Rahman, US citizen, on the way to an appointment at the Traumatic Brain Injury Center, hemmed in with contrary instructions, dragged out of her car, trussed up and put in a cell in detention, denied medication, denied a physician, lost consciousness.
She eventually recovered at the ER.
Homeland Security: "The Department of Homeland Security said she was an agitator who was obstructing ICE agents conducting arrests in the area."
Renee Good was alive when the bystander physician asked to check her pulse. She was alive when ICE refused to let him help. She was alive when they told him “I don’t care.”
I have repeatedly said that the refusal to allow medical care is the biggest issue.
People react badly in stressful situations. It's entirely possible for the ICE officer to have behaved wrongly, without it being a case of murder. But actively preventing medical care from reachin Ms Good, when she was in no way a threat is in no way defensible.
The WH reaction - plain lying - was also a massive issue imo.
It was considerably embroidered lying, positively rococo, and not plain at all.
Mixed success again but it does seem to have applied the SC decision in FWS rather than trying to say it says something else.
The nurses seem to be happy, well done to them for standing up.
Neither this one of the Peggie one has found that the transwoman involved has done anything wrong. Which is interesting. Who to believe? In the Peggie case it has been suggested that the tribunal believed the nice middle class doctor rather than the working class nurse. In this case, again, the allegations about the conduct of the transwoman (i.e. man) at the heart of the issue have not been upheld.
Without any more knowledge than the reports one wonders if the decision allows the win for the nurses but avoids criticising the man to avoid controversy?
The trans issue is one of heat not light. Without reading the judgment or thinking about the merits, the situation had been going on for years without objection, until someone objected. One also notes in the background a right-wing Christian pressure group.
Speaking from the consumers' side, something really ought to be done about changing facilities for patients.
The judgment seems very well thought out, and while it's a very long read, it's pretty clear even to a non lawyer. This is probably the kernel of the judgment:
In our judgement, having regard to our findings of fact, Rose Henderson did not engage in conduct that can be described as harassment related to sex or harassment related to gender reassignment within the meaning of section 26 Equality Act 2010. This includes the conduct of changing in the changing room without more (that is paragraph 3(a)(i) of the list of issues identified in the above paragraph). We must state at this juncture that we draw a distinction between Rose’s conduct in using the changing room and the Trust’s conduct in permitting Rose use of the changing room (that is paragraph 4(a) of the issues).
In view of the recent rulings on the law, the tribunal could hardly have found otherwise than it did, but irrespective of those rulings, the health trust seems to me have managed the entire case in manner which was pretty incompetent, and created a conflict which could otherwise have been avoided. So it deservedly lost the case (and IMO deserved to have done so irrespective of the recent Supreme Court rulings).
I think for me the issues that are arising out of the these judgements is that organisations (notably so far NHS trusts) have very much gone with the self ID, EDI is best, support for trans etc line and somewhere along the way lost the point about safe spaces for women. Its almost as if 'womens rights' has been won, and now we move onto the next struggle, which is of course, completely wrong.
However its also interesting that in both recent cases the allegations about the man in the womens changing room have not been upheld. So whoever is deciding these things is either not believing the complainants, or deeming it not to be an issue.
None of us was there when Peggie (5 foot nothing) confronted poor Dr Upton (6 foot and then some) and allegedly made him cry. None of us was there when 'Rose' stripped to his tatty and full of holes boxer shorts and stared at women undressing (allegedly). So we cannot know. But I know who I believe.
The lawyers and judges haven’t yet come to the conclusion that these men are fetishists, and get off on the discomfort they cause to women.
The Governments may be gently leaning on the courts to be gentle with trans men because they are scared of the reaction from the trans lobby.
1,370 soldiers and 51 artillery and MLRS no longer reporting for duty in the Russian Army after yesterday...
They’re also losing ground on the front lines, having spread themselves too thin to try and avoid the drone wave.
Meanwhile, Russian newspapers aren’t holding back with stories of economic woes, and the Chinese are slowly moving border fences in the far East.
The optimist in me thinks this war must be close to being over now.
I hope you're right: Zelenskky has agreed to freezing the front lines several times, but Putin has always refused - not least because Ukraine will not give up uncaptured land.
Do you think Putin is ready to change his mind?
Not yet, because the word won’t be getting back to him just how much ground they’re losing on the battlefield.
He still thinks they hold Kupyansk and Prokovsk, because that’s what his generals last told him. They’ve held neither town.
I do wonder how much Putin knows, and how much is Putin "wish casting".
He (and those around him) know how to use liveuamap and isw just like the rest of us. The idea that he doesn't know what is going because everybody lies to him and he believes it is fucking ludicrous.
Why?
Everyone lied to the Tsars about how well things were going. Then everyone lied to the Provisional Government. Then everyone lied to Stalin. Then they lied to....
Currently well ahead of left winger Crockett in the polls for the Democratic nomination for the Texas senate seat that's up for grabs in November.
.@jamestalarico: “For the past 50 years, the religious right convinced a lot of Christians in America that the two most important issues were abortion and homosexuality.
Abortion is never mentioned in scripture. Consensual same-sex relationships are never mentioned.
I'm not saying they're not important. I actually think both of those issues are very important. But to focus on those two things instead of feeding the hungry and healing the sick and welcoming the stranger — three things we're told to do ad nauseam in scripture — to me is just mind blowing.” https://x.com/TeamTalaricoHQ/status/2011972140350734594
Polling suggests he has a real shout if there's no GOP revival.
Strongly recommend the German Language movie “Tank” on Amazon Prime. Compelling and intelligent - it manages to humanise a Tiger tank crew on the Eastern Front in WW2, but doesn’t shy away from the horrors - including the Final Solution
VG
Really?! Watched it last night and to me it seemed a clumsy fusion of Apocalypse Now and An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge, they even had a bridge. Good sense of what being inside a tank involved nevertheless, though the U-boat Tiger bit was a bit far fetched.
The film is "Der Tiger" (2025), rendered as "The Tank" in the English language version. Details are here.
Strongly recommend the German Language movie “Tank” on Amazon Prime. Compelling and intelligent - it manages to humanise a Tiger tank crew on the Eastern Front in WW2, but doesn’t shy away from the horrors - including the Final Solution
VG
Really?! Watched it last night and to me it seemed a clumsy fusion of Apocalypse Now and An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge, they even had a bridge. Good sense of what being inside a tank involved nevertheless, though the U-boat Tiger bit was a bit far fetched.
There probably wasn’t enough overt Jew-killing in it, for your Celto-nationalist tastes. Which is fair enough. We all like different things! There’s nowt wrong with that
Have you watched Jew Suss? It’s a bit old and creaky now but it might be right up your strasse. I hear the Irish film board are trying to do a remake
Strongly recommend the German Language movie “Tank” on Amazon Prime. Compelling and intelligent - it manages to humanise a Tiger tank crew on the Eastern Front in WW2, but doesn’t shy away from the horrors - including the Final Solution
VG
Really?! Watched it last night and to me it seemed a clumsy fusion of Apocalypse Now and An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge, they even had a bridge. Good sense of what being inside a tank involved nevertheless, though the U-boat Tiger bit was a bit far fetched.
I'm currently reading James Holland's Brothers in Arms about the Sherwood Foresters Yeomanry in WW2 (mainly Northern Europe). Utterly compelling and utterly horrifying. The idea of seeing your mates tank brew up, unable to escape and thus burn to death, or cut down by mortars/machine guns as they exit and still having to keep going blows the mind.
Thus of us who never had to go to war are truly blessed.
It’s all horror really; brewing up, trapped in a mg turret as your flaming bomber goes down, being depth charged to oblivion in a sub. I guess one could at least choose an arm of service to avoid the death one most feared. The driver in the aforementioned Der Tiger said as it lay submerged that he’d rather burn in his tank than drown in it.
Strongly recommend the German Language movie “Tank” on Amazon Prime. Compelling and intelligent - it manages to humanise a Tiger tank crew on the Eastern Front in WW2, but doesn’t shy away from the horrors - including the Final Solution
VG
Really?! Watched it last night and to me it seemed a clumsy fusion of Apocalypse Now and An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge, they even had a bridge. Good sense of what being inside a tank involved nevertheless, though the U-boat Tiger bit was a bit far fetched.
There probably wasn’t enough overt Jew-killing in it, for your Celto-nationalist tastes. Which is fair enough. We all like different things! There’s nowt wrong with that
Have you watched Jew Suss? It’s a bit old and creaky now but it might be right up your strasse. I hear the Irish film board are trying to do a remake
In Crown Office we now have toilets which are marked specifically as gender neutral toilets, expressly for the use of everyone (these were previously for disabled people which is another story). I don't see any problem or embarrassment for any trans people using them. I appreciate that these options may not be available everywhere but hospitals strike me as an unlikely place to have a problem.
I think the problem is that in some environments the mere act of forcing trans women who fully present as and pass as female into third spaces outs them as trans - which could potentially lead to discrimination, harassment, even sexual violence etc.
I do partially agree with you, in the sense that I think people obviously transitioning should be using third spaces and pre op trans people shouldn't be using shared dressing rooms - locked individual cubicles (for changing or using the loo) are a different matter.
I'm also of the "Widdecombe" view that once a person has fully undergone genital reassignment they should be treated for all intents and purposes as their adopted gender. The arguments for excluding them from women's spaces become much, much weaker post-op, which is, IMHO, the most alarming part of the judgement. Much of the rest of it I actually agree with.
Strongly recommend the German Language movie “Tank” on Amazon Prime. Compelling and intelligent - it manages to humanise a Tiger tank crew on the Eastern Front in WW2, but doesn’t shy away from the horrors - including the Final Solution
VG
Really?! Watched it last night and to me it seemed a clumsy fusion of Apocalypse Now and An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge, they even had a bridge. Good sense of what being inside a tank involved nevertheless, though the U-boat Tiger bit was a bit far fetched.
There probably wasn’t enough overt Jew-killing in it, for your Celto-nationalist tastes. Which is fair enough. We all like different things! There’s nowt wrong with that
Have you watched Jew Suss? It’s a bit old and creaky now but it might be right up your strasse. I hear the Irish film board are trying to do a remake
Ah, you’re truly back!
I thought we were supposed to be seeing the New Model Measured Leon.
Strongly recommend the German Language movie “Tank” on Amazon Prime. Compelling and intelligent - it manages to humanise a Tiger tank crew on the Eastern Front in WW2, but doesn’t shy away from the horrors - including the Final Solution
VG
Really?! Watched it last night and to me it seemed a clumsy fusion of Apocalypse Now and An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge, they even had a bridge. Good sense of what being inside a tank involved nevertheless, though the U-boat Tiger bit was a bit far fetched.
I'm currently reading James Holland's Brothers in Arms about the Sherwood Foresters Yeomanry in WW2 (mainly Northern Europe). Utterly compelling and utterly horrifying. The idea of seeing your mates tank brew up, unable to escape and thus burn to death, or cut down by mortars/machine guns as they exit and still having to keep going blows the mind.
Thus of us who never had to go to war are truly blessed.
It’s all horror really; brewing up, trapped in a mg turret as your flaming bomber goes down, being depth charged to oblivion in a sub. I guess one could at least choose an arm of service to avoid the death one most feared. The driver in the aforementioned Der Tiger said as it lay submerged that he’d rather burn in his tank than drown in it.
One story has always stuck with me - a machine gunner in the dorsal turret (ball turret) of a liberator (?)) trapped because he cannot rotate to get out and with the landing gear stuck up. The crew all on the intercom as they come into land where he will inevitably be crushed to death.
Can anyone explain how Jenricks defection unites the right? I would have thought it makes arrangements between Reform and the Conservatives more difficult. Its personal. Badenoch will not work with Jenrick.
Hopefully the Tories will now clock that they have to fight Reform.
That is exactly it. Good post.
It will now dawn in the Conservative Party, you cannot beat Reform by photocopying their policies, but explaining why your own policies are different.
Ironically it’s Farage who yesterday has told the Conservative Party exactly how to take him on and better him.
“you know” [you know it’s Farage when it’s starts with you know and then a pause] “we will not be a Tory party 2.0 because we have a completely different set of policies and people [who join] have to say they admit that net zero, mass migration, North Sea taxes and many other things were a terrible mistake.
Okay. Simples. Defending immigration over the last 100 years, and the successful racially integrated country we have become is one policy differential the Conservatives can hammer Farage with. The success of the Conservatives Net Zero initiatives to combat climate change is another. Under the Conservatives the UK lead the world on combatting climate change. Some to reel off - UK first advanced economy in the world to pass a net zero target. Reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 25% since 2010. Commitment to phasing out unabated coal power by 2025.
The trouble is, Kemi is terminally online and supping from the alt-right meme goblet. That means she gets a constant stream of extremely anti-net zero American messaging and probably thinks the British public is united in dismissing climate change as a hoax.
The polling reality is that the fight against global warming is one of the topics Brits are most united in supporting. But her social feed isn’t going to be telling her that.
The Tories really need to focus on Lib Dem’s in the old southern blue wall. I suspect those wanting them just to,fight reform want blue on blue action to harm both.
Many of the seats Reform are likely to pick up are red wall never been Tory or only once been Tory. What good,does it the Tories to batter reform in Hull East or Barnsley East ?
They need, IMV as I am not a Tory, to be distinct from them but focus where and who they fight.
Yes. Farage has listed why he thinks Reform are different,
“we will not be a Tory party 2.0 because we have a completely different set of policies and people [who join] have to say they admit that net zero, mass migration, North Sea taxes and many other things were a terrible mistake.‘
so Kemi and her team need to unashamedly point out their policy differences with Farage and why Conservatives don’t agree with him.
That’s is what politics is about at the end of the day, campaigning and explaining your own unique positions and why they are different.
As the Party of Government in the UK for most the last 100 years, the UKs success of immigration and integration is owned by the Conservative Party. UKs successful time in Europe is owned by the Conservative Party, and all the pro business and economic good it gave UK is owned by the Conservative Party, for negotiating us in, against Labour policy, and then designing the single market for the EU so that it worked effectively and fairly. The Climate Change Act updated to net zero by Conservative Government gives UK statutory long-term emissions target – being liked by business community when progress is legislated 12 years in advance and monitored by an independent body, the Climate Change Committee - this gives UK institutional rhythm on action, reducing uncertainty and enabling long-term planning, businesses know formal set pieces, such as the CCC’s annual report to parliament, can time interventions accordingly. Inspired by such business friendly approach UK’s Conservative Party built here - over 60 countries have copied UK climate change laws, and half of those have CCC advisory bodies too, making UK, thanks to our Conservative Party, a climate leader in the whole world!
Slap Farage with that.
And ignore the Lib Dem’s who are a greater opponent ?
Not at all no, it is certainly a war on two fronts, I just explained how to fight and win on Eastern Front right now against Farage. The Western Front against Lib Dem’s is more tricky right now, as the voters and seats have been lost because the Conservatives own hard brexit.
Although she should IMO, I don’t think Badenoch is at all close to apologising for damage caused to UK from hard Brexit.
The best way to win a war on two fronts is to not try. But it's a bit late for that now.
It doesn't help Kemi B much, but her primary role is to keep the Conservatives alive until something turns up. (See also, SKS in 2020). As the Starmer example shows, that may happen sooner than anyone really expects. But in any case 2029 is Farage's last shot, really, and so far nobody is as good at being Nigel as Nigel.
As for the European Question, which Dave failed to stop anyone banging on about, the elegant solution is for someone else to drag the UK close enough that "if we're going to be that enmeshed, we should be running the show" becomes the plausible nationalistic line that the Conservatives can take.
Can anyone explain how Jenricks defection unites the right? I would have thought it makes arrangements between Reform and the Conservatives more difficult. Its personal. Badenoch will not work with Jenrick.
Hopefully the Tories will now clock that they have to fight Reform.
That is exactly it. Good post.
It will now dawn in the Conservative Party, you cannot beat Reform by photocopying their policies, but explaining why your own policies are different.
Ironically it’s Farage who yesterday has told the Conservative Party exactly how to take him on and better him.
“you know” [you know it’s Farage when it’s starts with you know and then a pause] “we will not be a Tory party 2.0 because we have a completely different set of policies and people [who join] have to say they admit that net zero, mass migration, North Sea taxes and many other things were a terrible mistake.
Okay. Simples. Defending immigration over the last 100 years, and the successful racially integrated country we have become is one policy differential the Conservatives can hammer Farage with. The success of the Conservatives Net Zero initiatives to combat climate change is another. Under the Conservatives the UK lead the world on combatting climate change. Some to reel off - UK first advanced economy in the world to pass a net zero target. Reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 25% since 2010. Commitment to phasing out unabated coal power by 2025.
The trouble is, Kemi is terminally online and supping from the alt-right meme goblet. That means she gets a constant stream of extremely anti-net zero American messaging and probably thinks the British public is united in dismissing climate change as a hoax.
The polling reality is that the fight against global warming is one of the topics Brits are most united in supporting. But her social feed isn’t going to be telling her that.
There is a lot of truth in your post. Following Farage down the “Climate Change not a priority” hole is huge policy error from Kemi right now.
But party policy it’s not just one person with one feed in reality is it. It’s a whole team of policy wonks, close colleagues, business managers etc, and what extent they all draw from the same Mad, US Neo Con feed so they are an echo chamber, and not robust discussion group.
Conservative Party policy under Badenoch now needs to come under the spotlight. Is Badenoch Policy platform actually shrinking the parties appeal across the electorate, and puts it in direct fight with Reform for the same group of “not enough to win” voters?
If there isn’t policy clarity by the time of the campaign, it will be as disastrous as the one under Sunak. You can’t just put meat on the bones at the last moment, you need to be winning voters back long before that, with the aroma of beef rib roasting in your oven.
She does have this problem now of looking like the more moderate alternative to Honest Bob and his friends, and handling yesterday's issues with a certain amount of wittier, airier aplomb than him, but still with her track record of being friendly with people like Vance, contradicting this potential image.
She needs to decide what horse to ride, which sounds like a Beatles song.
As TSE was quick to point out in his breaking news header, Badenoch owes an amount of her getting top job from being the Bobby Blocker, so this instantly changes things in many ways for her. a lot of Conservative voices share the same view TSE had - like George Osbornes comments, with the immediate feeling this is not necessarily such a great thing for the Conservatives.
Isn’t the point of politics to build broad tent with everybody pissing out? At the moment because Bobby was such a marmite figure, within the Conservative Party and outside, we have Labour and Lib Dem’s joining in on the Con campaign to discredit him. But he is top of the Conservative home members poll. He was final 2 in the last leadership election. If Bobbys attacks on Badenoch’s Conservatives are punchy and effective, and the defections increase, it will turn round to ask was losing Bobby down to policy, or Badenoch’s Psychological Immaturity and personality type?
On the Eve of Badenoch telling her business team to let it be known she has sacked him, Bobby and Kemi had a chat - of course there were attempts to keep him. How long did Badenoch’s call with Jenrick this week urging him to stay actually last, before she snapped and said, okay, fuck off then - and hung up on him?
No idea where you sourced your last paragraph but here is the BBC report
Are you still insisting there was no call from Kemi to Bobby to try and keep him in the tent?
There were talks and he insisted he was staying and he simply lied to Badenoch and his colleagues
He was at the shadow cabinet meeting the day before notwithstanding he was about to jump ship
I read all your advice to Kemi but I do not expect she will sees it as you do
She should see it as I do. These are not just the centre ground differentials to Farage’s ruinous madness, that the voters will turn to as alternative to Labours failed term in office, these are traditional Conservative Party centre ground differentials to Farages ruinous madness.
Yesterday Jenrick said Britain is Broken. Kemi has no choice now but come out and state that Britain is not Broken. Labour have only been in power 17 months! The Conservatives must now stand up to Farage, explain to voters they are different, and why Farage policies are wrong and ruinous. Explain the difference. We can’t just keep photocopying Farage’s policies and allow him to do all leading of the right without confrontation.
As for knowing Jenrick was lying, Where’s the “smoking gun” found on the photocopier that killed Bobby J’s Conservative membership? What if it was a sting? a false flag so faked it can’t be faxed to a newsroom?
Badenoch will be her own person and will make her own decisions freed of Jenrick
I have no idea how closely you follow these things, but her publishing Jenrick's resignation speech even before he got to deliver it is sufficient to prove she was in possesion of it
Indeed it is not disputed it was leaked to her, and that Jenrick had been in discussions with Farage since September and lied and lied whenever he was challenged
20 minutes before Farage announced the defection he openly said live on Sky he had not made up his mind
Farage and Jenrick are a perfect fit, and will be found out over the next 3 years
Strongly recommend the German Language movie “Tank” on Amazon Prime. Compelling and intelligent - it manages to humanise a Tiger tank crew on the Eastern Front in WW2, but doesn’t shy away from the horrors - including the Final Solution
VG
Really?! Watched it last night and to me it seemed a clumsy fusion of Apocalypse Now and An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge, they even had a bridge. Good sense of what being inside a tank involved nevertheless, though the U-boat Tiger bit was a bit far fetched.
I'm currently reading James Holland's Brothers in Arms about the Sherwood Foresters Yeomanry in WW2 (mainly Northern Europe). Utterly compelling and utterly horrifying. The idea of seeing your mates tank brew up, unable to escape and thus burn to death, or cut down by mortars/machine guns as they exit and still having to keep going blows the mind.
Thus of us who never had to go to war are truly blessed.
It’s all horror really; brewing up, trapped in a mg turret as your flaming bomber goes down, being depth charged to oblivion in a sub. I guess one could at least choose an arm of service to avoid the death one most feared. The driver in the aforementioned Der Tiger said as it lay submerged that he’d rather burn in his tank than drown in it.
One story has always stuck with me - a machine gunner in the dorsal turret (ball turret) of a liberator (?)) trapped because he cannot rotate to get out and with the landing gear stuck up. The crew all on the intercom as they come into land where he will inevitably be crushed to death.
As for the European Question, which Dave failed to stop anyone banging on about, the elegant solution is for someone else to drag the UK close enough that "if we're going to be that enmeshed, we should be running the show" becomes the plausible nationalistic line that the Conservatives can take.
They'll fuck everything up without us, is the type of mad shit that tories believe.
Strongly recommend the German Language movie “Tank” on Amazon Prime. Compelling and intelligent - it manages to humanise a Tiger tank crew on the Eastern Front in WW2, but doesn’t shy away from the horrors - including the Final Solution
VG
Really?! Watched it last night and to me it seemed a clumsy fusion of Apocalypse Now and An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge, they even had a bridge. Good sense of what being inside a tank involved nevertheless, though the U-boat Tiger bit was a bit far fetched.
I'm currently reading James Holland's Brothers in Arms about the Sherwood Foresters Yeomanry in WW2 (mainly Northern Europe). Utterly compelling and utterly horrifying. The idea of seeing your mates tank brew up, unable to escape and thus burn to death, or cut down by mortars/machine guns as they exit and still having to keep going blows the mind.
Thus of us who never had to go to war are truly blessed.
Try Max Hastings' "Armageddon" or "Bomber Command".
In the former, by 1945 all the sides are utter bastards killing in the most disgusting manner, with the Westerners doing it by aerial bombing, the Soviets doing it in person, the Japanese doing it with bayonets and medical experiments, and the Germans humming merrily as the ovens burn Jews in the millions.
In the latter, the pleasant disquisition on how to build one of the largest bomber forces ever and train their crews is interrupted by a chapter that shows what it was like to be on the receiving end as a little German town is burned to the foundations.
Strongly recommend the German Language movie “Tank” on Amazon Prime. Compelling and intelligent - it manages to humanise a Tiger tank crew on the Eastern Front in WW2, but doesn’t shy away from the horrors - including the Final Solution
VG
Really?! Watched it last night and to me it seemed a clumsy fusion of Apocalypse Now and An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge, they even had a bridge. Good sense of what being inside a tank involved nevertheless, though the U-boat Tiger bit was a bit far fetched.
There probably wasn’t enough overt Jew-killing in it, for your Celto-nationalist tastes. Which is fair enough. We all like different things! There’s nowt wrong with that
Have you watched Jew Suss? It’s a bit old and creaky now but it might be right up your strasse. I hear the Irish film board are trying to do a remake
Ah, you’re truly back!
He was here in spirit given you incessantly mentioned him.
Strongly recommend the German Language movie “Tank” on Amazon Prime. Compelling and intelligent - it manages to humanise a Tiger tank crew on the Eastern Front in WW2, but doesn’t shy away from the horrors - including the Final Solution
VG
Really?! Watched it last night and to me it seemed a clumsy fusion of Apocalypse Now and An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge, they even had a bridge. Good sense of what being inside a tank involved nevertheless, though the U-boat Tiger bit was a bit far fetched.
There probably wasn’t enough overt Jew-killing in it, for your Celto-nationalist tastes. Which is fair enough. We all like different things! There’s nowt wrong with that
Have you watched Jew Suss? It’s a bit old and creaky now but it might be right up your strasse. I hear the Irish film board are trying to do a remake
Ah, you’re truly back!
I thought we were supposed to be seeing the New Model Measured Leon.
"Measured" does not mean "restrained". Even infinities are measurable.
...None of us was there when 'Rose' stripped to his tatty and full of holes boxer shorts and stared at women undressing (allegedly). So we cannot know. But I know who I believe...
"It is a symptom of the fact that a biological male was in such close proximity with women who were or who might be in states of partial undress that has led, in our judgement, to various people holding these perceptions that Rose was staring or taking longer than normal...Where people were already anxious and concerned about Rose’s presence, as was the case of those who gave evidence on these things, any eye contact, or question is likely to be interpreted adversely."
Strongly recommend the German Language movie “Tank” on Amazon Prime. Compelling and intelligent - it manages to humanise a Tiger tank crew on the Eastern Front in WW2, but doesn’t shy away from the horrors - including the Final Solution
VG
Really?! Watched it last night and to me it seemed a clumsy fusion of Apocalypse Now and An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge, they even had a bridge. Good sense of what being inside a tank involved nevertheless, though the U-boat Tiger bit was a bit far fetched.
I'm currently reading James Holland's Brothers in Arms about the Sherwood Foresters Yeomanry in WW2 (mainly Northern Europe). Utterly compelling and utterly horrifying. The idea of seeing your mates tank brew up, unable to escape and thus burn to death, or cut down by mortars/machine guns as they exit and still having to keep going blows the mind.
Thus of us who never had to go to war are truly blessed.
Try Max Hastings' "Armageddon" or "Bomber Command".
In the former, by 1945 all the sides are utter bastards killing in the most disgusting manner, with the Westerners doing it by aerial bombing, the Soviets doing it in person, the Japanese doing it with bayonets and medical experiments, and the Germans humming merrily as the ovens burn Jews in the millions.
In the latter, the pleasant disquisition on how to build one of the largest bomber forces ever and train their crews is interrupted by a chapter that shows what it was like to be on the receiving end as a little German town is burned to the foundations.
In Crown Office we now have toilets which are marked specifically as gender neutral toilets, expressly for the use of everyone (these were previously for disabled people which is another story). I don't see any problem or embarrassment for any trans people using them. I appreciate that these options may not be available everywhere but hospitals strike me as an unlikely place to have a problem.
I think the problem is that in some environments the mere act of forcing trans women who fully present as and pass as female into third spaces outs them as trans - which could potentially lead to discrimination, harassment, even sexual violence etc.
I do partially agree with you, in the sense that I think people obviously transitioning should be using third spaces and pre op trans people shouldn't be using shared dressing rooms - locked individual cubicles (for changing or using the loo) are a different matter.
I'm also of the "Widdecombe" view that once a person has fully undergone genital reassignment they should be treated for all intents and purposes as their adopted gender. The arguments for excluding them from women's spaces become much, much weaker post-op, which is, IMHO, the most alarming part of the judgement. Much of the rest of it I actually agree with.
I'm interested in what implementing the SC/FWS judgment in full is supposed to lead to in practice. Eg is it the objective of campaigners on the GC side of things that pretty much all signage for male and female spaces has the added words "Biological Only - No Trans"?
Strongly recommend the German Language movie “Tank” on Amazon Prime. Compelling and intelligent - it manages to humanise a Tiger tank crew on the Eastern Front in WW2, but doesn’t shy away from the horrors - including the Final Solution
VG
Really?! Watched it last night and to me it seemed a clumsy fusion of Apocalypse Now and An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge, they even had a bridge. Good sense of what being inside a tank involved nevertheless, though the U-boat Tiger bit was a bit far fetched.
I'm currently reading James Holland's Brothers in Arms about the Sherwood Foresters Yeomanry in WW2 (mainly Northern Europe). Utterly compelling and utterly horrifying. The idea of seeing your mates tank brew up, unable to escape and thus burn to death, or cut down by mortars/machine guns as they exit and still having to keep going blows the mind.
Thus of us who never had to go to war are truly blessed.
Try Max Hastings' "Armageddon" or "Bomber Command".
In the former, by 1945 all the sides are utter bastards killing in the most disgusting manner, with the Westerners doing it by aerial bombing, the Soviets doing it in person, the Japanese doing it with bayonets and medical experiments, and the Germans humming merrily as the ovens burn Jews in the millions.
In the latter, the pleasant disquisition on how to build one of the largest bomber forces ever and train their crews is interrupted by a chapter that shows what it was like to be on the receiving end as a little German town is burned to the foundations.
https://www.ispionline.it/en/publication/meloni-and-takaichi-charting-the-way-forward-for-italy-japan-relations-227500 ..During the EU-Japan summit held last July, then PM Shigeru Ishiba and President Ursula von der Leyen announced the launch of the “Competitiveness Alliance”, a joint project to strengthen the resilience of supply chains for critical raw materials. The plan envisions co-development and co-production to stabilise procurement, in particular of rare earths, on which both the EU and Japan remain heavily dependent on China. On top of that, last month the EU accepted Japan’s request to be included in Horizon Europe – the EU’s €93.5 billion research programme –, a decision that will enable Japanese and European researchers to join forces and apply for funding to support joint innovative research projects: prominent targets of this collaboration will be the digital transition, food security and climate-neutral energy...
Strongly recommend the German Language movie “Tank” on Amazon Prime. Compelling and intelligent - it manages to humanise a Tiger tank crew on the Eastern Front in WW2, but doesn’t shy away from the horrors - including the Final Solution
VG
Really?! Watched it last night and to me it seemed a clumsy fusion of Apocalypse Now and An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge, they even had a bridge. Good sense of what being inside a tank involved nevertheless, though the U-boat Tiger bit was a bit far fetched.
I'm currently reading James Holland's Brothers in Arms about the Sherwood Foresters Yeomanry in WW2 (mainly Northern Europe). Utterly compelling and utterly horrifying. The idea of seeing your mates tank brew up, unable to escape and thus burn to death, or cut down by mortars/machine guns as they exit and still having to keep going blows the mind.
Thus of us who never had to go to war are truly blessed.
Try Max Hastings' "Armageddon" or "Bomber Command".
In the former, by 1945 all the sides are utter bastards killing in the most disgusting manner, with the Westerners doing it by aerial bombing, the Soviets doing it in person, the Japanese doing it with bayonets and medical experiments, and the Germans humming merrily as the ovens burn Jews in the millions.
In the latter, the pleasant disquisition on how to build one of the largest bomber forces ever and train their crews is interrupted by a chapter that shows what it was like to be on the receiving end as a little German town is burned to the foundations.
Urgh.
War educates the senses...
One thing it doesn't seem to teach is the need to stop doing it.
https://www.ispionline.it/en/publication/meloni-and-takaichi-charting-the-way-forward-for-italy-japan-relations-227500 ..During the EU-Japan summit held last July, then PM Shigeru Ishiba and President Ursula von der Leyen announced the launch of the “Competitiveness Alliance”, a joint project to strengthen the resilience of supply chains for critical raw materials. The plan envisions co-development and co-production to stabilise procurement, in particular of rare earths, on which both the EU and Japan remain heavily dependent on China. On top of that, last month the EU accepted Japan’s request to be included in Horizon Europe – the EU’s €93.5 billion research programme –, a decision that will enable Japanese and European researchers to join forces and apply for funding to support joint innovative research projects: prominent targets of this collaboration will be the digital transition, food security and climate-neutral energy...
Japan could help the E.U., and Britain, a lot, from my experience of Japanese staff and expertise.
They may have had a lot of setbacks since the 1990's, but I've generally been impressed. Japan is refined in culture and innovative in technology.
This is worse than David Lammy's plans to restrict trial by jury.
Lammy's plan to snatch client account interest 'will force law firms out of business'
The Ministry of Justice's plan to take the interest which law firms make on money sitting in their client accounts will destroy high street and residential conveyancing firms, critics including national firm Taylor Rose have said.
Taylor Rose would have made just £100k profit last year without the millions generated by its client account.
Solicitors Regulation Authority rules currently only require law firms to provide clients with a 'fair sum' in relation to the interest earned on client money. The loose definition leaves scope for firms to retain most, or all, of the interest via agreement with their clients.
Last year the SRA postponed a review of the arrangement, but the Ministry of Justice has proposed requisitioning 50% of the “unearned interest” generated on law firms’ individual client accounts and 75% of the “unearned interest” generated on pooled accounts, which it says it will use to shore up England & Wales' crumbling justice system.
“Law firms thrive when the system is strong, so it follows that they should contribute to strengthening justice”, Lord Chancellor David Lammy said.
In 2024, the UK200 law firms generated over £350m from client account interest, according to data provided to RollOnFriday by Taha & Co.
What right does the government have to this money? None at all. This is legalised theft. Tightening the entitlement of clients to the interest accrued would be fairer but I think the reason the rules are so "flexible" is that this could prove a nightmare to work out and allocate.
When I was a partner in a law firm we had an arrangement with the Bank that meant that we got an interest free overdraft to the value of the balance in our client account, effectively more than £1m interest free. I was never very happy with this arrangement from an ethical point of view because it seemed to me that we were making a secret profit at the cost of our clients but I cannot deny it greatly improved profitability and the financial security of the firm. Not clear to me how such an arrangement would be dealt with under these rules.
That's outrageous.
We have a government that genuinely seems to think that everyone else's money belongs to them.
Strongly recommend the German Language movie “Tank” on Amazon Prime. Compelling and intelligent - it manages to humanise a Tiger tank crew on the Eastern Front in WW2, but doesn’t shy away from the horrors - including the Final Solution
VG
Really?! Watched it last night and to me it seemed a clumsy fusion of Apocalypse Now and An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge, they even had a bridge. Good sense of what being inside a tank involved nevertheless, though the U-boat Tiger bit was a bit far fetched.
There probably wasn’t enough overt Jew-killing in it, for your Celto-nationalist tastes. Which is fair enough. We all like different things! There’s nowt wrong with that
Have you watched Jew Suss? It’s a bit old and creaky now but it might be right up your strasse. I hear the Irish film board are trying to do a remake
Ah, you’re truly back!
He was here in spirit given you incessantly mentioned him.
Leon, you’ve got a fanboy
Have you been monitoring my posts? How flattering!
I guess that means someone incessantly whining about Ishmael means ol’ Ishy has a fanboy.
In Crown Office we now have toilets which are marked specifically as gender neutral toilets, expressly for the use of everyone (these were previously for disabled people which is another story). I don't see any problem or embarrassment for any trans people using them. I appreciate that these options may not be available everywhere but hospitals strike me as an unlikely place to have a problem.
I think the problem is that in some environments the mere act of forcing trans women who fully present as and pass as female into third spaces outs them as trans - which could potentially lead to discrimination, harassment, even sexual violence etc.
I do partially agree with you, in the sense that I think people obviously transitioning should be using third spaces and pre op trans people shouldn't be using shared dressing rooms - locked individual cubicles (for changing or using the loo) are a different matter.
I'm also of the "Widdecombe" view that once a person has fully undergone genital reassignment they should be treated for all intents and purposes as their adopted gender. The arguments for excluding them from women's spaces become much, much weaker post-op, which is, IMHO, the most alarming part of the judgement. Much of the rest of it I actually agree with.
I'm interested in what implementing the SC/FWS judgment in full is supposed to lead to in practice. Eg is it the objective of campaigners on the GC side of things that pretty much all signage for male and female spaces has the added words "Biological Only - No Trans"?
Essentially, yes. That is the gender critical view of what should happen, and how the SC judgement should be interpreted. Namely that so-called biological sex is immutable and therefore a trans woman irrespective of what stage of transition she is in remains, and will always be, a man, for the purposes of the equalities act. Gender criticals argue it mandates trans women to be excluded from any space thus designated as single sex female - irrespective of whether you've had genital reassignment surgery, irrespective of the Gender Recognition Act or Goodwin v UK etc. This places the Uk out of step with pretty much the entire western world, with the exception of Trumpistan.
The gender critical view is that there is no objective standard or threshold you can cross that will allow a trans woman to be treated as 'female' in terms of being able to use the loo, attend a women's only dance class, etc.
I think most people would argue this isn't the case and there is a threshold somewhere, it's just debated where that is (some would say it's based on whether you 'pass' as female, others would say it's after genital surgery - I would argue for example that the trans person in today's judgement did not cross the threshold for being allowed in female spaces as they were not medically transitioning or on hormones at the time). But the gender critical position is one of total exclusion of trans women and their relegation to third spaces (neatly ignoring both the legal precedents in Goodwin v UK and the 2004 GRA) irrespective of appearance, hormones, or genital surgery. A complete, full, blanket ban. No exceptions.
In Crown Office we now have toilets which are marked specifically as gender neutral toilets, expressly for the use of everyone (these were previously for disabled people which is another story). I don't see any problem or embarrassment for any trans people using them. I appreciate that these options may not be available everywhere but hospitals strike me as an unlikely place to have a problem.
I think the problem is that in some environments the mere act of forcing trans women who fully present as and pass as female into third spaces outs them as trans - which could potentially lead to discrimination, harassment, even sexual violence etc.
I do partially agree with you, in the sense that I think people obviously transitioning should be using third spaces and pre op trans people shouldn't be using shared dressing rooms - locked individual cubicles (for changing or using the loo) are a different matter.
I'm also of the "Widdecombe" view that once a person has fully undergone genital reassignment they should be treated for all intents and purposes as their adopted gender. The arguments for excluding them from women's spaces become much, much weaker post-op, which is, IMHO, the most alarming part of the judgement. Much of the rest of it I actually agree with.
I'm interested in what implementing the SC/FWS judgment in full is supposed to lead to in practice. Eg is it the objective of campaigners on the GC side of things that pretty much all signage for male and female spaces has the added words "Biological Only - No Trans"?
Why would you need signage like that?
All that is needed is a clear and unambiguous implementation of the law.
Third spaces, like gender-neutral facilities for anyone who is trans.
Currently well ahead of left winger Crockett in the polls for the Democratic nomination for the Texas senate seat that's up for grabs in November.
.@jamestalarico: “For the past 50 years, the religious right convinced a lot of Christians in America that the two most important issues were abortion and homosexuality.
Abortion is never mentioned in scripture. Consensual same-sex relationships are never mentioned.
I'm not saying they're not important. I actually think both of those issues are very important. But to focus on those two things instead of feeding the hungry and healing the sick and welcoming the stranger — three things we're told to do ad nauseam in scripture — to me is just mind blowing.” https://x.com/TeamTalaricoHQ/status/2011972140350734594
Polling suggests he has a real shout if there's no GOP revival.
I think a lot depends on the Republican nomination fight. If Cornyn and Paxton take chunks out of each other, and the winner is a (now money poor) Paxton, then I think Talarico has a real chance.
If Cornyn wins at a canter, then I don't think Talarico gets close.
On which note... if you look at Medicare spending per eligible person, then do you know where really stands out? Texas. I'm not saying there's a lot of fraud, but the first place I'd look would be places where the spending is really high relative to the number of recipients, people are relatively healthy and the cost of doing business is low.
Strongly recommend the German Language movie “Tank” on Amazon Prime. Compelling and intelligent - it manages to humanise a Tiger tank crew on the Eastern Front in WW2, but doesn’t shy away from the horrors - including the Final Solution
VG
Really?! Watched it last night and to me it seemed a clumsy fusion of Apocalypse Now and An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge, they even had a bridge. Good sense of what being inside a tank involved nevertheless, though the U-boat Tiger bit was a bit far fetched.
There probably wasn’t enough overt Jew-killing in it, for your Celto-nationalist tastes. Which is fair enough. We all like different things! There’s nowt wrong with that
Have you watched Jew Suss? It’s a bit old and creaky now but it might be right up your strasse. I hear the Irish film board are trying to do a remake
Ah, you’re truly back!
He was here in spirit given you incessantly mentioned him.
Leon, you’ve got a fanboy
Have you been monitoring my posts? How flattering!
I guess that means someone incessantly whining about Ishmael means ol’ Ishy has a fanboy.
I don’t mind Ishmael and have said before I wish him well in life. I hope he’s well and his horses are too.
As for your posts sadly there’s no block feature here so your posts appear. 🤷♂️
Can anyone explain how Jenricks defection unites the right? I would have thought it makes arrangements between Reform and the Conservatives more difficult. Its personal. Badenoch will not work with Jenrick.
Hopefully the Tories will now clock that they have to fight Reform.
That is exactly it. Good post.
It will now dawn in the Conservative Party, you cannot beat Reform by photocopying their policies, but explaining why your own policies are different.
Ironically it’s Farage who yesterday has told the Conservative Party exactly how to take him on and better him.
“you know” [you know it’s Farage when it’s starts with you know and then a pause] “we will not be a Tory party 2.0 because we have a completely different set of policies and people [who join] have to say they admit that net zero, mass migration, North Sea taxes and many other things were a terrible mistake.
Okay. Simples. Defending immigration over the last 100 years, and the successful racially integrated country we have become is one policy differential the Conservatives can hammer Farage with. The success of the Conservatives Net Zero initiatives to combat climate change is another. Under the Conservatives the UK lead the world on combatting climate change. Some to reel off - UK first advanced economy in the world to pass a net zero target. Reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 25% since 2010. Commitment to phasing out unabated coal power by 2025.
The trouble is, Kemi is terminally online and supping from the alt-right meme goblet. That means she gets a constant stream of extremely anti-net zero American messaging and probably thinks the British public is united in dismissing climate change as a hoax.
The polling reality is that the fight against global warming is one of the topics Brits are most united in supporting. But her social feed isn’t going to be telling her that.
There is a lot of truth in your post. Following Farage down the “Climate Change not a priority” hole is huge policy error from Kemi right now.
But party policy it’s not just one person with one feed in reality is it. It’s a whole team of policy wonks, close colleagues, business managers etc, and what extent they all draw from the same Mad, US Neo Con feed so they are an echo chamber, and not robust discussion group.
Conservative Party policy under Badenoch now needs to come under the spotlight. Is Badenoch Policy platform actually shrinking the parties appeal across the electorate, and puts it in direct fight with Reform for the same group of “not enough to win” voters?
If there isn’t policy clarity by the time of the campaign, it will be as disastrous as the one under Sunak. You can’t just put meat on the bones at the last moment, you need to be winning voters back long before that, with the aroma of beef rib roasting in your oven.
She does have this problem now of looking like the more moderate alternative to Honest Bob and his friends, and handling yesterday's issues with a certain amount of wittier, airier aplomb than him, but still with her track record of being friendly with people like Vance, contradicting this potential image.
She needs to decide what horse to ride, which sounds like a Beatles song.
As TSE was quick to point out in his breaking news header, Badenoch owes an amount of her getting top job from being the Bobby Blocker, so this instantly changes things in many ways for her. a lot of Conservative voices share the same view TSE had - like George Osbornes comments, with the immediate feeling this is not necessarily such a great thing for the Conservatives.
Isn’t the point of politics to build broad tent with everybody pissing out? At the moment because Bobby was such a marmite figure, within the Conservative Party and outside, we have Labour and Lib Dem’s joining in on the Con campaign to discredit him. But he is top of the Conservative home members poll. He was final 2 in the last leadership election. If Bobbys attacks on Badenoch’s Conservatives are punchy and effective, and the defections increase, it will turn round to ask was losing Bobby down to policy, or Badenoch’s Psychological Immaturity and personality type?
On the Eve of Badenoch telling her business team to let it be known she has sacked him, Bobby and Kemi had a chat - of course there were attempts to keep him. How long did Badenoch’s call with Jenrick this week urging him to stay actually last, before she snapped and said, okay, fuck off then - and hung up on him?
No idea where you sourced your last paragraph but here is the BBC report
Are you still insisting there was no call from Kemi to Bobby to try and keep him in the tent?
There were talks and he insisted he was staying and he simply lied to Badenoch and his colleagues
He was at the shadow cabinet meeting the day before notwithstanding he was about to jump ship
I read all your advice to Kemi but I do not expect she will sees it as you do
She should see it as I do. These are not just the centre ground differentials to Farage’s ruinous madness, that the voters will turn to as alternative to Labours failed term in office, these are traditional Conservative Party centre ground differentials to Farages ruinous madness.
Yesterday Jenrick said Britain is Broken. Kemi has no choice now but come out and state that Britain is not Broken. Labour have only been in power 17 months! The Conservatives must now stand up to Farage, explain to voters they are different, and why Farage policies are wrong and ruinous. Explain the difference. We can’t just keep photocopying Farage’s policies and allow him to do all leading of the right without confrontation.
As for knowing Jenrick was lying, Where’s the “smoking gun” found on the photocopier that killed Bobby J’s Conservative membership? What if it was a sting? a false flag so faked it can’t be faxed to a newsroom?
Badenoch will be her own person and will make her own decisions freed of Jenrick
I have no idea how closely you follow these things, but her publishing Jenrick's resignation speech even before he got to deliver it is sufficient to prove she was in possesion of it
Indeed it is not disputed it was leaked to her, and that Jenrick had been in discussions with Farage since September and lied and lied whenever he was challenged
20 minutes before Farage announced the defection he openly said live on Sky he had not made up his mind
Farage and Jenrick are a perfect fit, and will be found out over the next 3 years
What was that fable about the frog and the scorpion again?
Strongly recommend the German Language movie “Tank” on Amazon Prime. Compelling and intelligent - it manages to humanise a Tiger tank crew on the Eastern Front in WW2, but doesn’t shy away from the horrors - including the Final Solution
VG
Really?! Watched it last night and to me it seemed a clumsy fusion of Apocalypse Now and An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge, they even had a bridge. Good sense of what being inside a tank involved nevertheless, though the U-boat Tiger bit was a bit far fetched.
There probably wasn’t enough overt Jew-killing in it, for your Celto-nationalist tastes. Which is fair enough. We all like different things! There’s nowt wrong with that
Have you watched Jew Suss? It’s a bit old and creaky now but it might be right up your strasse. I hear the Irish film board are trying to do a remake
Ah, you’re truly back!
He was here in spirit given you incessantly mentioned him.
Leon, you’ve got a fanboy
Have you been monitoring my posts? How flattering!
I guess that means someone incessantly whining about Ishmael means ol’ Ishy has a fanboy.
I don’t mind Ishmael and have said before I wish him well in life. I hope he’s well and his horses are too.
As for your posts sadly there’s no block feature here so your posts appear. 🤷♂️
And yet you keep engaging with them. It’s a mystery! *not obsessed*
AckSHUallY I’ve just watched the end of “Tank” and @Theuniondivvie has a point. It does get unnecessarily surreal and sub-Apocalypse Now as it meanders to a conclusion
Shame
Still a nice solid war movie for the first 70 minutes. What the F was the director thinking with that denouement?
I love a bit of hallucinatory war Dada but that just didn’t quite work
It reminds me that the last really great memorable movie I’ve seen is the Zone of Interest. THAT is a work of art
Sadly I can’t think of much else of late. We’re in a fallow period TV and movie-wise
In Crown Office we now have toilets which are marked specifically as gender neutral toilets, expressly for the use of everyone (these were previously for disabled people which is another story). I don't see any problem or embarrassment for any trans people using them. I appreciate that these options may not be available everywhere but hospitals strike me as an unlikely place to have a problem.
I think the problem is that in some environments the mere act of forcing trans women who fully present as and pass as female into third spaces outs them as trans - which could potentially lead to discrimination, harassment, even sexual violence etc.
I do partially agree with you, in the sense that I think people obviously transitioning should be using third spaces and pre op trans people shouldn't be using shared dressing rooms - locked individual cubicles (for changing or using the loo) are a different matter.
I'm also of the "Widdecombe" view that once a person has fully undergone genital reassignment they should be treated for all intents and purposes as their adopted gender. The arguments for excluding them from women's spaces become much, much weaker post-op, which is, IMHO, the most alarming part of the judgement. Much of the rest of it I actually agree with.
I'm interested in what implementing the SC/FWS judgment in full is supposed to lead to in practice. Eg is it the objective of campaigners on the GC side of things that pretty much all signage for male and female spaces has the added words "Biological Only - No Trans"?
Why would you need signage like that?
All that is needed is a clear and unambiguous implementation of the law.
Third spaces, like gender-neutral facilities for anyone who is trans.
Women's spaces for women only.
And treat everyone with respect.
Problem solved.
I was talking about exactly that - implementation of the law. And it's not (alas) as simple as you make out. Eg we have the Gender Recognition Act on statute. The purpose of it is to allow transgender people to live their lives in their acquired gender. There is a transition process to follow and upon completion of this a Gender Recognition Certificate is issued. This marks a change of legal gender. It could be argued therefore that to simply exclude all trans people from all single sex facilities, spaces and activities rather makes a mockery of this piece of legislation and is not necessarily "treating everyone with respect".
Strongly recommend the German Language movie “Tank” on Amazon Prime. Compelling and intelligent - it manages to humanise a Tiger tank crew on the Eastern Front in WW2, but doesn’t shy away from the horrors - including the Final Solution
VG
Strictly speaking it's Der Tiger, so the real translation should be The Tiger.
I assume they thought- probably correctly - that most people would think that was some sort of Attenborough thing, so just plumbed for "Tank" instead.
Can anyone explain how Jenricks defection unites the right? I would have thought it makes arrangements between Reform and the Conservatives more difficult. Its personal. Badenoch will not work with Jenrick.
Hopefully the Tories will now clock that they have to fight Reform.
That is exactly it. Good post.
It will now dawn in the Conservative Party, you cannot beat Reform by photocopying their policies, but explaining why your own policies are different.
Ironically it’s Farage who yesterday has told the Conservative Party exactly how to take him on and better him.
“you know” [you know it’s Farage when it’s starts with you know and then a pause] “we will not be a Tory party 2.0 because we have a completely different set of policies and people [who join] have to say they admit that net zero, mass migration, North Sea taxes and many other things were a terrible mistake.
Okay. Simples. Defending immigration over the last 100 years, and the successful racially integrated country we have become is one policy differential the Conservatives can hammer Farage with. The success of the Conservatives Net Zero initiatives to combat climate change is another. Under the Conservatives the UK lead the world on combatting climate change. Some to reel off - UK first advanced economy in the world to pass a net zero target. Reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 25% since 2010. Commitment to phasing out unabated coal power by 2025.
The trouble is, Kemi is terminally online and supping from the alt-right meme goblet. That means she gets a constant stream of extremely anti-net zero American messaging and probably thinks the British public is united in dismissing climate change as a hoax.
The polling reality is that the fight against global warming is one of the topics Brits are most united in supporting. But her social feed isn’t going to be telling her that.
There is a lot of truth in your post. Following Farage down the “Climate Change not a priority” hole is huge policy error from Kemi right now.
But party policy it’s not just one person with one feed in reality is it. It’s a whole team of policy wonks, close colleagues, business managers etc, and what extent they all draw from the same Mad, US Neo Con feed so they are an echo chamber, and not robust discussion group.
Conservative Party policy under Badenoch now needs to come under the spotlight. Is Badenoch Policy platform actually shrinking the parties appeal across the electorate, and puts it in direct fight with Reform for the same group of “not enough to win” voters?
If there isn’t policy clarity by the time of the campaign, it will be as disastrous as the one under Sunak. You can’t just put meat on the bones at the last moment, you need to be winning voters back long before that, with the aroma of beef rib roasting in your oven.
She does have this problem now of looking like the more moderate alternative to Honest Bob and his friends, and handling yesterday's issues with a certain amount of wittier, airier aplomb than him, but still with her track record of being friendly with people like Vance, contradicting this potential image.
She needs to decide what horse to ride, which sounds like a Beatles song.
As TSE was quick to point out in his breaking news header, Badenoch owes an amount of her getting top job from being the Bobby Blocker, so this instantly changes things in many ways for her. a lot of Conservative voices share the same view TSE had - like George Osbornes comments, with the immediate feeling this is not necessarily such a great thing for the Conservatives.
Isn’t the point of politics to build broad tent with everybody pissing out? At the moment because Bobby was such a marmite figure, within the Conservative Party and outside, we have Labour and Lib Dem’s joining in on the Con campaign to discredit him. But he is top of the Conservative home members poll. He was final 2 in the last leadership election. If Bobbys attacks on Badenoch’s Conservatives are punchy and effective, and the defections increase, it will turn round to ask was losing Bobby down to policy, or Badenoch’s Psychological Immaturity and personality type?
On the Eve of Badenoch telling her business team to let it be known she has sacked him, Bobby and Kemi had a chat - of course there were attempts to keep him. How long did Badenoch’s call with Jenrick this week urging him to stay actually last, before she snapped and said, okay, fuck off then - and hung up on him?
No idea where you sourced your last paragraph but here is the BBC report
Are you still insisting there was no call from Kemi to Bobby to try and keep him in the tent?
There were talks and he insisted he was staying and he simply lied to Badenoch and his colleagues
He was at the shadow cabinet meeting the day before notwithstanding he was about to jump ship
I read all your advice to Kemi but I do not expect she will sees it as you do
She should see it as I do. These are not just the centre ground differentials to Farage’s ruinous madness, that the voters will turn to as alternative to Labours failed term in office, these are traditional Conservative Party centre ground differentials to Farages ruinous madness.
Yesterday Jenrick said Britain is Broken. Kemi has no choice now but come out and state that Britain is not Broken. Labour have only been in power 17 months! The Conservatives must now stand up to Farage, explain to voters they are different, and why Farage policies are wrong and ruinous. Explain the difference. We can’t just keep photocopying Farage’s policies and allow him to do all leading of the right without confrontation.
As for knowing Jenrick was lying, Where’s the “smoking gun” found on the photocopier that killed Bobby J’s Conservative membership? What if it was a sting? a false flag so faked it can’t be faxed to a newsroom?
Badenoch will be her own person and will make her own decisions freed of Jenrick
I have no idea how closely you follow these things, but her publishing Jenrick's resignation speech even before he got to deliver it is sufficient to prove she was in possesion of it
Indeed it is not disputed it was leaked to her, and that Jenrick had been in discussions with Farage since September and lied and lied whenever he was challenged
20 minutes before Farage announced the defection he openly said live on Sky he had not made up his mind
Farage and Jenrick are a perfect fit, and will be found out over the next 3 years
What was that fable about the frog and the scorpion again?
Nigel is taking Bobby J across the river on his back. "Now you won't challenge me as Prime Minister in waiting will you Bobby J.?" And Bobby replies...
I’ve just checked *google* for the best movies of 2024-25. Jesus it’s dire. Mediocre movies are praised because there’s nothing else
What’s the opposite of a Golden Age? We’re in it
The Starmer age?
Starmer fans please explain.
It is quite fitting. A desperately mediocre prime minister for a desperately mediocre age - in terms of art
It’s not just movies and tv it’s all art. It all feels a bit feeble. I wonder if art is suffering in comparison with reality. We live in a world so full of surreal but mesmeric weirdness, horror and surprise no art can compete?
I know people have to defend their own position, but if you stand down by saying political and media frenzy is the reason (directly or indirectly suggesting it was unfair) you might as well have just stuck it out and seen whether you got sacked or not.
I guess it is part of the game for people in senior positions, you might not get as many future opportunities after a period of quiet if you don't 'voluntarily' go, but you don't have to pretend you actually think you made any mistakes (though you can sometimes say there were mistakes in a generic way).
AckSHUallY I’ve just watched the end of “Tank” and @Theuniondivvie has a point. It does get unnecessarily surreal and sub-Apocalypse Now as it meanders to a conclusion
Shame
Still a nice solid war movie for the first 70 minutes. What the F was the director thinking with that denouement?
I love a bit of hallucinatory war Dada but that just didn’t quite work
It reminds me that the last really great memorable movie I’ve seen is the Zone of Interest. THAT is a work of art
Sadly I can’t think of much else of late. We’re in a fallow period TV and movie-wise
The whole film flags the conclusion.
Sending a single heavy tank, notorious for being fuel hungry and breaking down at every opportunity, on mission behind enemy lines, with no infantry?
Can anyone explain how Jenricks defection unites the right? I would have thought it makes arrangements between Reform and the Conservatives more difficult. Its personal. Badenoch will not work with Jenrick.
Hopefully the Tories will now clock that they have to fight Reform.
That is exactly it. Good post.
It will now dawn in the Conservative Party, you cannot beat Reform by photocopying their policies, but explaining why your own policies are different.
Ironically it’s Farage who yesterday has told the Conservative Party exactly how to take him on and better him.
“you know” [you know it’s Farage when it’s starts with you know and then a pause] “we will not be a Tory party 2.0 because we have a completely different set of policies and people [who join] have to say they admit that net zero, mass migration, North Sea taxes and many other things were a terrible mistake.
Okay. Simples. Defending immigration over the last 100 years, and the successful racially integrated country we have become is one policy differential the Conservatives can hammer Farage with. The success of the Conservatives Net Zero initiatives to combat climate change is another. Under the Conservatives the UK lead the world on combatting climate change. Some to reel off - UK first advanced economy in the world to pass a net zero target. Reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 25% since 2010. Commitment to phasing out unabated coal power by 2025.
The trouble is, Kemi is terminally online and supping from the alt-right meme goblet. That means she gets a constant stream of extremely anti-net zero American messaging and probably thinks the British public is united in dismissing climate change as a hoax.
The polling reality is that the fight against global warming is one of the topics Brits are most united in supporting. But her social feed isn’t going to be telling her that.
There is a lot of truth in your post. Following Farage down the “Climate Change not a priority” hole is huge policy error from Kemi right now.
But party policy it’s not just one person with one feed in reality is it. It’s a whole team of policy wonks, close colleagues, business managers etc, and what extent they all draw from the same Mad, US Neo Con feed so they are an echo chamber, and not robust discussion group.
Conservative Party policy under Badenoch now needs to come under the spotlight. Is Badenoch Policy platform actually shrinking the parties appeal across the electorate, and puts it in direct fight with Reform for the same group of “not enough to win” voters?
If there isn’t policy clarity by the time of the campaign, it will be as disastrous as the one under Sunak. You can’t just put meat on the bones at the last moment, you need to be winning voters back long before that, with the aroma of beef rib roasting in your oven.
She does have this problem now of looking like the more moderate alternative to Honest Bob and his friends, and handling yesterday's issues with a certain amount of wittier, airier aplomb than him, but still with her track record of being friendly with people like Vance, contradicting this potential image.
She needs to decide what horse to ride, which sounds like a Beatles song.
As TSE was quick to point out in his breaking news header, Badenoch owes an amount of her getting top job from being the Bobby Blocker, so this instantly changes things in many ways for her. a lot of Conservative voices share the same view TSE had - like George Osbornes comments, with the immediate feeling this is not necessarily such a great thing for the Conservatives.
Isn’t the point of politics to build broad tent with everybody pissing out? At the moment because Bobby was such a marmite figure, within the Conservative Party and outside, we have Labour and Lib Dem’s joining in on the Con campaign to discredit him. But he is top of the Conservative home members poll. He was final 2 in the last leadership election. If Bobbys attacks on Badenoch’s Conservatives are punchy and effective, and the defections increase, it will turn round to ask was losing Bobby down to policy, or Badenoch’s Psychological Immaturity and personality type?
On the Eve of Badenoch telling her business team to let it be known she has sacked him, Bobby and Kemi had a chat - of course there were attempts to keep him. How long did Badenoch’s call with Jenrick this week urging him to stay actually last, before she snapped and said, okay, fuck off then - and hung up on him?
No idea where you sourced your last paragraph but here is the BBC report
Are you still insisting there was no call from Kemi to Bobby to try and keep him in the tent?
There were talks and he insisted he was staying and he simply lied to Badenoch and his colleagues
He was at the shadow cabinet meeting the day before notwithstanding he was about to jump ship
I read all your advice to Kemi but I do not expect she will sees it as you do
She should see it as I do. These are not just the centre ground differentials to Farage’s ruinous madness, that the voters will turn to as alternative to Labours failed term in office, these are traditional Conservative Party centre ground differentials to Farages ruinous madness.
Yesterday Jenrick said Britain is Broken. Kemi has no choice now but come out and state that Britain is not Broken. Labour have only been in power 17 months! The Conservatives must now stand up to Farage, explain to voters they are different, and why Farage policies are wrong and ruinous. Explain the difference. We can’t just keep photocopying Farage’s policies and allow him to do all leading of the right without confrontation.
As for knowing Jenrick was lying, Where’s the “smoking gun” found on the photocopier that killed Bobby J’s Conservative membership? What if it was a sting? a false flag so faked it can’t be faxed to a newsroom?
Badenoch will be her own person and will make her own decisions freed of Jenrick
I have no idea how closely you follow these things, but her publishing Jenrick's resignation speech even before he got to deliver it is sufficient to prove she was in possesion of it
Indeed it is not disputed it was leaked to her, and that Jenrick had been in discussions with Farage since September and lied and lied whenever he was challenged
20 minutes before Farage announced the defection he openly said live on Sky he had not made up his mind
Farage and Jenrick are a perfect fit, and will be found out over the next 3 years
What was that fable about the frog and the scorpion again?
Nigel is taking Bobby J across the river on his back. "Now you won't challenge me as Prime Minister in waiting will you Bobby J.?" And Bobby replies...
He wouldn't dare, when you kowtow you sacrifice some flexibility.
AckSHUallY I’ve just watched the end of “Tank” and @Theuniondivvie has a point. It does get unnecessarily surreal and sub-Apocalypse Now as it meanders to a conclusion
Shame
Still a nice solid war movie for the first 70 minutes. What the F was the director thinking with that denouement?
I love a bit of hallucinatory war Dada but that just didn’t quite work
It reminds me that the last really great memorable movie I’ve seen is the Zone of Interest. THAT is a work of art
Sadly I can’t think of much else of late. We’re in a fallow period TV and movie-wise
The whole film flags the conclusion.
Sending a single heavy tank, notorious for being fuel hungry and breaking down at every opportunity, on mission behind enemy lines, with no infantry?
It does, but it doesn’t quite gel
I don’t want to spoil it for other PB-ers but even dreams must have a kind of inner logic, to work as art. This failed, for me
AckSHUallY I’ve just watched the end of “Tank” and @Theuniondivvie has a point. It does get unnecessarily surreal and sub-Apocalypse Now as it meanders to a conclusion
Shame
Still a nice solid war movie for the first 70 minutes. What the F was the director thinking with that denouement?
I love a bit of hallucinatory war Dada but that just didn’t quite work
It reminds me that the last really great memorable movie I’ve seen is the Zone of Interest. THAT is a work of art
Sadly I can’t think of much else of late. We’re in a fallow period TV and movie-wise
Death In Paradise is back soon. And Silent Witness. The latter has switched location from London to Birmingham - so that will be interesting to monitor. Will it still work in that setting? I'm not sure. No idea why they took the decision. "If it aint broke" comes to mind.
Can anyone explain how Jenricks defection unites the right? I would have thought it makes arrangements between Reform and the Conservatives more difficult. Its personal. Badenoch will not work with Jenrick.
Hopefully the Tories will now clock that they have to fight Reform.
That is exactly it. Good post.
It will now dawn in the Conservative Party, you cannot beat Reform by photocopying their policies, but explaining why your own policies are different.
Ironically it’s Farage who yesterday has told the Conservative Party exactly how to take him on and better him.
“you know” [you know it’s Farage when it’s starts with you know and then a pause] “we will not be a Tory party 2.0 because we have a completely different set of policies and people [who join] have to say they admit that net zero, mass migration, North Sea taxes and many other things were a terrible mistake.
Okay. Simples. Defending immigration over the last 100 years, and the successful racially integrated country we have become is one policy differential the Conservatives can hammer Farage with. The success of the Conservatives Net Zero initiatives to combat climate change is another. Under the Conservatives the UK lead the world on combatting climate change. Some to reel off - UK first advanced economy in the world to pass a net zero target. Reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 25% since 2010. Commitment to phasing out unabated coal power by 2025.
The trouble is, Kemi is terminally online and supping from the alt-right meme goblet. That means she gets a constant stream of extremely anti-net zero American messaging and probably thinks the British public is united in dismissing climate change as a hoax.
The polling reality is that the fight against global warming is one of the topics Brits are most united in supporting. But her social feed isn’t going to be telling her that.
There is a lot of truth in your post. Following Farage down the “Climate Change not a priority” hole is huge policy error from Kemi right now.
But party policy it’s not just one person with one feed in reality is it. It’s a whole team of policy wonks, close colleagues, business managers etc, and what extent they all draw from the same Mad, US Neo Con feed so they are an echo chamber, and not robust discussion group.
Conservative Party policy under Badenoch now needs to come under the spotlight. Is Badenoch Policy platform actually shrinking the parties appeal across the electorate, and puts it in direct fight with Reform for the same group of “not enough to win” voters?
If there isn’t policy clarity by the time of the campaign, it will be as disastrous as the one under Sunak. You can’t just put meat on the bones at the last moment, you need to be winning voters back long before that, with the aroma of beef rib roasting in your oven.
She does have this problem now of looking like the more moderate alternative to Honest Bob and his friends, and handling yesterday's issues with a certain amount of wittier, airier aplomb than him, but still with her track record of being friendly with people like Vance, contradicting this potential image.
She needs to decide what horse to ride, which sounds like a Beatles song.
As TSE was quick to point out in his breaking news header, Badenoch owes an amount of her getting top job from being the Bobby Blocker, so this instantly changes things in many ways for her. a lot of Conservative voices share the same view TSE had - like George Osbornes comments, with the immediate feeling this is not necessarily such a great thing for the Conservatives.
Isn’t the point of politics to build broad tent with everybody pissing out? At the moment because Bobby was such a marmite figure, within the Conservative Party and outside, we have Labour and Lib Dem’s joining in on the Con campaign to discredit him. But he is top of the Conservative home members poll. He was final 2 in the last leadership election. If Bobbys attacks on Badenoch’s Conservatives are punchy and effective, and the defections increase, it will turn round to ask was losing Bobby down to policy, or Badenoch’s Psychological Immaturity and personality type?
On the Eve of Badenoch telling her business team to let it be known she has sacked him, Bobby and Kemi had a chat - of course there were attempts to keep him. How long did Badenoch’s call with Jenrick this week urging him to stay actually last, before she snapped and said, okay, fuck off then - and hung up on him?
No idea where you sourced your last paragraph but here is the BBC report
Are you still insisting there was no call from Kemi to Bobby to try and keep him in the tent?
There were talks and he insisted he was staying and he simply lied to Badenoch and his colleagues
He was at the shadow cabinet meeting the day before notwithstanding he was about to jump ship
I read all your advice to Kemi but I do not expect she will sees it as you do
She should see it as I do. These are not just the centre ground differentials to Farage’s ruinous madness, that the voters will turn to as alternative to Labours failed term in office, these are traditional Conservative Party centre ground differentials to Farages ruinous madness.
Yesterday Jenrick said Britain is Broken. Kemi has no choice now but come out and state that Britain is not Broken. Labour have only been in power 17 months! The Conservatives must now stand up to Farage, explain to voters they are different, and why Farage policies are wrong and ruinous. Explain the difference. We can’t just keep photocopying Farage’s policies and allow him to do all leading of the right without confrontation.
As for knowing Jenrick was lying, Where’s the “smoking gun” found on the photocopier that killed Bobby J’s Conservative membership? What if it was a sting? a false flag so faked it can’t be faxed to a newsroom?
Badenoch will be her own person and will make her own decisions freed of Jenrick
I have no idea how closely you follow these things, but her publishing Jenrick's resignation speech even before he got to deliver it is sufficient to prove she was in possesion of it
Indeed it is not disputed it was leaked to her, and that Jenrick had been in discussions with Farage since September and lied and lied whenever he was challenged
20 minutes before Farage announced the defection he openly said live on Sky he had not made up his mind
Farage and Jenrick are a perfect fit, and will be found out over the next 3 years
What was that fable about the frog and the scorpion again?
Nigel is taking Bobby J across the river on his back. "Now you won't challenge me as Prime Minister in waiting will you Bobby J.?" And Bobby replies...
While an interesting image, it is notable that Nigel can only be forced out if 50%+ of the members request a votes. The MPs don't get that right until/if there more than 100 of them.
In Crown Office we now have toilets which are marked specifically as gender neutral toilets, expressly for the use of everyone (these were previously for disabled people which is another story). I don't see any problem or embarrassment for any trans people using them. I appreciate that these options may not be available everywhere but hospitals strike me as an unlikely place to have a problem.
I think the problem is that in some environments the mere act of forcing trans women who fully present as and pass as female into third spaces outs them as trans - which could potentially lead to discrimination, harassment, even sexual violence etc.
I do partially agree with you, in the sense that I think people obviously transitioning should be using third spaces and pre op trans people shouldn't be using shared dressing rooms - locked individual cubicles (for changing or using the loo) are a different matter.
I'm also of the "Widdecombe" view that once a person has fully undergone genital reassignment they should be treated for all intents and purposes as their adopted gender. The arguments for excluding them from women's spaces become much, much weaker post-op, which is, IMHO, the most alarming part of the judgement. Much of the rest of it I actually agree with.
I'm interested in what implementing the SC/FWS judgment in full is supposed to lead to in practice. Eg is it the objective of campaigners on the GC side of things that pretty much all signage for male and female spaces has the added words "Biological Only - No Trans"?
Why would you need signage like that?
All that is needed is a clear and unambiguous implementation of the law.
Third spaces, like gender-neutral facilities for anyone who is trans.
Women's spaces for women only.
And treat everyone with respect.
Problem solved.
I was talking about exactly that - implementation of the law. And it's not (alas) as simple as you make out. Eg we have the Gender Recognition Act on statute. The purpose of it is to allow transgender people to live their lives in their acquired gender. There is a transition process to follow and upon completion of this a Gender Recognition Certificate is issued. This marks a change of legal gender. It could be argued therefore that to simply exclude all trans people from all single sex facilities, spaces and activities rather makes a mockery of this piece of legislation and is not necessarily "treating everyone with respect".
Exactly this.
The supreme court argued that the wording of the 2010 EA *implictly* overrides the intent of the 2004 GRA (it never states this explicitly) when in fact the people who drafted it (see the former civil servant Melanie Field's statement on the subject) have stated that they intended for the 2010 EA to be trans inclusionary.
It is my view that the SC Judgement has therefore nullified the 2004 GRA in practice, ignoring parliamentary intent. And the only way forward is through legislation that clarifies the rights of trans people to recognition in their acquired gender post Goodwin v UK.
Comments
That will be to add to the Great Patriot's approach to selling U.K. tech expertise to the American oligarchs.
Watched it last night and to me it seemed a clumsy fusion of Apocalypse Now and An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge, they even had a bridge.
Good sense of what being inside a tank involved nevertheless, though the U-boat Tiger bit was a bit far fetched.
Is it really "Too many tweets make a twat"?
- In paras 371-373 and 431-432 the tribunal found that 'men' and 'women' in the Workplace (health, safety and welfare) regulations 1992 must be interpreted as biological sex, consistent with the Supreme Court's FWS decision. The NHS trust was therefore in breach of Reg 24(2) by allowing Rose (described as a 'biological male') into the female changing room.
- The tribunal found the trans woman in question was 'simply doing what the Trust permitted Rose to do... nothing that Rose did manifested itself in such a way as to demonstrate to us any purpose or intent to violate anyone’s dignity or create a hostile environment' (para 350) and concluded she (the trans woman) did not personally harass the claimants (paras 329-356).
- The tribunal found the nurses' perceptions of being stared at were genuine and came from a place of heightened tension but that the trans woman didn't actually engage in the alleged inappropriate behaviour (paras 200-221). The sheer number of paras here suggest how much of this section (and indeed much of the wider case) hinges on perceptions over facts.
- Management screwed up by keeping the complaints about the trans woman a secret from her for several months. So she had no ability during this time to understand the nature of the complaints and opt to use an alternative facility. (Paras 67-73, 89, 135, and 196). So by the time she was made aware of the complaints there was already a hostile environment towards her which again contributes to the problem of heightened tensions / differences in perception between the trans woman and the other nurses.
- The situation is complicated by distinctions between 'gender identity' and 'gender reassignment' i.e. one is something that you believe, the other is a process you are undergoing. In this case, the trans woman in question was off hormones and supposedly trying to have a baby (paras 125 and 221).
Here I roll my eyes because, while everyone has the right to try for children the usual approach is to freeze sperm before hormones. This case is complicated by the fact that she had a transgender identity but was not yet medically transitioning in the conventional sense.
IMHO she's doing trans women in general no favours by being in a female space while not actively medically transitioning. Again, my personal view is that access to female spaces should be based on medical transition process not 'how you feel inside'. Be on hormones, have the operation, etc.
But prima facie this judgement looks like an argument for trans women to be relegated to third spaces in workplaces irrespective of medical transition (including after genital surgery) which I find odd as this would be largely unenforceable in practice (how can you tell?).
But I really don't want to get down this rabbit hole yet again so please excuse me for not replying further on the topic.
Bush, Obama and Biden all managed to deport immigrants at a greater rate without resorting to quite such extreme tactics.
You should get commissioned to do restaurant reports on the finalists, who were a seriously impressive bunch this time.
Will check out Tank.
Tanks.
If you're not interested, feel free to scroll past, or drone on about cars as you usually do.
Craig Guildford to be allowed to retire early on full pension.
There needs to be a way of clawing back these crazy public-sector pensions from those who resign or are fired in disgrace.
As I said, the judgment seems entirely sensible to me.
Yesterday Jenrick said Britain is Broken. Kemi has no choice now but come out and state that Britain is not Broken. Labour have only been in power 17 months! The Conservatives must now stand up to Farage, explain to voters they are different, and why Farage policies are wrong and ruinous. Explain the difference. We can’t just keep photocopying Farage’s policies and allow him to do all leading of the right without confrontation.
As for knowing Jenrick was lying, Where’s the “smoking gun” found on the photocopier that killed Bobby J’s Conservative membership? What if it was a sting? a false flag so faked it can’t be faxed to a newsroom?
Thus of us who never had to go to war are truly blessed.
Everyone lied to the Tsars about how well things were going. Then everyone lied to the Provisional Government. Then everyone lied to Stalin. Then they lied to....
Hmmmm....
.@jamestalarico: “For the past 50 years, the religious right convinced a lot of Christians in America that the two most important issues were abortion and homosexuality.
Abortion is never mentioned in scripture. Consensual same-sex relationships are never mentioned.
I'm not saying they're not important. I actually think both of those issues are very important. But to focus on those two things instead of feeding the hungry and healing the sick and welcoming the stranger — three things we're told to do ad nauseam in scripture — to me is just mind blowing.”
https://x.com/TeamTalaricoHQ/status/2011972140350734594
Polling suggests he has a real shout if there's no GOP revival.
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Der_Tiger_(2025)
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt31495504/reviews/?ref_=tt_ururv_sm
Have you watched Jew Suss? It’s a bit old and creaky now but it might be right up your strasse. I hear the Irish film board are trying to do a remake
The driver in the aforementioned Der Tiger said as it lay submerged that he’d rather burn in his tank than drown in it.
I do partially agree with you, in the sense that I think people obviously transitioning should be using third spaces and pre op trans people shouldn't be using shared dressing rooms - locked individual cubicles (for changing or using the loo) are a different matter.
I'm also of the "Widdecombe" view that once a person has fully undergone genital reassignment they should be treated for all intents and purposes as their adopted gender. The arguments for excluding them from women's spaces become much, much weaker post-op, which is, IMHO, the most alarming part of the judgement. Much of the rest of it I actually agree with.
Pause.
I appreciate that this may not be of interest to anybody except Sunil...
Harrowing.
It doesn't help Kemi B much, but her primary role is to keep the Conservatives alive until something turns up. (See also, SKS in 2020). As the Starmer example shows, that may happen sooner than anyone really expects. But in any case 2029 is Farage's last shot, really, and so far nobody is as good at being Nigel as Nigel.
As for the European Question, which Dave failed to stop anyone banging on about, the elegant solution is for someone else to drag the UK close enough that "if we're going to be that enmeshed, we should be running the show" becomes the plausible nationalistic line that the Conservatives can take.
That's still a long way off, though.
I have no idea how closely you follow these things, but her publishing Jenrick's resignation speech even before he got to deliver it is sufficient to prove she was in possesion of it
Indeed it is not disputed it was leaked to her, and that Jenrick had been in discussions with Farage since September and lied and lied whenever he was challenged
20 minutes before Farage announced the defection he openly said live on Sky he had not made up his mind
Farage and Jenrick are a perfect fit, and will be found out over the next 3 years
In the former, by 1945 all the sides are utter bastards killing in the most disgusting manner, with the Westerners doing it by aerial bombing, the Soviets doing it in person, the Japanese doing it with bayonets and medical experiments, and the Germans humming merrily as the ovens burn Jews in the millions.
In the latter, the pleasant disquisition on how to build one of the largest bomber forces ever and train their crews is interrupted by a chapter that shows what it was like to be on the receiving end as a little German town is burned to the foundations.
Urgh.
Leon, you’ve got a fanboy
Thank you for your service.
https://www.ispionline.it/en/publication/meloni-and-takaichi-charting-the-way-forward-for-italy-japan-relations-227500
..During the EU-Japan summit held last July, then PM Shigeru Ishiba and President Ursula von der Leyen announced the launch of the “Competitiveness Alliance”, a joint project to strengthen the resilience of supply chains for critical raw materials. The plan envisions co-development and co-production to stabilise procurement, in particular of rare earths, on which both the EU and Japan remain heavily dependent on China. On top of that, last month the EU accepted Japan’s request to be included in Horizon Europe – the EU’s €93.5 billion research programme –, a decision that will enable Japanese and European researchers to join forces and apply for funding to support joint innovative research projects: prominent targets of this collaboration will be the digital transition, food security and climate-neutral energy...
If it becomes dogmatic and an obstacle to effective migration control, then it either needs reforming or derogating from.
I remain to be convinced that it isn't an obstacle because, as written, I think it is simply too idealistic and doesn't reflect the real world.
Junking it, however, is not an enabler to getting it right - it just removes one of the blockers.
They may have had a lot of setbacks since the 1990's, but I've generally been impressed. Japan is refined in culture and innovative in technology.
We have a government that genuinely seems to think that everyone else's money belongs to them.
I guess that means someone incessantly whining about Ishmael means ol’ Ishy has a fanboy.
The gender critical view is that there is no objective standard or threshold you can cross that will allow a trans woman to be treated as 'female' in terms of being able to use the loo, attend a women's only dance class, etc.
I think most people would argue this isn't the case and there is a threshold somewhere, it's just debated where that is (some would say it's based on whether you 'pass' as female, others would say it's after genital surgery - I would argue for example that the trans person in today's judgement did not cross the threshold for being allowed in female spaces as they were not medically transitioning or on hormones at the time). But the gender critical position is one of total exclusion of trans women and their relegation to third spaces (neatly ignoring both the legal precedents in Goodwin v UK and the 2004 GRA) irrespective of appearance, hormones, or genital surgery. A complete, full, blanket ban. No exceptions.
‘ Migrant who moved family into retirement home uses ECHR to fight eviction
"Bangladeshi has lived with wife and three-year-old twins in Reading complex for more than a year"
https://x.com/tonydowson5/status/2011420664989728800?s=46&t=d8CnRhyZJ-m4vy0k55W8XQ
All that is needed is a clear and unambiguous implementation of the law.
Third spaces, like gender-neutral facilities for anyone who is trans.
Women's spaces for women only.
And treat everyone with respect.
Problem solved.
It's the kind of thing Starmer should take the lead on reforming, and put a Hancockian 12-month deadline on it.
If Cornyn wins at a canter, then I don't think Talarico gets close.
On which note... if you look at Medicare spending per eligible person, then do you know where really stands out? Texas. I'm not saying there's a lot of fraud, but the first place I'd look would be places where the spending is really high relative to the number of recipients, people are relatively healthy and the cost of doing business is low.
As for your posts sadly there’s no block feature here so your posts appear. 🤷♂️
Surrey seems to be the hardest word !!
*not obsessed*
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Wtw5xbuY1sE
Shame
Still a nice solid war movie for the first 70 minutes. What the F was the director thinking with that denouement?
I love a bit of hallucinatory war Dada but that just didn’t quite work
It reminds me that the last really great memorable movie I’ve seen is the Zone of Interest. THAT is a work of art
Sadly I can’t think of much else of late. We’re in a fallow period TV and movie-wise
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/police-pension-forfeiture-guidance/police-pension-forfeiture-guidance-accessible-version
What’s the opposite of a Golden Age? We’re in it
Starmer fans please explain.
I assume they thought- probably correctly - that most people would think that was some sort of Attenborough thing, so just plumbed for "Tank" instead.
It’s not just movies and tv it’s all art. It all feels a bit feeble. I wonder if art is suffering in comparison with reality. We live in a world so full of surreal but mesmeric weirdness, horror and surprise no art can compete?
I guess it is part of the game for people in senior positions, you might not get as many future opportunities after a period of quiet if you don't 'voluntarily' go, but you don't have to pretend you actually think you made any mistakes (though you can sometimes say there were mistakes in a generic way).
Sending a single heavy tank, notorious for being fuel hungry and breaking down at every opportunity, on mission behind enemy lines, with no infantry?
I don’t want to spoil it for other PB-ers but even dreams must have a kind of inner logic, to work as art. This failed, for me
And with that, I will be wishing you all a goodbye for obvious reasons. Best wishes.
If the Council of Europe do that then lessons will have been learned from Brexit.
If you can't or won't change, people leave.
To me it remains as unpredictable as ever, which would be about as unpredictable as it has ever been in my lifetime.
The supreme court argued that the wording of the 2010 EA *implictly* overrides the intent of the 2004 GRA (it never states this explicitly) when in fact the people who drafted it (see the former civil servant Melanie Field's statement on the subject) have stated that they intended for the 2010 EA to be trans inclusionary.
It is my view that the SC Judgement has therefore nullified the 2004 GRA in practice, ignoring parliamentary intent. And the only way forward is through legislation that clarifies the rights of trans people to recognition in their acquired gender post Goodwin v UK.
Godalming's Delight
Guildford's on Fire!!
This will change soon as technology transforms movie and TV making, meaning every kid in a shed can bring their ideas to screen
Bit shit for Hollywood, could be great for punters
https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5692713-trump-tariffs-greenland-territory/
That would be doubly unconstitutional.
Should be a fun case.
He's not the same person (apparently). He had a damascene conversion on the road to Phuket (allegedly).
He even thinks Ed Davey is marvellous (who doesn't?).