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Unapproved thoughts. The government and free speech – politicalbetting.com
Unapproved thoughts. The government and free speech – politicalbetting.com
Times change. And so does received wisdom. Fewer than 20 years ago, Boris Johnson saw no reason in principle to differentiate between gay marriage and consecrating a union between three men and a dog. This week, he clambered on the gay rights bandwagon, welcoming an MoD decision to return medals to military personnel dismissed for their sexuality (though actual financial compensation for their treatment seems to be beyond the current government). A virulently ambitious Conservative politician has found it necessary to perform a volte face in order to stay aligned with public opinion.
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https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2021/02/16/education-secretary-gavin-williamson-felix-ngole-gays-abomination-free-speech-champion/
Why not bring back Section 28 whilst you're at it Gav?
https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/liverpool-labour-mayoral-race-delayed-19857441
Quite how you give sanctuary to someone who had been living here since he went to school I'm unclear.
Season dates IMO, (totally unscientific):
Spring: c. 1st March to c. 15th May
Summer: c. 15th May to c. 10th Sep
Autumn: c. 10th Sep to c. 10th Nov
Winter: c. 10th Nov to c. 28th/29th Feb
That this needs saying is by itself quite remarkable.
Guy Fawkes is autumn, but Remembrance Sunday is winter.
The LDs have been squeezed almost to extinction, and the Tory judgement is presumably that the pool to be fished now lies at the other end of the spectrum. The strategists rather than the tacticians must realise that, although that pool will never dry up completely (and the sirens will continue to sing from the protruding rocks), that pool will diminish, and the Tories need to be mindful of that.
And speaking of formative key experiences, just imagine coming out of 12+ months of sex frustrating, education screwing, job prospect ruining lockdown to be told that what you need is more Jordan Peterson? Start digging up the cobble stones and throwing them at at the gammons, comrades!
I have a couple of friends who are university professors. One used to be in the Socialist Worker's Party when he was a student himself, and is now a leading light in his local Green Party. I was slightly amazed when he texted me recently in a conversation about something else that "even I get fed up with the lefty groupthink in academia".
And a second friend is completely apolitical, but has said that one of the things he's found most difficult to get used to is being forced to say, before he gives lectures, that he wants to be addressed as "he/him", and if he forgets, a student could label him transphobic or some crap like that. That, and wondering which of his Chinese students are there to keep an eye on the others.
As to whether campus radicalism is more of a problem now than it was during, say, the late 60s or 70s, or even the 1930s, who knows? Those waves dissipated fairly harmlessly other than the odd spy or terrorist or Labour politician, I suppose.
Otherwise you have to move mid-February into spring. And, statistically, the second and third weeks of February average the coldest weeks of the year. And if that ain't winter....
https://twitter.com/TabitaSurge/status/1361875276414730244
https://twitter.com/TabitaSurge/status/1361876139703214083
The rest of the thread is similarly interesting.
From cases
from hospitalisations
I said mid-May and it turns out I am right.
Liverpool Echo: I was invited for a covid vaccine because the NHS thought I was 6cm tall
Hilarious mix-up may have highlighted a potential issue with the vaccine roll-out
https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/invited-covid-vaccine-because-nhs-19857990
"A nervous sounding chap on the line began quietly explaining to me that there had been a mix-up in offering me a vaccine at this stage.
He said unfortunately my details had been put into the system incorrectly when I had registered with the GP just a year ago.
He was really polite and very apologetic but said I was in fact not due to get my vaccine anytime soon.
To be honest I was quite relieved as had felt strange about being invited ahead of so many other more vulnerable people.
But obviously I had to know more about the mix-up that had led to this moment.
The man from the surgery took a sharp intake of breath and tried to remain composed as he informed me that rather than having my height registered as six foot two, it had been put into the system as 6.2 centimetres.
I'm not sure how he kept it together when he told me that this, combined with my weight, had given me a Body Mass Index (BMI) of 28,000."
We have had a student transition on the course. No-one had a problem, other than we just wanted to be told how the person involved would like to be referred to.
It's indeed a terrible thing to be driven mad by political events.................
For the most part I'm not too worried about these things. The whole trans argument is a minority interest and really shouldn't be a factor in politics. The important thing for the Labour Party is that they avoid talking about it at all costs.
I think we saw with the statues that there isn't too much of a threat to those that anyone cares particularly strongly about.
Trees are generally pretty bare already by Remembrance Sunday.
Today has been very difficult in particular, as I live with a good friend who lost his otherwise completely healthy Dad very suddenly last night (not to COVID) which I found out about this morning. Even though it's not a personal loss, the little bit of grief I've felt today and the act of being there for my friend has flared up my depression. I feel completely washed out this afternoon and haven't been able to focus on anything. Obviously I wouldn't change this for anything as I'd always be there for a friend in need, but even doing the right thing can contribute to depression.
Any idea of focusing on work today has completely gone out the window and I've just found myself staring at my computer screen since mid morning which makes me feel guilty that I'm not keeping my end of the bargain. It's a new job and I've only been there three weeks. I'm hoping I feel better in the morning as I'm meant to travel to the office but I'm worried I've got myself into a rut now.
The country paid for refuge or safety for him from the danger against his life. Seems a distinction without a difference to me.
"Last summer, married senior philosophy don Dr Peter Smith, 60, resigned his post as a Fellow after it was revealed he entertained prostitutes in his college rooms. The £120-an-hour working girls were provided by internet agency Stansted Escorts, who waived his fee in return for his writing lurid reviews of the girls' lovemaking abilities and sexual preferences on a website."
The Daily Merkle, April 2012.
* except possibly from the centre of the sun due to pressure from elsewhere.
Evidence suggests that Williamson is a tosser. No, it was removed from the video rental shelves for a decade.
https://www.bbfc.co.uk/education/case-studies/exorcist
https://twitter.com/MacaesBruno/status/1362081415303753728?s=20
I take it from that they aren't selling as well as VW thought they would.
There are abuse victims and others who are denied anything like that level of protection. It was pretty unique.
I related to so much of his post he could have been describing me, right down to the abruptness on work zoom calls (at one point last week I told my boss to just go ahead and fire me already!) and the random bouts of anger. I've smashed so much furniture in the house it's a wonder I've anything left to sit on.
Exercise definitely works and usually I work out three or four times a week. It's better than any pill. But when you don't even have the motivation to get out of bed, let alone get up and work out, you realise you've passed an event horizon and fallen into an abyss. You fall in, but crawl out.
Leon is right about anhedonia. Everything is grey and tasteless and lifeless.
A lot of my thoughts these days revolve around the life not lived. Not just during lockdown, but everything from the lost loves of my youth to the bafflement that I've spent the last decade or so working obscene hours in an office in what amounts to a non-job that benefits no-one.
Essentially I want to see what the vaccine effect is or if there even is one. So far the results are unsurprisingly a bit messy because it's a new data point and it needs some work, however, I think there is a significant effect of vaccines. What I can see is that in early Jan around 80-90% of over 85s who caught symptomatic COVID were being hospitalised for it and by by mid February that has fallen to 40% with a truly incredibly steep downwards slope, what's interesting is that there does seem to be a slowdown in this drop off over the last few days with around 40% of 85+ and around 30% of 65-84 year olds still ending up in hospital. I think that figure will continue to fall over the coming days but we may end up reaching the limit at around 10% because of vaccine refuseniks.
This, to my mind, is the first bit of truly compelling evidence that the vaccines are taking effect. I'll keep PB updated on the progress of the series periodically but I've got to automate the process first as doing it manually is very time consuming.
It's didn't actually mean that you were literally holding onto the alter. It meant that the Church put it's official power behind protecting you. You could actually live a chunk of your life, even leaving the sanctuary area.
The UK government didn't merely let Rushdie stay in the country. The government made it clear to the Iranians and others that if any attempt was made to kill Rushdie, that would be taken as an attack by the UK state. The terminal on Kharg Island was mentioned in this context....
Culture is pretty much all on the side of small c conservatism.
Therefore, at the beginning of 1988, the video was removed from the shelves (after nearly seven years of free availability) and was to remain unavailable for 11 years. Despite the prohibition on the video version, the film continued to play occasionally in cinemas, its existing X certificate being replaced by a new 18 certificate - for cinema release only - in 1991.
People like Jonathan Haidt are doing a lot of work with things like Heterodox Academy. So many of the problems seem to be coming from the privatised US system. If we were clever we'd be exploiting what was going on there as an opportunity for our universities.
I think it's far more likely we get snow in early April than late December.
https://twitter.com/TheScotsman/status/1362083658526507013?s=20
https://twitter.com/ITVNewsPolitics/status/1362076469179129857?ref_src=twsrc^google|twcamp^serp|twgr^tweet
Maybe it will improve going into March
Depression is longer than 2 weeks without necessarily any noticeable life event trigger.
The problem we have right now is that we all have a discernible long term catalyst.
So the difference is not always obvious to discern.
I am very very impressed
Higher grade masks like FFP2s or (especially) FFP3s are really uncomfortable to wear over a long time (ie hours).
Evidence from America suggests you can get the same two-way protective effect as these high grade masks (ie protecting yourself AND others from aerosols) by wearing a simple surgical mask and then a cloth mask or gaiter over that. Which would be a lot more comfortable.
There is nothing formally "outside" about sanctuary. The Church didn't simply offer sanctuary to those who were "outsiders" from the Church. People are adding something to it that doesn't exist.
A flurry of a few flakes which melts in an hour might happen in April.
But proper snow which is around for at least a day is far more common in December than in April or even March in my experience.
By that, I mean I quickly scrolled down to see who wrote this and then moved on to more interesting things.
She seems to want to talk about anything except the current debate.
But the UK is taking a gamble on pseudoscience - Macron . . .