All entries by this author
Jul 8th, 2023 2:56 pm |
By Ophelia Benson
Shock-horror:
Young V&A removes trans poster and LGBTQ+ books
A poster supporting transgender rights and two books discussing LGBTQ+ identities have been removed from the Young V&A (YVA) ahead of the museum’s reopening on Saturday (1 July).
According to an email sent to Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union members at the V&A, shared anonymously with Arts Professional, the decision to remove the poster and books was made by V&A Director, Tristram Hunt, last week.
The poster was produced by charity Stonewall and read: ‘Some people are trans, get over it!’. The books removed from the YVA bookshop – Seeing Gender and Here and Queer – are illustrated books, the first on expressing and understanding the complexities of gender and
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3 comments
Jul 8th, 2023 10:32 am |
By Ophelia Benson
This headline looks like a rebuke of Steven Spielberg’s absurd “climate activism” in light of his purchase of a gigantic yacht, but the article offers no hint of rebuke or even surprise.
Outspoken climate activist Steven Spielberg has taken delivery of his $250 million superyacht – Even longer than a football field, the diesel-powered 4,444 ton vessel has two swimming pools and, in all possibility, a plush movie theater and a helipad.
Mind you, that’s also not a headline – it’s a lede where a headline should be.
Anyway. Spielberg sold one giant yacht and bought another. Conclusion: Spielberg is in no sense a “climate activist.” A climate vandal, yes, but activist, no.
The $250 million vessel built in
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7 comments
Jul 8th, 2023 8:53 am |
By Ophelia Benson
So maybe we should actually do something? Or nah?
A remarkable spate of historic heat is hitting the planet, raising alarm over looming extreme weather dangers — and an increasing likelihood that this year will be Earth’s warmest on record.
New precedents have been set in recent weeks and months, surprising some scientists with their swift evolution: historically warm oceans, with North Atlantic temperatures already nearing their typical annual peak; unparalleledlow sea ice levels around Antarctica, where global warming impacts had, until now, been slower to appear; and the planet experiencing its warmest June ever charted, according to new data.
And then, on Monday, came Earth’s hottest day in at least 125,000 years. Tuesday was hotter.
“We have
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11 comments
Jul 8th, 2023 8:13 am |
By Ophelia Benson
Uh oh.
Earth’s temperature was off the charts last month as an extreme heat wave scorched the Southern US and Mexico and ocean warmth soared to alarming levels, a new report shows.
The analysis from the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service found that last month was the planet’s hottest June by a “substantial margin” above the previous record, which was set in 2019.
The nine hottest Junes have all occurred in the last nine years, according to the agency – evidence the human-caused climate crisis is driving temperatures to unprecedented levels.
In other words it’s speeding up. A lot.
“This is alarming,” Jennifer Marlon, a climate scientist at the Yale School of Environment who was not involved
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Jul 7th, 2023 11:28 am |
By Ophelia Benson
Solidarity with that man who pretends to be a woman and a nursing mother:
The most important thing for any child is love and care. And the most important thing for a mother is to have the adequate support and resources to raise her child.
Love and care are two things, so it should be “the most important things.” Support and resources are also two things, so again, “the most important things.” Also the statements are a tad obvious and banal, but whatever.
As feminists and mums, we give our wholehearted support to Mika Minio-Paluello who has faced a vile wave of personal attacks for speaking on TV while trans.
Ok what? Why would feminism and mum-hood be a … Read the rest
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8 comments
Jul 7th, 2023 8:16 am |
By Ophelia Benson
In general you want prosecutors to know some basic facts, like the difference between women and men.
It what?
So I follow the link and find the subhead Trans and non-binary victims and start at the beginning…and am dumbfounded. The CPS sounds like gender fanatics on social media.
Gender identity is not the same as anatomical sex. Gender identity is what you know your gender to be and can only be decided by the individual for themselves. Gender identity might be the same as assigned sex (cisgender) or
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7 comments
Jul 6th, 2023 12:05 pm |
By Ophelia Benson
Greta Thunberg arrested for disobeying the police:
Ms Thunberg, 20, joined a group of young protesters blockading oil tankers at a port in Malmö in June. Police said she refused to leave when asked to. She could face a six-month prison sentence or a fine.
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Climate activists around the world have targeted the fossil fuel industry, including the UK group Just Stop Oil which has been disrupting high-profile sports events this summer. Much of the oil and gas industry says that continued production is necessary in order to meet global energy demands.
Well, one, of course it does, because it’s the oil and gas industry. It’s not going to say “shut us down” now is it.
But two, … Read the rest
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9 comments
Jul 6th, 2023 10:47 am |
By Ophelia Benson
Freelance journalist Jill Foster says:
Just off phone to one of the brilliant schoolgirls who wrote the ‘Can we have single-sex toilets back please?’ letter to Sunak. Wow.
Intelligent, articulate, focused, can spot gender BS from 100 miles. Oh lads, you thought you had problems with some pesky middle-aged women…
Possible testimony on the side of “they did write the letter themselves.”… Read the rest
Posted in Notes and Comment Blog |
4 comments
Jul 6th, 2023 8:56 am |
By Ophelia Benson
The Good Law Project responds with name-calling:
Are you disappointed with the outcome?
The LGB Alliance has a free speech right to attack trans people. But its activities should never have been subsidised with public funds – or recognised as in the public interest – by the Charity Commission. This felt to the sector – and to Good Law Project – like a very important line in the sand to defend.
But the LGB Alliance doesn’t “attack trans people.” It’s not attacking people to say they’re not the sex they’re not. It’s not attacking a man to tell him “You’re not a woman.” In some contexts, as we know all too well by now, it’s necessary, for the sake … Read the rest
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2 comments
Jul 6th, 2023 8:20 am |
By Ophelia Benson
JK Rowling shares a tweet from Jolyon Maugham that pretends Mermaids didn’t really lose, with the comment
The unsophisticated might think Jolyon has had his arse handed to him on a plate, but it’s important to remember that losing is on a spectrum, and Jolyon identifies as someone who would have won if only his side weren’t trying to exercise legal rights they didn’t have. #binary
One thing trans ideology has been good for is nurturing caustic wit in onlookers.… Read the rest
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5 comments
Jul 6th, 2023 7:59 am |
By Ophelia Benson
Jeremy Brier KC says:
The Good Law Project website explains Mermaids lost on the “technical ground” of standing. The GLP says they “signalled the case is not straightforward” when they began which is “reflected in the time taken by the Tribunal to make its decision”.
Let’s unpack three key errors:
(1) The word “technical” does not diminish anything as almost all legal arguments may be so described. Standing is a critical prerequisite to being heard, to being relevant. So Mermaids “technically” should never have brought the case. So Mermaids “technically” lost.
(2) On analysis, the case was straightforward. Mermaids didn’t have standing to bring it. There is literally no more straightforward point I think of on which to
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7 comments
Jul 5th, 2023 5:36 pm |
By Ophelia Benson
We must not stop using oil, says oil executive, and what possible reason could an oil executive have to tell us to keep using oil while the planet heats up like an oven that heats up to infinity?
Cutting oil and gas production would be “dangerous and irresponsible”, the boss of energy giant Shell has told the BBC. Wael Sawan insisted that the world still “desperately needs oil and gas” as moves to renewable energy were not happening fast enough to replace it.
But the world also desperately needs not to keep heating up.
Mr Sawan angered climate scientists who said Shell’s plan to continue current oil production until 2030 was wrong. Professor Emily Shuckburgh, a climate scientist at
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16 comments