Happy birthday to WRN!

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

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

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

Belfast Pride wants to see more women injured by men in women’s sports.

Ulster Rugby will not be allowed to march in Belfast’s Pride parade because of the ban on transgender women playing in female contact rugby games. The organisers of the Pride parade said any group which was “engaging in trans exclusionary practices” would not be permitted to participate in the march.

But of course keeping men out of women’s rugby isn’t a “trans exclusionary” practice, it’s a male exclusionary practice in women’s sports. Women should be allowed to have their own sports, because otherwise they can’t have any sports at all.

In August 2022, the IRFU said only rugby players whose sex was recorded as female at

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

Julie Bindel tells us the Lumos Foundation is a charity set up by JK Rowling to support vulnerable children in orphanages including in Ukraine. Suzanne Moore had the idea to hold a fundraiser for Lumos.

 Suzanne got a message from James Chiavarini, saying “I think we can do better” than a simple fundraiser, and suggesting hosting a dinner at his restaurant, Il Portico, in Kensington.

“I do charity stuff myself,” James told me at the time. “It is the least I can do to help those less fortunate than me. I’d read about how Lumos had been providing support to kids there since 2013, at which time there were well over 100,000 children in institutions across the country.”

A good … Read the rest

In general you want prosecutors to know some basic facts, like the difference between women and men.

Worried about ideological capture of @CPSUK ? Their revised domestic abuse guidance now includes 'refusing money for transition' as an example of criminal abuse. https://t.co/yVJSa18zQ7

— Sarah Phillimore (@SVPhillimore) July 6, 2023

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

So it seems I can share tweets again, which is good. Quoting them is not the same.

Friday 15:17. Professor's log. Location: Sunny uphills of the future.

ET finds in favour of Fahmy v Arts Council, Forstater awarded +£100K in damages, Mermaids legal challenge to strip LGBAlliance fails, Bailey awarded max costs £20K against GCC for unreasonable conduct. pic.twitter.com/v1vVlWC4Nv

— Prof Jo Phoenix (@JoPhoenix1) July 7, 2023

… Read the rest

This just in:

BREAKING: Allison Bailey wins 20K costs in rare cost award by employment tribunal, Garden Court fails entirely in costs claim against her.

— Dennis Noel Kavanagh (@Jebadoo2) July 7, 2023

… Read the rest

Marjorie Taylor Greene has been kicked out of the House Freedom Caucus. That’s kind of like kicking Trump out of the Bad Stupid Greedy Men’s Caucus.

Well, it’s official: the QAnon-loving, conspiracy theory-spouting, potentially sedition-encouraging congresswoman is out of the Freedom Caucus, Politico’s Olivia Beavers reported Thursday. Maryland Republican Andy Harris described the vote to Beavers as an “appropriate action.”

Wud she do? Chase fellow Freedom Caucusers down the halls shouting abuse at them?

Pretty much.

This is the first time the Freedom Caucus has kicked out one of its own. Harris said the reason for Greene’s ouster was primarily because “the way she referred to a fellow member was probably not the way we expect our

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.

…

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

Peter Tatchell is revolting.

LGB Alliance has negligible support among LGBTs

It’s goal is to split the LGBT+ community, turn LGBs against trans people & oppose trans inclusion & equality

It does very little work to promote LGB rights. It’s promised LGB helpline has never happened

#Mermaids does great work

Mermaids ruins children’s lives.… Read the rest

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

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

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

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

Ah what a fine parade of headlines:

The Guardian:

Trans charity Mermaids fails to have charitable status stripped from LGB Alliance

BBC News:

Trans charity Mermaids loses challenge against LGB Alliance

The Telegraph:

Trans group Mermaids loses bid to have gay rights charity shut down

The Guardian account is surprisingly free of snide insinuations:

The transgender children’s charity Mermaids has lost its attempt to have charitable status stripped from the new gay rights organisation LGB Alliance.

Golly! The Guardian calls it “the new gay rights organisation” instead of calling it “the anti-trans rights organisation.”

In the hearing last autumn, the two organisations set out their opposing views. The legal discussion pitched the LGB Alliance’s position that there are only two

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

Stark raving mad. The Times:

A women’s rights and gender equality campaigner is having her bank account shut without explanation, her family said last night.

Professor Lesley Sawers, 64, the Equalities and Human Rights commissioner for Scotland, has been with the Royal Bank of Scotland, a subsidiary of the NatWest Group, for 32 years.

However, two weeks ago, she and husband, Allan McKechnie, were told that their joint account, containing thousands of pounds, would be shut next month. In a letter, RBS said that it would be ceasing its “banking relationship” with the couple and they would have to make other banking arrangements “outside of the Natwest group”.

RBS added that it was “not able to discuss this decision