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

We’re going up up up…and not in a good way.

The world’s average temperature climbed to its highest level since records began, according to provisional data from U.S. researchers, underscoring the pressing need to slash greenhouse gas emissions fueling the climate emergency.

The planet’s average daily temperature climbed to 17.18 degrees Celsius (62.9 degrees Fahrenheit) on Tuesday, according to the University of Maine’s Climate Reanalyzer, an unofficial tool that is often used by climate scientists as a reference to the world’s condition.

The milestone comes just one day after global average temperatures topped 17 degrees Celsius for the first time in 44 years, when the data was first collected. The previous record of 16.92 degrees Celsius had

Lies must be set free.

A federal judge in Louisiana on Tuesday restricted the Biden administration from communicating with social media platforms about broad swaths of content online, a ruling that could curtail efforts to combat false and misleading narratives about the coronavirus pandemic and other issues.

The order, which could have significant First Amendment implications, is a major development in a fierce legal fight over the boundaries and limits of speech online.

It was a victory for Republicans who have often accused social media sites like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube of disproportionately taking down right-leaning content, sometimes in collaboration with government.

That’s because right-leaning content also leans heavily toward lies.

In the ruling, Judge Terry A. Doughty

When even banks and the police are on board, it’s time to realize your cause may not be all that progressive.

The Bank of England has stated that people of any gender identity can become pregnant.

Then the Bank of England has said a deeply stupid thing. “Any gender identity” will necessarily include males, and males cannot become pregnant.

In any case “gender identity” is irrelevant to pregnancy. A person’s sex is relevant to pregnancy. The female sex is the one that can get pregnant; the male sex is the one that can’t. Next question?

Andrew Bailey’s under-pressure central bank, which is battling to bring inflation under control, also offers to help staff to pay for gender reassignment treatment

Conor Friedersdorf on the hypocrisy of mandatory diversity statements:

John D. Haltigan sued the University of California at Santa Cruz in May. He wants to work there as a professor of psychology. But he alleges that its hiring practices violate the First Amendment by imposing an ideological litmus test on prospective hires: To be considered, an applicant must submit a statement detailing their contributions to diversity, equity, and inclusion.

That sounds like a stretch to me, but I’m not a lawyer. But whether it violates amendment #1 or not, it is at least an irritating mode of gatekeeping. It’s jargon, and jargon of that kind tends to put people off more than it inspires them to help minorities dismantle … Read the rest

And the cruise ships still ply to and fro.

Travelers are drawn to Antarctica for what they can find there—the wildlife, the scenery, the sense of adventure—and for what they can’t: cars, buildings, cell towers. They talk about the overwhelming silence. The Norwegian explorer Erling Kagge called it “the quietest place I have ever been.”

All of these attractions are getting harder to find in the rest of the world. They’re disappearing in Antarctica too. The continent is melting; whole chunks are prematurely tumbling into the ocean. And more people than ever are in Antarctica because tourism is on a tear.

“Antarctica is so brilliant because it’s quiet and empty of people, so I’m going to go there!” The … Read the rest

It’s not the future any more.

The world’s average temperature reached a new high on Monday 3 July, topping 17 degrees Celsius for the first time. Scientists say the reading was the highest in any instrumental record dating back to the end of the 19th century. The high heat is due to a combination of the El Niño weather event and ongoing emissions of carbon dioxide.

Researchers believe there will be more records in the coming months as El Niño strengthens.

Stay in the shade.… Read the rest