Hm. Should we get in a huff because the Royal Parks admit that there are some aspects of the Albert Memorial that are a tad shall we say embarrassing?

I would say nah. The empire stuff is embarrassing. Also – and the Telegraph leaves this bit out – Al’s Mem has always been seen by many as a tad vulgar, to say the least. It’s also always been seen by many as an ugly blot on a beautiful park. It’s never been universally embraced as just a wonderful gift to the nation. Let’s not forget: Q. Victoria was considered very self-indulgent and derelict for going into such complete seclusion after Albert died. She had a job to do and she … Read the rest

Oh man. There isn’t enough cringe in the world to deal with this one. Jolyon Maugham claims to be in receipt of a drooling mash note from someone Very Important, but when you go to read the mash note you find that it’s obviously written by Joly himself. Nobody else on the planet could or would possibly have written it. I’m genuinely surprised he didn’t realize how obvious that is. It’s like “I agree with PollyO” all over again.

Excuse me excuse me. People don’t talk like that.

Cringe cringe CRINGE.… Read the rest

We’re waiting for the wings to fall off before we decide to make an emergency landing.

Democrats were caught in an apparent stalemate on Saturday as a dug-in Joe Biden continued to endure high-profile calls to end his re-election campaign after a week of astonishing party moves to unseat the president in favor of a candidate many hope will be more likely to beat Donald Trump.

In the weeks since his disastrous debate performance against Trump, the 81-year-old Biden has attempted to fight off calls for him to step down from the top of the ticket amid concerns that his age and mental acuity are no longer up to the job.

Well you can see his point. There’s no need … Read the rest

Originally a comment by Alan Peakall on Progress has a plan.

Perhaps better history teaching covering the real ugly complexity of the moral struggles of the past should be part of the solution. A good example to start with would the the checkered relationship between the anti-slavery Republican Party of Lincoln and the nativist penumbra adjacent to it which gave rise to a vociferously anti immigrant state government in Massachussets with a sterling record of socially reformist measures. Instead popular culture gives us Gangs of New York.

Around the beginning of the current century the aphorism that Marxism filled a God-shaped hole was succeeded by the wisecrack that European integration filled a Marx-shaped hole. I think that Francis … Read the rest

Jolyon must be feeling So Important.

Review dismisses claims youth suicides rose after NHS curbed puberty blockers

A government-ordered review has dismissed claims that suicide rates in young people with gender dysphoria have risen sharply since the NHS restricted access to puberty-blocking drugs.

A report by the government’s adviser on suicide prevention also found that the claims – made by the campaign group the Good Law Project – were not supported by data and could prompt children under the age of 18 to take their own life.

See there? A shoutout to Jolyon and his project – a shoutout saying he was wrong at best and lying at worst, but hey, it’s still a shoutout. He does love attention, that … Read the rest

Radio 4 has a thing on…LGBTQ Life in Weimar Germany

There was no such thing. For some reason, Weimar Germany was not 2024 London, so it didn’t have people throwing paint around at the Tate Gallery and it didn’t have LGBTQ life. It was a different place and it was a century ago. Different things are different.… Read the rest

Under the counter hormones for the kids:

The former CEO of trans youth charity Mermaids is launching a private clinic that will “exploit a legal loophole” to bypass the ban on puberty blockers, [i news] can reveal.

Susie Green, who left the controversial charity in 2022, will open Anne Health this weekend to provide a range of medical, pharmaceutical, and psychological support services – including puberty blockers, hormone treatments, and counselling – to transgender people of all ages.

But puberty blockers are not “medical services” for transgender people.

But the loopholes that Ms Green’s clinic will use to provide medication to young people raise questions about the effectiveness, scope, and robustness of the government’s ban. i understands that DHSC

Oh hey, it turns out Mridul Wadhwa is on involuntary leave. At long last. Now they need to make it permanent.

Mridul Wadhwa, a man who identifies as a woman, was sent home in May by the board of Edinburgh Rape Crisis Centre (ERCC) after being identified as the “invisible hand” behind a “heresy hunt” designed to force out Roz Adams, a counsellor with gender-critical views.

The outcry over Wadhwa’s behaviour intensified following the sentencing this week of Cameron Downing, a coercive and manipulative male sex offender, who identified as non-binary and claimed to have received extensive support from ERCC.

It’s almost as if trans ideology/activism attracts poisonous people, isn’t it.

Downing, 24, was sentenced to six years in

My god, I had no idea! Jolyon Maugham is facing down Trump AND Putin AND Murdoch AND the billionaires AND the Rothermeres. That is one hell of a lot of heroic facing down. I wonder, has it made any difference yet?

Just incredible. https://t.co/OHa8uBjMY9

— Gareth Roberts (@OldRoberts953) July 19, 2024

By the way that 33 is the final number on a string of tweets. Yes that’s right, 33 of them. I can’t see them because blocked but I’m sure they make clear how important Jolyon Maugham is. … Read the rest

Well well well. Welcome aboard The Staggers.

It is unacceptable to see the integrity of the New Statesman’s journalism questioned this week by the British Medical Association. We stand by Hannah Barnes and her story. pic.twitter.com/kYZtTLSQnS

— The New Statesman (@NewStatesman) July 19, 2024

… Read the rest

24 Hour Fitness has a corporate policy on locker rooms. You can guess what it is without breaking a sweat.

RESTROOM AND LOCKER ROOM ACCESSIBILITY-TRANSGENDER EQUAL OPPORTUNITY POLICY

As set forth in 24 Hour’s Equal Opportunity Policy, all members shall have full and equal access to the club facility. Consistent with this Policy, all members shall have access to the restroom and locker room facilities that correspond to the member’s gender identity, regardless of the member’s sex assigned at birth. For example, transgender women (who were born male but identify as female) are permitted to use the women’s facilities, and vice versa for transgender men. Each member should determine the most appropriate option for her/him/themself. Any member who has

Top front page news – drag queens and the cost of living.

We find this astonishing.

⁦@BBCNewsbeat⁩ ⁦@BBCNews⁩ seem increasingly immune to concerns about BBC bias by omission on gender issues.

(No coverage yet of the statement on suicide)

‘Drag Queens feel the pinch of rising costs’ https://t.co/WJvWK7Jj9D

— SEENinJournalism (@JournalismSEEN) July 19, 2024

Women, of course, have no concerns about the pinch of rising costs. All women are rich as well as cis. How hateful and privileged they are.… Read the rest

The stupid it burns.

Jodi Picoult compares abused women to transpeople because both have “had their bodies fail them”#BulliesOfBookTokhttps://t.co/kSH8fDen6a pic.twitter.com/gv8Rujm9Sr

— Bullies of BookTok (@BookTokBullies) July 17, 2024

One of the biggest challenges, particularly in this country right now to trans people are feminists who feel that trans women are not women.

Other way around, sport. We don’t “feel” that, we know it, we realize it, we’re aware of it. The people doing the feeling instead of knowing here are the people who “feel” that men are women if they say so. In short we’re not the ones who have our facts wrong.

They believe that trans women are actually just men

No, again, that’s not what we … Read the rest

Quack doctor vows to continue harming children.

The General Medical Council has revoked the licence to practise of a controversial British doctor whose offshore clinic treats transgender children.

Dr Helen Webberley, 55, will lose her licence in Britain from Friday but will remain on the GMC’s register, following the decision by the medical regulator.

She lost it because she failed to re-validate it.

Webberley runs GenderGP, an online company registered in Singapore, which facilitates access to puberty blockers and hormones for adults and children.

She promises to keep doing what she’s doing, license or no license. Mess up those kids no matter what!

She says she was offered the chance to take an exam in order to revalidate

The Good Law Project shares a thinkpiece by someone who transed her child.

On 4 July, the safety and wellbeing of our child was hanging in the balance. No child should lie awake on election night fearing for their future and their right to exist, as our child did. She is simply living her truth, and no attempt to eradicate trans identity or remove her rights will change this.

That’s a good start. Yes, the election was going to determine whether her child had a right to exist or not. Genocide: yes or no; that was definitely on the ballot.

Our daughter has no recollection of living as male, as this has not reflected her lived reality for the

Originally a comment by Nullius in Verba on Becoming aware.

There seems to be this assumption that “the kids” are like prophets. Whatever they do is a sign of where History is headed. It is, in short, glorious and by-definition-good “Progress”. Why they do anything doesn’t matter, only that they do it. Progress has a plan, and Progress moves in mysterious ways.

If it’s got a rainbow or pastel flag, any change in its direction is Progress, and Progress must be supported. Why a change occurs is almost irrelevant from the perspective of those devoted to Progress, because action that brings the utopia nearer is good by definition. Such action is itself Progress, and Progress must be supported. If … Read the rest

Interesting. It seems that anti-abortion states have crap healthcare for pregnant women. Keep your damn baby but you’re on your own, bitch.

The chances that a woman can see a doctor while pregnant — or during a time when she might become pregnant — have fallen significantly since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, according to a new report released Thursday.

The findings, from The Commonwealth Fund, a nonpartisan health care research foundation, show that women living in states with a history of health disparities — often in the Southeast — are affected the most. They are not only less likely to be able to afford a doctor’s appointment; they’re less likely to be able to find

Ok yes sure that makes a whole lot of sense.

Republicans welcomed JD Vance as Donald Trump’s running mate on the same night devoted to blasting President Joe Biden’s leadership on the world stage.

Vance, the 39-year-old Ohio senator, offered his life story as a son of Appalachia to reaffirm Trump’s connections to Americans who feel alienated socially, economically and politically.

Oh those connections, right. Trump’s connections to Murkans who feel economically alienated – Trump with his palace in Miami and his palace overlooking Central Park and his satellite palaces in New Jersey and Scotland. I can totally see the connection, can’t we all?

Socially, well, sure, that’s a different story. Trump is “socially alienated” in the sense that … Read the rest

Tatchell does actually say that.

'Young kids today are becoming aware of their sexuality at a very young age and those kids need support.'

Human Rights & LGBT Campaigner, Peter Tatchell, makes the case for supporting and educating school children on LGBT issues. pic.twitter.com/6QI3PLxh0I

— GB News (@GBNEWS) July 18, 2024

They’re “becoming aware” because Tatchell and his comrades make them aware. Tatchell proselytizes. Gender ideology wants more and more and more recruits, especially very young ones. … Read the rest

The Herald Scotland on Cameron Downing and his funny ways:

A former SNP equalities officer who sexually assaulted six young adults has been jailed for six years. 

Cameron Downing, 24, was also convicted of physically assaulting two women.

It’s so impressive when the lede is “former equalities officer sexually assaulted six people.” Much equalities!

Sentencing him on Tuesday, Judge Alison Stirling told Downing he had “the capacity to cause physical and sexual harm as well as psychological distress”.

She said: “You have distorted views regarding intimate partner violence, and you have shown no remorse or insight into how your actions may have affected your victim.”

The judge added: “Your offences are likely to have caused significant psychological and physical harm to all