Had a productive day. Got some housework done, finally put away the jigsaw I'd given up on & did some novel background crap. I can't concentrate on TV because I need my ears syringed & it's causing sensory hell. Hope I haven't overdone it & used up the energy I need for my ear appointment tomorrow.
The judge who refused Dr Beth Upton anonymity should never know another moments peace in their personal or professional life because that's exactly what they have unleashed on that poor woman whose only crime was being trans and existing
Mad fact... 42% of Labour Prime Ministers have had to fire Peter Mandelson.
One of Spain's top bullfighters has been left with a "very serious" injury after a bull's horn inflicted a 10cm gore that perforated his rectum.
xAI promised to cut “whatever was unnecessary” to make delivery of AI as efficient + cost-effective as possible
Apparently, people's drinking water is considered "unnecessary"
In the billionaire mindset, people's survival is secondary to relentless pursuit of profit
“You set the rough music on me, didn’t ya?” She sighed. “No one controls the music, Mr. Petty—you know that. It just turns up when people have had enough. No one knows where it starts. People look around, and catch one another’s eye, and give each other a little nod, and other people see that. Other people catch their eye and so, very slowly, the music starts and somebody picks up a spoon and bangs it on a plate, and then somebody else bangs a jug on the table and boots start to stamp on the floor, louder and louder. It is the sound of anger; it is the sound of people who have had enough. Do you want to face the music?”
No reason for remembering this quote from I Shall Wear Midnight. Nope, no reason at all.
(turning "rough music" into a power in my game)
Amazing that Americans have no way of experiencing the sheer political thrill of “the prime minister is probably going to have to resign and just hasn’t realised it yet”
A family of Ravens is putting the goth back in gothic at NYC's largest cathedral--St John the Divine. There are five mouths to feed, so the parents are staying busy! ⛪️⛪️⛪️ #Ravens #Cathedral #birding
Opposing white supremacy is a crime in Trump’s America.
This feels a lot like southern states persecuting the NAACP during Jim Crow.
There is no bad Scottish food. Each of the many foodstuffs we are mocked for is actually class. Haggis. Deep fried pizza. Clootie dumpling if you get an ok one. [stirring Braveheart music rising] Square sausage. Rowies. Puddings black and white. Deep fried Mars bar. Fuck your jellied eels. Vote Yes.
Tweet by Martina Navratilova. "Predator. That is how he should register. A sexual predator…" quote-tweeting a tweet by "Biology Rules OK" about Dr. Beth Upton, a trans woman
This tweet is highly defamatory and Martina Navratilova should be fired from BBC Sport for it.
It demonstrates an horrendous level of hatred for a trans woman (who was cleared of all wrongdoing in a recent tribunal) because she is a trans woman.
If it's a total ban they're after and kids can't even take phones to school then I'd say that was completely irresponsible.
When I was a kid we had payphones - which we used to call our parents in an emergency. No such network exists any more and nobody seems to acknowledge it.
The thing that really annoys me about all this Mandelson stuff is that the US Ambassador role was not vacant! There was already a highly qualified and competent woman in the position
And now this thing about finding a job for Starmer's ex Head of Comms?
Jobs for the Boys alive and well
So today on Gone Medieval I have that rare thing - a medievalist emergency - wherein I had to explain the Avignon Papacy because a lot of people know the phrase *cough* the Trump administration *cough* but they don't actually know what it means. Don't let it be you.
open.spotify.com/episode/7bsa...
Jonathan Keir
Harker Starmer
🤝
Not having enough questions about
their good friend, the Prince of Darkness
Reform is a MAGA satellite party and a way for Farage to grift like Trump does.
That's all it is.
So now we've established that Mandelson is a corrupting force that sullies everything and everyone in his sphere of influence, what are we going to do about the fact he hand-picked the entirety of Labour's 2024 intake of new MPs?
Everyone and every organisation with a stake should have put their foot down at the beginning and utterly refused to give an inch on the human rights of trans people, from the very first push. Compromising with bigots should always be a red line that's never crossed.
Stonewall is a domino falling, a large domino, but still just the latest stage in a process that started years ago. Rowling was one of the people who pushed over that first domino and gave the persecution of trans people the momentum is has now.
Excusing or ignoring that is unforgivable.
Despite the bullshit about Starmer I'm *fascinated* by the Daily Mail running a feature on Nadine Dorries that pushes gender-affirming healthcare ... /s
another thing which irks me about the Cis People Taking Hormones columns is trans folk have long said "maybe a lot of folk would be happier with a slightly different hormonal setup to what their body produces"
The only thing one learns during these appearances is that the country is being run by ruddy faced, chinless man boys who operate in a rarified sphere of no accountability.
well... THAT's pretty eye opening, actually, Mike, to just say it out loud like that.
Did that sound different in your head?
This is the crux for me. It’s not about whether Starmer knew about the failed vetting; it’s that Starmer created a situation where the appointment didn’t allow for failed vetting
This is a level of polite shit-talking that an old southern dame would be proud of.
"Bless his heart."
Starmer's government sounds every bit as dodgy and shambolic as Johnson's was. It just looks tidier on the outside.
well fuck, I hadn't thought of it like this before now, but it's fairly obvious when someone just spells it out
Praising JK Rowling when asked a question on trans rights is akin to praising Anita Bryant when asked a question gay rights. No money to Stonewall. No Stonewall at Pride. They are already experiencing a funding crisis, and this chairwoman appointment should be their last. Traitors.
There's a lot of wilful ignorance amongst the HP fandom because they don't want to tarnish the thing they love. I get that - I was a Neil Gaiman fan - but I read his victims stories & faced how disappointed I felt. A lot of fans aren't willing to face reality.
I don't understand Dugdale's stance.
When asked this week why he doesn't turn up to the Clacton business board or do other constituency work, his spokesperson said this week 'he makes personal donations to local charities and writes a column for the local paper'. THAT'S NOT WHAT HE IS PAID TO BE AN MP FOR.