The Telegraph:

[John Lewis is a department store chain.]

John Lewis has launched a magazine for staff which advises parents on how to find breast binders for trans children. The partnership, which also owns Waitrose, faced boycott calls on Wednesday after it issued a new publication to more than 70,000 staff members.

The Identity magazine, produced by the “LGTQIA+ network”, warned parents their support “can determine their child’s mental wellbeing” before quoting figures from controversial charity Stonewall, which suggested that the number of trans children attempting suicide is “double the national average”.

The magazine recommends support from the charity Mermaids, which is currently under investigation by the Charity Commission amid safeguarding concerns, and praises private clinic Gender GP for

Remember Helen Clarke? Of Oxford Brookes University and Approved Opinions on Trans Isshooz?

She’s not very forthcoming about how she knows what she claims to know.

The two references at the end of this paragraph don't back up the claims made in the paragraph.

Where are the references for these claims?

They look like smears. pic.twitter.com/cXH376H3uP

— Maya Forstater (@MForstater) February 8, 2024

Yes it is and it doesn't back up your claim

And as @PhilipSwallow2 has pointed out nor do these sources.

Are you going to withdraw the claim and make a correction?https://t.co/jPDu52TQHi

— Maya Forstater (@MForstater) February 11, 2024

More chance of the Pope becoming a Mormon. I do think LGBA should write to the editors &

Girls cheated out of their own sport again:

The KIPP Academy girls basketball game on February 8 against the Collegiate Charter School of Lowell ended at halftime. The question is, why? Collegiate Charter left after 16 minutes of play with KIPP leading, 31-14. The game goes into the books as a 10-0 forfeit win for KIPP.

According to multiple sources, KIPP has a male player on its girls basketball roster, despite the school offering a boys program. The player is reported to be more than 6 feet tall with facial hair. KIPP officials refused to confirm the player’s gender identification. 

The facial hair bit seems irrelevant at first, but then you realize it’s a pretty good reason to think … Read the rest

Let’s learn more about the Garrick. Its own account of itself is interesting.

The Garrick Club is instituted for the general patronage of drama; for the purpose of combining the use of a Club, on economic principles, with the advantages of a literary society; for bringing together supporters of drama; and for the formation of a theatrical library, with works on costume.

…

The Garrick was founded in 1831 by a group of literary gentlemen under the patronage of the King’s brother, the egalitarian Duke of Sussex. They announced that the Club would be a place where ‘actors and men of refinement and education might meet on equal terms’, where ‘patrons of the drama and its professors were to be

Amelia Gentleman in the Guardian three years ago:

Over 100 QCs have signed a petition calling on members of one of London’s last remaining gentlemen’s clubs, the Garrick, to vote for women to be admitted at the club’s annual general meeting next week.

The Garrick has a long association with the legal profession, and many senior lawyers are members. Female QCs who signed the petition expressed frustration that a club frequented by senior judges still refuses to accept female members.

So in that sense the Garrick isn’t really all that “private.” It’s useful for professional advancement, and that’s not exactly “private.”

“It is well known that The Garrick is a forum where senior members of the legal profession

In the Telegraph reporting on the Guardian news, the T reports that the G sports reporter Jonathan Liew is fashionably indifferent to the needs and concerns of women.

JK Rowling has branded the Guardian’s chief sports writer a “progressive misogynist” with “disdain for women’s sport” after he dismissed concerns that transgender women could compete in Parkrun’s female category.

Jonathan Liew, who has written for the newspaper since 2019, labelled concerns raised by womens’ groups a “sinister campaign” which had been amplified by “useful idiots in the media”.

Women have always been seen as “sinister” by men who hate us. You just never know when a woman might find a man asleep and seize the opportunity to cut his balls off.… Read the rest

Originally a comment by maddog1129 on We see you, Jonathan.

All the noise and agitation comes from transwhatevers: biological males who wish that they had been born as females, who want to be accepted as such, and for everyone else to play along.

I’ll take some issue with the emphasized language. I don’t believe for one minute that many, if any, really “wish that they had been born female.” They sit in a privileged spot, having been born male, such that they will never know or understand the second class citizenship (at best! At worst, it’s enslavement status) that is baked into being born female. They never wish for that! Oh, no! They can see the disadvantages of … Read the rest

Kushner pretends not to know what a conflict of interests is.

Donald Trump’s son-in-law and former adviser Jared Kushner has defended his business dealings with Saudi Arabia and its Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

After leaving the White House, Mr Kushner’s private equity firm received a $2bn (£1.59bn) investment from Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund. Mr Kushner worked closely with Saudi Arabia on a number of issues during the Trump administration. He has denied that the investment represented a conflict of interest.

To put that more accurately, Mr Kushner exploited his connection to Trump to endear himself to Saudia Arabia, which proceeded to give him 2 billion dollars. He has no relevant education or training that would make him … Read the rest

Behold: a callow clueless indifferent man gives women’s rights away.

Take the recent controversy over parkrun, the mass‑participation 5km fun run that has become the latest target in the cross hairs of the radical trans‑exclusionary police.

By “the radical trans‑exclusionary police” he of course means women protesting the destruction of women’s sports and prizes and rights at the hands of men in lipstick. No skin off Jonathan Liew’s nose, is it.

In recent weeks parkrun has been doggedly pursued by protesters and the media, unhappy at its policy of allowing trans women to identify as female.

No, stupid; angry at its policy of allowing men to compete as women.

And really the telling part of the parkrun row

That’s gotta sting.

Your previous remarks leave no room for mystery about your own special interest in this subject. Like many ‘progressive’ misogynists, you seem delighted to have found an acceptable outlet for your disdain for women’s and girls’ sport. We see you, Jonathan. pic.twitter.com/2H8IfuWDnH

— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) February 14, 2024

… Read the rest

I caught a glimpse of this the other day but didn’t follow it up; I should have. Vancouver police claim they “don’t know” what sex a guy accused of rape is.

The Metro Vancouver Transit Police say they “don’t know” if the primary suspect in a skytrain sexual assault is male or female despite having recovered semen during the investigation.

On February 8, the Transit Police issued a press release pleading for help to identify the suspect. While photos and videos showed what appeared to be a male with long hair, some basic information on the suspect was curiously omitted from the release. No pronouns were used, and no information on the suspect’s sex was included.

In a recorded

Comedy:

The Soho theatre is investigating a complaint about a comedian who allegedly abused a Jewish audience member who refused to applaud a Palestinian flag…The incident reportedly took place on Saturday near the end of a one-hour Shtoom show by Paul Currie in front of an audience of 200 people at the central London theatre.

According to a witness who gave an account to the Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAA), Currie placed a Ukrainian and a Palestinian flag on the stage, and invited audience members to stand and applaud. The witness, who asked to remain anonymous, told the CAA: “When we all sat down again, [Currie] looked towards a young man sitting in the second row and said: ‘You didn’t

Trouble at the Garrick:

One of London’s last remaining gentlemen’s clubs, the Garrick, has taken the highly unusual step of expelling a member, amid rising tensions over the club’s unwillingness to change its men-only membership rules.

Former theatre producer Colin Brough, a member for 40 years, was expelled from the club after sending a series of angry emails to fellow members expressing his conviction that women should be admitted immediately.

Gentlemen don’t display anger. It’s ungentlemanly.

The long saga of the Garrick’s refusal to admit female members attracts regular interest because its membership includes a roster of influential establishment figures and household names. Current members include actors Stephen Fry, Hugh Bonneville and Brian Cox as well as the levelling

Just a little more on Dr Gina Gwenffrewi: what you learn if you click on the Research button.

The study of global transgender female identities and their representation in the arts and media. This includes a particular focus on trans female identities excluded from mainstream trans narratives in the Global North, and their relationship with structural inequalities connected to socio-economics, nationality, and race and ethnicity. Methodologically, I draw on Lacanian/post-Lacanian thinkers, from Jacques Lacan to Julia Kristeva, Jacqueline Rose, and Judith Butler. However, my work currently is hugely informed by and indebted to perspectives gained from the scenes of trans artists of colour especially in North America, including persectives on race and socio-economics from writers/artists such as Jamie Berrout,

Pathetic. Utterly wall to wall pathetic.

In light of the recent appointment of Simon Fanshawe as Rector at the University of Edinburgh, the society has written a statement expressing our thoughts. pic.twitter.com/Hawhn8wsDd

— Edinburgh Labour Students (@EdLabStudents) February 12, 2024

One, replies are closed. Two…they don’t even bother to say what they object to. That’s a pretty striking omission for a “statement” intended to shape public opinion. “We don’t like it that Fanshawe is the new Rector. We can’t explain why. We stand around.”

Yet again we see that trans ideology makes people stupid.… Read the rest

The Telegraph on the worked-up “controversy” over Simon Fanshawe.

In 2019, Mr Fanshawe signed an open letter accusing Stonewall of undermining “women’s sex-based rights and protections” and “demonising” anyone who dissented from its gender policies as transphobic.

Transgender rights campaigners at the university are attempting to drum up support for an open letter calling on the university to axe the appointment and find “a true advocate of equality, accessibility, diversity and inclusion” instead.

They claim Mr Fanshawe’s appointment  “creates a hostile environment for the many trans, non-binary and gender non-conforming students studying at the university”.

No it doesn’t. The presence of people who have thoughts that are different from yours does not create a hostile environment for you. If that … Read the rest

The BBC reports the Simon Fanshawe news with more restraint than usual.

Writer and activist Simon Fanshawe has been named as the new rector of the University of Edinburgh.

The former comedian, who now works as a consultant on diversity and inclusion, will take up office on 4 March following an uncontested election.

Second sentence in they admit he’s a diversity and inclusion boffin, which kind of pre-empts claims that he’s a right-wing fiend. Good job.

After a lot of neutral factual detail they get to the pachyderm in the parlor.

Mr Fanshawe has a long history as an activist for LGBT rights but has in recent years become a critic of Stonewall, the organisation he helped found.

In a 

Now here’s a brilliant thoughtful rebuttal of claims that Trump’s attack on Nato is a bad thing.

Last year, Marco Rubio co-sponsored a law preventing presidents unilaterally withdrawing from Nato. On Sunday the Florida senator, whom Trump ridiculed and defeated in the 2016 primary, also dismissed Trump’s remarks about Russia.

“Donald Trump is not a member of the Council on Foreign Relations,” Rubio told CNN, referring to a Washington thinktank. “He doesn’t talk like a traditional politician, and we’ve already been through this. You would think people would’ve figured it out by now.”

Ahhh right, that’s ok then. Trump is a brainless ignoramus, and we’ve already figured that out, so it’s fine that he wants to trash Nato. … Read the rest

Andrew Sullivan has an interesting take on Trump in this conversation, saying he didn’t do all the authoritarian things he said he was going to do.

FS: So the authoritarian rhetoric didn’t materialise. Do you think that’s because it was always just talk, part of a tough guy image? Or do you think he just wasn’t capable of executing it?

AS: I don’t think he actually likes the exercise of power. He’s not that interested in controlling the lives of everyone around him, or indeed most Americans. He’s concerned primarily with his own ego, with his own glory, and with his own sense of being right in a particular moment. And so when it comes to difficult things, like

A bit of academic news:

Simon Fanshawe OBE has been named the Rector of the University of Edinburgh following an uncontested election.

He will take up office on 4 March 2024. 

Simon is a consultant and practitioner in the field of diversity, author, broadcaster and activist.  

He was formerly Chair of the Governing Council of the University of Sussex from 2007 – 2013.

He will replace Debora Kayembe, who has served as Rector since 2021.

[whispers] He knows men are not women.

Simon was one of the six original co-founders of Stonewall in 1989. In 2011, he co-founded the international charity Kaleidoscope, which campaigns for the human rights of LGBTI+ people around the world. 

In 1989 Simon won the Perrier