Originally a comment by Artymorty on Friends in high places.

Taiwan is almost the size of Australia, population-wise. The idea that the democratic freedom of some 23 million people ought to be erased for any reason, let alone some romantic interpretation of the Maoist takeover of Beijing in 1949 or whatever, is absurd to me.

I know that “freedom” is a word that has been somewhat tainted by the Right, turned into empty jingo, but seriously: freedom versus non-freedom is not a two-way street. When people obtain freedom, they have to fight to keep it. And when they lose it, it’s often almost impossible to get it back. The Chinese Communist Party is a force for destroying individuals’ freedom, … Read the rest

Helen Lewis makes an important point in her piece in the Atlantic on male trans athletes in women’s sport.

The story of transgender women competing in female sports is frequently told as one of inclusion—creating opportunities for people to compete as their authentic selves. But for athletes such as Liilii, these rules were a matter of exclusion. Every spot taken by someone with a male athletic advantage is an opportunity closed to a female rival.

It’s obvious but it doesn’t get put that way often enough. Bro, your “inclusion” is our exclusion so shut up.

…the performance gap between men and women is estimated to vary from 10 to 50 percent, depending on the sport. Yet progressives have downplayed that

When all else fails there’s still the hilarity of Musk v Everyone.

Elon Musk has called for Nigel Farage to be replaced as leader of Reform UK, just weeks after reports the multi-billionaire was in talks to donate to the party.

In a post on his social media site X, Musk said Farage “doesn’t have what it takes” to lead the party – but did not explain his reasoning.

Farage suggested this was due to a disagreement over Musk’s support for far-right activist Tommy Robinson.

No you’re the sellout no you are no you are

The comment from the tech entrepreneur comes hours after Farage described Musk as a “friend” in an interview on the BBC’s Sunday with Laura

Originally a comment by Arcadia on Sez who?

This one chafes, it really does. I’m a lifelong couch potato, and ParkRun has been instrumental in changing that for me, in my forties. ParkRun is inclusive, in genuine and meaningful ways. When I go, I see all elements of society, coming together to cover five kilometres on foot or in a wheelchair. There’s no judgment over being slow, old, overweight, uncool, poorly coordinated, disabled, etc. There’s hardcore fitness fanatics, gym bros, skinny young fashionable types, parents with kids, pregnant women, young keen kids dragging their parents along, young sulky kids being dragged along, middle aged walkers, older ex triathletes, a young disabled man with his carer who can keep up and … Read the rest

I’ve written about the grooming gangs many times over the years. It’s a very large and very horrible subject.

Today in the Telegraph:

How the grooming gangs scandal was covered up

Safeguarding minister Jess Phillips’ decision to block a public inquiry into the Oldham grooming gangs seems, from the outside, to be almost inexplicable. Children were raped and abused by gangs of men while the authorities failed to protect them.

A review of the abuse in Oldham was released in 2022, but its terms of reference only stretched from 2011-2014. Survivors from the town said that they wanted a government-led inquiry to cover a longer period, and catch what the previous review had missed. In Jess Phillips’s letter to the

Besties fall out already.

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has distanced himself from Elon Musk’s support for jailed far-right activist Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, also known as Tommy Robinson. The tech multi-billionaire added his voice to calls to release Yaxley-Lennon, who was jailed in October after admitting contempt of court by repeating false claims against a Syrian refugee.

Farage has been proud to show off the support of Musk, flying to Florida to meet the owner of social media site X, who helped President-elect Donald Trump win the US election. But Musk’s support for Yaxley-Lennon is uncomfortable for Farage, who has made it clear over a number of years that he does not want him in his political party.

Welp, thieves … Read the rest

A puberty blockers resignation:

A councillor has quit the Labour Party in a row over its transgender policies. Zoe Hughes, Exeter City Council member, said the party’s support of a ban on puberty blockers for under-18s questioning their gender identity was “a policy I refuse to stand by and accept”.

So she’s confident it’s a good thing to tamper with teenagers’ puberties? She’s that sure it’s better to stop normal physical maturation than it is to let it proceed without interference? It’s an odd thing to be that confident about. It’s not as if being frozen physically at age 12 or 13 has no consequences.

The Labour Party said it was putting the welfare of children first and its

Not surprisingly, Musk’s insults and interventions aren’t all that popular in Germany.

The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) is polling in second place at 20% and has seen prominent support by multibillionaire Elon Musk.

The South African-born entrepreneur, 53, is seen as having intervened directly in the election campaign, as well as making provocative attacks on the leaders of Germany’s highest democratic institutions: first the chancellor and then the head of state, President Frank-Walter Steinmeier. 

“Steinmeier is an anti-democratic tyrant!” Musk wrote on his social media platform X. “Shame on him.”

In sharp contrast to Donald Trump, yeah? Nothing tyrannical or anti-democratic about him, right?

Musk’s latest remarks came after he published an opinion piece in a German daily supporting the far-right AfD. A German

Trump seeks clemency for…TikTok.

The U.S. Department of Justice asked the Supreme Court late on Friday to reject President-elect Donald Trump’s request to delay implementation of a law that would ban popular social media app TikTok or force its sale by Jan. 19.

Last week, Trump filed a legal brief arguing he should have time after taking office on Jan. 20 to pursue a “political resolution” to the issue. The court is set to hear arguments in the case on Jan. 10. The law, passed in April, requires TikTok’s Chinese owner, ByteDance, to divest the platform’s U.S. assets or face a ban. TikTok did not immediately comment.

The DOJ said in its filing that Trump’s request could only be

Musk is throwing his weight around more by the hour. It’s more than slightly alarming.

Musk has feverishly spent the past few days boosting disinformation and divisive rhetoric on X about Muslim grooming gangs in the UK, posting almost 200 times, a WIRED review of the centibillionaire’s output has found.

These “grooming gangs” reference an organized child sexual abuse scandal that came to light in 2014 involving gangs of British Pakastani men who abused an estimated thousands of girls in several towns in the north of England over the course of several decades.

It is in fact an important subject, but Musk doesn’t really give a shit about thousands of girls in working class cities, he gives a shit … Read the rest

Dawkins is in good form in the Spectator:

In a recent interview, I imprudently said I was a “cultural Christian”, and I haven’t heard the end of it. I find myself unwillingly counted in the Great Christian Revival (translation, “We don’t actually believe that stuff ourselves, but we like it when other people do”) which is the subject of so much wishful thinking these days.

Of course I’m a cultural Christian. Always have been. Packed off to Anglican schools, I was confirmed when too young to know better. Large chunks of the English Hymnal were imprinted in my long-term memory, and duly pop out when I’m fooling around with my electronic clarinet. I know my way around the Bible,

Behold: an ethicist. “Friendly” Atheist tells us:

The following is a guest post by Aaron Rabinowitz, the ethics director of the Creator Accountability Network and host of two philosophy podcasts: Embrace the Void and Philosophers in Space.

Awesome, a philosopher of ethics at last; now all will be plain.

The Freedom From Religion Foundation recently faced criticism for posting and then removing an editorial by Jerry Coyne entitled “Biology is Not Bigotry,” which he wrote in response to an FFRF article by Kat Grant entitled “What is a Woman?” In his piece, Coyne used specious reasoning and flawed research to argue that transgender individuals are more likely to be sexual predators than cisgender individuals and that they

Thanks for the help Mr Musk but we’re the professionals so go away.

Elon Musk’s attack on the government’s handling of grooming gangs is “misjudged and certainly misinformed”, Health Secretary Wes Streeting has said.

Tech multi-billionaire Musk has posted a series of messages on his social media site X, accusing Sir Keir Starmer of failing to prosecute gangs that systematically groomed and raped young girls, and calling for safeguarding minister Jess Phillips to be jailed.

Lots of people say lots of things, but Musk has a very large amount of money so what he says must be important. Whether it’s accurate or not is another question.

Tory leader Kemi Badenoch has called for a full national public inquiry into what

Sarah Haider on atheism and gendertheism:

I have never seen anything like it. In amazement, I watched scores of people I respected add pronouns in their emails, flags to their bios, and repeat circular mantras like “trans women are women”. The same people who laughed at religious credulity accepted the idea of a “gender” fully and without question, and worse–they suppressed all open discussion. Overnight, the same people who campaigned against blasphemy laws enacted their own version without a hint of irony. I watched long-standing figures in the movement be cast down for this crime of doubt; first by insane radicals on social media, but as the disease progressed, also by the most prominent organizations we had.

In other

Insight! As the New Agers liked to say.

I think this is an excellent insight into the anger from trans activists. The base expectation is that women will acquiesce – so when they say no, it's viewed as a 'demand'. pic.twitter.com/ALh8q2YRjB

— Helen Staniland (@helenstaniland) January 2, 2025

Yes, yes that is a good insight. We are not allowed to say no. Not ever, not to anything. We’re not allowed to have our own views, or to reject the views of the Enlightened Ones. It doesn’t matter how absurd it is to think of India Willoughby or Freda Wallace as enlightened; we’re still not allowed to say no. Shut up, curtsy, and sweep the second-best drawing room. … Read the rest

Oh is that so.

The cat is out of the bag. @parkrunUK will continue to put the feelings of males above fairness for women and girls. parkrun founder, Paul Sinton-Hewitt @PSH_A1674 told the Independent: “Inclusivity comes first – and fairness, I’m afraid, is affected by the drive towards… pic.twitter.com/dYE14jC21u

— Women's Rights Network – WRN (@WomensRightsNet) January 2, 2025

“Inclusivity comes first – and fairness, I’m afraid, is affected by the drive towards inclusivity.”

Who says “inclusivity” comes first?

And what kind of “inclusivity” are we talking about anyway? The word as I understand it means not excluding people for bad reasons. It can’t mean including everyone in everything. We can’t include everyone in everything; there isn’t room.

Furthermore we … Read the rest

Oh those rape gangs.

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has called for a full national public inquiry into the UK’s “rape gangs scandal”.

It comes after Home Office minister Jess Phillips rejected Oldham Council’s request for a government-led inquiry into historical child sexual exploitation – saying the council should lead it instead.

Why? I’m guessing the government has more resources than a local council, so why shouldn’t the government investigate? Is it too…trivial?

Posting on X, Badenoch said: “Trials have taken place all over the country in recent years but no one in authority has joined the dots. 2025 must be the year that the victims start to get justice.”

There have been numerous investigations into the systematic rape of

Let’s read Ron Lindsay’s Free Inquiry piece on the Freedom From Religion Foundation’s abrupt rude apology-free deletion of Jerry Coyne’s reply to a laughably silly article titled “What is a woman?”

In case you have not heard, here is a concise summary of the situation: The Freedom from Religion Foundation (FFRF) published on its website an essay by Kat Grant titled “What Is a Woman?” in which Grant concluded that “A woman is whoever she says she is.” Along the way, Grant argued that there is no biological basis for distinguishing men from women.

Jerry A. Coyne, an emeritus professor at the University of Chicago and, at the time, a member of FFRF’s honorary board, requested permission to post a

A new chapter:

@FFRF made a regrettable error in removing Jerry Coyne's post. Because I believe FI's readership can evaluate arguments, FI has reposted Coyne's essay, with a link to the essay he was critiquing. I encourage those interested to read both essays. https://t.co/EAvnwrfY6L

— Ronald A. Lindsay (@RALindsay) January 2, 2025

I wonder how much yelling and screaming there is among the staff at CFI.… Read the rest

You have got to be kidding.

The Daily Mail (because the Guardian and the BBC are looking fixedly in the opposite direction):

Police forces are allowing trans officers to carry multiple warrant cards depending on the gender they choose on a given day.

At least 11 forces in England and Wales use the policy, blasted as dangerous by women’s groups.

Trans officers can receive two warrant cards, or more if they are ‘gender fluid’.

Police officers use warrant cards to identify themselves and they must be shown before using powers including stop and search.

Which is, surely, so that people being stopped and searched can be assured it’s a cop interfering with them and not, say, some random guy who … Read the rest