The Times interviews Sandi Toksvig:

Toksvig certainly boasts the widest-ranging CV imaginable. Her most recent achievement was officiating at the Abba star Björn Ulvaeus’s third wedding last month in Copenhagen. She and Ulvaeus, it transpires, have been friends since 2015, when she organised a Scandinavian-themed Women of the World festival at the Royal Festival Hall, where an all-female orchestra played Waterloo and Ulvaeus appeared. “You can be feminist and fun, you see.” More recently they collaborated on writing the interactive show Mamma Mia! The Party.

“Björn is a very gentle, not divaish person; he and I are both humanists,” she says…

I knew that about Björn. That time I went to Stockholm when Hatar Gud Kvinnor? was published,

… Read the rest

Behold: a dishonest fool.

Yesterday:

Current Ranked Top 10 Worst People in the UK:

1: JK Rowling
2: Graham Linehan
3: Wes Streeting
4: Katie Hopkins
5: Darren Grimes
6: Tommy Robinson
7: Posie Parker
8: Nigel Farage
9: Kemi Badenoch
10: Liz Truss

Who did I miss?

— Sam (he/him) (@mushycrouton) October 5, 2024

Today:

Gender criticals: we are not a cult

Random person: I don’t agree with JK Rowling’s views

Gender criticals: PROTECT THE LEADER. CANCEL THIS RANDOM PERSON. JOANNE MUST BE PRESERVED. ALL HAIL JOANNE. THOU SHALT NOT CRITICISE JOANNE.

— Sam (he/him) (@mushycrouton) October 6, 2024

Calling JK Rowling “the worst person in the UK” is not equivalent to “I don’t agree with JK Rowling’s views.”… Read the rest

From Inside Climate News, a discussion of the implications of Helene and North Carolina.

From our collaborating partner Living on Earth, public radio’s environmental news magazine, an interview by host Steve Curwood with Abrahm Lustgarten, author of “On the Move: The Overheating Earth and the Uprooting of America.”

…

Helene’s huge size and speed are linked to increasingly hotter water in the Gulf of Mexico, and a stark reminder that with global heating, weather forecasts based on history are becoming [worse] guides to present dangers. Hurricanes have usually weakened when they make landfall, but to the surprise of many, Helene’s impact was just as devastating in the inland mountains of western North Carolina as on the Gulf Coast

… Read the rest

Another turn of the screw:

What is a woman? This now highly controversial issue will be decided in November by the highest court in the land.

No it won’t. It’s not the kind of thing that can be decided by a court, however high. The question would have to be “What will we all be required to call a woman?” or some similar wording for the claim to be true. Courts decide law; they can’t decide reality.

The justices — three men and two women — will be led by Lord Reed of Allermuir, 68, president of the court and the UK’s most senior judge. He is undaunted by the task. “When we hear cases … we are not

… Read the rest

Weirdness report:

A number of Donald Trump critics have mocked Elon Musk over his appearance alongside the former president at a Pennsylvania rally.

What, just because he jumped up and down like a lunatic?

Musk, the billionaire owner of X, formerly Twitter, and CEO of SpaceX and Tesla, joined Trump onstage in Butler on Saturday to show his support for the Republican and state that he is “not just MAGA — I am Dark MAGA.”

After Trump introduced Musk to the stage, the tech mogul enthusiastically jumped in the air several times while supporters cheered. Musk, who wore a black Make America Great Again cap, warned in his speech that “this will be the last election” if

… Read the rest

Billionaires unite to trash everything.

https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1842679008791581140 https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1842679258587488697

This is the most important election of your LIFE!!

And there are only 2 days left to register to vote in Arizona & Georgia before it’s too late!

Make sure everyone you know & everyone you meet has registered to vote. The fate of our civilization is at stake. https://t.co/Ysh0sYknpx

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 5, 2024

If @realDonaldTrump doesn’t win, the “Democratic” Party will legalize so many illegals that there will be no swing states!

America will become a single-party socialist state, just like what happened to California, where they just made requiring voter ID illegal. https://t.co/I9FhicDbfP

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 5, 2024

We’re doomed.… Read the rest

Shit just got real.

Financial services firms have been forced to pay hundreds of pounds in compensation to non-binary customers over “discriminatory” application forms. 

MoneySuperMarket (MSM), the comparison website, and Transunion, a credit union, were hit with separate complaints because their application forms did not include options for non-binary customers in their gender section.

But…that’s not a thing. It’s not real. It has nothing to do with realities like credit. You might as well say credit applications should include options for witches.

According to the complaint, MSM argued that changes to their website are bound by the information their insurance partners ask for and that many of them have not made provision for customers who identify as non-binary.

… Read the rest

If only we could have not-idiots. Never mind nice things, that’s too much to ask, but just not…this…

Marjorie Taylor Greene challenges YOU to prove Hurricane Helene wasn’t an inside job.

As the death toll from one of the worst U.S. storms in recent memory topped 200 on Friday morning, the Republican congresswoman and noted conspiracy theorist posted a timely reminder on X that “yes they can control the weather” and that “it’s ridiculous for anyone to lie and say it can’t be done.”

I wonder who “they” are. The Jews? The Dems? People with some brain cells?

The Georgia Republican drew widespread mockery and derision in 2021 after it was revealed she’d previously suggested devastating wildfires in

… Read the rest

It seems the hot new thing is to claim that the Feds are ignoring the hurricane victims.

I keep seeing images and footage of NC and can’t help but wonder if leaving the bereaved to fend for themselves and sending no help is part of a strategy to anger the American people. How can such a wealthy country not rescue and help those in desperate need?

— Kellie-Jay Keen (@ThePosieParker) October 5, 2024

Yeah good question except that that’s not what’s happening.

I did a little exploring and, of course, found that it’s the usual bullshit – baseless claims being amplified by fools.

Ok due warning, this is the Washington Post, which of course is in on the sinister plot … Read the rest

Originally a comment by Dave Ricks on These rococo claims.

Maya Forstater won her landmark employment case in the UK Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) on Thursday, June 10, 2021. The UK EAT is a high court, so she won a binding precedent for lower court cases (e.g. in the more recent case of Elizabeth Pitt that the FSU reported above).

Later that day, Freddie Sayers interviewed Maya about her case, and Ophelia posted the interview video here. In my comment #6 there, I transcribed part of the video, where Maya explained that her legal position had two parts to be taken together:

(1) The scientific FACT that “sex is real” — as her shorthand for “binary, immutable”, and … Read the rest

On a brighter note, meet the Falkirk Wheel. It joins two canals that are at different heights. They used to be joined by 12 locks that took almost an entire day to go through. Now the joining takes minutes.

https://twitter.com/devonzuegel/status/1113854385618968576

Adding another, filmed by a drone.

https://twitter.com/scotdrone/status/1834709042628821022… Read the rest

Cheltenham Literary Festival is in a panic because – oh my god – people might have unpopular thoughts which they might utter aloud.

Cheltenham Literature Festival has come under fire after issuing a warning notice to speakers comparing gender-critical views with racism and homophobia.

The festival, which begins today, sent an email to people who are hosting talks at the event, asking them to follow new guidance “in order to protect both yourselves and the [festival] from complaints”. It said: “If, during any of your events, a speaker shares an opinion that could be deemed controversial, please reinforce that everyone is entitled to express an opinion, however Cheltenham Festivals [the organiser] does not endorse the views shared on stage. By

… Read the rest

Yebbut that’s not what competitive sports does. That’s not how it works. The whole point is that somebody wins, which entails that somebody loses. It’s not about “being kind”; it’s about being the best.

San Jose State volleyball played its first game on Thursday night since three Mountain West schools announced they would forfeit rather than play the Spartans and transgender starter Blaire Fleming. 

After the match, Spartans head coach Todd Kress said he was “disappointed” that his team was “losing opportunities to play” but did not reference why, exactly, schools don’t want to face San Jose State. 

Well, Coach Kress, people are “choosing not to play” your team because your team chooses to roster a biological male. … Read the rest

Gee, why don’t female athletes want to go up against teams that include male players? I just can’t figure it out.

San Jose State volleyball played its first game on Thursday night since three Mountain West schools announced they would forfeit rather than play the Spartans and transgender starter Blaire Fleming. 

That is, rather than play the Spartans, who have a male player.

After the match, Spartans head coach Todd Kress said he was “disappointed” that his team was “losing opportunities to play” but did not reference why, exactly, schools don’t want to face San Jose State. 

…

“It’s not just us that are losing opportunities to play,” Kress continued. “It’s the people choosing not to play us, and

… Read the rest

I guess Cheltenham Literary Festival identifies as disdainful of literature. Seems odd, given the name.

https://twitter.com/cheltfestivals/status/1840330864711864694 The lit fest isn’t just words on a page – ew, how gross would that be? Words on a page are for snobs and toffs and probably terfs. Ew.… Read the rest

A win…but how grotesque that there was ever a contest. Frederick Attenborough at the Free Speech Union underlines how grotesque it all is:

A gender critical social worker was harassed by her colleagues after making “non-inclusive and transphobic” comments about a co-worker’s “gender-neutral” dog, a tribunal ruled. Elizabeth Pitt, who worked for Cambridgeshire county council, was awarded £63,000 after bosses reprimanded her for expressing gender critical views at an online meeting.

The background to Ms Pitt’s claim is that she made various comments during a Zoom meeting of the county council’s LGBTQIA+ Group in January 2023. The meeting began with a male colleague claiming that his dachshund was “gender-fluid” and that he put a dress on the dog

… Read the rest

Sometimes you just have to track down the source.

I saw this on Facebook, posted by Jay Novella.

So I wanted to know more, because was it really that incoherent and nothing to do with the question asked and random and babbling about an award? And the answer is yes but more so. There’s some punctuation in the version Novella shared that is not there in the reality.

Question:,What actions will you take to ensure that our jobs stay in America?

Trump: I was honored as the man of the year. Maybe 20 years ago. The fake news heard about it and said, it never happened… pic.twitter.com/eqOvGHNmiL

— Acyn (@Acyn) September 28, 2024

… Read the rest

Chelt Lit Fest puts a target on women who know men are not women.

https://twitter.com/soniasodha/status/1842122518259175430 Watch out for opinions that could be deemed controversial, folks.

Of course, that’s all opinions, so maybe you should just stay home, with all the doors locked and all the windows covered.

Also, notice that Chelt Lit Fest puts awareness that men are not women right at the top of the list. It seems that the most potentially controversial opinion one can have is that men are not women. I wonder if it occurs to CLF that they’re saying basically all people hold an opinion that is The Most Potentially Controversial aka evil evil evil. All people know that men are not women, even the … Read the rest

Hmm. Pink News:

The founder of a social media app designed for “females” is appealing against a finding that it discriminated against a transgender woman.

For “”females””? Really? Scare quotes on the word “female” because there’s no such thing? A man is a transgender woman, but women are “””females”””? The male category exists but the female one is just a sad pathetic joke?

Duly noted, Pink News. By the way you can’t have pink. If we can’t have female, you can’t have pink.

… Read the rest

Project 2025 even wants to reimpose the sabbath on us. Annie Laurie Gaylor has the details:

Today, we take for granted that you can do many of the things on Sunday that you can do on other days, perhaps reduced hours notwithstanding. Will this still be the case if Project 2025 becomes a reality? Not if the Heritage Foundation gets its way. Let’s turn to page 589 of Project 2025, to a subsection titled “Sabbath Rest.”

“God ordained the Sabbath as a day of rest, and until very recently the Judeo-Christian tradition sought to honor that mandate by moral and legal regulation of work on that day,” states the document. “Moreover, a shared day off makes it

… Read the rest