Simon Edge tells us that the publishing industry is full of horrible little censors. Little in mind, regardless of stature.

Can we talk about the McCarthyite censors who this week tried to tighten their hold on the publishing industry? The climate of fear and intimidation has been there so long that it seems like a fact of life, but it's a shocking state of affairs and it needs publicising more widely

— Simon Edge (@simonjedge) June 2, 2022

Young editors and agents who don't agree with the ideologues, or want to champion work that may offend the new Guardians of Culture, have learned to keep their heads down in order not to scupper their own careers.

— Simon Edge (@simonjedge)

A crudely written vituperative piece on the Allison Bailey tribunal by one Moya Lothian-McLean:

Barrister Allison Bailey – a co-founder of the LGB Alliance, a transgender-exclusionary organisation – is suing, in one fell swoop, Garden Court, her legal chambers, and Stonewall, the largest LGBTQ+ organisation in Europe. 

It’s just stupid and ludicrous to call the LGB Alliance “transgender-exclusionary.” There is no law or rule or unwritten agreement that lesbians and gay men must “include” trans people in everything they do. It’s not particularly obvious why they’re expected to “include” them at all ever. Stonewall, meanwhile, could be said to have become a mostly trans-focused organization, and it can certainly be called one that treats some lesbians and gay men … Read the rest

Oh, gee, I thought Priss Choss was such a keen environmentalist.

The duchies of Lancaster and Cornwall, two of the royal family’s largest portfolios of land, have snubbed tree campaigners who are calling for the royals to rewild their estates.

Well. You know. There’s The Environment, and then there’s One’s portfolio of land.

Rewilding advocates at the campaign group Wild Card have been meeting for months with the crown estate, which manages most of the royal land and pays the revenue into the Treasury. They say relations have been “really positive”.

However, the duchies are separate to the crown estate, and not subject to the same level of accountability. The two organisations – described by the land campaigner Guy

Honoring Pride Month.

Throughout June, the USMC takes #Pride in recognizing and honoring the contributions of our LGBTQ service members. We remain committed to fostering an environment free from discrimination, and defend the values of treating all equally, with dignity and respect.#PrideMonth #USMC pic.twitter.com/MOyvFmyJiB

— U.S. Marines (@USMC) June 1, 2022

H/t Jane Clare Jones… Read the rest

Jon Pike talks about conceptual engineering and That Word:

There is a growing approach in philosophy called “conceptual engineering”. It’s a cool name for an interesting project. Indeed, one of my colleagues at the Open University is heavily involved as a conceptual engineer. They look at our concepts and see if they are doing good work — if they are functioning well. If not, then we should try to improve them (“ameliorate” is the key term). The chief thinker behind this is Sally Haslanger; the title of her main work Resisting Reality: Social Constructions and Social Critique gives you a flavour of what she is up to.

…

So far, the term (and concept) “female” has seemed relatively immune

Warwick Pride Issued a Statement the other day – which is to say, it wrote a public post on Facebook. It’s quite a surprising document.

STATEMENT REGARDING EXTERNAL SPEAKER NADHIM ZAHAWI

That is, Facebook post regarding external speaker Nadhim Zahawi.

TW: Transphobia, SA, abuse, homelessness

SA = sex abuse, right? So why isn’t it either “SA, A,” or “sex abuse, abuse”? Or indeed “abuse, sex abuse” – it’s more usual to start with the general and go on to the specific.

Picky picky.

It has been brought to our attention over the past few weeks that the Warwick Conservative Association is running an external speaker event, inviting Nadhim Zahawi, the Conservative Secretary of State for Education, to campus on

Headline news: Lia Thomas does not admit that his competing as a woman in swimming competitions is unfair. No, really?!!

Transgender NCAA swimming champion Lia Thomas is firing back at those claiming her dominance is unfair to biological women … saying trans athletes will not destroy women’s sports.

“Firing back,” eh – that’s tactful. He’s already physically bullying every woman he competes against; he’s not the one who needs to do any “firing back.”

The University of Penn athlete broke her silence on “Good Morning America” on Tuesday … saying she knew she’d face backlash once she started competing against women, but no amount of scrutiny would stop her.

And no amount of women pointing out how unfair it … Read the rest

A tale of hecklement and Labour royalty:

One of the students who led a trans protest that hounded Nadhim Zahawi off a Russell Group campus is the son of Labour grandees Yvette Cooper and Ed Balls, it has emerged today.

Is a trans protest a bunch of people sitting at Starbucks pretending they’re at a protest?

Mr Zahawi was hounded by around 30 activists who chanted ‘Zahawi is a transphobe’ and ‘Tory scum’ outside a talk the Cabinet minister gave to Warwick University’s Conservative Association.

In video posted by the Warwick Labour society, Joel Cooper interrupts the Education Secretary’s Q&A to heckle him over his trans views. He then sits down to cheers from fellow Labour activists. Later, he

The trumpies lose one.

Michael Sussmann, a prominent cybersecurity lawyer with ties to Democrats, was acquitted on Tuesday of a felony charge that he lied to the F.B.I. about having no client in 2016 when he shared a tip about possible connections between Donald J. Trump and Russia.

The jury returned the verdict after about six hours of deliberations split by a holiday weekend. It was a blow to the special counsel, John H. Durham, who was appointed by the Trump administration three years ago to scour the Trump-Russia investigation for any wrongdoing, and a vindication for Mr. Sussmann’s decision to fight the case before a jury.

Good. The more blows to Durham the better.… Read the rest

Yeah right.

EXCLUSIVE: "Trans people don't transition for athletics. We transition to be happy and authentic and our true selves."

Transgender swimmer Lia Thomas speaks out to @JujuChangABC about backlash and future plans to compete. https://t.co/UFQOgMNBLj pic.twitter.com/FJcmyEChi9

— Good Morning America (@GMA) May 31, 2022

If that were true he wouldn’t be doing what he’s doing. If that were true he would go on competing against men, or give up competitive swimming. If it were true he would make very sure he did nothing whatever to take advantage of his True Self at the expense of women. If it were true he would be sharply aware that exploiting his advantage over women to cheat them out of medals and opportunities … Read the rest

What kind of difference though?

I’m am so excited to finally share that I’m starting a new position as Speak Out Champion at the @CPSUK

This is an amazing role which gives me the opportunity to make a real difference to so many people's lives. pic.twitter.com/MIyFDAmvg7

— Sophie Cook (@sophiecooktalks) May 31, 2022

The Crown Prosecution Service seems like a branch of government that should be particularly unpolitical. Sophie Cook is a man who identifies as a woman.

So what does a Speak Out Champion do?
Independent & impartial, the Speak Out Champion is responsible for improving confidence amongst staff in being able to speak openly about their experiences as part of the CPS’ continued cultural drive to embed EDI

Originally a comment by Your Name’s not Bruce? on Claiming to believe.

It’s the choice to believe this, coupled with the smug, arrogant forcing of that belief on others that is so bafflingly infuriating. Creasy wouldn’t be so condescendingly flippant if she wasn’t backed up by a virtual army (and actual police forces) ready, willing, and able to punish wrongthink. Fortunately, more and more people are willing to speak out against this insanity. Sometimes just repeating what transactivists say (i.e. Ricky Gervais) is enough to show just how insane the “required” beliefs and compelled speech are.

To the extent that trans activism has operated behind the scenes to influence laws and regulations outside the bounds of open, democratic … Read the rest

Today is the day we learned that Marjorie Taylor Greene thinks Bill Gates grows fake meat in a peach tree dish.

“You have to accept the fact that the government totally wants to provide surveillance on every part of your life,” Greene said.

“They want to know when you are eating, they want to know if you are eating a cheeseburger which is very bad because Bill Gates wants you to eat his fake meat that grows in a peach tree dish.”

She’s both – stupid and ignorant. Win-win.… Read the rest

Jo Bartosch on Stella Creasy’s confused ramblings of the past few days:

[I]n an interview for the Telegraph on Friday, Creasy made her contempt for women’s rights campaigners clear. She claimed to believe that ‘some women were born with penises’ and that ‘a trans woman is an adult human female’. In the interview she complained about being a victim of sexism while feigning frustration and bemusement that some women, like JK Rowling, continue to hold on to the belief that biological sex matters.

Funny thing: it’s actually sexist to express frustration that Rowling, or any woman, continues to be aware that biological sex matters.

At this point, Creasy had two choices: she could eat a slice of humble pie and

Originally a comment by Rob on Collective frustration.

Winning at sport is a hugely compelling motive for people who are into sports. Even if there’s no money involved, even if there are no scholarships at stake.

I can certainly attest to that. While I played some sport at high school, it was not a focus for my life, but as an adult I took up a high risk aviation sport and discovered that I was very highly competitive – even though the most recognition that got you was a ‘nice flight’ from peers. Competitive enough that I’ve more than once put my life on the line, which once back on the ground was clearly stupid, but in the air … Read the rest

Government and heads of schools differ over the “What To Do about students who say they are trans” problem.

School leaders have described advice from the attorney general, Suella Braverman, to “take a much firmer line” with pupils who identify as transgender as “unhelpful” and potentially damaging to children’s mental health.

In an interview last week, Braverman said schools in England do not have to accommodate pupils who want to change gender and are under no legal obligation to address them by a new pronoun, or let them wear a different uniform.

They shouldn’t have to or be under a legal obligation to, it seems to me. Schools aren’t required to play along with all students’ fantasies, after all, … Read the rest

Even apparent adults do it. Roger Pielke seems like an adult:

Roger Pielke, Jr. has been on the faculty of the University of Colorado since 2001. He is the director of the Sports Governance Center within the Department of Athletics. Roger’s research focuses on science, innovation and politics. In 2011 he began to write and research on the governance of sports organizations, including FIFA and the NCAA. Roger holds degrees in mathematics, public policy and political science, all from the University of Colorado. In 2012 Roger was awarded an honorary doctorate from Linköping University in Sweden and was also awarded the Public Service Award of the Geological Society of America. Roger also received the Eduard Brückner Prize in Munich,

Holly Lawford-Smith says unions shouldn’t persecute women. Seems sensible.

THE Universities and College Union (UCU), which represents academic and related staff in UK universities, meets for its annual Congress this week.

…

UCU has chosen to include in the agenda a highly divisive motion celebrating a lesbian feminist academic losing her job after a relentless campaign of bullying and harassment.

Anyone seeing the images of masked activists on campus demanding the sacking of Professor Kathleen Stock must have wondered how political debate on women’s rights could sink so low.

The UCU Sussex branch notably failed to offer any solidarity to Stock, who had been a loyal member for decades.

The failure to support her right to participate in public policy

Sonia Sodha on the “cotton ceiling” issue:

If policing people’s sexual preferences through the lens of race feels deeply unpleasant, when it comes to sexual orientation, it is wrong and dangerous. Yet we are in the extraordinary position where lesbians are now being told by some activists that it is bigoted for them to say they are not attracted to trans women who are biologically male. This is not a fringe belief: the chief executive of LGBT charity Stonewall recently said in relation to a BBC story about lesbians feeling pressured into dropping their boundaries: “Sexuality is personal… but if, when dating, you are writing off entire groups like people of colour or trans people, it’s worth considering how

Stella Creasy continues to disappoint (and that’s putting it politely).

But of course she didn’t meet “with a number of women involved in all your groups.” There are no such women. The People’s Front of Judea part is insulting. She’s being dismissive and contemptuous and hostile…to feminist women, when she claims to be a feminist woman herself.

Would she like to hear from some gender critical women now?

No.

Not really tbh – am happy to do a meeting but not going to do multiple ones. Realise this will lead to more grumpiness on here from you but being honest and not unfair to ask you all to work together as do with other issues.

— stellacreasy (@stellacreasy) May