This is Northumberland Calling 17.3.23

The don't tone police St Patrick's day edition

Photo by Magdalena Smolnicka on Unsplash

Go woke, go broke – the political party version. The SNP had to admit that they haemorrhaged members as a result of their Gender Recognition Act. Down 10k in 6 weeks. Figures released yesterday showed that the SNP has about 72k members who will be voting. As recently as October they claimed 82.6k members. This is down by over 30% on the heady days of just after the independence vote. https://archive.is/Ukh3X

Perhaps some of the reason is that they can not get the ferries right. The much delayed ferries have been delayed yet again and will not arrive until next year. However, the bosses of the ferry manufacturer have been paid significant bonuses. The two ferries which will provided vital links to isolated communities were supposed to be in service back in 2018. Nicola Sturgeon famously launched one of the yet to delivered ferries in 2017. It had painted on windows. Good photo though.  It is actually a huge scandal which few have paid attention to. The islands affected typically do not have whisky distilleries as the Scottish Whisky Association is rightly powerful in Scotland. https://archive.is/6PbyI

The SNP continuation candidate, Humza Yousaf  demonstrated his failure to grasp the reality of the situation in Ukraine when he asked a group of Ukrainian women ‘where all the men were?’ Cue nervous laughter as they gently tried to explain that their husbands, fathers and sons were involved in the war effort in Ukraine. https://archive.is/abj5o

Thankfully Ukraine is not solely dependant on Germany for equipment or leadership. A damning report about the state of the German army was published this week – shoddy kit, poor moral and no tanks. They need to massively increase their military spending to meet current NATO obligations. At the current rate of German government investment, it will take 50 years before they are where they are supposed to be today. https://archive.is/SWHKu

 The jailing of Eleanor Williams for falsely accusing men of trafficking and rape demonstrates the problems with easy memes such as Believe All Women. To feign injury, Williams hit her face with a brick. She travelled to Blackpool and stayed, eating pot noodles and watching television at a time when she was supposed to being trafficked to men in Blackpool. Her false accusations which went viral and had people from around the world supporting her quest for justice  nearly tore a community apart and destroyed the lives of several innocent men. https://www.spiked-online.com/2023/03/15/eleanor-williams-the-perils-of-believe-all-women/

A job advert for a 30 hour per month virtual assistant job to the self-styled  ‘Womb Whisperer’ went viral for the wrong reasons – its wording and excessive requirements. People pointed out that it was discriminatory as it explicitly stated ‘no TERFs’.  As the word TERF generally means someone who believes that biological sex is important, particularly in health situations, it could be that the ‘Womb Whisperer’ is in the wrong line of work. I doubt many of her clients have prostates. Many other qualities that the ‘Womb Whisperer’ required such as “If you want to run your own company in the near future – we are not for you.”  have now been removed.  https://archive.is/DwXOv

Top-paid BBC Presenter Gary Linker will be back at his job this weekend, providing commentary for the Beeb’s Match of the Day. The BCC backed down and apologized after they were forced to admit that they do have one rule for the top talent and another for everyone else concerning impartiality. Linker claimed he had understood that he special permission to say what he thought about  the migrant crisis as it was a subject close to his heart. Match of the Day which he presents had 500k more viewers last week when it did not have any pundits and was 50 minutes shorter. The BBC are apparently ‘reviewing’ their social media policy.  https://archive.is/8CtBs

Oxfam has gone all ‘cute authoritarian’ with its latest attempt at tone policing the language of its employees. It has issued instructions accompanied by ‘joyful’ graphics about which words they should use. It includes the erasing of mother and father in favour of parent. Pregnant people in favour of pregnant women or indeed expectant mothers. https://archive.is/0c2Ht

You can download the guide and see the tone policing for yourself. Very steel fist in the velvet glove. https://policy-practice.oxfam.org/resources/inclusive-language-guide-621487/

 With the news that Laura Trevelyan  has quit her job to become a ‘reparations activist’, the growth in the whole sector can no longer be denied. It is all the commissions and feasibility studies before anything is paid out. Indeed nothing may ever be paid out but there is certainly a cottage industry growing around the possibility.  https://archive.is/pSIIl

Unisex lavatories continue to cause problems for schoolchildren. The latest victim was a girl who had to be taken to hospital after a boy donkey kicked a door, breaking the lock and causing it to hit in the face. Apparently most of the doors in the unisex toilet block have had their locks broken in this fashion.  Some boys take the opportunity to take photos of the girls using the facilities. https://archive.is/GywAg

The American spy who was stabbed in Cheltenham at the weekend remains in stable condition and her attacker has been arrested on terrorism charges. It is believed the victim knew her assailant. The assailant has not been linked to a hostile state. https://archive.is/NitTf

Catching up with American concerns, the UK finally bans tik tok from phones used by government officials because of the data harvesting potential. https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/tiktok-banned-uk-government-phones-d0r6lcrsv

 Graham Lineham who is a comic genius and apt to speak his mind, particularly in the gender ideology debate, has an interview in the Times magazine about what cancellation actually feels like. All too often, people give excuses, but it is real people are affected. The affects do linger. I know some of the people who are mentioned in the latest podcast of the Witch Trials of JK Rowling and one was saying how awful it has been for her and how much her life has changed. Her supposed crime was to say that there should be a debate.  https://archive.is/qWdvR

I hope everyone who celebrates St Patrick’s Day has a great day.