This is Northumberland Calling 19.07.24
The Violence in Leeds, Bees in Northumberland and Dr Helen Webberley loses her licence edition
Hello America (Particularly Central Ohio) this is Northumberland Calling
Violence erupted in inner city Leeds last night. The spark apparently the taking of four children into care by Social Services in the Harehills area. A bus was set on alight and a police car turned over. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/07/18/leeds-riot-harehills-police-car-overturned/ or https://archive.ph/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/07/18/leeds-riot-harehills-police-car-overturned/
The founder of Extinction Rebellion and Just Stop oil was jailed for five years for his part in the conspiracy to close the M25 last year, a record sentence. The other defendants in the case were also jailed for four years. The prosecution happened after the last government passed a law about such matters. The current government have said that they have no plans to alter said law. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/07/18/extinction-rebellion-founder-jailed-for-five-years/ or https://archive.ph/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/07/18/extinction-rebellion-founder-jailed-for-five-years/
Sir Ed Davey gave evidence to the restarted PO inquiry yesterday (suspended because Parliament had been dissolved for the duration of the election) and stated that the senior PO management lied to him. He regrets not meeting with Alan Bates. He appears to recovered from his penchant for silly stunts during the election and is now trying to be a serious politician. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/07/18/post-office-inquiry-live-ed-davey-patrick-mcfadden/ or https://archive.ph/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/07/18/post-office-inquiry-live-ed-davey-patrick-mcfadden/
The State Opening of Parliament happened on Wednesday and the king duly read out the new Government’s plans which includes a draft bill for banning all conversion therapy, loosening of planning regulations and the renationalization of the railways. It remains to be seen if they can construct a ‘ban on conversion therapy’ without having a working definition of gender identity or indeed a reliable test of which children will outgrow their gender non-contentedness and which will go on to develop full blown adult gender dysphoria. Or indeed how they will fully embrace Cass who warned of the ‘chilling effect’. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/07/17/keir-starmer-kings-speech-powers-unions-workers-tenants/ or https://archive.ph/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/07/17/keir-starmer-kings-speech-powers-unions-workers-tenants/
The Republican v.p. nominee JD Vance may have been rude with his tongue-in-cheek remark about Britain being an Islamist state, the new foreign secretary David Lammy has not used the most diplomatic language in the past to describe Trump. In fact his language was offensive. I suspect there are bets being laid about how long David Lammy will remain as foreign secretary given his tendency to make absurd remarks. He famously called women rights campaigners dinosaurs hoarding their rights. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/07/18/what-david-lammy-really-thinks-of-donald-trump/ or https://archive.ph/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/07/18/what-david-lammy-really-thinks-of-donald-trump/
Dr Helen Webberley has lost her licence to practice. Webberley famously runs Gender GP which give Puberty Blockers to children as young as eight. Webberley says that she no longer sees clients. Gender GP are behind the attempt to force Wes Streeting to overturn the ban on all prescriptions of Puberty Blockers. “She said that she could not revalidate her licence because she could not find a “responsible officer” or suitable person to vouch for her fitness to practise.” Imagine that. I wonder why? https://www.thetimes.com/article/1c520465-2b9f-4598-8f45-ee4af2006b39?shareToken=38d33f23846301c2f0784baf052bbaf1
You may recall that the Literary Alliance Scotland ‘mistakenly’ published information telling bookstores to hide Gender Critical books if they wanted to be ‘trans-inclusive’ earlier this year, a number of the trustees have resigned over the incident and the charity may be wound up. : “An investigation into the publishing approval processes that led to this situation revealed a lack of oversight required by the board, for which we take full responsibility. As a result, and despite a host of mitigating factors, the chair, vice-chair and several board members have resigned, leaving the current board with our four trustees, two of whom have signalled their intention to resign after the extraordinary meeting, while all LAS freelance staff have also resigned.” https://www.thetimes.com/article/741bd079-a8db-4a65-8609-a4a134eabaf1?shareToken=7f936ac429a79a11babc16d2f81729d7
Ursula Doyle, the publisher of Material Girls launched her crowdfunder as she takes her former employer to court over discrimination against her Gender Critical beliefs. She believes she has a very strong case. After raising her initial target in less that 12 hours, she is now about halfway to her stretch target. https://www.crowdjustice.com/case/hounded-out-of-my-job-in-publi/
The verdict in Allison Bailey v Stonewall is due next week, Allsion Bailey tweeted earlier this week.
SEEN in Publishing was mentioned in Private Eye over Val McDermid’s apparent approval of blacklisting members. McDermid had previously been a champion of free speech but she is an unabashed trans-activist. https://x.com/simonjedge/status/1813976247187419286
Oh in response to the whole Tillygate – the bookseller who cried after Waterstones sacked her for gross misconduct, a new twitter feed in the mode of Libs of TikTok has emerged. Bullies of BookTok. Some of the takes are wild. This is not a parody account (I made that mistake when I first saw it) but simply reposting what others have put up on TikTok. The self entitlement of some is off the scale. https://x.com/BookTokBullies
The rain has finally stopped and the bees are busy but I don’t think it will be a good honey year. The rosebay willow herb has just come out and that might make a difference, but the bees have been basically confined to the hive for weeks. I was debating whether or not I should feed them but there are plenty of flowers in the garden. Where at all possible, I like to hold off on feeding. Bees are always a balancing act.
Paddy is enjoying his early morning walks. But I will be glad when the dry-stone wall repair man finally comes and removes the tree from my garden as Paddy has used it to escape and thus cannot be allowed out to play unsupervised (or even with minimal supervision). In the end I claimed on my home insurance as the council continue to be difficult. They can deal with my insurance company.
Hopefully everyone else’s week was a good one. I look forward to seeing you in the comments.
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These are the sentencing remarks for the Just Stop Oil case and are worth a read. https://www.judiciary.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/R-v-Hallam-and-others.pdf
Hello Northumberland! Good to see Ya on this Friday.
Another fine roundup. I see that Dr. Webberly claims she doesn't treat patients. So she side-steps responsibility by a technicality. Typical. Like I said before, glad to see the sentences handed down.
Paddy is looking good. Hope the wall is fixed soon.
TY, as always, Michelle.