This is Northumberland Calling 19.4.25

The Dear Sir, We Told You So edition

Hello America (particularly Central Ohio) this is Northumberland calling

Wednesday’s welcome ruling by the UK Supreme Court continues to make waves. The Court decided unanimously that under the Equality Act 2010, the words man, woman and sex have their biological, not certificated meanings. People’s attraction to other people is based on biology, not government forms. In other words, a trans-woman is male, get over it as a t-shirt I once saw said. The justices also said that the act of gender reassignment (commonly called trans) is also a protected characteristic and therefore trans people were entitled not to be discriminated against or indeed harassed. You can find the full judgement here

It may sound contradictory, but it isn’t. Sex doesn’t alter and therefore a trans-woman is not discriminated against if they are treated just like any other male. The correct comparator for a trans-woman is other males, not females. Thus, if a trans-woman wished to join a convent, they could refuse the trans-woman on the basis of sex. If the same trans-woman wished to join a monastery, the monastery would have to treat that application the same as they would treat any application by a male. A trans-woman can join a gay male chorus, but a lesbian chorus could refuse the same application on the basis they don’t admit males. Basically either an organisation is single sex, or it is mixed sex. It can’t be both. And it does work both ways. If Girl Guides accept trans-women as members, they are now mixed sex and must accept all men as members. (NB the Scouts went mixed sex years ago).If they are single sex, they must admit trans people of that underlying sex. So in the case of the Girl Guides, trans-men (who were excluded) should be allowed in order to be trans-inclusive as they are female.

For employers, under the 1992 regulations they have a duty to provide single sex changing rooms and toileting facilities and/or unisex (toilet, sink, changing area behind a lockable door). Single sex now means biological sex, not certificated sex. If an employer provides a mixed sex facility (i.e. allowing people to choose which facility they use), they are breaking the law and directly discriminating against those people who want a single sex space for reasons of privacy, dignity and safety. The way they don’t discriminate against someone who is trans or indeed who does not wish to use a single sex facility is to provide a unisex option. It basically means employers are going to have to put their hands in their pockets and pony up to provide the unisex facilities as well as the single sex ones rather than trying to fudge the issue. Material reality and practicality won.

Because this issue has been become so confuddled, employers, charities and others are urgently seeking advice from the EHRC to see what they can do. Hint—they should have listened to Gender Critical voices. There are reasons why GC people kept winning tribunals and it was not because they were funded by extremists Americans <huge eyeroll> but because they had the legal position correct. https://www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/article/health-minister-changing-room-trans-women-pn3bnvstx or https://archive.ph/FBmMP

The time of reckoning for Stonewall and its overreach has finally arrived, because they grossly misstated the law when they purported to be the experts in that area. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2025/04/17/stonewalls-hour-of-reckoning-has-finally-arrived/ or https://archive.ph/LD8Mu

This is Kathleen Stock’s letter in the Times today:

Sir, We told you so.

Kathleen Stock

Professor of philosophy at the University of Sussex 2003-21

One unwelcome thing which is beginning to rear its ugly head on the UK mainland is the call to sectarian voting. This time is political Islam. Northern Ireland of course had political Catholicism and political Protestantism. (NB The US has this as well with ‘Souls to the Polls’ and other attempts by religious organizations to influence voting.) There are reasons why Kemi Badenoch came out and said – this is evil and will tear the country apart. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2025/04/17/gaza-groups-tell-muslims-who-to-vote-wycombe/ or https://archive.ph/3moOm

The striking binmen in Birmingham are planning on starting a pro-Palestine party. Hitherto they were solidly Labour. (Actually in some ways let them as then they will lose their political clout as it is First Past The Post Takes All in English elections) I suspect many ordinary people in Birmingham are fed up with the sheer amount of garbage which has piled up. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2025/04/17/birmingham-bin-strike-activists-plot-pro-palestine-party/ or https://archive.ph/DcUFA

Inaya Folarin Iman who founded the Equiano Project has written a very good op ed about the dangers of Britain (or indeed certain section of the US) turning a blind eye to the growth of Political Islamism. Basically Britain is permitting groups such as the Muslim Brotherhood which is banned in most Muslim countries to organize. Her view is that Britain needs to take lessons from Egypt and the UAE about how to control it. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/04/17/britain-not-the-muslim-world-is-now-heartland-of-extremism/ or https://archive.ph/C1t4b

Stephen Yaxley -Lennon (aka Tommy Robinson) had his appeal against sentence in his contempt of court case refused on all counts on Wednesday. Lady Chief Justice Baroness Carr, Lord Justice Edis and Lord Justice Warby dismissed the appeal, writing “The judge’s application of the law and his reasoning on the appropriate sanction in this case both exhibit a meticulous approach.” He had admitted to multiple breaches of the court order not to repeat libellous remarks. He is due for release in July. The Telegraph has a good run down of the judgement and the background to the case. It is very much Fool Around and Find Out. You can read the article here or the archived version

Sir Kier Starmer put up a lacklustre post about Easter after being criticised because he appeared to be all in for celebrating Ramadan. He also retweeted a Good Friday message from the UK Prime Minister The plain fact of the matter is that all were performative as he is an Atheist (but brought up C of E) but perhaps they brought some comfort. https://x.com/Keir_Starmer/status/1912880033418330446

As Tony Blair once said – Britain political life doesn’t really do God (even though he didn’t convert to being Catholic until after he had left office as he calculated the British voting public didn’t do Catholics). This religion out of government life is being lost. There again secularism is also religion. I just think enfranchisement for all and keeping religion private is the only way to go.

One of the big questions has been why do Russian soldiers not revolt given they are being used in a meat grinder? Why are they willing to go back in despite being wounded, knowing that they will most likely die? Russia does employ barrier units which prevent the half-trained troops from exiting the battlefield but that doesn’t give the full story. Part of the reason is their brutal training. Foreign Policy has done an article exposing the sort of training they go through. It makes for stomach churning reading, and it does help to explain some of the war crimes which have been uncovered in Ukraine. It also has profound implications for those Ukrainians who will be on the Russian side of the DMZ (whenever that comes) https://foreignpolicy.com/2025/04/09/russia-soldiers-ukraine-war-crimes-meatgrinder-human-waves-brutal-violence-protest/

This from Foreign Policy in Nov 24 explains the meat grinder tactic – started by the Wagner Group in 2022. It is also being used to ‘cleanse’ Russia of undesirables. The big question is how long can they continue, particularly as the price of oil has dropped so dramatically (although it has stabilised in recent days). https://archive.ph/6k50K

If you are fed up with news, you can always try Swedish Moose cam. It is the 15 annual Moose cam and the moose (called elk in Sweden) are crossing the river. The little white dots on the timeline show the interesting happenings such as moose, the Northern lights or golden eagles. For example today at the 5 am mark, a moose crossed the river. https://www.svtplay.se/video/emyovbZ/den-stora-algvandringen/idag-00-00?video=visa&position=18457

Here – the 3 of the new hens are laying. The Rhode Rock is just coming into lay. She was still in her dinosaur stage (waiting for her comb to grow) when we got her. It is good to have a steady supply of fresh eggs again.

Paddy does not like to wear hats, not even my eldest’s running cap.

As it is Good Friday and I am Catholic, I wish everyone the joy of season. Far more than Christmas, Christians are Easter people – they believe in the resurrection and the fulfilment of God’s promise. The stone did roll away to reveal an empty tomb on Easter Sunday morning.

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