This is Northumberland Calling 12.07.24

The Hitting the Ground Running? edition

Hello American (Particularly Central Ohio) this is Northumberland Calling

First a nod to President Putin and Vice President Trump as Biden would have it. Just a head in hands moment. Apparently when confronted about the Trump instead of Harris thing, he said – you should listen to him. Do Harris and Trump sound alike behind closed doors?  Do their voices grate in the same way? Is Biden just too old? Answers on a postcard.  This is the analysis of Biden’s attempt to show he had the mental agility to be president. https://www.thetimes.com/world/us-world/article/biden-speech-vp-trump-putin-press-conference-5fwlkh2st  or https://archive.ph/ShwaQ

All change in British government this week – the Tories are out, Labour are in. Labour have had 14 years to figure out what they want to do and if they are going to squander opportunities like the last government.  There are huge problems. Some of Labour’s solutions including releasing violent prisoners after they have served 40% of their jail term to ease overcrowding may cause problems in the longer term. It will apply to’ prisoners on “standard determinate sentences” — but not to those convicted of sexual offences, crimes involving serious violence or terrorism-related offences’. The ultimate solution is to build more jails but that will take time. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/07/07/prisoners-serve-40-per-cent-sentence-to-beat-overcrowding/ or https://archive.ph/Noxv1

The current fear is this government will go backwards on women’s rights as Starmer has appointed Annaliese Dodds as Minister for Women and Equalities as well as Bridget Philipson as Secretary of State for the same. The department is supposed to have a Secretary of State at the helm and Dodds is only in charge of International Development. Philipson did not know where a fully intact trans identified male should go pee in a restaurant with only two bathrooms. Dodds thinks it depends on the context. However, women are organised and it is likely that the formidable Kemi Badenoch will retain the brief for the position. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/07/08/where-does-anneliese-dodds-stand-on-gender/ or https://archive.ph/m4UnP

My new MP Joe Morris is very concerned about clearing up the waterways which is a good thing. I suspect he will follow Labour’s line on women’s rights. https://x.com/JoeMorrisMP/status/1811421108056535493

The Tories are currently licking their wounds and about to choose a new leader. It is quite possible that Badenoch will stand. Braverman has already indicated her readiness. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/07/11/braverman-badenoch-former-allies-battling-tory-leadership/ or https://archive.ph/NnefW

Certain gender affirming activists have taken the UK government to court today over its ban on Puberty Blockers. The current Secretary of State for Health Wes Streeting agrees with the former Secretary of State for Health that private prescriptions of Puberty Blockers should be banned in the UK. The activists want this overturned. https://x.com/tribunaltweets/status/1811706026934079556

There is an NYT opinion piece today about US gender medicine and Cass. This is a gift article. It is good to see even the NYT is starting to have to acknowledge the problems with the affirmation only model. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/12/opinion/gender-affirming-care-cass-review.html?unlocked_article_code=1.6k0.hm4q.MdF3p3GmLC-b&smid=url-share

There has been a brouhaha in publishing over a book influencer who claims to have been sacked because she tweeted on an account which mentioned the fact that she was a ‘senior bookseller for Waterstone’ that she was going to rip up GC author Christina Dalcher’s books. One of Christina’s novels Vox is about women being silenced . Waterstones has said it took the action because the former employee had broken company employment policy and would be not commenting further as it was in the hands of their lawyers. It is actually very hard to fire an employee and I suspect Waterstones will have had solid grounds. This has not stopped an open petition from authors and others demanding that Waterstones reinstate Tilly. She has thanked them for their love and support as well as making comments about Dalcher being a horrible person and deserving to be boycotted. Note one of the signatories is Joanne Harris, the former chair of the Society of Authors who famously did nothing when GC authors were threatened with contract removal.  (Has Tilly consulted an employment lawyer?) https://www.theguardian.com/books/article/2024/jul/11/authors-ask-waterstones-to-rehire-worker-fired-for-tweet-about-gender-critical-writer-christina-dalcher

Here my revisions are off to my editor and she will get back to me before the end of the month.

The councillor who had been silent re the tree in my garden suddenly phoned to say that he found someone who would as a special favour to the councillor remove said tree. I pointed that it was now in the hands of my insurance company. The man did come out and look at the footpath and agreed with me that several trees need to come out which he will do as a favour to the councillor (and it will mean that those trees don’t crash on to the property). Northumberland County Council still claim it isn’t their land…

Paddy rolled in something disgusting so he had a bath this morning and is currently sulking. He is also 2 this weekend. I am hopeful that he will be better behaved in the next year.

Hopefully everyone else’s week was a good one. I look forward to seeing you in the comments.

If you like what you read on here, why not subscribe? It’s free and I don’t have any plans to put in a paywall.