This is Northumberland Calling 9.2.24
The Kemi on top of her brief, doesn’t get trip up edition
Hello America (particularly Central Ohio), this is Northumberland calling
As Kemi Badenoch promised back in December, this week she wrote to the Committee for Women and Equalities giving chapter and verse on why she believes the affirmation only model is conversion therapy for gay children. The data is very conclusive – the vast majority of children who were transitioning were gay, not straight or bisexual, but gay. The dark joke about ‘transing the gay away’ was in fact not too far off the mark. Caroline Noakes the chair of the committee should have known this data, but perhaps she is not on top of the brief. This is the letter Badenoch sent: https://committees.parliament.uk/publications/43255/documents/215243/default/
Janice Turner in the Times for this Saturday’s magazine has done a wonderful interview with Kemi in which she fully details her philosophy. She comes across as a woman who knows her brief and does not get tripped up (unlike some geriatric US politicians I could mention – that news conference was something else) https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/kemi-badenoch-interview-brexit-mp-views-rishi-sunak-wlczw6vrv or https://archive.is/d4CrE
The Scottish NHS has had to change policy and admit that knowing biological sex does matter for medical outcomes. A bit of a duh moment but they had had plans to hide biological sex in the case of trans identifying individuals. As red blood cell counts are biological sex dependant (among other things), various conditions such as cancer could have been misdiagnosed. https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/risk-to-health-if-patients-allowed-to-change-sex-on-medical-records-7fhpf7wkp or https://archive.is/zOIwM
Royal Society of Literature (a club for authors of a literary bent, so not commercial—I am a commercial author) is busy imploding. Last weekend after articles in Private Eye and Kate Clanchy publishing her resignation letter on the LoobyLou substack, both the Times and the Telegraph investigated the kerfuffle https://archive.ph/9jkdr and it emerged that one of the sticking points was that the RSL failed to condemn the stabbing of Sir Salman Rushdie as it wished to remain impartial. It would appear that the RSL is headed down the same route as the Society of Authors with much the same cast of characters leading the charge. This was their rebuttal to the earlier pieces: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/feb/08/royal-society-of-literature-books-bernardine-evaristo
Sir Salman Rushdie’s response to the piece : Just wondering if the Royal Society of Literature is “impartial” about attempted murder,
@BernardineEvari
? (Asking for a friend.)
https://twitter.com/SalmanRushdie/status/1755690386712900077
The case of Linzi Smith, a football fan of Newcastle United has gained some traction in the press. Linzi’s crime was to believe that transwomen are male and post this on social media. For this indiscretion and as a result of a single complaint, she has been banned from attending matches for two seasons. After a data subject request, she was astonished to see that the Football Association hired private detectives to report on her movements. The Free Speech Union have taken up her case and are appealing for other football fans to submit Data Subject Access Requests to find out what (if anything) is held on them. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13046385/Thousands-football-fans-secretly-investigated-Premier-Leagues-Stasi-spy-agency-political-views-Newcastle-United-supporter-banned-matches-gender-critical-posts.html?mc_cid=ac07a19f89&mc_eid=cded833dfe
When is a race, not a race but a run? Because Parkrun currently allows biological males to take part in the female category, something women runners had objected to, they decided to erase all records. Cue much gnashing and wailing from men who enjoyed these records…Parkrun claims that they are not about winning or racing, but about inclusivity… https://www.telegraph.co.uk/athletics/2024/02/08/parkrun-records-transgender/ or https://archive.is/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/athletics/2024/02/08/parkrun-records-transgender/
And in case people did not catch this – they have figure out how to read the charred scrolls from the Villa of the Papyri. Totally amazing use of AI technology and team work. Because I love books and libraries, I have long wondered what these scrolls hold and now it seems we will find out. This is the press release from earlier this week: https://scrollprize.org/grandprize
It is sleeting today and so Paddy is being a resting spaniel. But there are signs of Spring – snowdrops and winter aconites are making a carpet. But basically it is a month of mud, mud and more mud.
Incredible work re: the scrolls. I can’t wait for see what they say. Also incredible that they aren’t dust. The world is truly amazing.
Glad Paddy is getting rest! We were under cloud cover for weeks and rain rain rain. Had water in the basement for the first time in 13 years and it’s been fun! But the sun has shone for two days and it’s like heaven.
It looks as though the tide is beginning to turn on the trans madness. About time!
I cannot tell you how nerdily excited I am about the scrolls at Herculaneum. The technology will only get better, and the thought of finding so much that we thought lost forever is truly thrilling. And I have deep gratitude towards those visionaries of the 17th century who didn’t throw them out as useless lumps of charcoal.
Btw, I read/listened to Mary Beard’s _Emperor of Rome_ last week and for the most part enjoyed it. I was slightly annoyed at the woke tone that crept through in places, but chalked it up to editorial pressure.
Poor Paddy! My dogs also hate to go out in the rain. Curl up on the sofa with him and listen to Dar Williams’ wonderful song “February,” which always gets me through this time of year.