This is Northumberland UK calling 29 7 22
My weekly round up of the UK news for TGIF Common sense. It amuses me to do it so I do.
This is Northumberland UK calling.
What a week, what a preponderance of reverse ferreting in the UK establishment. A reverse ferret is a sudden and complete 180 degree turn in an organisation’s editorial stance , normally without acknowledging the turn in the hopes that the general public won’t notice as well.
The week’s leading reverse ferreter was the UK’s most prominent LGBTQ+ charity, Stonewall with a full hat trick of reverse ferrets. A hat trick is achieving three things in a short space of time, generally in football 3 goals by one player in a match or cricket 3 wickets taken off three successive balls by a bowler. So here we go – count them: Last Saturday Stonewall tweeted that children as young as two could be trans in support of an article about a transman who wanted their daughter to be a boy and was upset when the daughter believed the nursery school teacher that she was actually a girl. On Monday, they issued this ‘On Friday we put out a tweet that was unclear, relating to gender stereotypes and nursery age children, leading some supporters to ask us what we meant.’ In the first statement they said that they had no interest in nursery education. When it was pointed out that there was physical evidence to the contrary, they stealth edited the release to remove the assertion. https://www.stonewall.org.uk/about-us/news/stonewall-statement-22-july-tweet-inclusive-education
On Wednesday, Stonewall was back in the news as Allison Bailey won part of her discrimination case but lost the part which implicated Stonewall. Basically their defence was that they merely advised Bailey’s chambers and that their employees were acting on their own time in lobbying the chambers. In other words, Stonewall said it was allowing its employees to do something which it told its clients was not supposed to be done. Garden Court Chambers followed the advice, and not the practice of Stonewall and have been fined £22k in aggravated damages on top of the £5k they paid Stonewall for the duff advice. Allison Bailey like Maya Forstater who earlier this month was found to have been discriminated against are the two people whom JK Rowling has supported the most. Rowling’s view on their situation has been vindicated. This is Allison Bailey’s press release: https://allisonbailey.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/2022-07-22-Press-Release-Publication-copy.docx.pdf This is Stonewall’s take: https://www.stonewall.org.uk/about-us/news/stonewall-statement-outcome-allison-bailey-case The Guardian’s take on the legal implications: https://www.theguardian.com/society/2022/jul/29/tribunal-rulings-for-gender-critical-women-have-key-implications
On Thursday, the NHS England announced it was closing England’s only gender clinic for children and moving to a regional model where children will be treated holistically and all comorbidities such as autism, sexual abuse and family situation addressed as the Tavistock is unsafe and has many failings, including a failure to research the effect of puberty blockers properly before handing them out as routine. Stonewall, having opposed holistic model of care saying that it was akin to conversion therapy, welcomed the move by the NHS England and made no mention of their previous opposition to the model. Various other trans charities such as Mermaids attempted the same reverse ferret trick, but they are implicated in the disaster which was the Tavistock. Full hat trick complete.
Hillary Cass’s letter which can be read here: https://cass.independent-review.uk/publications/ explains further about what is happening in the UK and should be read by anyone interested in this topic. BTW Kemi Badenoch was the minister responsible for ensuring the Cass review went ahead and she did tweet out about how much hostility she faced and how determined she was to persist. One can only hope she gets a cabinet position where she can make a difference. It is very much like the adults have re-entered the room. There are now going to be proper research trials for puberty blockers and anyone who wishes to take them will have to be enrolled in a trial. In other words, they are going to be highly regulated and not routinely administered as previously. Cass highlighted a grave concern that puberty blockers do affect the decision making capacity and prevent the brain from maturing properly. "...brain maturation may be temporarily or permanently disrupted by puberty blockers, which could have significant impact on the ability to make complex risk-laden decisions, as well as possible longer-term neuropsychological consequences." The high quality research proving or disproving anything about puberty blockers simply is not there. While we are on research into this - -the FDA announced at the beginning of the month that the main female puberty blocker Lupron can cause pseudotumor cerbi – basically sudden swelling of the brain and vision loss https://publications.aap.org/aapnews/news/20636/Risk-of-pseudotumor-cerebri-added-to-labeling-for?autologincheck=redirected And the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists in their draft guidelines on treating transgender people were quite open about the fact that taking Testerone during pregnancy can cause birth defects. It is a teratogen (which means can cause birth defects. Another famous teratogen is thalidomide) which causes virilization (masculinization) of female foetuses. There is some question about if it can be passed through breast milk as well. Para 358 https://www.rcog.org.uk/guidance/guidance-consultation-documents/
The UK papers are full this morning of horror tales from the Tavistock and how vulnerable children were pushed on to puberty blockers. Concerns about the Tavistock and what it was up to stretch back 20 years. It is sincerely a medical scandal for our age. https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/tavistock-child-gender-clinic-forced-to-close-over-safety-fears-2gfj325lt , https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/07/28/nhs-faces-crackdown-giving-puberty-blockers-children-tavistock/ , https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11059641/Courage-parents-patients-whistleblowers-revealed-Tavistock-childrens-clinic-SHUT.html (not behind a paywall)
The two Conservative Leadership candidates welcome the NHS England move and pledged to support Cass’s recommendations. Rishi Sunak did attempt a reverse ferret by pledging to cut taxes – these are taxes as chancellor, he was responsible for implementing. He is the person people most blame for the UK cost of living rises.
The most interesting thing about the debates was that on Wednesday, the presenter fainted off camera, leading Liz Truss to appear shocked and human. The presenter later tweeted that she was fine. Liz Truss is widely expected to win, not least because she was out of the country when the Great Resignation took place and did not play any part in it. Johnson still has a lot of popular support within the rank and file. Sunak is seen as the person welded the knife.
Ben Wallace, the defence secretary (the endorsement both candidates wanted) has come out in support of Truss (saw the tweet this morning). ‘Liz knows how to govern. Her experience goes from running the finances of this country all the way through representing Britain on the foreign stage. She’s authentic. She’s honest. She’s experienced. ‘
This is the article he wrote for the Times: https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/liz-truss-has-the-experience-to-stand-up-for-britain-wcrdqp6d2?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Twitter#Echobox=1659043245 Wallace also gave this interview to the Sun where he accused Sunak of dereliction of duty for resigning. https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/19352711/ben-wallace-liz-rishi-leadership/ (not behind a paywall).
Labour sacked the shadow transport minister when he showed up on the picket line for striking railway workers. Such things are supposed to be agreed in advance and it wasn’t. Sam Terry is also currently romantically involved with Angela Rayner, the deputy leader. There is some suggestion that Tarry was trying to up his profile as being to the Left because he is facing deselection challenges from the Far Left in his constituency. The unions are not happy about it and are threatening to pull funding from Labour which could bankrupt the party. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11059605/Angela-Rayner-gives-Keir-Starmer-cold-shoulder-sacked-partner-joining-picket.html
The price of gasoline has eased slightly. It is currently averaging 1.88 pence per litre gas and 196.7 pence per litre diesel according to the BBC. Diesel is more expensive as Britain imported a significant amount from Russia. The price does remain considerably higher than this time last year. Oil companies have been reporting record profits. Cost of living, particularly energy prices, are a real concern in the UK.
White working class children are now the least likely to go to a good university in the UK. Black children have overtaken them in academic achievement. The research showed 10.5 per cent of white pupils from state school backgrounds in 2020-21 were studying at Britain’s top institutions by the age of 19, compared with 10.7 per cent of black students in the same age group. Chinese teenagers were the most likely to attend at a rate of 40.7 per cent. Asian teenagers were the next most likely at 15.6 per cent, followed by mixed race teenagers, at 13.4 per cent. This undercuts social justice campaigners’ complaint that the universities are systematically racist. That there has been a problem with white working class academic achievement (particularly amongst boys) in the UK has been an open secret for years. It took the work of Dr Tony Sewell and his Commission to bring it out into the light. Kemi Badenoch was the minister responsible for ensuring the data was properly looked at as she was in charge of the Equalities brief. There are reasons why Kemi Badenoch is so popular in the UK. If you haven’t read Zoe Strimpel’s profile of her on Common Sense last Sunday, you should. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11059601/White-pupils-likely-university-drive-make-intakes-diverse.html
The so-called Wagatha Christie trial’s verdict is due to be announced today. This is the catfight between two footballer’s wives about who leaked various stories to the press. The colossal waste of money and displays of self-entitlement were breath-taking during the trial. The participants have not been given advanced notice of the ruling as the judge was afraid they would leak it. Both have denied such an intention. (will update when the verdict actually drops) https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11060163/Coleen-Rooney-supremely-confident-ahead-todays-verdict-Wagatha-Christie-court-battle.html
Finally Vindolanda dug up a complete Roman era wooden shovel (circa 117 – 120 AD). It looks unsurprisingly like a shovel but without the top handle. A few years ago they dug up a Roman era toilet seat which looked like a toilet seat. The soil at the site prevents decay. The photo is on their FB page. https://www.facebook.com/search/top?q=the%20vindolanda%20trust