The Tavistock gender identity clinic and trying to make the right decision

Sadly the Tavistock gender identity clinic is to close. NHS England have promised to replace it, but working in the NHS I have repeatedly seen big differences in the aspirations of what NHS England have, and the reality that results.

The wait for treatment at the clinic is ever increasing, and by increasing, I mean in a manner faster than the way NHS waiting lists have increased under the Conservatives. 

I do feel sorry for those working at the clinic. There is a huge and increasing demand for assessment, and all those who want to be seen, at the time, are convinced that they need to transition.  But, Keira Bell has stated that the gender clinic 'should have challenged me more' over transition. Patients should not have to wait as long as they are having to, for these assessments, and the service should be given the capability to assess patients as well as is reasonable so that there are less people like Keira Bell, but also less people who should transition on the waiting list.  

I am also concerned that the new Conservative leader is going to put more barriers in the way for people to get these assessments, an example of why I have these concerns being the refusal to ban conversion therapy.

I have posted my views on gender identity before and recently have taken part in a discussion on Twitter about it. Sadly, when challenged, this person decided to withdraw from the discussion, but now appears to have their account suspended. They had asked me to look at a video about what JK Rowling had said, and my views on this can be seen here.

None who are in favour of all men being allowed to enter safe spaces for women so long as they are, or claim to be Trans have answered if this should apply in a local school which has been challenged about rape culture and misogyny. To put it simply, what I and JK Rowling are concerned about is the threat posed by a minority of men, not a threat posed by TransWomen.      

The Matrix Resurrections

First of all, the family update.  Leia is back to normal, the kids have started to bicker (though only at times), my daughter misses her friend in France and most of us went out for breakfast today.  My son opted to stay at home, which was his loss as we returned to The Red Dog, though this time with my daughter.

Yesterday at work was a challenge, though not as bad as I thought it was going to end up.  I needed a rest today so took things easy with a late walk to Highwoods park with Leia and the walk was shorter than normal.

As a family, we did get to play a game together and while my son and I lost, it was a close thing.

Now, Matrix Resurrections.  I thought that it was going to be terrible.  The Matrix was an awesome film, but it’s sequels did not match up.  This did.  I will have to watch all four films again to appreciate this properly and when I do, I may not like this as much as I do now, but I did enjoy it and would recommend other Sci-fi nerds to watch it. 

You belong with me

That was the end of a full day.  Yesterday our garden had a lot of work done on it and our patio was treated with weed killer which meant that our dog was not allowed our in the back garden for the day.  She had loads of energy when I got back last night.  Due to that, I took her for a long walk this morning.  After that it was breakfast and then working from home.  My wife was doing the same which was quite nice.

We went to collect my daughter and two of her friends who had gone to France.  Fortunately my wife came, as we were not able to find a parking space. We were quite pleased that she was worn her face-mask on the plane, she being aware that my brother had caught COVID when travelling to the US on one of the few occasions that he did not wear a face-mask! 

After that it was a return to work and then a meal out at the Three Horseshoes in Fordham.  We have been there before and the food was great.  Leia loved meeting the dog that lives there, but got very jealous when we paid attention to it, and then decided to blank it! To be fair, it was a lovely dog and it was the first time that she saw all of us with another dog, and the first time every that she saw me with another one.  She became quite needy afterwards and needed reassurance that we loved her.  On the weekend I had met a man who said that as much as he likes dogs, if he touches one and returns home with the scent of another, he gets in trouble as his dog will just ignore him!  Leia was not that bad, but none of us expected her to be the jealous type! 

Critical Race Theory

I think that Trevor Noah is a great communicator.  I do not agree with everything he says, but he is able to get his views across in a simple manner which I can only envy.  One of the many things that he has been able to explain well is with how actions to disenfranchise those who are not white in the USA resulted in generational wealth being a perk mainly for (some) white people.  

There are those who do not agree with teaching this, which is fine, but I would love them to watch this and let me know if they think what he has said is wrong, and if so, explain why.  

Knackered

Yesterday I cycled to work.  I took a long route as I wanted to cycle to the offices of my second job which I do on Wednesday's.  When I went, it was sunny and a bit windy.  The cycle to my second job was a stretch for me and I had to walk on bits and took flatter options where possible including the trip to my nail job. On the way back it was a more breezy and was a lot hotter.  I am not able to cycle as I could before the pandemic hit, but I am not as bad as I thought I would be.  I was exhausted for the rest of the day and have yet to recover today.  Here is hoping that my energy levels return soon!  

My son took Leia out yesterday for a walk to see one of his friends who has a Chihuahua which, according to him, she stood on.  She does love other dogs, most of the time, but can be wary of large hairy ones.  Following that, he retired to his room but did come down to a Gousto meal that my wife helped me prepare.  He did not mind the fake chicken that was the meal.  My wife hates it, but I am hoping to start to enjoy cooking by using this.  After all this, it was a dog walk before Love Island which I watched with my wife.  While it is not the most moral of TV shows, it is great being with her while we watch it together.

When is an abortion not an abortion?

I know that I have discussed the laws about abortion in the USA earlier, but it is sad to see that some of those in favour of ending abortion, do not understand what this means.  Also, and it is sad I have to provide evidence for this. Despite many on the right stating that a ten year old was not raped and needed an abortion, this actually did happen.

Really, I should not have been surprised by this considering other things said by the GOP on women's rights and rape. 

For the record, an abortion is an abortion.  It does not matter if it is done on a ten year old who would face greater risks from pregnancy than she would if older.  It is still an abortion.  Again, I want abortion to be safe, legal and rare.  Not illegal. 

Fresh

I loved it! What an awesome film. It starts as a mixture between a horror film and psychological thriller, but ends on a sick and twisted high. 

I had started to watch it with my daughter, but she found it hard to continue after the first meal was prepared. I understand this and I recommend anyone who may be queasy avoids this, or accepts that they may give meat up, at least for a short period of time.

I do not wish to talk too much about the film as I rate it and this is best without spoilers though during the dance scene (which I am not sure would have been possible), I realised that Daisy Edgar-Jones reminds me of the mother of one of my daughters friends.

If you are sick and twisted, this is a film to watch. If you are not, avoid it.

Mersea Island

My wife and I took advantage of only having one child to have brunch together. We could have gone alone, but we took Leia with us. My son did have the chance to come but turned us down.  Leia loved it as she got to have a sausage (the photo is from when she was waiting for one).

Later in the day, I tweeted after a nap (the after effects of my COVID infection in April) on BBC Any Questions and one of my tweets was read out on Any Answers afterwards, with a comment that I was cheeky for making it! When I say one of my tweets, I mean part of it. They read “It will be good to see the Conservatives elect a Remain supporting LibDem as leader.” My tweet of course relates to Liz Truss.  It is not the first time a tweet of mine has been read out on the show, but it is the first time in a while, and it is one of my better ones. 

Afterwards it was a trip to Mersea, this time my son came along.  I would like to say a good time was had by all.  Dinner could have been better, but it was fine and we had a great game of Snog, Marry, Pie.  As for the trip itself, Leia loved it.   

My daughter contacted us from France and told us about her time.  She has been kayaking and is exhausted from doing so. We do miss her, but it is great having the time with our son as well with no bickering.  

I was wrong

When I posted yesterday, I was under the impression that my daughter had arrived at her destination.  She had not.  She is there now though, but being at work, I have had no updates.

My son has now finished school and is free for the next six weeks.  Our Cockapoo is missing our daughter and my wife came round to my work to have lunch with me for the first time since the pandemic began!  Some may say that enjoying eating lunch with her is silly, but I loved it and was very grateful for the food, drink and company.  Having her with me lifted me for the rest of the day.  Seeing her smile is the best drug ever! 

I do have to ensure that I keep recording videos or am taking pictures of Leia as I know my daughter will miss her.  I suspect more than she will miss the rest of us! 

Just our son at home now

The title is a bit mean as we have our dog at home as well.  He had taken Leia out for a walk when I got home late today and was in a good mood as he had got all the GCSE options that he had asked for, most importantly for him, being able to do triple science.  He was quite worried that he would not get the option to do this, so that is reassuring for him.  Also he did not want to study Geography (I do not understand the aversion of my family to this awesome subject) and he has not been allocated that either.

My daughter is now in France, the journey there taking a while.  I have not had a chance to speak to her, but I might see if I get a chance tomorrow, if nothing else, to find out what she thought about the episode of Love Island from tonight.  

From what I can gather, they were held up by Eurotunnel.  I am impressed at Audrey, the mother of Eve, my daughters friend, did the drive by herself.  When my wife and I drove to Bordeaux in 2016, we shared the driving.  Not sure either of us would want to drive the distance by ourselves!

Uvalde and the first few minutes

First of all, let me say how appalled I am at the death of children in Uvalde.  As explained by Trevor Noah below, while there was a delay in the response of the police to the shooting, most of the children would have died anyway due to the use of the AR-15.  An AR-15 was not around when the constitution of the USA was amended to allow people to have the right to bear arms, nor were mass shootings.

The good guy with a gun argument again is ruined, as there was a possibility that the murderer could have been stopped before he went on his killing spree.  But those on the right again are trying to resist gun controls, saying in effect that dead children are an acceptable price to pay for the right to own weapons like the AR-15.  

I am not going to repeat my previous posts on gun control in the UK, but guns are legal here and thanks to decent gun controls, things are far safer.  Yes, we have knife crime, but it is far easier to defend yourself against someone with a knife than it is someone with a gun.

The Princess

The Princess was an interesting film.  Simultaneously bad and good at the same time.  When it comes to the test of payment, I am glad that I did not pay to watch this though and I am not going to watch it again. It is not even a film I would recommend to anyone unless they are interested in fantasy role playing and even then, I would warn them that it is not the best film ever.  With this in mind, I watched it alone.

I continued to watch Grey’s Anatomy with my son before I took my daughter to her friends for her sleepover before her drive to France tomorrow and then watched Love Island with my amazing wife.  I am glad Danica has got to stay after her awesome takedown of Billy last night.

Last of all, the video is of Leia earlier this morning on our walk.  She can be very determined at times! 

The last PMQs of Boris Johnson

Hopefully this will be the last PMQ’s of Boris Johnson. With the Conservative Leadership coming up it was good to hear Boris Johnson being asked questions about issues that had been raised by the candidates.  His answers were not up to much, but when are they?  Never before as a Prime Minister been so despised by those in Parliament due to this repeated lies, the lack of applause as he left from opposition politicians being a sign of this. 

I did watch it with my daughter who was not as animated as she was before.  The odds are that she will be watching this again when it starts up again with a new leader.

Controlling behaviour on Love Island

Yes, I am still watching Love Island.  I was appalled at the double standards shown by the two men to women last week when they returned from time apart with new men in tow as these men had hooked up with other ladies themselves.  Dami was disappointing, but Andrew was worse having been intimate with Coco and then forgetting that he had been so.  

But this week, Luca has been controlling regarding his partner, Gemma, and Davide has been the same with his.  Luca though appears to be the worst as all his partner did was talk to another man (who then lied about what happened).  I just hope that women and girls watching this do not expect this behaviour to be normal when it comes to men.  

Coming home, it has been interesting. My daughter is due to travel to France on Thursday with friends (and the family of one) and tonight is her last night with us as she will be sleeping over at her friends for a sleepover before an early morning start.  Sadly and argument has taken place which has involved her.  I hope and pray that this is resolved before she leaves.

Am I the only one to be suspicious of the support Gove is giving Kemi Badenoch?

Sorry to sound cynical about this, but Michael Gove has a history of being linked to racism.  The contents of his bookcase came under scrutiny in the past.  While the books concerned may have belonged to his wife, and people have the right to read what they want, having books that promote racism visible to others is not an advisable move for a politician.  When younger, I bought a copy of the Satanic Bible.  I do not have it now as I consider it to be literally evil.  There was only so much of it that I could read before I threw it away.  

I may be wrong, he may think that Kemi Badenoch would have been the best leader for the Conservative party.  But his backing of her will be convenient if he is challenged on racism in the future as he will be able to say that he backed her so cannot be racist.   

Thor: Love and Thunder

As expected, I enjoyed this Marvel film.  It was not as good as the others at times, and of the Thor films, this may be my least favourite, but I still liked it, and if one of the children wants to watch it again on the big screen, I would be happy to watch it again.  Though I have to admit, Nebula and the soundtrack play a big part in this!

At times, it was a bit too silly, but only by a bit.  Overall, it had the humour I like and of course action.  A welcome addition to the Marvel series of films, but if I was being pedantic, not quite as good as the others.  Mind you, it did not seem to have the glaring plot holes that Avengers Endgame had!

As for the family, we all watched it together.  I had been planning to cook, but got to work too late to get home to cook lunch which was a shame.  I did go for a bike ride, my first in ages while my son took Leia for a morning walk.  However while he took her for a long one, it was a bit too late in the morning for what I wanted as none of us want her to be affected badly by the heat.  It is strange in that my children took Leia for a walk rather than me, by daughter taking her for a walk once we returned home from the cinema and before we watched Love Island.  I say we, my son will not watch it and instead was in his room.  But he may be the only sane one amongst us!

MH17 and Russian incompetence

A few years ago, after the destruction of MH17, I made a post on my blog. My first post was in 2014 and I posted an update the following year.  But one question remained to me.  How could the operators mistake a civilian airliner for a military plane?  Civilian airliners have been destroyed before, and example being Iran Air 655 when a very stupid decision made in the heat of battle, but when it came to MH17, no battle was taking place. 

 

The answer appears to be incompetence. We have seen during Putins War that too many Russian troops have been poorly equipped and badly trained.  We can only imagine if the crew and passengers would be alive if the crew had been properly trained.

3022

Well that was a depressing film!  I liked it, though it did not score well on Amazon Prime (which reminds me, I must rate it).  I do like some darker films and I doubt that anyone else at home would have wanted to watch a film that was so bleak.  If you want to watch the film, do not watch the trailer which gives away a lot of it.  Too much in fact.   

As for the rest of us, we have been taking it a bit easy today.  I have watched some Grey's Anatomy with my son, though I did not learn anything this time.  He does not seem to mind my commentary, though I am shocked (no pun intended) that they attempt to defibrillate asystole.  

I did get to use the water guns that I had bought earlier this month.  My daughter and I had a fight, sadly, my son got caught in the crossfire.  We had washed Leia, but she decided to shoot her anyway.  Though with the heat, she dried out very quickly.  I suspect that she will be used as target practice again this summer...

The Princess Diaries

I cannot believe that I forgot to mention in the blog that my son and I watched this on the weekend!  My wife and daughter were with us for the start, but both left for different reasons.  It was an enjoyable film.  Predictable with no real surprises, but it was great to see Mary Poppins back on screen again.  This is not a film I would take time out to watch again, nor would I have wanted to pay to watch in the cinema, but I am still glad that I watched this feelgood film and also am glad that I watched it with my son.  Though I have to admit, I forgot to ask him what he thought of it!  

As for today, I thought that I had been banned from Twitter when I was not able to make a post.  Later on, I found out that this appeared to be a system error.  Makes no difference to PMQ's later today as I have a work meeting when it is on, so I will miss it.  I doubt that it will be very interesting as Boris Johnson is to leave office and from the way it looks, we may be getting our first non-white Prime Minister!

To iron or not to iron

Yesterday, my wife went to her mothers and took my daughter with her. It had been an eventful day with a lost set of car keys as well as the heat. While they were away, I got a message from my daughter that she was reading my blog! Apparently, she likes the way I talk about her and my son on it, though she did say I have been nicer about them on the blog than I have been in real life! I am not sure if she has read my previous one however (I may one day put the posts on here).

This meant that I got to spend time with my son and our dog.  Despite the heat, Leia was keen to play fetch in the back garden with a ball, and later in the evening was looking at me with the "When are you take me on my walk" look.  My son and I have watched things together, though he got fed up waiting for me with Friends.  He managed to convince me to watch Grey's Anatomy.  I am fussy with medical drama's and I was a bit annoyed that this one was inaccurate at times.  Overall though, it appeared to get most things correct and I even learned something through watching one of the episodes.  I think that he liked watching it with me, and I know I loved spending time with him.  I did the ironing while this was going on, ironing some of his shirts, but I was not able to find his trousers.

We found them this morning though, they were still in the washing machine.  He had washed them, but had not taken them out and this morning was trying to dry them with a hair dryer.  With this heat, if he had taken them out last night, they would have been dry, and also, ironed.  Saying that, I do expect them to be dry by now, and in fact may have been dry by the time he got to school in them.  

Leave means leave

Not my title, but that of Dawn French.  I, like many in the nation, am not happy that Boris Johnson is still Prime Minister.  Rumours are present that he is because he has no where else to move to or that it is because he wanted his wedding party (a legal one this time) to be at Chequers.  The fact is though, that the man who has made numerous incompetent decisions is to remain in power for a bit longer.  

I was concerned that as he had not approached the Queen about this, that this would mean that he had no intention of resigning, but apparently, he has communicated his decision to the head of our state.  I suspect that there will be more controversy to come out before he leaves.  While the Conservatives are promising a new era in politics, they backed the serial liar who has caused us to have the 4th highest death rate due to COVID in Western Europe. 

Hot in the city

Wow! What a day. One child went to a sleep over last night and the other had an argument which carried over to today. That had to be resolved and that was an emotionally draining conversation.  Fortunately that appeared to resolve matters which was just as well as my wife and I met up with Lyndsay and Nick for drinks in the sun and food.

Getting back, we chilled and I took the dog out. It has been a sunny day and the aroma of barbecue’s was in many places, as was singing from a silent disco (how can anyone not sing to Mr Brightside) and later on the walk, music itself from another party.

Now to try to sleep…

An interesting view on PMQ's

This is an interesting video on PMQ's.  Not sure that many Conservatives will agree with it.  To be fair to Boris Johnson, his ability to communicate won him two elections to be London Mayor, one when there was a backlash against Labour, but the impressive victory he had was the second election during the coalition years.  Also his simple messages got him to win his huge victory in the general election of 2019, and while Corbyn was a factor in the sale of the win, his ability to get his message (or lies) across cannot be understated.

Self-identification sports and changing rooms

Our local boys grammar school has a mixed 6th form and an issue with Rape Culture and Sexual Harassment. Should we make it easier for the minority of men to harass the young women in Safe Spaces by misusing self-identification because the majority will not do so?  If so, should this apply to safe spaces like changing rooms and showers in schools?  That seems to be the call by some who argue that JK Rowling is a transphobe for raising concerns about this.

More students have spoken out about the "toxic" culture at Colchester Royal Grammar School.

Scarlett Mansfield wrote a blog post about her experiences https://t.co/oMRQ6miPzI pic.twitter.com/R7wMuXOTVZ

— BBC Essex (@BBCEssex) May 20, 2021

I bring up the issue again after watching the victory of England over Austria last night. Women's football is different to that of Men's game and I did think back to a video about Tans-inclusion in sport, as to if they should include Transwomen to improve the chances of success.  For many sports, being born male gives advantages. As seen with Isazc Henig, this is not always the case. But women can end up being injured as a result of being up against someone born male. 

I know that I am considered by many to be a Transphobe as I consider TransWomen to be TransWomen, TransMen to be TransMen, Women to be Women and Men to be Men.  I define a woman as someone without a Y chromosome unless that individual identifies as something else. Likewise a man is someone with a Y chromosome, again unless they identify as something else. I do think that sex is real but I do think that in many cases, those who are Trans should be treated as such. I used to think that toilets should be based on genitalia (a view that I still feel should apply to prisons), but there are those with a penis who have lived as women for some time and so long as they are not known to be a threat, I do think that they should be allowed in many areas for women.

PMQ's and memories or the lack of them

I have just finished watching PMQs with my daughter.  She is considering studying politics when she is a Sixth Former so I took a break from work to watch it.  She became a bit animated when doing so, mainly due to the distortion of the truth that took place.  She was not happy that clapping is not allowed in Parliament and also that Boris Johnson can lie in Parliament, but cannot be called a liar.

The issue of groping came up, but the simple fact is that Boris Johnson has a poor memory when it comes to allegations involving this.  Not just with Chris Pincher, but if people remember correctly, Boris himself was accused of groping Charlotte Edwardes but stated that he had no memory of the lunch when this was meant to have occurred.  Boris himself has said that he cannot change, and this seems to be the case considering that Charlotte Edwards was not the only woman to accuse Boris Johnson of the same. 

I believe her when it comes to Boris and his hands, not just her, but both the women.    

I feel sorry for Will Quince

It is not often that I feel sorry for my MP.  I do feel sorry for the loss of his child that his wife and he had to go through.  I do not agree with all the abuse he is subject to and I do not think that it is right, that for the safety of him and his family, that he has to keep his address secret.  

I do feel sorry for the way that he was sent out to defend the Prime Minister, who has been caught out with yet another lie.  He put himself in the line of fire to defend the allegations that Boris Johnson had been told about Chris Pincher and the allegations that Boris Johnson was aware that he had been groping people and how finds himself in a position where he was lied to.  His quote was 'I don't believe, given the shocking nature of what I've read about over the past few days, the Prime Minister or any employer if they'd known about this, would have appointed Chris Pincher as Deputy Chief Whip.'  Remember that Chris Pincher was there to ensure that MP's behaved themselves and did not act in a manner that would endanger the way the public perceived the Conservative Party in his role in the Whips office.  

I do not trust Boris Johnson on most things.  I do admire the way that he has helped Ukraine in Putins War, but that is about it.  I knew Boris lied over and over again before he was elected as Prime Minister, and I, like many in the nation, have witnessed him lying again and again.  I know that it is the nature of the Scorpion to sting the Frog.  Will Quince has found this out the hard way. 

Elvis

Back at work again today. Afterwards, my wife, daughter and I watched Elvis.  While not a cinematic masterpiece, it was a good film.  We did ask my son if he wanted to join us, but he declined after initially accepting the offer.  

It was obvious that it would not be able to do justice to his life, for that, a much longer film would be needed and with this in mind, I would consider this a work of fiction based on his life.  I liked the way it addressed racial injustice in the USA as well as the dangers of drug use.  It did gloss over a lot of his life, including the age that Priscilla Presley was when they first met.  

Overall, I am glad I watched it, though I see no need to watch it again.