The Gender Recognition Act

Interesting times have come about.  Scotland has passed a Gender Recognition Act and our government may veto it.  I think that this is the wrong course of action.

While I have concerns about this, notably that it could mean an end to single sex schools (i.e transwomen would be allowed in a girls school as A level students), my main concern about the GRA is if it would allow people like the sex offender, Katie Dolatowski the legal right to stay in a women's refuge. Also I have concerns with people like the rapist, Karen White being allowed to be in a female prison.  I know that some consider me transphobic to have these concerns, but so be it.

Defenders of the bill state that such issues are not going to arise, those who are against it state otherwise.  I am not a legal expert so cannot really understand the bill to see what it says and I rely on others.  It appears that I will only find out what will be allowed or not when it is allowed, or not, and that means the law should pass.

I do think that it is silly to make people who are non-binary to have to wait ages for a medical diagnosis for the ability to have such a certificate.

But I should not be surprised considering that the government who have rightly banned conversion therapy for people who are not straight, have refused to ban conversion therapy for those who are non-binary.  

In summary, conversion therapy should be banned, and rather than forcing a veto on the Scottish GRA, an act of Parliament could be passed to make it only legal in Scotland if the concerns about it are valid. 

      

Do I Believe?

My question is if I should start to think that we can win the league. We are eight points ahead in the league after our victory against The Scum and also this is thanks to the way ManUre beat the team that rhymes with City. From the highlights that I watched, the game could have gone either way. Our defenders still make me scream and I am surprised to see that we have the second best defensive record in the league. But that may be due to our goal keeper. In fact, I am also starting hold hopes that we may win in the next round of the FA cup. The thing is, we have thrown away a five point lead in the past to finish third in a two horse race!

Man Up

My stress from yesterday has improved a bit and this film helped a lot. Yes it is a RomCom, but I feel it is one of the better ones. I know not everyone agrees, but it has memorable, though simple characters and a decent plot. It was what I needed for today and I may even watch it again! 

The Menu

This morning was quite stressful, and the effects of this lasted a while, we went to have a late lunch at The Shepherd, great Guinness and service, but a shame about the food.

An irony then that my wife and I started to watch The Menu afterwards. It is very dark and she had to stop watching it after a while. I continued to watch it, and I have to say that I enjoyed it and would recommend it to those with a sick and depraved sense of humour. 

Anyway, here is hoping that I feel less stressed tomorrow. 

The Conservatives stealing a Labour policy

Many people complain that they do not know what Labour stands for. A reason for this, is that the Tories will steal Labour policies. Labour unveiled a plan to help jobseekers find work earlier this week. Jonathan Ashworth (Labour's shadow work and pensions secretary) promised improved support for those who have recently left employment, the plan designed to encourage older workers and those with medical conditions back into work.

Today, the Tories, in effect stole it. 

I think that we do have a system where it is hard for those who are ill to get benefits, but if they improve a bit, they are in a catch 22 situation where if they do try to return to work, they will lose benefits, and this can be catastrophic if it turns out that they cannot remain in work.

While this is not the Universal Income that I would prefer, this is a step in the right direction.  It is a shame that Labour will not get the credit for these changes though.

A minimum service level legislation for the NHS

The government want to ensure that the NHS provides a minimum level of service during strikes.  What I want to know is what they consider a minimum level of service to be outside of strikes. 

An ambulance dispatcher has spoken about their fears on the BBC website.  This as a personal feel for me as my mother, who woke up with crushing central chest pain last year had to get to hospital by taxi as no ambulance went out to see her.  Where I work, I saw a lady who had a similar issue, waking up at night with chest pain, but cancelled the ambulance when her pain went.  I saw her the following morning and it looked like she had some heart damage as a result.  My mother was fortunate, it was not her heart, but for too many, they do come to harm due to these waits.

While the government like to blame the pandemic, this was a problem for too many before it.  It is just worse now.  The issue of waiting times for ambulances was discussed in Parliament in 2016 and in 2018, there were reports of patients waiting more than a day for an ambulance as well. 

Patients are dying in hospital corridors now, but again, this was happening before the pandemic, this article being in 2018.

I would love the government to state what standards are to be expected during a strike and to be accountable if those standards are not met when there is no strike action taking place. 

Oxford United's FA Cup tie with Arsenal

I forgot to post about this last night!  I had listened to most of it while charging my car (our home charger was being used by my wife) but I did get back home to watch the last few minutes and then saw the goals I had been listening to earlier. 

My worry before the game was that we would slip up, but winning it will mean nothing if we lose, as expected to Manchester City in the next round.  If nothing else, I do hope this game means that Eddie Nketiah continues to improve and also that Smith Rowe returns to his amazing form.