Climate change and the UK

Often, people talk about how the UK cannot work towards Net Zero, or should not do so.  I am of the view that the UK should be a world leader in this rather than following others in this aim.  This video is interesting as it shows how well we have done so far. 

Taking the toxicity out of the debate on gender

Sorry to bang on about gender again.  But I have had some interesting discussions with my daughter and son over this, and there have been some recent interventions.

When watching The Last of Us with my son, he asked me about what I thought about Pedro Pascal and his view on JK Rowling.  My view is that he appears to have been taken into the toxicity about what JK Rowling has not said, rather than what she has said.  In February, Pascal shared the quote: “A world without trans people has never existed and never will,” on Instagram, dividing his followers. After some threatened to unfollow him, he reiterated his stance, writing: “I can’t think of anything more vile and small and pathetic than terrorising the smallest, most vulnerable community of people who want nothing from you, except the right to exist.”  I have been on record saying that I do not agree with all that JK Rowling has done, notably the way she misgenders people.  I suspect that she has been radicalised on this by social media and I would like to concentrate on the things she said in the past that I agree with. But while I used to defend her when people called her transphobic, I am reluctant to do so now.

My daughter and I have discussed this, but she is not keen on reading the essay that Rowling wrote five years ago. I do hope this changes, but she is to discuss this with me further.  

But, what I want to discuss, and issue I have mentioned to my children, is how this issue has become toxic. 

 

But while the debate is often toxic, it does not have to be.  David Tennant, when asked about JK Rowling spoke out in a manner which I think was quite pleasant.  I wish that debate on this matter could occur in a civil manner.  Others have done so. 

I accept that many are to consider me to be transphobic, a label my children do not agree with.  But I think it is important to summarise my current views.  I say current as they have changed over time.

There are many gender identities and we should accept that. 

Just because you identify as something does not mean you are it. Rachel Dolezal identified as being black, despite having two white parents. Very few people accept the way she identifies herself as correct. 

 

Other than in schools, I consider the use of toilets by someone who identifies as a non-binary gender to be acceptable. The only time I have seen genitalia in toilets was using the urinals as a child (as an adult, we do not look). However, if women are exposed to male genitalia in that situation, the perpetrator should face the full weight of the law. 

 

It should be up to each sport to decided if transgender competitors can compete based on the gender they identify with. I see no reason for the state to get involved.

 

Communal changing areas should be subject to segregation based on genitalia. I have been to shops where changing areas are unisex and there was an attendant to ensure no theft took place who also would have been a witness if anything untoward happened. 

 

No sex offender with a penis should be in a female jail. 

 

A child who wishes to socially transition at school without informing their parents should be allowed to do so, but just as this applies to a teenager seeking an abortion, that child should be encouraged to involve their parents. But, that child should still use facilities based on biological sex.

We lost, but is it all over?

Yes, Arsenal lost. Any semifinal is a tricky tie, and while we have a good record against PSG, it is the result on the night that counts. And we were wanting. I only got to watch the highlights as I had work to do, but I am still hopeful that we can get through to the final. And if we do, I hope we face Inter Milan as I think that Barcelona will tear us to bits. 

Elections in Ukraine and a UN government

Peace is being discussed (again) in Ukraine.  Putin has now agreed in part to the latest plan from Trump, but I think that we should accept the plan from Putin.

Late last month, Putin had proposed that Ukraine was placed under a UN mandate and that elections were held.  I think that this is an excellent ideas and we should work towards the UN taking over all of Ukraine, with elections being held across Ukraine, these being run and supervised by the UN, this including it taking place in areas occupied and/or annexed by Russia.

In addition to this a free and fair set of referendums can be held rather than the fixed ones that Russia held which have been accepted as valid by some in the Trump administration. I suspect that Putin did not have this in mind, but what he said he meant sounds good. 

Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith

Today, I watched this film with my son in the cinema.  It has been a few years since I last watched it. I still love Star Wars, and while the prequels are not as good as the original three, it was good to watch this. I have to remember that this is a children’s film, though a dark one, a very dark one. I may have commented before that these films have a better plot than the sequels, and that is the case. But episodes seven to nine have better acting and direction, but the plot is wanting. 

Before I watched it in 2020 when Trump was in power, but he did not succeed in destroying democracy. Will he be lucky the second time, a thought which was present when this film charted the descent of he Galactic Republic into the dictatorship of The Empire. 

I think that my son enjoyed the film, it was great to spend time with him. I would like to think that he enjoyed time with me as well. 

Cutthroat Island

This is a terrible film. Do not watch it. I saw it was on Amazon Prime and as I am running an adventure which is sea based, I thought that I would watch it to get some ideas.  Also, it has a decent cast, so I thought that it would probably be good.  It was not.  The Twilight series should have warned me that having a decent cast does not guarantee a decent film, Cutthroat Island predating that awful film series.

The overacting is not as bad as the plot, which is not as bad as the direction.  When it comes to people learning how not to make a film, this is one of the lessons which should be learned from.

Gender and PMQs

PMQ's was interesting.  As many would have guessed, the judgement of the Supreme Court stating that the Equality Act definition excludes transgender women was brought up. I thought that Starmer dealt with it quite well when he called for the debate to be calmer, this link being from Bluesky, this link from Twitter.

There have been lots of different views on this, some of it good some of it not so.  As posted before, I disagree with the interpretation that means that people have to use bathrooms based on biological sex, but it appears that having that view is wrong.

I often disagree with Novara media, and while I do not agree fully with their video, I think that this is quite good.  Notably the issue where trying to discuss matters about inclusion and addressing concerns about prisons and sports was and is viewed by some as being transphobic.  The Rest is Politics have brought up the issue of Trans-Men and the issues they face.  In addition to which they have also discussed how toxic the debate has become.  I would love parliament to debate this so that we can have more guidance on where people who do not conform to their chromosomal make up do when it comes to single sexed spaces.  But I suspect that the reasons that Labour are not keen on this is because of how some vested interest groups would act. 

It will be interesting to see how this progresses.  I do hope that debate about the concerns of this will be civil.  There are many examples of where it can be so.