Rory Stewart

Rory Stewart is an interesting chap.  One of my friends told me ages ago to listen to the podcast The Rest is Politics with Alastair Campbell.  Now I am walking the dog, I have started to do so (though I also listen to The Newsagents).  Recently, he has been more active, probably because of his book.  But I do like listening to his perspective on things.  I disagree with him, as does Alastair Campbell, on so many issues, but it is great to hear a right wing view on matters which is not distorted by political spin and lies.   

I was shocked when listening to an episode of The Rest is Politics to hear that he used the words sneaker and elevator rather than trainers and lift.  

Today, I have listened to him being interviewed by Ash Sarkar on Novara Media.  I think that both were great on the interview.  I especially like they disagreed agreeably.  If you have time, it is worth listening to.  I am not too sure about how Novara Media have commented on the feedback about the interview, but their interpretation of this is also worth listening to, though obviously, very biased.

For the record, even though Jeremy Corbyn is not anti-Semitic, he was expelled for his comments from Labour for his comments on the EHRC report on this.  And while many say #ItWasAScam, it was not. Corbyn could have avoided all this by instituting the findings of the Chakrabarti Inquiry. 

Visiting Millwall

We went to London today. I did not realise that we were going to where Millwall play their home games. If I had, I would not have worn my classic Arsenal top, my Arsenal hoodie and my Arsenal backpack. 

But before I discuss that, the kids. My son went to his first party in years. He was meant to come back for ten, but he rang us asking if he could stay for a sleepover. We agreed and come the morning he was very grateful, for again, this was something which has not happened in years either. My daughter also went to a party, which was a memorable one for her.

Anyway, back to today. For those who are not aware, Millwall are a team whose fans are hated throughout the league. They have a deserved reputation for violence and racism and being around their ground in the colours of a rival was not the best thing. But the day was enjoyable. I stayed out of sight of the fans as they left their ground in the wet after losing to Leeds.  We had travelled to London with friends who drove us, for good food, and we had this as well as their excellent company. It was a great day and we are trying to work out when our next day is to be. 

I got to watch the first half of the Arsenal game, but missed the goal. I will be watching highlights later tonight. It was great to win, especially as we have not done too well before against Everton in recent games.

Russell Brand

My second Russell post this week. Everyone deserves to be considered innocent until proven guilty.  Russell Brand deserves the same. Accusations are being made and normally, I would not post about this. However, one of the accusations is that Brand, aged 31, had a sexual relationship with a 16 year old schoolgirl. As seen with Prince Andrew, in the UK, this is completely legal, the issues in Dispatches and The Times relate to the accusations she has made. But having such a relationship, with such an age gap does being about concerns. It is not just the age gap, it is the power dynamic. 

People are complaining that he has not been given a chance to clear his name, but he has that chance. In 2018, Dan Wooten wrote story about Johnny Depp calling him a wife beater which was published by The Sun. Depp sued Wootton and NGN for libel, stating that he wanted to clear his name and alleging that Heard had not only lied about the abuse but had in fact abused him. In their defence, NGN and Wootton alleged fourteen incidents of domestic abuse committed by Depp. During the highly publicised trial, both Heard and Depp testified in person. He lost.  

Russell Brand can try to clear his name in court by taking Dispatches and The Times to court to do the same. An issue overlooked by many. I actually hope that he does, if he is innocent.

Russell

We went to a beautiful funeral today. It was of the father of a dear friend of ours. My wife has a lot more memories of him than I do, but they are fond memories.

It brought back memories of the funeral of my father, but I have been to funerals since then. Though it was not just me, it also brought back such memories to my wife as well.

During it, we sat next to a friend of my wife, who many years ago told me what she would do to me if I was not nice to my wife. My wife was not aware of what she had said to me over twenty years ago, but she herself can!

After, we went to the pub for recollections and a chance to chat and catch up with others. It was a great place to be, wonderful weather, and because he always bought his round, a free bar.

Anyway, Russell, here are my musical memories of your last eventful day.

Not all transphobes are the same

I am transphobic. I do not consider a transgender person to be anything other transgender. This means that I consider a transgender man to be a transgender man, not a woman, not a man. I also consider one who is before transitioning to be different to one who has undergone gender reassignment surgery. The same applies to transgender women. I do not consider them to be men or women, but I view each as a transgender woman, one with or without a penis. 

I think that pronouns should be respected, but I think that it is silly to advertise your own if you do not wish to do so. I consider it rude to refer to India Willoughby as a man, she does not consider herself to be one anymore. Likewise, if someone prefers to be referred to as Ms, as opposed to Miss or Mrs, then that should be respected. 

I think that in areas, such as toilets and changing rooms, where segregation has occurred by biological sex, it should be replaced by genitalia. I have no issues with gender neutral or unisex spaces existing, especially as we live in a world with multiple gender identities, but ideally, people should have the choice to go to places there they can be segregated. There are many devout followers of many religions who believe in segregation based on biological sex, and a compromise based on genitalia is, in my view, the best way forwards. 

 

I think that sports should have the right to protect women’s sports based on biological sex and I do not consider it to be a violent act or an act of genocide against transgender people when a sporting body excludes transgender women from completing with women. Each sport should have the right to make its own decision on this as the advantage that going through male puberty will vary from sport to sport.

However, when it comes to degrees of transphobia, it appears that I am not as bad as others.  Here are a selection of videos which I find to be horrific.  I think comparing someone who is transgender to a paedo is wrong.  While I have concerns about children de-transitioning later in life, I think that refusing to accept that some children are going to continue to be transgender as they get older is silly and a total ban on treatments including surgery for those under 18 is wrong.  I also think that not accepting that people can realise that they are non-binary later in life is also barbaric.  I have seen too many people living a lie because society feels that they have to conform.  Let me know what you think of them (and my views) in the comments.  I am of course happy to discuss this on Twitter, or X as it is now called.  Normally though, civil discourse tends not to happen there, but it would be great to have some.

Inaction man

I guess the best bit of PMQ's today was a comment made by Starmer to Sunak calling him Inaction Man.  My daughter was not impressed, but she is of a generation that never had Action Man.

To be fair to Sunak, he has tried to do a lot while Prime Minister.  He has brought forward legislation to increase the amount of sewage in our rivers.  He has tried to stop the boats, he has tried to deport those seeking asylum to Rwanda.  But like a poor marksman, he just keeps missing the target!

The Last Night Of the Proms

There was annoyance from the right about The Last Night of the Proms.  It appears that they wanted the BBC to censor those waving EU flags.  Those flags apparently had been given out free of charge by an organisation, but if a person wanted a Union Flag, they would have had to buy it from vendors outside.   

I have to agree with Femi in that patriotism is wanting our great nation to be even better, and it was better in the EU than out of it. 

While I would love to re-join the EU, we are never going to get the great deal that we had being in it again.  Any referendum held now could probably be won by those wanting to re-join the EU for reasons shared by Gary Lineker.