A Valentine’s Day cartoon for @newscientist.com

This morning I assembled and printed out everything I need for the next assignment. There is no studying from now on until the end of the course - just research and writing. We have been set free to pretend we're proper grown-ups, capable of maintaining our own schedules. So no pressure, then 😆g

t has been a hard week. In truth, it has been a hard few years. For many trans+ people, the noise, the headlines, the debates and the hostility can feel relentless. So this Valentine’s, we wanted to do something simple. So we've launched our 'Letters of love to the trans community'...

I said when this was announced that the only ethical response was everyone leaving and joining trans inclusive groups in protest. I’m impressed by the hundreds of women who have:

To mark Valentine’s Day, here is what is believed to be the world’s oldest surviving love poem, written 1.5 million years ago by one of our earliest ancestors, homo unrequitus.

We always knew this would be a long and hard fight. We are going nowhere. We will fight until the battle is won: https://goodlaw.social/m3oe

The High Court’s ruling confirms what we already knew: the EHRC’s code of practice is wrong. Write to your MP and tell them it’s time to send it back 🏳️‍⚧️✉️ goodlaw.social/5e045f

This morning I posted our petition to get Palantir out of our NHS and our public services. Over 40,000 people have now signed it - thank you. Please do keep sharing! you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/st...

Farage has also been railing against WFH, which benefits many working parents. They are trying to take us back to the 1950s where women got married at 18 & looked after (no more than two) children whilst men were employed. Whilst making no provision to allow families to survive on 1 income.

In incredible news, the European Parliament has voted overwhelmingly for "The Full Recognition Of Trans Women As Women." Even the center-right European People's Party voted for the declaration. It will form a foundation for their position at the UN Commission on the Status of Women. Our latest.

Today's ruling on the EHRC's interim guidance is a disappointing, confusing and mixed picture. A trans woman who is a customer in a café can use the women's toilets, but if she works there she might not be able to. Once again everyday life is being made a legal labyrinth for trans people.

We've written to Bridget Phillipson to point out she's legally obliged to reject the EHRC's draft guidance The Government committed in its manifesto to “remove indignities for trans people”. We're asking that they take steps to protect the trans community & correct what the Supreme Court got wrong

Tea for one today - frantically trying to get a week's worth of studying into a few days.

The High Court’s ruling confirms what we already knew: the EHRC’s draft code of practice is wrong. And we all know that the media is going to lie about the judgment, so please, write to your MP and explain why Bridget Phillipson needs to send it back. 🏳️‍⚧️✉️

Happy Radio Day to all those who celebrate.

The new, poisonous “guidance” for trans kids in schools has no foundation in science or medicine. It forces trans and non-binary kids back into the closet purely for the comfort of a loud, radicalized minority. And that’s gone so well, historically.

Support every trans, non-binary or questioning person you know. Speak out for those you don’t. Vote for politicians who want to expand humanity, not shrink it. And for god’s sake, stop buying Harry Potter or the works of those who want to ruin the lives of our loved ones out of their own ignorance.

This is Elon Musk territory, isn't it? A woman's purpose is to bear children.

The fact Wes Streeting was warned by his own officials that the toxicity of Palantir made the contract less likely to succeed raises, yet again, the question why Government granted it the contract in the first place?

Tea with husband, as we hadn't originally decided what day we were returning from the holiday, so he's booked the time off and is still currently at large.

Admittedly it’s nearly three years since I deleted my Twitter account so I have no firsthand knowledge of what it’s become since then. I tend to imagine it as like the bit where the Hellmouth opens in Buffy The Vampire Slayer but with fewer gentle, empathetic demons and more bitcoin.

“None of us are free until all of us are free” - Fannie Lou Hamer, civil rights activist. We’re debating “trans rights” like trans people are one thing. They’re not. #Intersectionality #EqualityLaw #TransRights #RaceAndGender #HumanRights

Possibly 7th richest person in the UK but I think the point still stands

"A conservative network led by Michael Gove and Nigel Farage’s senior adviser James Orr has spent more than half a million pounds pushing far-right and anti-trans voices – some of it fuelled by profits from Russian oil."

I was so shattered yesterday that not nearly as much studying got done as I'd hoped - there was lots of nodding off! - so I'm at it again this morning.

🚨VERY IMPORTANT! ON 16 MARCH PARLIAMENT WILL DEBATE A PETITION FOR BY-ELECTIONS TO BE TRIGGERED AUTOMATICALLY WHEN MP’S DEFECT Contact your MP now and ask them to attend and support the petition youtu.be/LPO_ZWlyb7Q?...

Nigel Farage said in 2022 that MPs defecting to another party and then refusing to call a by-election was “no go, it’s not right, it is dishonorable” So where are the by-elections for all those MPs who have now joined Reform?

Says the gazillionaire who loves Britain so much he became tax resident in Monaco so he didn't have to contribute to Britain's resources. Physician, heal thyself.

🤣👌

And just like that, life is crashing back to normal. All the washing from the holiday is done, and hung on airers around the house. Phone calls are made, emails answered - and now it's tea and studying.

The more someone goes on about 'protecting women and girls' the closer they are to sexual abusers. It's as reliable as gravity.

That tribune to working people, Matt Goodwin, refusing to do hustings unless he gets his own Green Room? Surely not!

And we're home, and unpacked. The fire is lit, I'm in my pyjamas, and eating a huge piece of homemade chocolate brownie I bought from the delicatessens this morning - so I guess it's still the holiday!

I just cannot get over how embarrassing this is of Wes Streeting. The naked desperation, the brain-spangling disingenuousness, a politician of the very very worst kind. So desperate to impress big boys, he might as well be a widdling puppy. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

On our way home - lunch at Henry Hanbury Hall (National Trust). Not a bad view!

This is our morning routine now - walk into the local town (a long road walk - I have blisters!) and get tea first thing. Today we went to the deli again, and got husband a bacon butty for his breakfast. Now he's packing the cases, and I'm preparing for a small amount of roleplaying before home.

Here’s a weeknight quick turnaround 🎶parody on the UK fallout linked to #EpsteinFiles #PeterMandelson's friendship with him, and the bigger implications ... we chose song #mrsrobinson from #thegraduate about vice/virtue! youtu.be/h870VJsLk_c Link to forthcoming album at end: orcd.co/hollowchapters

recharge time

Started a fight this afternoon in the game this afternoon, and got a message from my daughter as it started - her girlfriend has cancer (should be surgery only, hopefully). My mind wasn't really in that fight. We're going home tomorrow, because suddenly playing games seems very silly.

Tim Allen was on the Board of the Sex Matters hate group before becoming Number 10 Comms Director. Hopefully Labour is realizing that it has no future in pitch-rolling for Reform. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Morning Blueskiers…. A little amuse bouche to start your day…

H r ‘ a o m all d ‘O t of hara t r’.

We're going for a walk in the mornings. Today (walking slower, bit achy) I took some photos. It is VERY wet around here - floods all over the place. Also, I really liked this wall.

I need to say, again because I'm using it all the time, that the brilliant 'transphobia is a men's rights movement in drag' line was coined by Elizabeth.

I'm afraid that neither the Women's Institute nor Girl Guiding's leadership are being entirely straightforward with their membership. They have a *no downside* option to remain trans inclusive and I know this for a *fact*. More to follow from us on this.

Been a busy gaming day. Here are my dice, ready to fight!

In these dark days of February, a little something to look forward to.

So proud @nionwomen.bsky.social signed this letter alongside @amnestyfeminist.bsky.social, @asn.org.uk & many more. Read it here: 78af2a6e-4a1c-4f48-9808-387918a50474.filesusr.com/ugd/dc9c25_d... 🙏🙏🙏 for all your amazing work @transsolidarity.bsky.social. www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/poli...

Even the pub is completely mad!