School is a waste of time. 90% of children find 95% of what they are taught completely irrelevant. We put everyone through it (a) to keep them off the streets (b) to give their parents some time off and (c) in case a few find something they like. It costs a fortune and breeds cyncism.

This has probably already been shared a hundred times. Seems like a mostly neutral summary, other than the insistence on unpacking "trans woman" as "biological male who identifies...." The first time the BBC has acknowledged that the interim guidance [sic] has been withdrawn, and indeed why,

Phillipson's lawyers rather pointedly refused to back the EHRC at the Judicial Review, and she herself told the EHRC to shut up. The EHRC CEO admitting they tried to pressure her won't have helped. And there is the lack of outrage or even coverage about the EHRC withdrawing the Interim Update.

It must eventually dawn on them that many transgender people are probably neuro-anatomically intersex, and that the response should be the same as for those who are gross-anatomically intersex. If intersex people can know their own gender, then so can everyone else.

I had never heard of Neal Lawson, but this article beautifully expresses everything I had been feeling about Labour, and the direction is has taken since the Labour right undermined Corbyn. archive.ph/Zwm21

Good morning to all those people who wasted the last decade saying, "there's no point tackling climate change in the UK, because China." www.theguardian.com/world/2025/n...

I'd like that too. And I'd like there to be a billionaire who supported trans people at the same time as being a political donor. And I'd like there to be just one editor-in-chief at a major UK media outlet who had a trans kid and supported them Oh wait, is that the sound of pigs' wings I hear?

So a transphobe is threatening @northwestbylines.co.uk with defamation over this 100% accurate and factual piece of Journalism. Support us by sharing it far and wide 🏳️‍⚧️ northwestbylines.co.uk/news/equalit...

I'm not convinced about any (immediate) collapse. I'm giving myself evens at best that next week's Judicial Review "rolled-up" hearing decides against granting permission, and never hears arguments. If that happens, Phillipson will lay the new Code soon-as.

The excellent Patrick Cockburn in the Independent: @greenparty.org.uk

Polanski is very good at this. Water off a duck's back. Or "what doesn't kill me, makes me stronger"

If you have been reading my posts and wondering how you can help, donating to Anne Health would be a good way. Many of the kids are on blockers via the NHS because they can't afford to go private. I know times are tough, so sharing this instead would be helpful if you can't afford to donate.

This is about the rights of indigenous people in Australia, and the way the law that protects them can be twisted when convenient. It's directly parallel to the position of trans people in the UK. 1/2

In order to print this, the Times had to admit that the new Code has NOT taken effect, which must have hurt! But the rest of the media seem to be completely ignoring the delay. Maybe they dont want to admit they jumped the gun?

George Eaton in the New Statesman. Say it louder. We need to pay more tax. And what he doesn't say, if it funds better services, it will change the whole political discourse for the better, away from Reform. Just do it, Rachel.

Well, that went well. I never expected my MP to say anything else -- Dignity and Respect blah blah, and by the way, Fuck You.

Charlie Brooker nailed TV News 15 years ago, and the BBC paid him to do it. youtu.be/aHun58mz3vI?...

Stunning satellite imagery of Hurricane Melissa tonight.

I'm no better at spotting AI-generated content than 4 savvy teens... It feels a bit like the end of the world...

I don't now have any cells in my body that know whether or not they have a Y chromosome, and the ones I do have are biochemically the same as those of anyone with an XX karyotype. But although my own body can't tell it's trans, "We can always tell". Amazingly perspicacious, these GCs.

Start your day right and watch this

Is the withdrawal of the Interim Update going to affect this case? AFAIK, NHS Fife were completely compliant with the current code of practice, and Peggie's case was flimsy anyway. Seems to me it has just been destroyed.

Everybody: please stop mentioning that Farage was regularly on Russia Today, a channel now banned for its Russian propaganda content, blamed the EU for Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2014, had a Russian spy running his Welsh operation, and built his whole career on a policy Putin supports.

One of the easiest ways for the Government to try to reclaim voters from the Greens would be to make a sincere apology, fix the EqA ... and sack Falkner

"God knows what’s going on in there. It sounds like a fucking madhouse." - Ian Dunt

So I a really curious as to why they have done this. Any informed opinions? Have they given up on trans-exclusion, or is it just part of their attempt to bounce Bridget Phillipson into approving much the same thing in the Code? Or a last-ditch attempt to quash the @goodlawproject.bsky.social JR?

You have to read almost to the bottom to find that the Commissioner also wrote concerning Trans rights, and to find the Government's nothing-to-see-here response....

⬇️ I HAVE written, but my MP* has never responded even to snail mail. He did however make sorting out trans issues a bullet point on his election leaflet, so I think I know where he stands anyway... (probably next to the bullet😔) (Nick Timothy, West Suffolk)

On #BBCQT - Fiona Bruce said that the audience and public didn't want to press Reform UK on their dodgy links to Russia. I disagree. RT if you agree it's in the public interest for Reform to explain about their links to Russian money and bribery!

The UK still a member of the Council of Europe. Does that mean we suddenly expect the GRA to be amended, at least for intersex people? Or the EHRC to be forced to take IS people into account in the Code of Practice? Seems instrinsically unlikely. Does Falkner know we signed?

This. ⬇️ "Its time the NHS stopped lying to trans people seeking help."

I realise this applies to _all_ minorities, but with trans folk in mind, it's the perfect riposte to "why don't you just be polite and learn to compromise?"

Not a lot wrong with Cass then!

On Saturday 4th October in London a woman was arrested for holding a sign with “I do not support the proscription of Palestine Action” on it - a totally lawful statement to make, even under the Labour government’s absurd new laws proscribing the direct action group (source: Defend Our Juries on x)

Dr. Jane Goodall filmed an interview with Netflix in March 2025 that she understood would only be released after her death.

I had been feeling uneasy, but this person puts their finger on it exactly. Grrrr!

The Starmer government is REALLY running scared of this petition, now at 2.75 million, to the extent that it has responded 3 months early, in a transparent attempt to spike it. So please, under no circumstances should you sign it and share it widely. Starmer & his boss McSweeney would not like it.

It's worth reading this to the end. I find myself wondering whether, socially, Britain isn't perpetually torn between American and European values. The ECtHR prodded us to become European. Brexit and our RW media have pushed us back towards the US. And, sadly, the US has taken heart from that.

Can anyone explain what is fundamentally different about Apple's system from any other system with encrypted cloud storage? Or is it just that Apple made the mistake of advertising their system?

Really clear exposition of the rip-off in the energy markets resulting from privatisation. The @greenparty.org.uk get it right.

Why is this flagged 'rude'?

The government wants to bring back private finance in our NHS. 🤬 This would harm patients by siphoning off hundreds of millions of pounds in profits from our NHS. 🤑 Rachel Reeves and Wes Streeting, you can still drop these disastrous and unpopular plans. Share if you agree.

In addition to the petition.parliament.uk/petitions/73... against digital IDs, Liberty are also running one:

Very interesting. I am genuinely suprised at the depth of feeling in classic Reform areas, although there are few parts of the country where it is less than 2%. petitionmap.unboxedconsulting.com?petition=730...

This particular retired physicist loved the early Dawkins books, but have rather gone off him... Dawkins is an evolutionary biologist. Like Helen Joyce he has no relevant qualifications for writing about trans people, or indeed about God. He's just a bloke at the pub with a pint and an opinion

Trans people are not a threat to women’s safety. Over 52,000 women have signed the open letter to say not in our name. Will you join them? notinourname.org.uk/petition/not...

LOL!

BTInternet censoring emails? I contacted a supplier yesterday, and casually used the word "boobs" a few times. I am completely unable to send the email -- "error 550 spam, or phishing or malware". But email to them is fine without the apparently offending word. Anyone else have this problem?

I think only the state of Queensland at the moment? And the Federal Government tried to dissuade them...