Yet even after our extensive revelations about his past last week, not a single MSP has disassociated themselves from him. And now we find ourselves in a position whereby in order to protect other women, we’re forced to direct people’s attention to something we really wish we didn’t have to.
On January 22nd the violent, abusive transgender activist Jack Douglas, who now uses the name Beth and the Twitter username “pickle_bee” (slang for “somebody who likes dick”), threatened that feminist campaigner Kellie-Jay Keen’s imminent “Standing For Women” event in Glasgow was going to be disrupted by the “furry” community, who happen to be hosting a gathering at the Crowne Plaza that same weekend.
“Why? What possible grudge could furries have against women?”, a friend giggled, as I related this news to her. But to answer that we have to know who these people are.
Man, we wish we hadn’t used this headline up two days ago.
BBC Scotland’s Debate Night programme last night was rather peculiar. It took place in a mostly-empty studio, but clearly not due to COVID precautions because the people who were there were all jammed tightly together in the middle. (In fairness, given BBC Scotland’s audience ratings they may still have outnumbered television viewers.)
On an all-female panel it featured, “by popular demand”, someone presenter Stephen Jardine described as “one of our best-loved comedians”, a former electrician called Susie McCabe, who we’d never heard of in our lives. (She apparently presented the channel’s Hogmanay show, something no sane adult has watched since 1982.)
She made one particular contribution that set social media aflame.
We’ve asked Alex Cole-Hamilton for comment several times without reply. (Although there has been an unverified third-hand answer via Willie Rennie and a Twitter user.)
Wings Over Scotland makes absolutely no assertions about why MSPs wouldn’t want to very clearly and unambiguously disassociate themselves from such an unpleasant character after information about him had been brought to light in a widely-read (over 200,000 views) article which was trending on Twitter all day yesterday.
For the avoidance of doubt, we have no information about any interactions between Douglas and any MSPs that we’re keeping secret. But we’re not the least bit surprised that people have started wondering what possible reasons a whole string of male politicians could have for not wanting to upset a male prostitute, particularly given the long and sordid history of male politicians and male prostitutes in the UK.
To quash such speculation, we once again urge all MSPs who have associated with Beth Douglas to clearly and publicly disavow him and assure voters that he will no longer shape or influence legislation passed in the Scottish Parliament.
Last week he was prominent in a protest outside Queen Elizabeth House against the UK government’s S35 intervention over the Gender Recognition Reform Bill. He spoke alongside MSPs including Patrick Harvie, Karen Adam, Ross Greer, Paul Sweeney and Alex Cole-Hamilton, who lavished fulsome and effusive praise on him, going so far as to say that it was for Douglas personally that MSPs had pushed the bill through.
The final result of our Twitter poll from yesterday was pretty conclusive.
(It was also by a distance the biggest response we can ever remember getting for one – normally our Twitter polls get around 3,000 votes.)
But of course Twitter polls aren’t scientific – they’re self-selecting and they draw from a biased sample, in this case people who follow Wings and are more likely to agree with us on most things. So we need a bit more data for a better picture.
…by which we mean “IQs in the history of the Scottish Parliament”.
Put a cushion on your desk before you start listening to this, gang, or you might hurt your jaw. Because surely nobody quite as paralysingly, catastrophically thick as this clueless, bumbling, deranged and dangerous imbecile has ever been allowed to make the laws of Scotland before. We wouldn’t let her make orange squash, to be honest.
And yes, we’re including Kezia Dugdale and Jamie Greene in that reckoning.
(The largest number that said No, around 118,000, didn’t tick the boxes of either transwoman, transman or non-binary, nor wrote in their own. An unknown number of these may have been rejecting “gender” altogether. 30,000 ticked “non-binary” and 18,000 wrote in a gender because they were REALLY special.)
But, as we’ve been told times out of number, we must accept what people say about themselves. So 48,000 transwomen it is. So few. So vulnerable. And that number got me thinking.
Alert readers of Wings will know that I have a fondness for sweet and fruity things, and a particular favourite of mine are Tropical Vibes still lemonades. (NB Other drinks are available, this site is in no way sponsored by or financially affiliated to Tropical Vibes.)
I especially like their Ocean Blue variety, a deliciously sharp and tangy refresher which contains real blueberry juice.
(Although we’re not sure how “new followers” is being calculated there. We actually have more than 500 extra followers since 8pm – we can only assume that it’s only counting those who right-clicked and followed from that specific tweet.)
And part of the reason is that it’s plain that almost nobody knew about the report, even though it came out three months ago (when Wings was still in retirement). We had to dig deep to find any media coverage of it at all, and what there was was cursory at best, and sometimes a lot worse.
sarah on Step One: ““And on we’ll limp, year after year, in ever shrinking circles, going nowhere.” BUT, Rev, political parties are not essential…” Jul 12, 15:38
mg on Step One: “Good wee article, I particularly appreciated the link to Paul Sinclair’s article. It was balanced and accurate.” Jul 12, 15:29
sam on It just takes a beat: “Silly question. With a fierce dose of the Cultural Cringe thrown in. There are lots of prominent Scots at home…” Jul 12, 15:25
Eric on Step One: “The article is excellent. Is there hope our supine press are finally waking up ? Also, the last point that…” Jul 12, 15:24
Northcode on It just takes a beat: ““Where are they now?” They wait, silently, patiently, hidden in the shadows for the time of the great awakening when…” Jul 12, 14:12
Northcode on It just takes a beat: “I can’t bring myself to watch any football at all… a side-effect from being asked as a wean which team…” Jul 12, 13:54
Alf Baird on It just takes a beat: “Having rid themselves of “the colonialist delusion…what the colonized do with their freedom is a matter for them only” (Memmi).” Jul 12, 13:36
Southernbystander on It just takes a beat: “Yes, good post, it is something I have always thought – luck is part of it and always will be…” Jul 12, 13:23
100%Yes on It just takes a beat: “I couldn’t bring myself to watch England but if no other choice I’d rather run of a cliff head first…” Jul 12, 12:59
Northcode on It just takes a beat: “I’m not a big fan of football, nor any sport, but it seems to me that skill can only take…” Jul 12, 12:30
Confused on It just takes a beat: “while I like to make the strongly positive economic case for indy, on a personal level I would take indy,…” Jul 12, 12:25
Bilbo on It just takes a beat: “@ Hatey This isn’t a back handed compliant but there are times where you take the time to be articulate…” Jul 12, 12:19
James Jones on It just takes a beat: “Indeed, if it’s not better than Westminster then what would be the point? We are supposed to believe there is…” Jul 12, 12:16
James on It just takes a beat: “Should we get the super-competent westminster operators in to show us how to do it, Inglis? Give us some names?” Jul 12, 11:45
Captain Caveman on It just takes a beat: “Despite our (wildly) differing politics and beliefs, Confused, I’ve often quite genuinely enjoyed some of your rants, Confused, and have…” Jul 12, 11:41
Captain Caveman on It just takes a beat: “I agree, we were lucky as fook. I’ll take it though! 🙂” Jul 12, 11:33
100%Yes on It just takes a beat: “When the SNP offered to pay back the donors for Independence referendum fund, as one of them I can honestly…” Jul 12, 11:27
TURABDIN on It just takes a beat: “It was suggested to me that the US has been at war in some form with the rest of the…” Jul 12, 11:22
100%Yes on It just takes a beat: “Burnham says he wouldn’t grant new independence powers for Scotland, who’s going to step up and say out right Scotland…” Jul 12, 10:58
Chas on It just takes a beat: “I will ask again Alf. If Scotland ceases to be a colony and somehow votes for Independence, who do you…” Jul 12, 10:47
Chas on It just takes a beat: “I am not a supporter of the Tories or any right wing political Party, but, if any individual had any…” Jul 12, 10:43
Alf Baird on It just takes a beat: “As per usual you conveniently ignore a few fundamentals of colonial rule, Hatey. Lat’s mind oorsels, shall we, that: -…” Jul 12, 10:00
Hatey McHateface on It just takes a beat: “I find Tuchel agreeing with me, CC. England were lucky. Still though, Napolean used to value luck above everything else.” Jul 12, 09:56
Hatey McHateface on It just takes a beat: “The root causes, as they are of so many things, is unmanaged globalisation, which brings with it uncontrollable immigration, de-industrialisation,…” Jul 12, 09:27
Captain Caveman on It just takes a beat: “Sore head and happy heart. Semi finals is better than I thought England would do. 🙂 Bring on the Argentinians!” Jul 12, 09:18
Hatey McHateface on It just takes a beat: “So quiet here this morning. Almost as if the faithful all stayed up late to watch the England game!” Jul 12, 09:01
Ian Smith on It just takes a beat: “If someone had donated to the ring fenced fund at the same time as buying bitcoin or Nvidia shares, could…” Jul 11, 23:58
Hatey McHateface on It just takes a beat: “Good post, Northy. Don’t take yourself off to Alpha Centauri just yet.” Jul 11, 21:18
Hatey McHateface on It just takes a beat: “It’s worth observing that the regular moon howlers don’t think so. You’ll never hear a peep of criticism aimed at…” Jul 11, 21:10