It was exactly one year ago today that the Supreme Court delivered its judgment in the case of For Women Scotland Vs The Scottish Ministers, a judgment which has still not been implemented by the Scottish or UK governments, so it was quite bold of the SNP to choose it as the launch date for their manifesto.
The judgment (which the SNP are in fact still fighting in court) is not referenced in the document and the phrases “women’s rights” and “single-sex” do not appear anywhere in it, although it does say “We are committed to upholding and protecting the human rights of trans people as far as possible within our powers and we will do all we can to ensure that trans people’s identities are recognised and respected”.
So, y’know, more of the same to come for the next five years.
As all alert readers will know, this site likes to keep a watchful eye on the shady and disturbing activities of paedophilia-plagued charity LGBT Youth Scotland. So we were naturally intrigued to hear that they’d hired a new convenor last month.
And if you’re sitting there thinking, “Blimey, AI Christopher Walken looks very very ill”, well, stay tuned, because this story gets more and more interesting.
So Cathy Newman of Channel 4 News got herself a scoop last night.
And to be honest, readers, we were a bit confused. “Gender critical views” are not only lawful things to hold and express, they’re one of a small subset of opinions that are explicitly protected as such in law. And why would a man very occasionally airing some lawful and protected views on social media be a news story? You might as well run “BREAKING: Premiership footballer discovered to enjoy cheese-and-ham toasties”.
It seems that it’s fine to farm important judgments out to mysterious shadowy figures who just make important chunks of them up out of thin air, and then issue them in your own name. Back in your boxes, plebs.
This clip was broadcast on ITV News Wales this week.
It’s a staggeringly obvious mess for a whole raft of reasons – a number of completely spurious, illogical and unsupported claims are accepted as facts without any sort of challenge or balancing voice (which has been standard practice on ITV News for a while now across almost any contentious political topic) – but it led us to somewhere magnitudes of crazier still.
My first ever real experience of politics was playing Dictator.
Originally written by Don Priestley for the Sinclair ZX81 in 1982, it was a simple text-based game which subsequently came to other formats including the Commodore 64, BBC Micro, Elan Enterprise and the ZX Spectrum, which is where I encountered it.
Something very odd happened when the Sandie Peggie employment tribunal delivered its judgment – and it wasn’t just the made-up quotes and mangled law.
Call it institutional bias, ideological capture, or just the law doing its job, but what Employment Judge Sandy Kemp’s tribunal delivered was the most one-sided outcome since Butch and Sundance decided to come out shooting.
Because, y’know, you can call us old-fashioned purists or sticklers or whatever if you like, but government ministers probably shouldn’t openly lie in prepared statements to the High Court in order to pervert the course of justice.
As recently as this weekend, the Scottish Government claimed that it has “made clear it accepts the Supreme Court ruling [in For Women Scotland] and is taking forward the detailed work necessary”.
But as with so much the Scottish Government says, it’s a barefaced lie.
Alf Baird on The Narcissism Of No Differences: ““This is wholly a male thing” Yes Lorncal, in ‘The Intimate Enemy’, Nandy’s study of the psychology of British colonialism…” Apr 19, 11:44
Confused on The Narcissism Of No Differences: “I see the hunday mail has got hold of the (some, at least) of the whatsapp messages … this could…” Apr 19, 11:35
Alf Baird on The Narcissism Of No Differences: ““why does Scotland not appear to have Epstein compromised individuals” As a colony we are ‘out of the game’, willie,…” Apr 19, 10:57
Bilbo on The Narcissism Of No Differences: “The right by it’s very nature, one whose only purpose is to converse, is never radical. It only appears as…” Apr 19, 10:56
willie on The Narcissism Of No Differences: “Listening to Laura Kuennsberg this morning the prog is all about why Sir Keir Starmer allowed Peter Mandelson to be…” Apr 19, 09:43
willie on The Narcissism Of No Differences: “A timely article in today’s Sunday Mail publishing emails in relation to the Alex Salmond attempted stich up. https://archive.is/oavLF” Apr 19, 09:31
Aidan on The Narcissism Of No Differences: “Again that’s more total bollocks from the both of you, the motorway network does not “mostly stop at Carlisle” does…” Apr 19, 09:22
MaryB on The Narcissism Of No Differences: “Nobody will ever agree with every policy of any one specific political party, especially in the current political climate. But…” Apr 19, 09:11
Alf Baird on The Narcissism Of No Differences: “Excellent point Dan. The same might be said for motorways which mostly stop in Carlisle, and all other essential infrastructure…” Apr 19, 08:46
John McNab on The Narcissism Of No Differences: “You don’t need ‘none of the above’, as by definition, it will be at the bottom of the ballot paper,…” Apr 19, 08:41
Nicky T Naquetti on The Narcissism Of No Differences: “Something I forgot to mention about Sheridan – his waste of public funds, by claiming legal aid in order to…” Apr 19, 08:18
Nicky T Naquetti on The Narcissism Of No Differences: “Tommy Sheridan? I suppose it may be possible to enjoy the services of prostitutes while still “respecting women” – he…” Apr 19, 07:29
Dave on The Narcissism Of No Differences: “Wow, a demonstration that grammar, punctuation, and spelling are entirely optional if conviction is high enough. ‘you’re blinkers’ ? ‘your…” Apr 19, 07:06
Mark Beggan on The Narcissism Of No Differences: ““I never thought I’d live to see the day when the right wing would become the cool ones giving the…” Apr 18, 23:25
Dan on The Narcissism Of No Differences: “This may interest you. I’ve often mentioned that for all the renewble power generated in Scotland’s geographic area, the rail…” Apr 18, 21:54
Bilbo on The Narcissism Of No Differences: “It’s nearly 50 years since the Sex Pistols released Anarchy in the UK which heralded Punk music into the mainstream.…” Apr 18, 21:41
Aidan on The Narcissism Of No Differences: “Yet another boring post. It’s a lovely evening here on Skye. Hopefully it is where you are. Go and enjoy…” Apr 18, 20:43
Lorncal on The Narcissism Of No Differences: “Turabdin: I believe you are right. We have had enough. I also believe that women have had enough, too. These…” Apr 18, 20:34
Young Lochinvar on Happy Anniversary: “George I reckon the whole counting crosses process should be topped off by the candidates doing an arm wrestle. :-)…” Apr 18, 20:03
Young Lochinvar on The Narcissism Of No Differences: “LOL! The post reads as follows. Adrian says; How incredibly boring. Succinct and to the point really plus a round…” Apr 18, 19:55
George Ferguson on The Narcissism Of No Differences: “@Dan 6:18pm Absolutely Dan A principled stance was my core belief. I don’t want taxpayers money. I had the formation…” Apr 18, 18:53
Dan on The Narcissism Of No Differences: “@George You’ll have to wait a long time for a decent and easier to instigate recall policy being implemented by…” Apr 18, 18:18
George Ferguson on The Narcissism Of No Differences: “@Sven 5:26pm True especially for wayward MSPS. I favour a recall mechanism for MSPs. A recent vote in the Scottish…” Apr 18, 17:55
Mark Beggan on The Narcissism Of No Differences: “The only winners in this election are the Civil servants and Lawyers. The only hope is that the whole woke…” Apr 18, 17:45
Alf Baird on The Narcissism Of No Differences: “Scots surely have the additional challenge dealing with colonial rule based on racial and cultural subordination which adds another dimension…” Apr 18, 17:43
Sven on The Narcissism Of No Differences: “Genuine query, George. What action is available to bring to bear on an MSP newly installed for the next 5…” Apr 18, 17:26
George Ferguson on The Narcissism Of No Differences: “@twathater Wow calm down. We live in age of social media. Every promise they make will be played back to…” Apr 18, 17:02
twathater on The Narcissism Of No Differences: “So George how are the elected politicians going to be held accountable for their ignoring their manifestos and the voters…” Apr 18, 16:19
sarah on Happy Anniversary: “It has got worse since Westminster imposed the reduction in Councils – no more District Councils, only Highland Council with…” Apr 18, 16:15
George Ferguson on Happy Anniversary: “My Father in law was a Caithness Councillor he won it on a toss of the coin. A draw and…” Apr 18, 15:46
