Last week’s controversy around the Edinburgh Rape Crisis Centre put the spotlight on the need for single-sex services to protect vulnerable women, but it’s very far from the only example of how Scottish women are being let down in this regard by both the Scottish Government and civic organisations.
The homelessness system in Scotland has collapsed. Emergency accommodation is dangerous, sub-standard, and overcrowded. There has been an epidemic of deaths in hotels and B&Bs in recent years.
As a writer, feminist and literary events organiser in Scotland, I’m regularly sent links to information someone thinks might be of interest to me. This week it was a document commissioned by one of Scotland’s leading and most powerful publicly-funded literary organisations, Literature Alliance Scotland (LAS).
Nobody, of course, objects to transgender writers being included or supported, but the content of the guidance raises several extremely serious and concerning issues.
Normally in cases like these, there’s an instant and concerted attempt to rubbish the judgement, both from amateurs and activist lawyers like Robin Moira “Barry” White, Jolyon Maugham, and the anonymous “Pissed Off Lawyer” tweeting as @legaltweetz. They’ll issue spurious “analyses” dismissing the findings with jargon terms like “obiter”, and either question their correctness or attempt to minimise their significance.
For some reason that didn’t happen this time. The hyper-antagonist online trans army has very conspicuously failed to rush to the defence of ERCC CEO Mridul Wadhwa, perhaps because Judge Ian McFatridge’s conclusions were so relentlessly, brutally and comprehensively excoriating of Wadhwa’s appalling behaviour that no amount of spin or disingenuity could disguise it.
But then, on white charger and with papoose, enter a hero.
Mridul Wadhwa, a man with whom Wings readers have been familiar for some years, was found by the tribunal judge to have been “the invisible hand behind everything that had taken place” as Roz Adams, a conscientious, caring and highly professional woman with a long history in the sector, was systematically and methodically hounded out of her job for holding, privately and sensitively, the belief that biological sex is real.
We watched Question Time last night for the first time in about nine years, and this comment from SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn raised an eyebrow.
Because we couldn’t remember ANY times that Flynn had publicly expressed any problems with the Scottish Greens during their governing alliance.
Dan on Steadying The Ship: “FFS, are you enjoying a holiday in the Southern Hemisphere or doing a headstand? Because that’s about the only way…” May 15, 17:00
agentx on Steadying The Ship: “But there has just been an election where the SNP lost seats and had fewer votes!” May 15, 17:00
Izzie on Steadying The Ship: “Two by-elections next month should perhaps show whether the SNP is, as I suspect, on the up.” May 15, 16:33
100%Yes on Steadying The Ship: “I don’t know about anyone else but can you imagine JS running a country what a freighting thought, thank god…” May 15, 16:21
Hatey McHateface on Steadying The Ship: “The band should start rehearsing. Does the Laurel & Hardy theme have a name, other than the “Laurel & Hardy…” May 15, 16:14
Mark Beggan on Steadying The Ship: “‘Nearer my God to me’. Was the tune the the band played as the Titanic was sinking.” May 15, 16:00
Mark Beggan on Steadying The Ship: “The Captain always goes down with the ship.” May 15, 15:56
Mark Beggan on The Broken Rainbow: “Satisfying because it’s the Last Waltz for radical lunatics. Time to pay the Tillerman.” May 15, 15:48
Knuckle_heid on Steadying The Ship: “Swinney definitely isn’t Salmond! With a collapsing vote like that, they should exit stage left at the next HR election…” May 15, 15:37
Hatey McHateface on The Broken Rainbow: “Not seeing that at all, Lorncal. Scotland is just as much a group of regions as England is. The Borders,…” May 15, 15:05
Hatey McHateface on The Broken Rainbow: “It’s not the miners being consigned to the scrapheap this time – it’s the oil and gas workers. It’s not…” May 15, 14:58
Aidan on The Broken Rainbow: ““ A study that involved two Universities, accepted by the electoral commission, Lord Ashcroft polling & the Scottish Referendum study…” May 15, 14:35
Hatey McHateface on The Broken Rainbow: “@ Northcode says: 15 May, 2026 at 11:36 am “I’m calling it, Geri” Crivens, Northy. I do hope that comma…” May 15, 14:27
Hatey McHateface on The Broken Rainbow: “Fine, Alf. I asked you to clarify a fairly straightforwards situation. You decided to evade the question, as per usual.…” May 15, 14:20
Hatey McHateface on The Broken Rainbow: “Here you go, Geri: “Instead of futilely repeating the pointless point scoring of the past 5 years, you really should…” May 15, 14:11
Geri on The Broken Rainbow: “Scots voted Yes in 2014, dip shit. A study that involved two Universities, accepted by the electoral commission, Lord Ashcroft…” May 15, 13:38
Young Lochinvar on The Broken Rainbow: “Andy Burnham; King orf ooop Norf, future former failed PM to give him his full title.” May 15, 12:35
Ross on The Broken Rainbow: “Link to the latest poll,campebll? The latest I see is from the Sunday Times and os a Yes majority?” May 15, 12:35
Mark Beggan on The Broken Rainbow: “Deja vu! It’s the 1970’s all over again. Dirty Filthy Labour meltdown and the Death Cult in the East cutting…” May 15, 12:34
Alf Baird on The Broken Rainbow: “Even Churchill warned that the west including imperial England would ultimately abandon the Z******s if they continued with their N*z*…” May 15, 12:25
Alf Baird on The Broken Rainbow: “Fowk canna ser twa maisters, like some o oor MSP’s mak-believe, Hatey. Fowk canna plicht lealtie tae twa soveranes. For…” May 15, 12:14
Hatey McHateface on The Broken Rainbow: ““Public feeling was known to be overwhelmingly against the Union” Indeed. I guess that in 1707 Scottish public feeling was…” May 15, 11:41
Northcode on The Broken Rainbow: “I’m calling it, Geri. It’s not even noon and us liberty-seeking Scots in this place have already won the day…” May 15, 11:36
Hatey McHateface on The Broken Rainbow: “His online site hoaching BTL with antisemitism and “river and sea” jihadists may or may not assist with that aim,…” May 15, 11:27
Hatey McHateface on The Broken Rainbow: ““Absolutely ANYTHING AT ALL that doesn’t involve the English” My, Northy, so there will be no English spoken. Shame you…” May 15, 11:16
Hatey McHateface on The Broken Rainbow: “Sure, Northy, and that’s why everybody on here is posting and responding in Scots.” May 15, 11:08
Hatey McHateface on The Broken Rainbow: “Nice use of apostrophes, Geri. Still not taking lessons from you, though. Not after your call for portable gas chambers…” May 15, 11:06
Alf Baird on The Broken Rainbow: “And unlike the moaners here and the ouf-tae-King Charlie English croun and English soveranety takkin pensioned-aff SNP, Ambassador Murray has…” May 15, 10:52
Jamie on The Broken Rainbow: “Considering how many kids go to school in nappies nowadays, and nappies for 8 year old are also more popular…” May 15, 10:37
Geri on The Broken Rainbow: “Shiteface is a Nazi. Just yesterday he was cheering on Germany nearly destroying Europe until those pesky ‘Orcs’ captured Berlin.…” May 15, 10:03