Allison Bailey knows who her friends aren’t

Cheering news. An employment tribunal has ruled that barrister Allison Bailey was discriminated against by senior colleagues at her chambers over her gender critical views, i.e. the sex of a person is immutable: women cannot become men and vice-versa.

These views are what the silent majority would refer to as ‘common sense’. Cross-dress, have surgery, take hormones all you like but you cannot scientifically change the sex you were born into: female or male. Some people are genuinely convinced they were born with the wrong body and they take various steps to ‘rectify’ this. Assuming they’ve had the necessary advice and support, then they should be allowed to live peaceable lives as they wish and not be discriminated against. Live and let live is what I say. 

Channel 4 – 2 wrongs don’t make a right

I was skim-reading news online the other day and registered the following isolated words from a Twitter extract: “insane”, “government consultation”, “ignored”, “travesty”.

I didn’t have to read any more to fill in the gaps and deduce that someone thought it was insane that a government consultation had ignored responses and was pressing ahead with whatever they had always intended to do, which was a travesty of democracy. Why was this news? I’ve never met a government or local authority consultation that was worthy of the name.

Nothing to see here. Move along please.

But then I saw who had Tweeted, and I was torn. I’d never read anything this bloke had ever written that I agreed with. That would mean that this particular consultation was actually kosher. Oh dear. If I don’t sort this out before lunch I’ll get indigestion.

Climate change - truth or dare

I signed up to the climate change mantra a long time ago when the science was ‘less certain’ than it is today. As I saw it:

• The long-term trend in global temperatures was upwards

• The rate of increase was alarmingly outstripping any previous trends, suggesting this was more than just the usual cycle

• It was more than likely that human activity (e.g. gas emissions, deforestation) was contributing towards this long-term trend

• Humans therefore had a moral duty to try and repair the damage and prevent further harm

• The cost to the most vulnerable in national and global society would be worse if we didn’t invest in our mutual futures

• If we chose not to act immediately, and in 30 years’ time realised that we should’ve done, it would be too late. Prudence was the name of the game.

Catch-22 meets Franz Kafka

I’ve had the most surreal time dealing with a bank. Think Monty Python and Black Adder, or Frank Spencer on roller skates. The phrase “couldn’t make it up”, “get a grip” and “shitshow” spring to mind.

I used to work for a bank, am financially literate and married to an accountant, so you’d think if anyone could cope with banks, it would be me. Not so. I’ve lost the will to live, taken solace with my mate Tanqueray, and kicked the neighbour’s cat down the lane out of sheer frustration. 

Am I bovvered?

My recent Boris-tribute blog drew mixed reactions in the blog comments, other platforms, by email and in person. They were small in number but mega in back-slapping (mine) and arse-kicking (mine again). Boris isn’t the only one with a cohort of bashers. Yay, I have something in common with the man himself!

I’d rather people read my blogs and hated them than didn’t read them, or worse, read them and didn't feel compelled to respond, favourably or no, civilly or no. Indeed, those who responded unfavourably to the Boris blog enticed others to have a read and, within 48 hours of posting, it became my most-read blog ever. What’s the mantra? No publicity is bad publicity? Who knew?!

Boris, my kind of leader

Because Boris got Brexit done as he promised he would, and stood his ground against the EU, Irish, French and Russians as I prayed he would, I consider him to be my mate, and mates are there for each other, through good times and bad, warts and all.

So I find it all very sad if not scary that Boris, our Prime Minister of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, elected with a thumping majority just 2 ½ years ago, is stepping down at the behest, not of the electorate, but of disloyal and/or incompetent civil servants, biased and unprofessional media, selfishly ambitious Cabinet Ministers and other Traitorous Tories (TTs), traitorous against Blighty as much as against Boris. They prefer instability to peace and progress; personal advancement to team-playing; lemming mentality to loyalty; insults to reasoned debate; subservience to the bullying EU despite the democratic will of the people.

Write, write, and write again

One of my regulars (blog-readers, that is) recently sent me a fascinating article by Ludwig Siegele, Business Editor of the Economist, on “Foundation Models”. Initially, I thought this term was somehow a politically correct replacement for ‘Under Wear’, the word ‘Under’ being deemed either crude, or evocative of serfs being socially under their lord.

I read further and realised instead that Foundation Models are huge Artificial-Intelligence (as opposed to artificial butt-and-boob fillers) algorithms that are much more versatile than earlier forms of AI. According to Siegele, most of the algorithms can write “eerily good prose, analysing a text’s sentiments and explaining jokes.” Hmm, I wonder if he means ‘explaining’ jokes or ‘justifying’ them to the thou-must-not-offend-laugh-or-disagree-with-my-opinions woke brigade.