Funny I should post that ↑, and a few days later liberal institution Craig Murray steps up to the plate.
https://x.com/CraigMurrayOrg/status/1950288808966058312My own take on the nurse Sandie Peggie and Dr Upton furore is:
two bull-headed and self-centred people met in a changing room and each refused to work on the kind of tolerant compromise that enables most of us to muddle through daily life without invoking the power of the state.
[The room] could be single sex, except for a very brief advertised daily window of time when it wasn't, for example.
Compromise is by nature messy and imperfect, but that is not nearly as imperfect as the ridiculous train of events that we see now.
It would be kind, under controlled circumstances, to tolerate some men who believe themselves to be women.
This needs care, compromise, and tolerance.
Needless to say #BeKind did not go over well; guess which sex is forever tasked with it. As for his ridiculous compromise, easily dismantled in the replies, he has form for not thinking things through.
Almost a decade ago he wrote:Today I thought I might blog on a subject I understand nothing about. (Cries of “no change there then” echo around the internet). For the life of me, I have not been able to absorb what the controversies around transgender and non-binary actually are. I can think of no vaguely sensible reason why people ought not to be allowed to be what they wish to be. I am astonished there should be arguments about public bathrooms, and cannot understand why people cannot use whichever of these they wish to use too. There must be more to it than this, or people wouldn’t keep writing newspaper articles about it or asking POTUS. But the nature of the controversy is to me entirely mysterious.
A few years later came this, a roller coaster of reasonableness followed by head slapping dumbness:
To start from first principles, I believe that people should be treated as they wish to be treated. If somebody wishes to be treated as female I will treat them as female. That seems to me good manners. It seems the height of bad manners to do otherwise.
His self-admitted "folksy take" makes me gag. When he writes "the entire debate so far elevates dogma on both sides above commonsense", he simply comes across as oblivious to what should be commonsense needs of women. Empathy is a one-way street with him.
Clearly he has no real interest in examining the issues (
this might be a start), which is fine, but why then feel the need to write about it? Does the debate require yet another clueless man to weigh in?
It immediately makes me wonder what else he's opining about so thoughtlessly. I'm not going to bother finding out.
In other news, Sandie Peggie's sense of humour
is now also in the dock:These were read out by Jane Russell in court today:
On August 31 that year, Ms Peggie shared the following offensive messages in a group chat:
1. Rumour has it that the floods in Pakistan were started by a suicide plumber.
2. There’s a new curry been brought out in aid of the Pakistani flood disaster victims. It’s a chicken bury auntie, served with a nan dead and poppa gone.
3. The BNP have donated 6,000 crocodiles to the Pakistani flood appeal.
4. The Queen has sent a letter of condolence to the Pakistani president. She wanted to mention that Britain has plenty of spare p*kis if they want some back.
5. I bet little Mohammed isn’t having to walk 3 miles fetch water now! I think I’ll ask for my 1 a month donation back.
6. What do you call a Pakistani flood survivor…Mustaf a dinghy.
7. What goes around comes around. Pakistanis have been flooding Britain for years.
8. From space Pakistan looks like a giant bowl of coco pops.
9. There is a new diet sweeping Pakistan. It’s called swim fast.
10. Charity single just released for the Pakistani flood disaster…Rain keeps falling on Ahmed.
The first made me laugh; the rest not so much, but I didn't get an attack of the vapours. Nor did my South Asian wife. Jokes about disasters (don't tell me you've never heard "Too soon?"), and foreigners, have been around forever. The only test they have to pass is if they're funny. Sorry if that's a dealbreaker for you.
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