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Laurence Fox thinks he’s dead

Bit of a laugh. People have been passing this around, as a lovely example of social media hyperbole. I wonder at what point in typing in that rant (we all love a rant, we all do it!) did Fox get lost in his attempted metaphor and forget that it wasn’t him that was dead. But…
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Clacton to Cambridge – Oscars all round

What a performance. Come on, get down off it — whichever of this week’s righteous-fury ‘news’ stories we’re on. Anyone who’s a professor or an MP or anything else that gets you money, prestige or a platform — they’re there because they agreed to play the system. And it’s hell for autistic people because, on…
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Very angry day, nice evening

I was not where I said I’d be on the night of the eclipse. I did some messaging, tried to mitigate complications it may have caused but wasn’t one hundred percent successful. That happens sometimes. I know my limits, and on the whole, I function – that’s what decades and decades of practice in coping…
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The alarming tale of the far right bookshop in rural Suffolk

Guest blogger Simon Edge was horrified to find a far-right bookshop on his doorstep. He was even more horrified to discover it was backed to the hilt by some prominent gender critical figures. The Suffolk village where I live is a well-known destination for day-trippers and prides itself on its quirky range of independent shops.…
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Public Emergency Number One

I have deleted my first few attempts to write about this opportunity to address the climate crisis. It’s so enormous, and comes after so many frustrations and failures. The faux left are still out there shouting “one struggle, one fight!” — meaning anyone who’s discontented enough to be out on the streets must agree with…
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What if your union fails to represent you?

I’m very fortunate I suppose, that I stayed with Unite despite its political failures in recent years — I had been wondering about switching to a union that’s kept faith with socialism but this week, I found myself very glad I’m in Unite. Four unions – ASLEF, the Musicians’ Union, USDAW and Unison have stated…
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The enemy of my enemy

I thought Magdalen Berns was our queen. Heroes don’t die just because they die. She gave her life for us. She did. She knew she didn’t have much left, but she used it – with stunning energy, to teach us to rediscover our voices, after the trans lobby thought they had successfully cowed women into…
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Like a snowball

Or: what happens when your playbook doesn’t work any more This week, the big story amongst women’s and lesbian and gay campaign groups was that Amnesty report, that labelled some of our favourite organisations as ‘anti-rights’ groups. The report was very quickly withdrawn when the letters and emails from the slandered organisations started flying around…
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Addendum to Amnesty post
I’m told Amnesty have taken down the offending lists but, apparently, not before several targeted organisations have prepared to sue. I hope they go ahead. The lists are out there, with all the others that aim to bully women into silence. Recompense should be required — and the story needs to go far, so that…
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Amnesty International: A growing threat

*** addendum to Amnesty post*** I wrote recently about the founding conference of a group I joined, called For A Materialist Left. It was all about how socialism has been defanged and led astray by identity politics. One of the speakers, Chetan Bhatt, spoke about how identity politics leads inevitably into division and hate, and…