Et Tu, Brute?

Update 203

Firstly, well done to the Lionesses 😎

The phrase ‘Et tu, Brute?’ ( ‘And you, Brutus?’) appears in Act 3 Scene 1 of Shakespeare’s play Julius Caesar where it is spoken by Caesar, at the moment of his assassination, to his friend Marcus Brutus, upon recognizing him as one of the assassins. It came straight to my mind when a wonderful reader today drew my attention to what can only be described as the Double U Turn by the Labour Party ( see below). I hope I am not overdramatising but, to lifelong Labour voters like me, this feels like betrayal.

The Double U Turn

I reported on the (UK) Labour Party’s apparent U Turn from their position of Self ID re gender identity here:

https://dustymasterson.substack.com/p/orwell-the-prophet

I agreed with James Esses, Isla Mac, Graham Linehan, my wife and many others that this was in fact smoke and mirrors. Their new proposals made the process so simple that it was next door to Self ID in any event. I also pointed to the fact that they had recently had a meeting with Stonewall and I suspected that this apparent U Turn had been cooked up then ( I have no proof of that but perhaps the Labour Party would like to release the minutes of that meeting?).

I understand from my wife, who endures Twitter in her very redoubtable way, that some left wing feminists (and some others) felt that the Labour Party had turned the corner. This was despite the fact that the original statement by Anneliese Dodds seemed to support gender affirming care for children and said nothing about conversion therapy ( as if Self ID was the only issue we have to cope with!!). Well, for those who felt they had turned the corner, I hope that you now finally realise that, like Julius Caesar, your friend Brutus has stabbed you in the back. I certainly won’t be voting for Labour for the foreseeable future until there is a proper and dramatic change of direction ( if that ever happens). Read on, McDuff ( sorry, I’ve gone all Shakespearian again 😎).

David Churchill and Kumail Jaffer on The Mail Online (Rishi Sunak accuses Keir Starmer of putting women and girls at risk with a U-turn on trans self-identification 16 August) report:

Rishi Sunak yesterday accused Sir Keir Starmer of putting women and girls at risk with yet another U-turn over self-identification for trans people.

It came after the Labour leader used an event near Glasgow to say that he would not have blocked the SNP's proposed gender recognition reforms.

Brought forward under former First Minister and SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon, they would have allowed people as young as 16 to self-declare their gender without the need for a medical diagnosis.

But the Prime Minister used powers to block the proposals becoming law in January over concerns about the impact on female-only safe spaces.

Prior to this, Sir Keir had supported the introduction of self-identification, but later U-turned to say he supported Downing Street's intervention.

It has put him at odds with Scottish Labour, which has said it continues to back the 'de-medicalisation' of gender recognition north of the border.

But during an event in Rutherglen with his Scottish counterpart Anas Sarwar ahead of a key by-election, Sir Keir attacked the government for blocking the SNP's reforms.

He accused UK ministers of misusing their powers under devolution, saying that they were 'intended not to empower the Westminster government to block in a muscular way things that the Scottish parliament wanted to do. That wasn't the intention... not to block provisions'.

It will be seen as an attempt to appease his Scottish colleagues ahead of the by-election in Rutherglen and Hamilton West, triggered earlier this month after SNP MP Margaret Ferrier was suspended and lost the seat for breaking Covid lockdown rules.

But speaking to the Daily Mail last night, the Prime Minister said: 'Sir Keir Starmer has just U-turned on his own U-turn. First he was for self-ID, then he tried to convince us he was against it. Now he's for it, but only if you're in Scotland. Women and girls need their rights protecting, no matter where they live in the UK.

'It's clear that Sir Keir Starmer lacks the strength to stick to any position for long – he just changes his mind to fit whatever he thinks works for him politically.'

I can only agree with the Prime Minister on this ( albeit I didn’t really believe them in the first place - see above)!!

All thoughts gratefully received.

Glinner Cancelled!!

Richard Ashmore in The Daily Express ( Father Ted creator Graham Lineham's Edinburgh show axed over 'unwoke' views on gender 16 August) reports:

Graham Linehan - no, he is not standing on a box 😎

A stand-up comedy show featuring Father Ted creator Graham Linehan has been cancelled after complaints were made to the venue about his 'unwoke' views.

An Edinburgh venue has axed the Comedy Unleashed event featuring Linehan, a vocal critic of aspects of the trans rights movement, which was due to take place on Thursday.

Leith Arches posted the "cancellation announcement" on Instagram on Tuesday, saying: "We would like to thank members of the public and our community for bringing to our attention a comedy act billed to perform at our venue this Thursday.

"We were not made aware of the line-up of this show in advance.

"We have made the decision to cancel this show, as we are an inclusive venue and this does not align with our overall values."

Advertising for the Comedy Unleashed event had said a "famous 'cancelled' comedian" would be among those performing.

They billed it as an "Edinburgh Fringe Event", though it does not appear on the official line-up. Reacting to the news, Linehan tweeted: "Holy s**t the venue has cancelled the WHOLE GIG because I'm on the bill."

In a subsequent reply to a supporter, he added: "We'll find a venue and we'll sue the Leith Arches if we don't. In all conscience, I cannot withhold from the world my fifteen minutes of under-rehearsed stand-up comedy about pizzas."

He told another fan the event had been "sold out" and also retweeted a post from TalkTV presenter Julia Hartley-Brewer, who condemned the cancellation as "pathetic behaviour".

She said: "Shame on them for censoring the free speech of comedians like Glinner (Linehan) whose only crime is to believe in biological reality and stand up for women's rights."

I understand from subsequent reports on GB News that prior to the announcement as reported above, Leith Arches had made it clear that they did not like Glinner’s beliefs. Many cases, starting with Maya Forstater’s case, have made it clear that gender critical beliefs are a protected characteristic under the Equality Act, which gives Glinner a slam dunk legal case against Leith Arches. I also understand from GB News that, despite finding an alternative venue (which they are, understandably, keeping secret), they will be continuing with the legal case which I believe may also involve Andrew Doyle since this was part of his Comedy Unleashed events.

Go, Glinner and Andrew 😎

Stop Press

Andrew has now appeared on Spectator TV talking to Freddy Gray:

Irish Constitutional Reform

I first reported on the Irish Government’s outrageous and misogynistic proposals to remove the words ‘woman’ and ‘mother’ from the Constitution here:

https://dustymasterson.substack.com/p/sound-the-alarm-irish-constitutional

Thanks to my wife for letting me know that Brigid of Kildare on Twitter has reported that the Referendum has been put back:

https://twitter.com/BrigidCillDara/status/1691350111534579712

We are ready!!

Conversion Therapy

I previously reported on the New South Wales Government’s appalling conversion therapy proposals here:

https://dustymasterson.substack.com/p/the-cuckoo-clock

The NSW Government are also proposing action on removal of sex specific spaces.

Wonderful Feminist Legal Clinic now directs us to a petition against those proposals. As far as I can make out you don’t have to be in Australia to sign this…I have signed it…so please sign it:

https://www.ipetitions.com/petition/protect-the-sex-based-rights-of-people-in-new

More From The States

Hannah Schoenbaum in The Associated Press (North Carolina GOP seeks to override governor's veto of bill banning gender-affirming care for youth 16 August) reports:

North Carolina Democratic Governor, Roy Cooper

Transgender rights take center stage in North Carolina again Wednesday as GOP supermajorities in the General Assembly attempt to override the governor’s vetoes of legislation banning gender-affirming health care for minors and limiting transgender participation in school sports.

The state House will hold the first of two votes Wednesday afternoon in a bid to enact the bills over Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper's opposition. If House Republicans quickly muster the votes needed, the Senate might aim to complete the override with a decisive final vote Wednesday evening, the Senate leader's office said.

Peter Boghossian and Richard Dawkins - The Poetry Of Reality

There are so many good podcasts around at present!!

Peter talks of the ‘substitution hypothesis’ , namely that, as belief in religion declines, new cults or pseudo religions such as gender identity ideology arise. Richard says he hopes that is not the case because otherwise he feels he has been wasting his time trying to persuade people to rely on science. They talk of the gender ideologues relying on feelings and not facts. A very interesting discussion:

And finally…

We definitely need some light relief after all that, so thanks as ever to Geobeats for MK the shelter cat:

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