Falling Down - I Want A Breakfast
Update 822 Version 2. The Streeting Trial Scandal! #BeMorePorcupine.
DUH!!!! I forgot to put a paywall break in the first version so here is the correct version with that break!!!
We are still being inundated at Dusty Towers, so this is another very long one!
Some of this update is behind a paywall. The contents are:
Stop The Clinical Trial;
The States - Round Up;
The States - Mabel from Trenton;
Media - Round up;
Northern Ireland - Belfast Film Festival.
Behind the paywall:
Wales - Free Speech;
UK - The Suicide Myth;
New Zealand - The Suicide Myth;
An analysis of ‘gender affirming care’;
England - Free Speech;
Terf Island Discs.
Onwards with the Dusty, Nicola and Moodie Film Series. Please keep the suggestions for films coming in but please check the list first which I am updating as we go along. Please send suggestions in the comments here at this link:
Falling Down is a 1993 American film directed by Joel Schumacher, written by Ebbe Roe Smith, and starring Michael Douglas and Robert Duvall. Set in Los Angeles, the film tells the story of William Foster (Douglas), a disgruntled, unemployed defence worker who abandons his car in the middle of a traffic jam and goes on a violent rampage trying to reach his family for his daughter’s birthday. Martin Prendergast (Duvall), a retiring police officer, attempts to catch Foster.
In the clip:
Brent Hinkley is Rick
Dedee Pfeiffer is Sheila
Thanks to three wonderful readers for suggested pieces.
Some of the linked pieces below may be behind a paywall.
Stop The Clinical Trial
One piece from the latest Women’s Rights Network newsletter (01 March):
Pathways to stop puberty
Move to establish existing data instead of creating more test subjects
WRN is joining LGB Alliance and Sex Matters in lobbying MPs at Westminster on 10 March. Everyone has an MP and we urge both WRN members and non-members alike to join our efforts to achieve a full ban on puberty blockers in the UK. If you are able to join us on the day you are most welcome – sign up and find out more here.
The proposed trial (PATHWAYS) has been temporarily ‘paused’ due to an intervention by the Medicines and Healthcare Regulatory Agency (MHRA) in the light of the drugs used being likely to harm children’s brain and bone development and adult fertility. At the time of writing, the news on this is evolving, including the treatment of the MHRA Director for expressing “sex-realist views”. SEEN in Journalism has put together a valuable thread of the current situation you can read here.
The intervention comes after the initial ethics panel faced questions and a judicial review about its process that agreed to a trial likely to harm children. Instead of beginning the Pathways trial, the government will pursue existing data on the Tavistock clinic patients who were given the drugs as children. The data was withheld from the Cass review so the long-term effects on children of arresting vital development have not been scientifically studied. It is suspected that poor data collection and recordkeeping means it may be difficult to follow-up patients and establish their adult situation.
Dr Alice Hodkinson, WRN’s medical spokesperson and founder of Biology in Medicine, spoke to Times Radio about the treatment of children by medics “affirming” their gender and the problems with the proposed drugs [the full discussion can be found here starting at 2h 4mins]. Alice joined Dr David Bell, whistleblower formerly of the Tavistock Gender Identity Disorder Service (GIDS), who also welcomed the pause to the proposed trial, calling it “methodologically unsound and also unethical.”
The interview covers the Tavistock clinic’s use of the drugs “off-label” and treatment of distressed children by “affirming” their loathing of their own bodies while bypassing usual medical and psychiatric safeguarding principles, including asking why such a disproportional amount of girls were being referred for this treatment.
Any new trial will place children in the role of underage guinea pigs – almost literally, as Pathways’ own literature says studies in mice have shown medical harms. When medics promote puberty blocking drugs they create the illusion of medical necessity and even choice. However, becoming a healthy adult requires puberty and puberty is not multiple choice.
WRN welcomes the pause to the trial, however we will continue demanding a permanent end to any trial that will harm children’s healthy development in pursuit of an unattainable goal like a “sex change“ or “gender reassignment” (aka a lie).
James Esses discusses the evidence he provided to Parliament recently and concludes with examples from his therapeutic work with confused children:
What I told Parliamentarians about Puberty Blockers
Mar 02, 2026
Below is the transcript of a recent speech I delivered in the Houses of Parliament to parliamentarians from across the political spectrum. I was invited to talk about my concerns with the puberty blockers trial signed off by the UK government.
“As one of the people bringing a judicial review against the UK government to block the monstrous puberty blockers trial, I thought it would be useful to set out my primary concerns.
Over recent days, we have seen significant movement in this space. We witnessed Northern Ireland suspend their involvement in the trial and then, significantly, it was announced that the entire trial was to be ‘paused’ to consider ‘new safety concerns’. In truth, there is nothing new about these - they have been well-known for sometime now.
The starting point for me is that discomfort in one’s sexed-body, particularly during puberty, is completely natural, and we should not be attempting to pathologise this. For those whose distress becomes so severe, the ‘treatment’ is explorative therapy and the natural passage of time – not irreversible and extremely harmful medicalisation.
Just a few weeks ago, I launched a petition calling on the UK government to cancel the puberty blockers trial. It reached over 137,000 signatures after just 72 hours, making it one of fastest growing petitions of all time. It demonstrates the strength of feeling that exists across the United Kingdom.
The parliamentary debate is scheduled for 9th March. Last week, the government responded by doubling down and saying that they are pressing forward with the trial regardless of the public outcry. It has now been revealed that only 90 minutes of a possible 3 hours has been allotted, and the MP chosen to lead the debate is Jamie Stone. He is a LibDem MP who previously stated ‘I am a trans rights activist’ and who took to social media to emphasise that the petition doesn’t align with his views. I have met with Jamie and raised my concerns about the debate being conducted in a fair and impartial manner, and he appeared to take those concerns on board. So, let’s see what happens on the date.
The unfortunate truth is that Wes Streeting is talking out of both sides of his mouth. At an ‘LGBT+’ event in September 2025, he told the audience that banning puberty blockers in the first place made him ‘very uncomfortable’. Then, in December 2025 , on LBC, he told listeners that trialling puberty blockers made him ‘very uncomfortable’. Which is it Wes?
The full piece is here:
We have just reported on Professor George being removed as leader of the trial when it was revealed that he is a ‘sex realist’ ie. he believes in the truth:
https://dustymasterson.substack.com/p/the-ladykillers-perhaps-youd-like
This has attracted wider publicity! Tobi Thomas in the Guardian reports:
UK health official recused from puberty blockers trial after bias claims
MHRA says Prof Jacob George will no longer be involved after gender-critical social media posts from last year
Sun 1 Mar 2026 1
A health official who reportedly intervened to pause a clinical trial on the use of puberty blockers has been removed from any further involvement due to accusations of bias.
Prof Jacob George, who was appointed chief medical and scientific officer at the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) in January, raised concerns that led to the Pathways trial being put on hold by the government, according to the Sunday Times.
But the regulator announced on Saturday that George would be recused from involvement in the trial after gender-critical social media posts made last year emerged.
In one post he described the author JK Rowling, known for her gender-critical views, as being a “treasure of our time”. In another he said “the denial of basic biological fact is concerning”, in relation to questions about whether the Olympic boxer Imane Khelif was a woman.
The MHRA said that although George’s posts were made before his appointment, he had been removed from involvement in the trial as a precaution.
The full piece is here:
There was also a report in The Telegraph:
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/gift/654cbe1c97829ded
EDI Jester gets suitably enraged about it all:
The States - Round Up
Another great round up from the States by Kara Dansky including about a sensible Democrat challenging Scott Wiener:
Is requiring people to have accurate sex markers on legal documents a human rights violation (or a genocide)?
Kansas law on drivers’ licenses
February 28, 2026
This post (behind the paywall) is about a controversy that recently erupted regarding Kansas’s issuance of letters to people who have an opposite-sex sex marker on their drivers’ licenses (“trans people”). The letters order such people to obtain accurate sex markers on their licenses, in accordance with state law. All hell has broken loose, and for some good reasons. [ Kara points out that they should have given those with false markers a reasonable time to change them]
But first …
Marie Hurabiell is a Democrat running to replace Nancy Pelosi in representing California’s 11th district in Congress (San Francisco). She faces off against Scott Wiener, who has helped turn California into a “predator’s paradise” and a “haven for human trafficking,” Saikat Chakrabarti, and Connie Chan, both of whom stand for policies that are far out of alignment with what the majority of voters want.
‘She also has strong views in favour of women-only spaces at a time when some in her party still debate the role of biology in what constitutes womanhood. “When streets feel unsafe, when parents hesitate to walk their children to school or ride the bus, it’s women and girls who disproportionately bear the burden, always — and when women cannot rely on female-only spaces, we limit their ability to participate fully in public life.” She sees women’s rights as “non-negotiable”.’
Go Marie! If I still lived in San Francisco, Marie would surely have my vote!
The full piece is here:
The States - Mabel from Trenton
I was listening to a piece a short while ago by Kara Dansky when there was mention of T shirts celebrating Mabel from Trenton:
https://www.zazzle.com/mabel_from_trenton_t_shirt-256445017870854058
Now, thanks to Democrats with an Informed Approach to Gender (DIAG Democrats) and Michelle Brooks I have worked out who Mabel is 😃:
What Fear Sounds Like
Mar 02, 2026
Breaking news: Founder of Skeptic Magazine and Executive Director of The Skeptics Society, author of the new book TRUTH: What it is, How to Find it, and Why it Still Matters, Dr. Michael Shermer, stuns WNYC podcast host Brian Lehrer by expressing skepticism and telling the truth.
Last month, Michael Shermer was invited on Brian Lehrer’s show to discuss his new book and his work as Executive Director of the Skeptics society, which went exactly as you would expect, at least for the first 15 minutes. Shermer, known for his decades long commitment to rigorous scientific thinking (and his Ph.D. in the history of science), adeptly ran through the basics of rational thought, and then, with no fanfare and no apology, flatly stated that men cannot become women.
No one could have been more pearl-clutchingly shocked at such heresy than podcast host and longtime NYC radio personality, journalist Brian Lehrer, who, despite years of covering local and national politics, was unable to maintain his composure when faced with some unpopular facts. In response to Shermer’s hate-filled rhetoric that “men cannot get pregnant,” and “men cannot become women,” the normally measured Lehrer was reduced to anxiously stammering anti-intellectualist disavowals and blurting out unfounded accusations. It was a painful performance that points to something much more sinister than simply disagreeing with his guest.
Let’s review:
Shermer spent the first part of the interview laying the groundwork for how a person interested in frivolous things like truth and science might proceed: thoughtful analysis, evaluating evidence, and applying reason. Shermer carefully explained—with examples from current and historical events—that this requires having doubt about commonly accepted beliefs, and making sure your facts are demonstrably and replicatively true. Most importantly: you must accept that truth can have no relation to the inconvenience or convenience of others.
Shermer also explained typical blindspots and their remedies: Bayesian Reasoning (thou shalt update thy beliefs as new evidence emerges!); Fallibilism (thou shalt understand you may be mistaken!); Pluralistic Ignorance (thou shalt remember thy opinion is probably shared by many who are equally afraid to speak); Subjective vs Objective truths (Thou shalt understand the difference between subjective internal states and objective shared truths that apply to everyone). Lehrer can claim no ignorance—he’d just had a 15 minute crash course in basic logic. Plus, he had supposedly just read Shermer’s book, right? So far, so good.
Enter call-in listener, Mabel from Trenton.
Setting aside her amusing non sequiturs about being a fertile woman during a time when people had a lot of sex, Mabel had a truth of her own to share about her frustration with the Democrats in particular. They’re “… trying to make us believe that you can turn a male into a female.”
Lehrer listened with genuine curiosity to Shermer for those first 15 minutes, but once Mabel spoke, you could almost hear Lehrer’s rational brain centers going offline. Curiosity evaporated and a veil of fear seemed to descend. Have a listen.[ about 16 mins in]
If you ever find yourself trapped between truth and allegiance to an irrational belief you don’t actually understand, but understand enough to know you’re not supposed to question it, it will sound something like Lehrer in this interview. Picture a rabbit frantically trying to dash down various holes to escape a hawk, and finding them all too shallow.
The full piece is here:
Media - Round Up
As ever, great round up of the media on Terf issues over the last week, including the recusing of Professor George (see above for that):
Northern Ireland - The Belfast Film Festival
Glinner discusses the recent Tribunal hearing of the case of Sara Morrison who was, she argues, constructively dismissed by the Belfast Film Festival, and the plans of the BFF to (effectively) celebrate men on International Women’s Day on 08 March:
Trolling women on your dime
The BFF is using public funds to troll feminists...on International Women’s Day
Mar 02, 2026
One of the worst interviews I ever took part in was at the Belfast Film Festival. A man who could not have cared less about me or Father Ted asked questions handed to him by audience members because he clearly didn’t think anything of the show himself. I thought at the time it was just bad programming — one of those things you chalk up to experience and forget. But no. It’s just who they are. A bunch of elitists who sneer at the people for whom they are given the honour of curating events.
On 8 March, Belfast Film Festival will screen The Matrix at the SARC Sonic Lab in Dolby Atmos. The screening will be accompanied by a presentation from Olivia Ó’Ríada, who will be “diving into the oft-misread queer context of The Wachowskis’ breakout film, attempting to reclaim ‘the red pill’ from 25+ years of misunderstanding.” The event is part of BFF’s Sparks 25 project, funded by the BFI through the National Lottery — your money, in other words — and focused on reaching what the programme calls “underserved areas of the audience.”
A bit of film analysis, a bit of outreach. Perfectly pleasant — in the way that a middle finger is just a finger. Here’s what’s really going on. March 8 is International Women’s Day, and the BFF just spent a fortnight in an employment tribunal explaining why it destroyed a woman’s career.
Sara Morrison was Belfast Film Festival’s Inclusion and Audience Development Coordinator. She’s a single mother whose adult son identifies as trans. In April 2023 she attended a Let Women Speak rally in Belfast and spoke about the fact that people can’t change their biological sex, a subject obviously close to her heart, given the harm the ideology has already visited upon her family.
What happened next is the same thing that happened to me, to Allison Phillips, to Maya Forstater, to Jo Phoenix, to Kathleen Stock, to Rosie Kay, to Jenny Lindsay, to Rosie Duffield, and to countless other men and women across the woke west. Trans activists came to destroy her life, and the people who should have defended her instead fed her to the mob.
Sara made her speech, and the footage circulated. The organisations Morrison had criticised in her speech — women’s sector groups who long ago decided to betray women in favour of crossdressing men — leaned on BFF. And the BFF folded like Imane Khelif in a fair fight.
Well, maybe not that fast. In the early days they were helpful enough to print out the online abuse she was receiving so she could report it to the police. Then, board chair Mark Cousins stepped in. He emailed colleagues to say Morrison had shown “no hint of regret” (for what, exactly, Mark?) and suggested she be “removed from queer and trans projects.” His co-chair Laurence McKeown — an ex-IRA hunger striker, because Belfast — helpfully compared Morrison’s attendance at a women’s rights rally to “sharing a platform with dissident republicans advocating armed struggle.” He walked that one back fairly sharpish under cross-examination.
BFF brought in an external PR firm. They brought in an external HR firm. They revoked Morrison’s access to work systems, took her keys, reset her email password but sent it to her work address rather than her personal one, which is like changing someone’s locks and then posting the new key through the letterbox of the house they can no longer get into. Stupidity or cruelty? With gender ideology, it’s often both. It’s a belief system that tends to bring out the Dickens villain in people who presumably believe themselves beyond reproach.
Michele Devlin, the festival director, put out a public statement reassuring the activist groups that BFF “passionately supports your values.” She then attended Belfast Pride in a t-shirt bearing the words “TRANS INCLUSIVE FEMINIST” in block capitals, just in case the mob might mistake her for her awful feminist colleague.
Morrison went on sick leave. Her grievance was rejected. Her grievance appeal was rejected. She resigned in November 2024 and filed a tribunal claim for discrimination based on gender-critical beliefs and constructive dismissal.
The hearing took place in November 2025 at Killymeal House in Belfast. It did not go well for BFF. Cousins was forced to explain under cross-examination why he’d said Morrison should be removed from “queer and trans projects” but not the women’s sector work — thereby undermining BFF’s entire stated rationale for the investigation. When asked whether he believed people could change sex, he offered examples from botany.
The tribunal was further enlivened when Morrison’s legal team filed a recusal application against the entire three-person panel. One member, Professor Deborah Boyd, had run an organisation on the other side of the argument and hadn’t thought to mention it. Observers in the gallery reported her making hostile facial expressions during cross-examinations. She eventually stepped down citing “health reasons.”
The verdict is pending.
Glinner concludes:
Mark Cousins and the BFF are a pack of misogynist trolls. They took the one day of the year that’s supposed to be about women, and they made it about men. All for spite and petty revenge.
Best of luck, Sara!
The full piece is here:
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