I Swear
Update 818. John Davidson Special. #BeMore Porcupine.
On Thursday I have to go to London to give a speech about the work I used to do ( I would much rather tell stories!). My friend and the stack’s poet, Siobhan Spencer will be there and the next day the two of us are going leafletting - see further below. So I am coming back early today and also because the news and views continue to stack up!!!!!
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:
John Donaldson is a Tourettes’ campaigner and suffers from a rarer form of Tourettes called Coprolalia. Coprolalia is different from simply swearing or using bad language. Usually these vocal tics are not uttered within social or emotional contexts, and often are spoken or repeated compulsively in a louder tone or different cadence or pitch than normal conversational speech. Particularly embarrassing for some individuals with coprolalia are involuntary outbursts within social contexts, such as racial or ethnic slurs in the company of the very people who would be most offended by such remarks. A minority of people with coprolalia have this particular problem. It is crucial to understand that these words or complex phrases do not reflect the thoughts, beliefs or opinions of the person with coprolalia.
At the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) Awards on 22 February one of the films nominated for several awards was a film called I Swear about John Donaldson’s early life. John was present at the awards. He was introduced to the audience and it was explained that he may, through no fault of his own, let out utterances. He did let out some utterances including shouting ‘nigger’ when two black actors were on stage. Subsequently he has been vilified by many online and in the media. To find a media report on this event that could be relied on I had to go as far afield as Gript News in Ireland and here is their full report:
Actor Robert Aramayo and Campaigner John Davidson. C: StudioCanal
The despicable rush to condemn John Davidson
February 24, 2026
Jason Osborne
One could be forgiven for thinking that this year’s BAFTA drama was scripted, were it not for the fact that nobody in their right mind, especially in the arts world of 2026, would dare flirt with as diabolical a dilemma as confronted award season aficionados on Sunday night.
I say that because I don’t know how better you demonstrate that western culture has come to prize victimhood status more than actual compassion than with a scenario in which a man with the uncontrollable Tourette Syndrome involuntarily shouts a racial slur at two black men presenting an award on live TV, and ends up getting bucketloads of abuse for it anyway.
That is precisely what happened the other evening, when Scottish Tourette Syndrome campaigner John Davidson shouted “n****r” into a silent auditorium while acclaimed (and, crucially, black) actors Michael B. Jordan and Delroy Lindo presented an award onstage.
Despite the presumably abundant kindness and compassion of those in the room, it went down about as well as a cup of cold sick, and this despite host Alan Cumming’s reminder about the nature of Tourette Syndrome and apology to those who may have been offended by it.
Additionally, entertainment outlet Variety reported that floor managers on the night informed guests and attendees sitting in the vicinity of Mr Davidson that they were likely to hear outbursts and exclamations, without specifying what exactly they were likely to hear, so it can’t have come as a huge surprise to a good number of people in the room.
Indeed, it was but one of Mr Davidson’s audible shouts during the course of the evening.
Mr Davidson was there in connection with the film, I Swear, a biographical comedy-drama about his own life, and for which actor Robert Aramayo (who plays Mr Davidson) won the Best Actor award on the night. Speaking to a CNN reporter on the red carpet before the event, Mr Davidson said that “Certain things — like today, lots of people around, I’m feeling very, you know, more tics in case I lash out. Different situations can trigger different emotions and tics and stuff”.
Little did he know.
For their part, the men who were actually on stage, despite their evident shock, seemed to take it reasonably well, Michael B. Jordan keeping his silence while Mr Lindo simply said that he wished someone from BAFTA spoke to them afterwards about the incident. Fair enough. It is a loaded term, especially in the American context, and was probably the last thing either of them expected to be shouted while they were up on stage.
Boy, did people queue up to be outraged on their behalf, though, among them actors Jamie Foxx and Wendell Pierce, the former writing below an Instagram post that “he meant that shit” while the latter said on X that “it’s infuriating that the first reaction wasn’t complete and full throatted [sic] apologies to Delroy Lindo and Michael B Jordan”.
“The insult to them takes priority. It doesn’t matter the reasoning for the racist slur,” he said.
Sinners production designer Hannah Beachler decided to take things up a notch to a positively spiritual level, claiming that one of Mr Davidson’s outbursts was directed at her on the night and that while her “spiritual vibration is tuned to a higher level than what happened,” she is “not steal [sic], this did not bounce off of me”.
The whole incident clearly didn’t “bounce off” Mr Davidson either, who chose to leave the hall and watch the rest of the ceremony from a screen, despite the fact that, as BAFTA said in its subsequent statement, it “should have been a night of celebration for him” as well.
The moral hordes have been busy in the aftermath, though, offering such enlightening comments as “he should have stayed home if he knew he was prone to this”, and “Involuntarily says the N-word, but voluntarily refuses to apologize… we know what you are”. Another social media user, whose post on the topic racked up thousands of likes, said that while he has sympathy for people who struggle with a disability, “if you use a wheelchair and accidentally run over someone’s foot you instantly apologize”.
It’s true, Mr Davidson in his statement didn’t apologise, saying rather that he was “deeply mortified if anyone considers my involuntary tics to be intentional or to carry any meaning”:
“I have spent my life trying to support and empower the Tourette’s community and to teach empathy, kindness and understanding from others and I will continue to do so. I chose to leave the auditorium early into the ceremony as I was aware of the distress my tics were causing,” he added.
It shouldn’t need to be said, but clearly it does: John Davidson doesn’t have to apologise. [ Dusty - My F*****g Emphasis!]
If he did so, why shouldn’t he have to apologise to the hundreds, likely thousands, of people he’s encountered in his lifetime who’ve taken issue with his tics and utterances? That would be no sort of life at all. But then, those who’ve rushed to take offence on the actors’ behalf don’t seem all that concerned with Mr Davidson’s wellbeing at all.
This incident has revealed that for no small number of people, the matter is settled: race comes above disability in the victimhood hierarchy where a clash between the two is perceived to have taken place. In those situations, the disabled will be treated with little more than polite contempt, if even that, as evidenced by the torrent of abuse and accusation levelled at Mr Davidson in the wake of his, again, involuntary comments.
People who no doubt think of themselves as good and righteous will without a second thought put forward the idea that a disabled person should just stay at home if there’s the slightest risk they’ll offend or inconvenience someone, or that if they choose to come among us, they should have to apologise to each and every one of us whose toes they tread on.
There’ll be no sleep lost by Michael B. Jordan, Delroy Lindo, Hannah Beachler or any of the innumerable morons outraged for them, but it’s likely a different story for John Davidson who I imagine will probably, sadly, in future steer clear of events he has every right to be at.
A real shame for him, and for all of the other people with Tourette Syndrome who’ve now seen that they’re going to be held accountable by the world’s shiniest, happiest people for something entirely out of their hands.
Compassionate, my ass.
Great piece, Jason Osborne!
Someone called Anne in the comments to Jason’s article says:
One must conclude that the dumb, the dumber and the dumbest were at the awards .That they don’t see the irony of celebrating an actor playing a person with Tourette’s and then getting their collective knickers in a knot about the actual person with Tourette’s, is beyond belief. If this was written as fiction , it would be seen as satire.
Well said, Anne.
For more useful information here is the Tourette’s Society of Scotland:
https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/lifestyle/tourettes-scotland-say-no-meaning-36767248
As I would expect, EDI Jester and Kellie-Jay Keen have come out fighting for John Davidson:
Here’s a lovely clip from the film and, of course, ALL THOUGHTS ENCOURAGED.🙂
Thanks to three wonderful readers for suggested pieces.
Some of the linked pieces below may be behind a paywall.
OK, Terven, that’s your tea break! Back to the Terf Wars!
Stop The Clinical Trial
Leafletting
My friend, Siobhan and myself will be leafletting against the trial outside King’s College, London ( King’s College are, of course, running the trial) this Friday 27 February between 11am and 1pm. Please come and meet us and help out if you can. If you want more details, please e-mail me at Dusty1958@protonmail.com
We will be at the Strand Campus probably on the Surrey Street side of The Strand, just up from Charing Cross Station.
I will probably be in my jean jacket with a Suffragette scarf and trilby.
In the meantime, more on the trial from wonderful Gript News:
Irish Campaigners welcome pausing of UK puberty blocker trial
February 24, 2026
Maria Maynes
Irish campaigners have welcomed the UK’s pause on a clinical trial assessing the risks and benefits of puberty-blocking drugs for children after concerns were raised by the UK medicines watchdog.
The planned trial set up by the NHS and run by Kings College London into the long-term impacts of puberty blocking medicines on children with gender incongruence, as recommended in the Cass Report, was halted after intervention by the UK Medicines and Healthcare productions Regulatory Agency.
The Cass Review, carried out in the UK, found that children had been let down by a lack of research and that there was not “good evidence” that puberty blockers, drugs used to delay or prevent puberty from happening, were safe or effective.
The author of the report, Baroness Cass, is a consultant in paediatric disability and a former president of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health.
The trial, which had been due to start in April, caused controversy after it emerged that participants, aged under 16, would receive £30 vouchers for each of the 15 cognitive assessments they complete, as well as £15 vouchers for each of the three MRI scans they undertake, over the two years of the trial.
Northern Ireland announced it was joining a trial of the drugs earlier this month amid Health Minister Mike Nesbitt appointing Baroness Cass to review Northern Ireland’s gender services. It has also suspended participation.
In the MRHA statement and letter to King’s College London, concerns were raised about the age range included in the study design, the risks to future fertility and bone health in participants, and risk of excessive vaginal bleeding in girls. The MRHA recommended raising the minimum age of eligible participants to 14 and addressing medical concerns.
Details of the trial in England, which would involve more than 220 children aged between about 11 and 15, were announced in November. An MHRA spokesperson stressed that the “safety and wellbeing” of participants – yet to be recruited – was “paramount”.
In the North, First Minister Michelle O’Neill last week hit out at Health Minister Mike Nesbitt after he announced a decision to suspend Northern Ireland’s participation in a clinical trial to assess the risks and benefits of puberty-blocking drugs in children. The Sinn Fein politician said it was “disgraceful.”
“That’s disgraceful, that’s actually to turn their head against those people out there in the trans community that are really, really anxious right now,” she told reporters at Stormont.
Participation in the trial had been reported earlier this month in a review of Northern Ireland’s gender identity services carried out by Dr Hilary Cass. Mr Nesbitt said he had suspended Northern Ireland’s participation in the trial in light of ongoing legal action in the courts in England.
‘IT’S TIME TO STOP THE USE OF THESE DRUGS’
Sorcha Nic Lochlainn, Director of The Countess, commenting on the pausing of the trials in both the UK and Ireland, said: “While the intervention by MRHA is welcome, within the Cass Report and within the broader gender services, there is an underlying assumption that somewhere there exists a child who would benefit from interference with their natural development to the extent that they never experience puberty and instead develop the secondary sex attributes of the opposite sex.
“But this synthetic ‘puberty’ cannot replace the normal development that would happen if they were left alone. The full impact on body and mind is not understood. And the question remains, who is this mythical cohort? And how many children should be harmed in order to find them?
“We say there is no such thing as a trans child. It’s time to stop all use of these drugs and start trying to help those who have already been harmed.”
Nic Lochlainn went on to say: “The pausing of the trial comes after Mike Nesbitt had withdrawn Northern Ireland from the trial because of legal action being taken. It is imperative that the trial be scrapped and the data on those children who received these drugs in GIDS Tavistock be obtained to measure the long-term impacts. The use of drugs to disrupt a vital developmental step should not be considered without clear clinical need.
“That need has never been demonstrated. The original Dutch protocol from which all this flows was designed because adult men were unhappy with being unable to completely disguise themselves as women because of their male secondary sex characteristics like deep voice and prominent Adam’s apple.
“The Dutch team postulated that if they stopped these pubertal developments in children experiencing gender dysphoria, the trans-identified adults would have less mental anguish.
“This is no basis for any kind of radical intervention. Any further experimentation is deeply unethical.”
Nic Lochlainn finished by saying: “We are calling on the Irish government to ensure no Irish children are harmed by these drugs and instead promote a therapeutic exploratory model of care that would allow children to grow up whole and healthy.”
‘CHILDREN IN THE UK ARE SAFER THIS MONDAY MORNING’
The DUP’s Diane Dodds said last week that the government’s suspension of the trial means “children in the United Kingdom are safer” – while hitting out at Michelle O’Neill.
The DUP health spokesperson accused the First Minister of having “no thought for the safety of children” white accusing the Alliance Party of caring about nothing but “the woke agenda”.
Speaking in the Assembly yesterday, Ms Dodds welcomed the government’s decision to put the trial on hold.
“Children in the United Kingdom are safer this Monday morning since the UK medicine authority has expressed concern about the long term impact of puberty blockers and paused the King’s College trial.
“So let us remind ourselves who these children are in Northern Ireland. Hilary Cass describes them as vulnerable young people who have experienced bullying and trauma in their lives. Interestingly, she also says that they often present as clusters from the same schools,” said Dodds.
https://gript.ie/after-michelle-oneill-hit-out-at-withdrawal-of-ni-trial-as-disgraceful/
In the comments to this article, Frank McGlynn said:
I used to hate the DUP and their bigotry. Nowadays they seem to be the voice of sanity in NI and Sinn Fein are the exact opposite.
Good point, Frank!
From the other side of the world, Bernard Lane in Gender Clinic News joins in:
Unfinished business
Psychiatrists call for urgent tracing of Tavistock youth as the puberty blocker trial stalls
Feb 24, 2026
A group of 23 consultant psychiatrists has urged the UK government to pursue a follow-up study of the 9,000 minors seen at the London-based Tavistock gender clinic rather than persisting with the contentious clinical trial of puberty blockers.
“There will be a lot we can learn from this cohort [of ex-Tavistock patients] and this should now be the priority,” the psychiatrists wrote in a letter to The Times newspaper on Monday.
“It was alarming to learn that National Health Service adult clinics refused to co-operate with the research team who were tasked with this follow-up study, and we would hope that a reinvigorated effort would now be undertaken.”
On Friday, it was announced that the PATHWAYS clinical trial of puberty blockers, which was to start recruitment of up to 250 participants as young as age 10, had been put on hold after the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) raised safety and ethical concerns.
Those concerns included the risk of “long-term biological harms” including sterilisation, permanent bone damage, and cognitive ill effects. In talks begun this week with the trial researchers, the MHRA is seeking a series of changes and restrictions, most notably a minimum age of 14 for participants.
Detransitioner Keira Bell, who is involved in potential High Court litigation to stop the clinical trial, said evidence of the harm done by blockers to former Tavistock patients such as herself was available.
“They can find all of my medical notes & tests, which I also have in my possession, to add to the list of children already put on [blockers] who suffered negative effects,” she tweeted on Sunday.
She recalled feeling her body “shut down” on puberty suppression, with night sweats, difficulty sleeping and studying at school.
The “data linkage” follow-up study to discover the adult clinic outcomes of ex-Tavistock patients had ethical clearance and, like the clinical trial, was recommended by paediatrician Hilary Cass following her four-year review of youth gender dysphoria treatment. It’s thought that some 2,000 of the 9,000 minors seen at the Tavistock between 2009 and 2020 were prescribed puberty blockers.
The full piece is here:
Meanwhile, what is else is going on???
Well I thought the weather was much nicer today, Dusty.
No, I mean what else is going on in the Terf Wars, Puss, not what did you think of the weather!!
Ooh, hark at you!!
What’s In A Word?
Karen Davis on You’re Kidding, Right? enters (as she does) into conversation with a ‘transsexual’ on Twitter. To quote Karen, a transsexual is a man who has had “his junk” cut off. Maybe they could be allowed in the Ladies? NO is the answer ( of course), largely because they are still men and, even if you are not taking account of sexual offences, the majority of violent offences are committed by …your starter for ten… MEN!!!!!!!!!!!!! All thoughts gratefully received.
New Zealand
Whoaaa!!! Hold the front page!! Some good news from NZ care of our friend, Katrina Biggs on her substack, A B’Old Woman:
We’ve dodged a bullet - ‘transgender’ and ‘nonbinary’ categories will NOT be added to NZ’s Human Rights Act.
So far, so good - but the recommendations haven’t quite been consigned to fires of hell, yet.
Feb 24, 2026
In good news, the New Zealand Government has decided against adding protections to the Human Rights Act for “people who are transgender, people who are non-binary, and people with innate variations of sex characteristics (i.e. Disorders of Sexual Development (DSDs))”. I’d have liked the decision to have been a robust “get out of here!”, but it was more along the lines of a polite “not today, thanks”. As announced by the Law Commission on 24 Feb, the Government stated that “as the Government currently has significant commitments and priorities in the justice portfolio, progressing the Commission’s recommendations is not a priority at this time.”
Back in 2022, the then Minister of Justice, Kiritapu Allan, asked the Law Commission to do a review on adding protections to the Human Rights Act for “people who are transgender or non-binary and people with innate variations of sex characteristics”. In my blogpost where I wrote about making a submission on the Law Commission’s initial recommendations, I said –
“The Law Commission has put together what they call an ‘issues paper’ to review a proposal to put the ‘word’ gender’ into legislation. It’s a nightmare of blood-boiling bollox to any sensible-thinking person, and a wet dream for transgender lobbyists. Submissions from our delegation on this issues paper are published on the Women’s Rights Party website, with Mana Wāhine Kōrero’s submission published on their own website. The submission I made is also published at the bottom of this blog-piece.”
The final 450-page report, which the Law Commission presented to the government six months ago, was much worse.
Although that report has not been thrown in the fire yet, it has been put in a box and consigned to the basement. On ‘our side’ – i.e. those opposed to the additions - it’s a victory that the recommendations haven’t been accepted; and for the ‘other side’ – i.e. TQI-Alphabet lobby groups – there hasn’t been an outright rejection of the report and its recommendations.
When a left-wing government comes into power in place of our current centre-right government, and sooner or later it will, they’ll have the ability to dust off that box in the basement, resurrect the Law Commission’s report, and implement the recommendations should they wish to. TQ+ lobby groups will use all the influence they have inside Parliament to try and make that happen - and they have a disproportionate amount of influence.
What might be a saving factor, is that there is a waning appetite amongst even left-wing political parties to use their time and resources to put gender ideology front and centre anymore. They may be willing to let that box collect dust in favour of the old tried and true excuse of “more important things”, like the current Minister of Justice Paul Goldsmith has done. The longer the report languishes there, the less likely it is that it will get dusted off and resurrected. Nothing’s certain, of course, and as long as there are TQ+ lobby groups around, they will push to install gender ideology into legislation. But, then there are also the terfs …….
Yes, indeed, Katrina there are also and always THE TERFS!!! 😀
The full piece is here:
England - The For Women Scotland Judgment
Women’s Rights Network have analysed that (at least) over half the local councils in England have failed to enact the Supreme Court judgment nearly a year after it was delivered. Totally outrageous!!! Let’s sue the Government itself ( sorry, I have this on repeat!!!!!).
https://x.com/WomensRightsNet/status/2026218477980168423/photo/1
Terf Island Discs
Thanks to all readers ( and me 😀) who have made suggestions and we still have lots of songs to go that will take us well into 2026. It’s been great (I think anyway 😊).
We will then be reverting to Endpieces.
Endpieces, as regular readers will know, consisted of comic pieces, animal videos, songs etc to provide a bit of relief after some of the horror stories we detail on this substack. Endpieces was run by Tenaciously Terfin, Liz Parker and myself and we are delighted to now have been joined by Becca Shambles, Petal and Jeremy Wickins. Please let us know if you want to join the Endpieces Club 😊
I have an Endpieces folder so Endpieces suggestions can be sent to me at any time from now even though Terf Island Discs will be continuing for the moment as explained above 😊
Onwards with Terf Island Discs.
Next up!
Chosen by: Bob
‘Lovesong’ by The Cure
#BeMorePorcupine
#KeepTerfing
#PosieForPM
#PubertyIsAHumanRight
#AdultHumanFemale
#LetWomenSpeak
#LGB✂️TQ
#KeepBoppingTerfs
#HoldTheLine
#StopTheBlockersTrial
#NeverSurrender
#NeverForget
#TruthWillTriumph
#WeWillWin
On Friday morning I will now be wearing a black woolly hat in addition to the jean jacket and Suffragette scarf . It is too windy for a trilby 😊
Great idea, leafleting London. You and Siobhan are absolute stars!