The real bedsock

BREAKING: Anger in Croydon Labour as two longstanding popular black Councillors with impeccable records are deselected and Keir Starmer’s niece is imposed by London Party HQ on their safe Labour seat (via @TheTimes) thetimes.com/uk/politics/ar…

UK: A male lecturer at a historic women's college in Oxford is raising concerns for wearing large prosthetic breasts on campus. Matt Rattley, who uses they/them pronouns, has also boasted of tutoring teenage GCSE students privately. reduxx.info/uk-male-lectur…

🚨 BREAKING: Labour MP Emma Lewell says she will defy Keir Starmer and vote for him to be referred to the Privileges Committee "The way today's vote has been handled by the Government smacks once again of being out of touch and disconnected from the public mood"

There are moments in politics when the easy thing to do is to look the other way, to close ranks and to put party before principle. That is not why any of us were elected. 1/5

Labour MPs getting calls from Starmer's whips, Front Benchers, even his personal mates in Lords. Experienced, decent MPs who he has zero time for, being strong-armed to support this direly unpopular PM, and lose all their credibility. Staggeringly tone deaf and out of touch.

We've all rightly been outraged at the way the disability charity @scope treated @jan_murray's choir by dropping them from performing at Sunday's London Marathon and then (presumably having sought legal advice) reinstated them in *very* bad grace. It's a scandal that cancellations like this for legally-held beliefs are still happening. However, I think many people have forgotten what Scope is supposed to do and what implications this attitude from its leadership has for the (actually) most vulnerable people in society. Scope is a disability charity. Its remit is to campaign and lobby on behalf of disabled people, to provide information, advice and support when they need it and to create opportunities for disabled people. How can disabled people trust Scope to have our interests at heart when it has demonstrated such intolerance for sex realist views? In particular, how can disabled women who need same-sex care trust Scope to advocate on their behalf, provide them with accurate and up to date information and advice on this subject and to support them - and give them a voice - when they need it most? Disabled people - especially women - who need care face extreme risk from those who are supposed to provide it. Disabled women are physically and sexually assaulted by male carers at a sickening rate. Same-sex intimate care for disabled women who require it is an urgent priority. But the major disability charities, including Scope, do not agree. They've been silent on the matter for years. They're silent because they've pulled a Stonewall; they know they'll lose donations if they work in the interests of the people who need them most. And yet they hoover up donations from brilliant, well-meaning people who don't know this. So can everyone who has been so brilliantly vocal in support of Jan's choir please, please also consider contacting Scope to ask them about their policy regarding same-sex intimate care for disabled women? Could you ask them what they do and plan to do to lobby for same-sex care, to support disabled women who need it and to make the voices of those women heard? Thank you so much. @hen10freeman @sharrond62 @jan_murray @WomensRightsNet @BevJacksonAuth @Glinner

A sensible about-turn from @scope. But damage has clearly already been done. And providing "additional support" for anyone who's been affected by @jan_murray holding "deeply upseting and alienating" gender critical views must feel like a slap in the face.

🚨 WATCH: Keir Starmer refuses to say if the Cabinet is behind him amid the Mandelson vetting scandal

Starmer 2022: "Look, there are only two possible explanations. Either he's trashing the ministerial code, or he is claiming he was repeatedly lied to by his own advisers and did not know what was going on in his own house and his own office. Come off it."

One of many problems for Starmer is that too many echoes of partygate. A PM who told the Commons, during PMQs, that something didn’t happen. Then we find out it did happen, but the PM says he didn’t know. Under those circumstances, Starmer called for Boris Johnson to resign.

Starmer forced through Mandelson's appointment despite the fact he'd been red flagged by the security services. He then lied to the House about it. He then tried to cover up publication of the documents that would have exposed the lies. If that isn't a resigning matter, what is.

Hate fox hunting and want it to end? Well the Govt has just released a public consultation on banning it for good. Please use our guide to fill it out: protectthewild.org.uk/hunting-consul…

This 'One Year Later' report 👇by @SexMattersOrg contains the powerful stories of women who have suffered, following the government's failure to ensure the Supreme Court judgment is adhered to. The WRN report 'The Waiting Shame', highlighting the dreadful failures of local authorities is also referenced. This is happening on YOUR watch @bphillipsonMP, when will you act?

Finland tracked every gender-referred adolescent in the country for up to 25 years. Their psychiatric needs didn't improve after 'gender reassignment'. They surged. A landmark peer-reviewed study just dropped. Here's what it found. 🧵

So called “gender affirming care” is the biggest medical scandal of our time.

Jolyon is a KC who thinks it is ‘legitimate’ for masked men to smash up venues with hammers if the women inside them want women-only spaces. He thinks he is progressive, kind and reasonable.

Thanks to the first volume of Michael Palin's diaries, I recently discovered the glory of one of the greatest travel pieces in British publishing history. In early April 1977, The Guardian published a 7-page travel supplement on this "little-known" island nation. 1/

I forget that many, who have only recently realised the harms of gender ideology, may never have heard of the Dentons Document. It is more or less required reading if you want to know just how insidious this movement is, and how it came from the top down. spectator.com/article/the-do…

Hardline activists will hang on to their manipulative hyperbole. In this case, teachers who desperately want vulnerable children to be terrified into thinking the whole world hates them and wants them dead. Most teachers will no doubt be utterly horrified. These activists are dangerous and exploitative. They are unfit to have children in their care. 🚩 @EleanorHarding dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1…

From @PETAUK. Alligator skins are turned into "luxury" items such as watch straps, while crocodile belly skins are used to make items such as the Hermès-designed "Birkin" and "Kelly" handbags, which can cost £30,000 or more... Petition link below. Thanks @TracyEdwardsMBE 💚