The reason I am a liberal: if I had absolute power, there would be so many bodies. I would do it with the best of intentions.
I am a liberal because I believe nobody should ever have that kind of power.
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The nation is now sharing an experience with many trans people.
We're all on a waiting list for Tory Replacement Therapy.
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Apparently the Tory press is going to lead with their desire to remove all equality protection in law for trans people.
Ineptly because, it turns out, they don’t understand equalities legislation.
And also they’re going to get annihilated so they can’t do it anyway.
But it seems this is now accepted political discourse in the UK, and I would like one, just one opposition party to have the balls to say in response, “you are terrorising trans people and you need to stop”.
But they won’t, because all parties in the UK (yes, all of them) have quite a few people who actually agree with the Tories on this, and it’s more important to avoid upsetting these people than it is to take a stand and say that what amounts to state sponsored terrorism against a minority of your population who just want to live in peace is wrong.
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Boosting this as it's interesting: Medicines regulation is a reserved matter under the Scotland Act 1998 (Sch. 5 (II)(J4)), so Holyrood cannot legislate in this area and Atkins is not stepping on Holyrood's legislative competence toes here.
@Lisa DiFalco @Christine Burns MBE 🏳️⚧️📚⧖ The subject matter of the Medicines Act 1968 (under which this Order was made) is a reserved matter under the Scotland Act 1998.
I remember canvassing my council ward in 2012 as a well regarded Liberal Democrat councillor. They phoned their neighbours so they could get their abuse ready.
And after I lost my seat 2 years later, they all told me how much they liked me.
I can’t imagine how much worse it must be for this guy.
Still, I find it difficult to have sympathies for the people who stole our EU citizenship and declared war on trans people.
independent.co.uk/news/uk/poli…
Mystery as Tory MP becomes 79th to quit even after campaigning for six days
Aaron Bell said it was ‘with a heavy heart’ that he was stepping down, raising questions about why he had been on the campaign trail since Rishi Sunak called the snap summer pollArchie Mitchell (The Independent)
What’s the suspected motivation for standing down beyond no hope of reelection? If I read the article correctly, the PM is putting his allies in easy to win districts - is that’s what’s going to happen here?
Thank you and apologies but I barely understand my own country’s politics.
There’s an HRT shortage in Portugal.
I have been going round different pharmacists. Usually they give me estrofem. This time I got Zumenon.
Allegedly they’re both the same forumation of estradiol hemihydrate.
So why the hell have I just collapsed in inconsolable tears with absolutely no ability to explain why?
FFS
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I've thought about this one.
A lot of people play the Game of Life(1) because they think that's what they're meant to do. Then, halfway around the metaphorical board, something makes them self-examine for the first time, and they realise they don't have to play. But because of the sunk cost fallacy, they can't quit. But if they can make their partner give up instead, then they "win".
1) As in Hasbro, not Conway.
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And it happens less among people whose sexuality, gender, neurotype, or thing I don't know enough about to name, differ from standard issue.
Because, I think, realising that we are one or more of those things, early in our lives, mean that we learn to self-examine sooner. It does still happen, of course, and heaven knows there are plenty of arseholes in those categories. But it means we can see the issue, more of the time.
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@alexandria I started diy because I had no interest in socially transitioning and that wasn't an option.
Anyway when I did go to my gp she said "I assume you won't quit if I tell you to" yup. Here's a prescription, being monitored by a Dr is way more healthy than doing it yourself. I'll read up on the subject, come see me in 3 months
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Ok, I appreciate that this is the epitome of 1st world problems. I am not looking for sympathy here.
But having 2 homes in different countries is weird. You end up duplicating shit to stop feeling strangely displaced.
I have the same worktop in both kitchens. The same desk. The same TV cabinet. The same door lock.
I. HAVE. THE. SAME. LIGHTBULBS.
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Just saw this via the London Reconnections blog and, oh my god, I think you could not do a worse job of redesigning the tube map if you tried.
“Paint all the lines the same colour. Send a train into London centre from Zone 6. Which identically coloured line does it emerge from on the other side? Fuck knows. Good luck!”
I mean, look at Oxford Circus? Which are the through lines? No? Me neither.
And this is promoted as “accessible”. God help us all.
esri.com/arcgis-blog/products/…
Mind the map: a new design for the London Underground map
A modern take on the London tube map with updated accessible colours, a re-classification of lines by type, and line symbols scaled by frequencyKenneth Field (Esri)
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@girlonthenet
It feels so wrong on so many levels.
Even the train frequency is rather confusing rather than helpful on the map. It doesn't offer choice. If I want to get from A to B I usually can't choose a more frequent lines but have to choose the lines which get me there. Same applies to mode of transport.
Additionally, this would mean all maps need to be reprinted if the frequency is changed.
Oh, and the frequency distinction is ridiculously precise. And is there any line with ❤ minutes frequency? I certainly can't see any at the first glance
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Someone on Bluesky yesterday was like, “actually how about national service for Boomers and Gen X doing customer service jobs?”
And I’m like, you want to put me, a nerd with zero fucks given and oppositional defiance tendencies, into a customer service job that I can’t get fired from?
You know Police Academy, right? You remember Mahoney, right?
I would have SO MUCH fun!
(And yes, I have worked customer service, but back then I needed to be polite to the ghastliest of customers)
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@Ghost of Hope I remember in the first year of cadets, the senior NCOs had been to Germany camp and it was raining so they were made to give us a presentation about it.
And they reeled off the list of aircraft they saw, and then said, “what else do you find in Germany?”
I put my hand up.
“Cadet Brown?”
“Germans”
I got this.
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@Ghost of Hope See? IT’S TAKEN 34 YEARS TO APPRECIATE MY COMIC GENIUS!
They just made me write an essay on “why it’s important not to disrupt class”.
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Dear UK TERFs, I just used a female loo in the UK, and have this to say:
Fuck sake. Some of you are fucking animals. If you piss on the fucking seat, fucking wipe it up, FFS.
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Someone just exhaled their vape in my face. My body took objection to this and immediately tried to die.
One second I was breathing. The next I was not.
Fun (am ok now. Bit of a headache)
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It's always seemed a slightly depressing riff on grey-and-vast Estate Agent Fascist.
I think about that time there was quite a lot of aesthetic fetish for spies and the security services, paramilitary police units, vigelante cops, etc (the GoldenEye and Tomorrow Never Dies era) a kind of "Dirty Harry"-seque uptick.
Especially with it being Westminster it all just seems like a tired and vaguely offensive cliche.
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@Colman Reilly Trump, the man who tried to stage a coup, is probably going to win anyway.
That he’s even in a position to be able to do that means that “the thing” doesn’t exist, and possibly never did.
Fuck the media. Do the right bloody thing.
It reminds me of Gordon Brown in 2010 when he kowtowed to the media and rowed back on the Mrs Duffy thing.
He was going to lose anyway. He bloody WANTED to lose. The absolute bare minimum he should have done given he had the platform is say, “the things she said are bigoted. People should be ashamed to say things like that. It’s not right, and I’m not sorry”.
Because someone needs to be saying that shit.
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I appreciate this is far from where we want to be in a perfect world, but the Tories are heading towards “we will put you in death camps”, and given Labour’s reluctance to challenge them on anything, this is probably better than we can hope for.
If you are in touch with Labour peeps, especially your MP, it’s worth letting them know that this stuff is appreciated. They get a LOT of shit from the other side. It’s worth us pushing back.
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Good news: it appears that repeated mRNA vaccinations promotes a broad spectrum inhibitory response to coronavirus infection.
I’ve had 5 mRNA vaccines and I know I’ve been repeatedly exposed to Covid since and just not caught it. I guess that’s why.
medicine.wustl.edu/news/repeat…
Repeat COVID-19 vaccinations elicit antibodies that neutralize variants, other viruses | Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis
Response to updated vaccine is shaped by earlier vaccines yet generates broadly neutralizing antibodiesTamara Schneider (Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis)
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🤞🤞🤞
I mean, I definitely caught the 'Rona after my first vaccination, but I've not been ill at all since (yet, I'm exhausted following my show run, so I'm just waiting to be hit...)
I feel like I have a “brand”, and that brand is “slightly psychotic middle aged tomboy trans lesbian”.
And brands must be maintained.
So when it’s time to descale the kettle, and other people use vinegar …
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Me, with a time machine: Good news Pyotr Ilyich! You will be remembered as one of the best composers of all time!
Tchaikovsky: That IS good news! Thank you, time travelling stranger!
Me: … largely for the 1812 overture.
Tchaikovsky: <endless screaming>
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Five years ago, the East Of England Liberal Democrats posted a photo of two transgender women, me and @Zoë O'Connell, wearing “Bollocks to Brexit” T-Shirts.
It is a sign of how far UK politics has fallen that that is utterly unthinkable now. Both the total erasure of transgender people’s existence and acceptance of Brexit are utter orthodoxy across the political spectrum there now.
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People always point to ghouls like Musk when they say that money can’t buy happiness.
Counterpoint: Enya. She made a load of money. She bought an actual castle. She retired to said castle to become a reclusive cat lady.
Inspirational!
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The people that say "money can't buy happiness" always have some stupid hobby that makes them sad instead of happy.
People with creative hobbies get happier with more money they have.
I have a dozens of things i want to do that i can't because i don't have money.
Elon bought a social media because people made fun of him there.
Mark spends his time stalking millions of people and running psyops with CIA.
Bill Gates is testing how awful a OS can be before people stop using it.
Apparently this beach is accessed only by sea.
WRONG
Free soloed the bigger, down and up.
Because I can.
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Just stopped at a motorway services for a coffee. You know the place; sells petrol.
The bin was on fire.
At the place that sells petrol.
A couple of women just sitting next to it, watching the bin be on fire.
I went and told someone. The bin is no longer on fire.
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Kincaid
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d a t green
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