Get back in your box women, you're a right wing animal if you think men should be kept out of sport. "Why have rightwingers made even parkrun a battleground for trans people?"

Thankyou

What’s mysterious is how we got the place where someone who writes like this is encouraged to

I'm still laughing at the description of Policy Exchange as "mysterious".

What's mysterious about them? He makes it sound as if they are some sinister organisation backed by foreign actors set on undermining the British state. As opposed to a bog-standard think tank who have published an entirely reasonable, well-researched report on women's participation in sport, with endorsement from Martina Navratilova, Daley Thompson and Sharron Davies.

Who's going to tell Daley he's a gullible idiot being exploited by this sinister right-wing organisation? Surely Jonathan Liew would be the ideal person to do it. I would love to see how that conversation goes.

@GrammarTeacher

ParkRun is now back to its roots. The records don't matter. You should only be competing against yourself. ParkRun is a run for everyone

Completely agree, well said

I've complained, and finally cancelled my subscription, the article is absurd as well as offensive. Right wing my arse.

Complaint sent. Thanks for highlighting.

😂

My boobs have never been big enough to accidentally do anything like this - except when I was breastfeeding, when they were like footballs, but I was too exhausted to even with the computer on in this halcyon days.

Exactly. It really illustrates that this is a political movement that wants reality to be based around feelings (but only a special group of people's feelings, everyone else can either enable nicely or get to fuck) rather than facts.

The hyperbolic manipulation and misrepresentation to play on people's sentimentality is getting more teenaged by the day. It's verbal door slamming and flouncing with shouts of 'you've never loved me!' when you're left standing there muttering "I only said could you put your mug in the dishwasher".

That is just blatantly wrong - Nobody has asked to ban anyone - just for fair categories.

It's alternative facts. Stopping TWs from recording their times as 'women'=banning them.

Is it even legal to have a newspaper article with so many assertions that can't be backed up as fact? If it were in the Opinion section that would be one thing, but it's the Sports section.

The irony is that right wingers have only belatedly taken up this issue.

Back in 2019, Sean Ingle was writing about it IN THE GUARDIAN https://amp.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2019/jul/22/current-impasse-transgender-athletes, so information was clearly available, but Jonathan Liew was telling women to stop being hysterical and specifically Martina Navratilova that she shouldn’t expect sport to be fair.

But 2019 was also the year of the notorious missing Penny Mordaunt Mumsnet web chat and for years the Tory party line was that ‘so called feminists’ could be ignored. Tories tend to lack interest in rights issues.

The difference now is that the Tories are exploiting an obvious open goal, and Parkrun apparently pay attention to right wing think tanks and their actions affect men. Before that it was just ‘Blah, blah, blah women’

Look at this snippet from today's Guardian First Edition email. First sentence even more inflammatory than the original.

Billy's waded in.

Simon Edge on X: "JONATHAN LIEW: I'm even more of a misogynist dick than Billy Bragg BILLY BRAGG: Go Jonathan!" / X (twitter.com)

"Why have rightwingers made even parkrun a battleground for trans people?"

They push gender ideology onto society and then have the audacity to question why 'the right' is pushing back. Same nonsense as claiming the right are just in a culture war - they only can be because the left is pushing all these things, that the right fights against, in the first place.

Thank goodness for MN! I saw this article and my blood boiled!!! So I came here knowing that you fabulous lot would make me feel better.

Also praise be JKR ❤️❤️❤️

Haha. I guess he's stopped being a sports journalist and started identifying as one.

A trans woman should've written the article, I would like to ask Jonathan Liew why he thinks it is his right to take the place of a trans woman who would've been better positioned to write such an article.

To be fair, I have twice accidentally sent an email when I have leant across my laptop and my nipple pressed the send key.

Who? Not 'gender critical feminists'. Be whatever 'gender' you want.

It's just got bugger all to do with sports, unless it's that the kit for men and women is unnecessarily 'gendered' (rather than designed to fit and be functional on men or women's bodies as apt). Sorting that out should be easy.

From the article Next you start denying the concept of gender fluidity entirely.

That is just basic feminism!!! No behaviour needs to be categorised as more or less masculine or feminine!!!!

What a sexist ?&()£@@!!!

Indeed. They have a subversive sub-editor problem...

From the June 22 Sean Ingle article:

Similar issues are also bubbling under at grassroots level across Britain, with frustrations clear in some quarters as trans women win local races against females. Most sports are also yet to heed the five UK sports councils’ call to either prioritise trans inclusion or safety and fairness for women’s sport. The situation, as its report last year made clear, isn’t helped by the fact the issue remains so toxic.

“Several current female athletes suggested that, although all or most athletes considered transgender athletes have an advantage if they compete in women’s sport, almost no one would be brave enough to discuss this in public,” the report by the Sports Councils’ Equality Group stated. “So it is easier to keep quiet and acquiesce.”

But apparently Jonathan Liew didn’t read it
so is now shocked that women might care about fairness in grassroots sport.

I’m thinking they’ll know which page by now!