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Boycott JL and Waitrose? : James Esses' latest Substack on John Lewis LGBTQIA++ 'Identity' mag

289 replies

PersephoneSeethes · 15/02/2024 18:31

I saw it this afternoon on Twitter and read the article with utter horror.

I was hoping it would be uplifting stories about people being accepted and living full lives

John Lewis and Waitrose are seemingly actively promoting and policing
pronoun usage by colleagues, Stasi-style. This seems like it is a court case, a-la-Forstater, waiting to happen.

They have an article about 'raising non-binary and transgender children', not from an information position in case Partners come across such families in their stores, but with a heavy activist slant.

I think I have finally been pushed to the edge with this beloved company. I can no longer shop with them, and I shop at Waitrose every week for our main shop, have done for over a decade.

This is a real gut punch because I believe in what Waitrose does, or used to do: they pay their farmers better, their animal welfare is better, their shops don't have the bright lights and loud noises that set off my migraines and irritate family members autistic temperaments. But as someone who grew up a tomboy, and would have been thrown under the gender bus by Stonewall and all the other organisations if I had been a child today, I can't stand by and accept all this nonsense.

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Bertiebiscuit · 08/03/2026 13:01

I used to shop occasionally at JL and Waitrose as a treat, but the wokery is off the chart with them and its insulting to women, who must be their core customers. I don't plan to shop there any more, also have got stupidly expensive. I no longer spend vast amounts of cash to be ignored and insulted

SidewaysOtter · 08/03/2026 12:42

MrsOvertonsWindow · 08/03/2026 09:40

That "John Lewis sleuth" who found Katie's new employer and complained about her to them yet again demonstrates the extreme levels of intimidation and control that transactivists use to impose their niche anti social beliefs on society.

Doesn’t it just?

Dissenting women must always be silenced if we’ve upset the men 🙄

Ereshkigalangcleg · 08/03/2026 12:23

“Katie” 💪 wonder if she MNs? She sounds amazing.

fanOfBen · 08/03/2026 09:48

I clicked into this thread without noticing it was old, and felt fed-up - great to see that the most recent contributions are positive!

MarjorieWestriding · 08/03/2026 09:46

Just read Charlotte R's letter again with great pleasure and she is indeed brilliant!

MrsOvertonsWindow · 08/03/2026 09:40

That "John Lewis sleuth" who found Katie's new employer and complained about her to them yet again demonstrates the extreme levels of intimidation and control that transactivists use to impose their niche anti social beliefs on society.

ScrollingLeaves · 08/03/2026 09:22

lcakethereforeIam · 07/03/2026 16:17

Just wanted to add this as a little coda

Corporate Stupidity Files: Infinity War – Gender Blog https://share.google/97hireXjlFErmVuiE

It's from Nick Wallis's Gender Blog. In my head it's subtitled 'What Katie did next'.
I'll be raising a glass to her in the Bluestocking.

Thank you.

Clever, skilled Katie, whom any company should have been be grateful to employ, was very brave to stand up to these stalkers and her bullying employer. Thank goodness she did not just go away and leave the employer unchallenged. What a great result.

There is a brilliant letter by Charlotte R underneath this. too.

BeSpoonyTurtle · 08/03/2026 07:20

Don't these companies do any market research to find out who there customers are?

lcakethereforeIam · 07/03/2026 16:17

Just wanted to add this as a little coda

Corporate Stupidity Files: Infinity War – Gender Blog https://share.google/97hireXjlFErmVuiE

It's from Nick Wallis's Gender Blog. In my head it's subtitled 'What Katie did next'.
I'll be raising a glass to her in the Bluestocking.

CervixSampler · 26/06/2025 22:26

Is anywhere not captured? Asda are quiet this month but I only use it for tops up. Waitrose are usually amazing and I’ve not noticed anything apart from the app colour change this time. I only shop online though. M&S are on the bandwagon. Sainsbury’s is expensive. Tesco let me down in covid times and I find the sheer amount of products overwhelming now. Waitrose fruit has gone downhill in the last 6 months. I don’t drive so can’t shop around easily. I wish they’d all just keep politics out of things and focus on food.

Serencwtch · 26/06/2025 18:50

SidewaysOtter · 25/06/2025 11:55

I’ve found the Pride stuff to be much dialled down in Waitrose/JL this year - apart from some rainbow-ish bags that state blandly “Love wins” and rainbow logos on the apps/websites, you’d barely know it’s The Holy Month.

I suspect, like many companies, they aren’t seeing Pride - with its attendant fetish parades and trans rights activists - as a good thing to be associated with. Which is a shame in so many ways because Pride was, and should, be about LGB rights. But it was hollowed out from within by the TQWTF+ brigade.

I was thinking that & the way they've done the 'love wins' logo it really plays down the trans colours & the other colours stand out instead.

Grammarnut · 26/06/2025 00:08

I can't boycott them since I rarely to never set foot in either.

SidewaysOtter · 25/06/2025 11:55

I’ve found the Pride stuff to be much dialled down in Waitrose/JL this year - apart from some rainbow-ish bags that state blandly “Love wins” and rainbow logos on the apps/websites, you’d barely know it’s The Holy Month.

I suspect, like many companies, they aren’t seeing Pride - with its attendant fetish parades and trans rights activists - as a good thing to be associated with. Which is a shame in so many ways because Pride was, and should, be about LGB rights. But it was hollowed out from within by the TQWTF+ brigade.

RayonSunrise · 25/06/2025 07:48

Boiledbeetle · 17/02/2024 15:01

Next we have the much more reasonable (!) mother,but not female, they/them Grey who had difficulties accepting the fact they birthed a child despite being a they and not a female.

I apologise for the above gibberish!

Well, you know how childbirth is all sunshine & roses if you’re feminine enough while going through it.

And as for new motherhood… it’s a piece of piss if you declare yourself “cis,” or so I’ve heard. Maybe La Leche League can take that up as a slogan?

Artisticplunger · 24/06/2025 17:41

I totally agree with you and am relieved someone else out there feels the same. I was completely unaware of their stance on celebrating pride until last week when I went into my local Waitrose to shop and was “thrown” by their enormous sign over the customer service desk. IMO people should be left in peace to get on with their lives .The majority of people are openly supportive of all and do not need to have the John Lewis agenda pushed in our faces. I emailed them as I was in shock because as an older customer, I have shopped with both JL and Waitrose for yonks. I’ve had no reply from them and sadly feel I will now have to boycott them which I really regret. What has happened to this once amazing and wonderful partnership? They were the best!

SinnerBoy · 05/03/2024 15:10

One former adviser said missteps emerged as White built a team who were “all theory people”, and made changes without listening enough to long-term members of the retail business who knew the details of its supply chain and operations.

White controversially ditched the ‘never knowingly undersold’ pledge. Rival supermarket bosses took to walking the aisles of Waitrose stores in bemusement, confronted with gaps on shelves, tired interiors and confusing layouts.

“Some people are too bright for retail,” the former adviser said. “Retail is all in the detail. It’s shopkeeping, not management theory.”Another source and several former staffers agreed: “Her people judgment has been really poor.”

Well, she can't have been that bright, can she? It's entirely contradictory. Not bright enough to realise that she was arrogant and felt that she didn't need to listen to experienced people, when she did.

AmaryllisNightAndDay · 05/03/2024 13:40

It's kind-of relevant in my head because of JL's ethical stance, and I guess their diversity 'n' inclusion is also part of that. It's reassuring to know that they were aiming for affordable key worker type housing and not standard buy-to-let properties (which is how the Grocer presented it!) but it makes me wonder (a) how JL expect to make a profit from affordable housing when every other property developer aims to minimise it and (b) whether the affordable stuff is just window dressing for a development that would end up as mostly conventional and profitable buy-to-let.

AmaryllisNightAndDay · 05/03/2024 10:19

According to The Grocer (one of the articles that @YourWinter linked to) John Lewis planned to diversify into the buy-to-let property business.

"The key tranche of that has been a plan to transition the partnership to ensure 40% of its profits come from outside of retail, significantly through building up to 10,000 buy to let houses."

They what?

MrsJamin · 05/03/2024 08:00

Now John Lewis are trying to connect with female led businesses https://www.johnlewis.com/content/fashion/women/international-womens-day-female-founders - pointless when it could include men of course, though.

Chersfrozenface · 03/03/2024 19:03

Do you know, if the Graun told me I'd had sausages for dinner today, I don't think I'd believe it

(I did have sausages, meat-free as it happens.)

Villagetoraiseachild · 03/03/2024 17:54

That's hilarious of the Guardian.
Evidently, she has not been clever enough.

YourWinter · 03/03/2024 09:04

WhiteVelvet · 02/03/2024 20:32

I’ll stop shopping with them and stick to Aldi.

I used to work for them when I was young. I find it hard to conceive how far they have fallen from the great company they once were.

That ffing woman. Someone get rid of her fgs!!!

I only worked for a few years at Waitrose to tide me over between redundancy and retirement. Those few years spanned the appointment of Dame Sharon White. It’s been a downhill plunge.

It is already known that she isn’t continuing when her current tenure expires. How low can they go in the choice for her replacement?

https://amp.theguardian.com/business/2023/oct/07/was-john-lewis-boss-sharon-white-too-clever-for-the-cruel-retail-world

Was John Lewis boss Sharon White too clever for the cruel retail world? | Sharon White | The Guardian

The ex-civil servant took some tough decisions at the retail chain, but hired ‘theory’ people when she needed to get to grips with the detail, say insiders

https://amp.theguardian.com/business/2023/oct/07/was-john-lewis-boss-sharon-white-too-clever-for-the-cruel-retail-world

Runningwildish · 02/03/2024 21:34

I think I saw earlier in this thread that a lot of this is coming from ex Sainsbury's employees. I wonder if Sainsbury's had a bit of a clear out of the trans activists before they caused trouble there.