Boris Johnson appoints 'anti-trans rights journalist' as Downing street advisor

[stumbledin]

I wouldn't get too excited about this as Andrew Gilligan isn't exactly a feminist being better known for his campaigning as a macho lycra clad cycling czar.

But even having a right wing trans questioner in No 10 could be interesting way of getting gender critical views into the inner circle.

What it also shows (and there was a really good article about this whose link I have lost) written by a journalist owning up that they, the press, treated Boris much more leniently and admiringly because he is a journalist and so have never really done a hatchet job on him, like they all ganged up to do on Theresa May (who is you remember took up the impossible job when Boris ran away).

So in America with have government by reality show and now in the UK we have government by Fleet Street (eg Boris giving Osborne's policies priority, who is / was his editor).

Unfotunately I think this will mean a lot of media coverage of Boris will now not be about pure reporting but about old media infighting using the real issues of everybodies daily lifes to score points off each other.

Sorry to say link is Pink News, but they are so diligent in tracking trans issues they often are first with info like this. www.pinknews.co.uk/2019/07/31/boris-johnson-appoints-anti-trans-rights-journalist-as-downing-street-advisor/

I think what was in the back of my mind was that with Boris and his working practice of listening to and implementing policies based on his friends / employers in the media, it could be ironically that rather than as a result of campaigning and analysis, BJ could as a high handed individualist just instruct whoever happens to be Women and Equalities Minister just drop the issue of ammending the GRA.

So forget twitter, facebook, public meetings, just write to Andrew Gilligan. I am sure with Rees Mogg's style guide from the 19th Century, the concept of Grace and Favour decisions will not be questioned!

transwidow.files.wordpress.com/2016/03/sexandgenderdiagram1.jpg?w=855

I think this is a relevant diagram to trot out right now as a reminder of where feminism has common ground with gender ideology and where it has common ground with conservatives.

We are not helped by the situation in US where seemingly to question the trans agenda is to align with Trump. However reality is far more nuanced than that. In the UK there are still enough people who remember that socialism is rooted in class analysis and who can see that gender ideology is hyper individualistic and completely goes against this.

apologies i dunno how to simply post the venn diagram as an image!

Prick News has one headline, other media strangely focus on something completely different. Even the Graun!

stillathing, here you go.

Love how Pink News quote a small IPSO ruling about a minor quibble in one article, yet ( like the guardian) don’t sign up to be regulated by IPSO themselves. Can you imagine how many IPSO black marks they would get?

I don’t see Gilligan as ‘trans critical’ , just as being prepared to apply the normal standards of investigative reporting and critical thinking to issues and groups who happen to be lobbying on trans related issues.

Andrew Gilligan is an excellent investigative journalist who has his teeth into the trans agenda and is persisting and not letting it go.

There are a few journalists doing this, and it has made me really realise, for the first time if I'm honest, what an important profession journalism is, and how brave some of them are.

There are a few journalists doing this, and it has made me really realise, for the first time if I'm honest, what an important profession journalism is

Me too Baby and I took out a subscription to The Times because of it. Happy to invest in proper journalism.

There are a few journalists doing this, and it has made me really realise, for the first time if I'm honest, what an important profession journalism is
I'm surprised by that. I would go so far as to say journalism is as good a barometer as you'll find of the health of democracy. Journalism got started as democracy really began to evolve in Britain. It was started as discussion among people in coffee houses and began to meet the need for public information, without which you do not have democracy. As the health of journalism has failed, as news has become saleable entertainment rather than information, so has democracy. I'm not saying it's entirely causative, certainly not journalism = democracy, but there is certainly a very strong correlation between the two, and both a defining part of culture.

Yes Dark I agree. I kind of knew that in my head if you know what I mean - but hadn’t really seen what the impact could be if proper investigative reporting was missing.

Love how Pink News quote a small IPSO ruling about a minor quibble in one article, yet ( like the guardian) don’t sign up to be regulated by IPSO themselves.

The Indy don't, nor do the FT. And yes, rank hypocrisy. At least working for an IPSO member paper indicates a willingness to be held to account.

Can someone explain what a venn diagram is meant to show.

In the one posted the overlaps didn't make sense.

Or maybe as with everything the theory only makes sense if you already agree with the person presenting it!

This is a genuine request - I dont know about venn diagrams.

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venn_diagram