Ann Widdecombe on the trans debate

[RoyalCorgi]

It's short, but to the point:

www.express.co.uk/comment/columnists/ann-widdecombe/1303420/transgender-debate-JK-Rowling

it is reminiscent of the Soviet Union when people can find their livelihoods snatched from them because they do not sign up to state-approved orthodoxy

Well said Ann Widdecombe. Thanks for posting RoyalCorgi

First Piers Morgan now this. I am agreeing with the weirdest people these days

I think AW along with Norman Tebbitt were amongst the few MPs to voice their concerns regarding the introduction of the GRA back in the day so her stance doesn't surprise me.

I'm not a fan but as has become apparent there are quite a few strange bedfellows when it comes to this issue.

Strange bedfellows indeed.

I never thought I’d agree with AW about anything but she’s 100% correct, well said Ann

Funny old world. I have had a soft spot for Ann Widdecombe ever since she had an agony column in The Guardian way back in the day. It was called 'Buck up' and no-one I know seems to remember it.

www.theguardian.com/politics/2004/mar/29/redbox.annwiddecombe
For you, Floisme.

That advice would not be out of place on here tbh.

I remember it Floisme! I've strongly disagreed with AW on lots of things but always kind of liked her, and respected her no-nonsense mind, so I always used to read Buck Up. It's no surprise to me at all that she has a GC view because she's very matter-of-fact and couldn't give a shit about people not thinking she's woke.

Having said that I remember her on Celebrity Big Brother going to bed in her flanellette nightie with a glass of wine and a plate of biscuits...I approve of that behaviour too!

I do remember that column, funnily enough.

The other thing I've noticed today, which is tangentially related, is that on Twitter people are getting very angry with Neil Oliver, because he apparently tweeted something approving about David Starkey (a couple of days before Starkey made his awful remarks about slavery). Obviously it's not enough to be angry with Oliver, they're asking for him to be removed from his position with the National Trust for Scotland.

Uh, Anne Widdecombe? Does no one remember the sort of things she defended & implemented? Shackling incarcerated pregnant women in hospital? www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/chaining-women-backed-1323238.html

How could we possibly reconcile the two Ann Widdecombe? Surely that's not possible.

But wait! Why don't we entertain the amazing idea that sometimes someone is right and sometimes they're wrong?

People on this board love to claim that they care about women in prison. It's an obvious hypocrisy to make that claim while lionising Anne Widdecombe.

So many purity spirals at the moment Royal.

I think Neil Oliver had shown support for JKR and seems to have a GC stance so he was probably already in the cross hairs of the wokesters...

Thanks to everyone who remembers - good to know I'm not alone. My favourite was to someone complaining about a family member who always left tissues in pockets when they did the washing.

Yes AllCats I remember that too. It was why I felt kind of discombobulated she started that column and I realised I was enjoying it. In fact it might have been my first introduction to the mind shaking idea that people are complex.

But wait! Why don't we entertain the amazing idea that sometimes someone is right and sometimes they're wrong?

I feel toddlers are more capable of understanding this nuance than some adults.

Quite nauticant. Life must be so boring for these people who banish from their lives and 100% condemn every person who says something they don't agree with. It's essentially just making yourself a fully sealed echo chamber on every issue.

Also people can change their minds on things, given evidence and discussion, or they can not change their minds but accept that others disagree, and find ways forward. This comes about by people who don't always agree, having debates on things.

But people are lionising her, they just agreed with what she has said on this occasion. You can like someone personally, or have a grudging respect for someone but not agree with them for everything.

Purity tests are stupid and only ever seem to be used to shut people down.

And, funnily enough, I would say that that a lot of women who argued that pregnant women should be treated with dignity then are the same people arguing that men shouldn't be in women's prisons now.

It's almost as though I have been putting women first the whole time.

I feel really sorry for Neil Oliver - the independence mob in Scotland have been gunning for him for a while, urging people to cancel their NTS membership because he's (I think) board chairman and doesn't wholeheartedly support Scottish independence. They'd obviously rather see NTS fail and the properties/land it protects sold off to oligarchs and the like... ...

No-one is right about all they believe, same way no-one is wrong about all they believe.

The world is full of people and things. For each person and for each thing, there must be one fact attached, and one only. Otherwise it all becomes impossible to understand.

The Buck Up answers are spot on.

Sorry people AREN'T lionising her. Apologies for the mix up

I had no idea that Ann Widdecombe used to have a column in the Guardian! That would just be unthinkable now.

It has become almost a cliché to go on about viewpoint diversity and purity spirals but we seem to have regressed in fundamental ways.

Yeah, people are complex. You realise that once you make the effort to really get to know somebody. Not sure our current moment is so conducive to that.

I also remember - even though I was a fully signed-up lefty at the time - how ageist and misogynistic a lot of the criticism was of her.