Trevor Philips in the Times today

[ErrolTheDragon]

His columns are usually worth a read - this is on freedom of speech issues espe in universities

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/student-puritans-play-into-the-tories-hands-kvjnvnv5n?shareToken=c07fd75e30bb1c998569b0996c4d9969

Also there's this

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/liam-fox-urges-politicians-to-defend-public-figures-such-as-jk-rowling-against-bullying-mob-zvbwtw59g?shareToken=5180f71cee9081afe1ccb3479536c221

Re JKR:
“The sinister part was that it was not a counterattack or riposte to the views she had posted but an attempt to delegitimise her and thus her intervention.”

I would bloody hope any appointments to the front bench of the government are a party strategic decision, whichever party it is. I would like to hope that a government is capable of, even quite good at, strategy. Shocking I know.

Torys gonna Tory. Patel and Sunak are Tories. Expecting them to have policies other than typically Tory ones because of their ethnicity would be racist, wouldn't it?

I would much, much rather be voting for a centre left, Blairite government. (Who don't make policy based on Twitter.) But Labour have decided that they won't offer that, in spite of it being the only offer that the people have taken them up on in decades.

I'm not a natural Tory voter. I'm not going to be a happy Tory voter. But I'm also not going to be ashamed of putting my cross in the box for the party that are, on a balance of probability, least likely to shit all over my sex based rights.

Torys gonna Tory. Patel and Sunak are Tories. Expecting them to have policies other than typically Tory ones because of their ethnicity would be racist, wouldn't it?

Yes. Of course it would. Also racist is using the race of someone in the hope of giving the typical Tory policies an aura of inclusion.

I’m absolutely horrified that I am having to choose a party who I disagree with in so many ways to not have my sex based rights completely eroded. But here we are. I’ll have to choke on it.

Torys gonna Tory

Remember when Labour used to Labour?

I live in hope. One day a new centre left, sane party with actual socialist values and plain common sense may arise, devoid of professional politicians and lots of elite hobbyhorses. Voters would flock to it in droves.

As I remember things (admittedly it was before I started paying attention) it was a Tory government that set up an all party committee to consider reforms to the Gender Recognition Act. This all party committee, which I believe (again I'm going from memory) included Jess Phillips, listened to evidence from a range of witnesses, but not from any women's groups, before making recommendations which the Tory Government initially accepted.

Apologies as I haven't got time to fact check all that right now so feel free to correct if any of it's wrong but I'm fairly confident.

So no-one, in my opinion, comes out of it looking particularly good. I would say that the differences are firstly that since then the Tories have put some distance between themselves and self-ID whereas Labour, Lib Dems and Greens continue to advocate it. And secondly that Tory MPs who speak up for women don't get anything like the abuse from their own party that centre-left politicians do.

The Women and Equalities Committee is a select committee which exists to hold the Government Equalities Office to account. Its history is here:

committees.parliament.uk/committee/328/women-and-equalities-committee/role/

Membership of the Committee is supposed to reflect the party make up of the House of Commons. The Chair is elected. They make recommendations, but aren't part of the executive.

I am not sure how the Committee decided that its first enquiry should be into the GRA.

One day a new centre left, sane party with actual socialist values and plain common sense may arise, devoid of professional politicians and lots of elite hobbyhorses. Voters would flock to it in droves.

Agreed.

That's why we'll see continued puffing of targeted single issues each election-season, to suppress just enough of these voters this time for this reason, to allow the group doing the puffing to slide in because they know they're unelectable on the majority of their policies.

Might not be the Tories: this technique is universally applicable. This is what politics will be now.

The other feature of our politics will be hiding in a fridge.

Don't talk about your own party, only ever talk about the opposition. In fact, whatever unpopular thing you're doing or is happening beyond your control, repeatedly associate it with the opposition while saying as little as possible about your own agency. You don't need to make a reasoned argument – indeed maybe better not, as that could draw attention to your own behaviour – but use pics, repeated name-association, whatever will link the two in people's minds.

I've seen a good Covid-related example of this recently, although I can't remember the detail. I just remember it had me thinking, "Er, excuse me, who's in government?" which is my usual acid test.

These are general observations: there's nothing to limit these techniques to one party.

As far as I'm aware, removal of sex based rights has never made it anywhere near a manifesto. A huge amount of time and effort is put in on all sides to avoiding democracy getting too near it.

Also huge amounts of weaselling.

"We are committed to maintaining single sex spaces and simultaneously agreeing that everyone should pick their preferred space regardless of sex".

"We stand against violence against women and girls and simultaneously absolutely believe convicted rapists should be put in women's prisons and don't ask us what we actually mean by women and girls, let's leave that as vague as possible".

Jelly to a wall.

• One day a new centre left, sane party with actual socialist values and plain common sense may arise, devoid of professional politicians and lots of elite hobbyhorses. Voters would flock to it in droves.

But probably not in sufficient droves quickly enough to overcome the dead hand of first past the post elections.

@MichelleofzeResistance

As far as I'm aware, removal of sex based rights has never made it anywhere near a manifesto. A huge amount of time and effort is put in on all sides to avoiding democracy getting too near it.

It is all about sneaking things in under the radar because the majority of people are too disengaged from politics to notice. Look at the way self ID has been brought in in so many countries, or the hate crime bill in Scotland.

It takes time and commitment to keep up with this stuff, never mind sorting out the lies from the truth, especially when the BBC, for example, is completely captured.

So many people never watch the news, never read a newspaper, much less do any fact checking on what they do read.

I can’t help but wonder if the Home Secretary and chancellor appointments are being used to give a veneer of inclusive untouchable policy and practice while in reality both are a party strategic decision to facilitate change which would get attacked if coming from an old white Etonian. What this doesn't answer though, is that Johnson has had opportunities to get rid of Priti Patel but hasn't taken them. She is popular with the party apparently. Not a Tory but keep up with what's going on

I thought Janice Turner nailed it at the weekend - also in The Times.
Increasingly the political divide is not between left and right but between those who uphold objectivity, data, evidence and rule of law versus those who will jettison everything, even science and reason, for ideology.

There must be half a dozen threads running at the moment where this comment applies.
It doesn't help me decide where my next vote will go but it does help me make some sense of it all.