And this In the Times:
Rishi Sunak has pledged to force the NHS, government departments, schools and sports organisations to protect the words “woman” and “mother” with a review of the “brainwashing” he says is caused by woke culture.
The former chancellor is about to say that the cultural undercurrent, along with some laws, is being “used to engage in social engineering to which no one has given consent”. He has promised to wipe out “woke nonsense”.
This includes making sure the “Trojan horse” Equality Act is clear that sex means biological sex and clarifying that gender self-identification has no legal force.
In a speech he will make to supporters in West Sussex today, he will say that he has “zero interest in fighting a so-called culture war” but that there is a need to “end the brainwashing, the vandalism and the finger-pointing” he claims has permeated public life.
There have been increasing concerns about the erasure of sex-based language from guidance and laws, including those concerning maternity law, pregnancy services and sport. Sunak is taking aim at “left-wing agitators” who “take a bulldozer to our history, our traditions and our fundamental values”. He will say: “Whether it’s pulling down statues of historic figures, replacing the school curriculum with anti-British propaganda, or rewriting the English language so we can’t even use words like ‘man’, ‘woman’, or ‘mother’ without being told we’re offending someone, it’s not us who are the aggressors.”
Sunak plans to stop organisations such as Stonewall from delivering sex and relationship education, after concern that inappropriate topics have been taught to young children. Schools would be given guidance about what was acceptable, while parents would be able to request to see teaching materials, including from external groups, through an amendment to the Schools Bill. However, schools would have the final say on what to release.
On the Equality Act, he says in his speech: “Our laws must protect free speech, block biological men from competing in women’s sport, and ensure that children are allowed to be children.”
Yesterday rugby union and league bosses blocked transgender players from competing in women’s rugby, citing “scientific evidence” for the decision. Sunak says that he will tell organisations to provide women’s spaces, whether changing rooms or refuges, on the basis of biological sex.
www.thetimes.co.uk/.../f2818710-0f7d-11ed-93cf...