Alex Sobel (Labour Shadow Cabinet) visiting Mermaids

[achillestoes]

After everything that’s emerged about the risks associated with the pharmaceutical regime Mermaids promote for young children, and after the number of occasions on which this charity has shown they don’t understand safeguarding, Sobel, a member of Labour’s actual front bench, feels it’s a “pleasure” to visit Mermaids, congratulate them on receiving an award, and meet and be photographed with Susie Green.

I’m proudly voting Tory.

Each to their own, eh?

Maybe someone could send him the times article about the probability of theTavistock being sued, which will lead to the extraordinary dangerous advice given by Mermaids.

He's my MP.

As @Scout2016 highlighted, he specifically instructed those of us who believe that women and girls deserve privacy, dignity and safety not to vote for him.

Then we get posters telling us off for being obedient to his instructions.

Naughty, silly women, can't ever do right.

Have you ever booked an appointment with him to ask about the dichotomy there?

I can see he has a fairly respectable majority, unfortunately, which I'm guessing doesn't help with the arrogance.

Oh look, a squirrel.
Comments like that are part of the reason I don’t post in FWR anymore really (and I bet I have been here longer than most..)

I have had a conversation with AS in the past as it goes and I did bring up single sex provision (relevant to my work) . He told me that they (Labour MPs I presume) have been told not to go near all the “culture wars” because it’s all distraction from real issues. He seems to think it’s driven from the “Christian Right” which was odd but that’s the line a lot of Labour politicians are taking, that concern over single sex spaces etc is a right wing and religious position.
I don’t agree with him and if he were my MP I might think twice BUT ..
I can’t vote for a party who will CERTAINLY further destroy the lives of millions of people and push this country further down the drain. Labour have a lot of rotten apples but there are also people who genuinely do believe in the NHS, taxes for public services, public transport and schools having funding. I am not voting on a single issue. I am very conscious that poverty in general hurts women first, always.
It’s a bit of a luxury position to take-throwing your lot in with the Tories. If you were on the breadline I’m not sure you would risk it.

@TammyOne

’He told me that they (Labour MPs I presume) have been told not to go near all the “culture wars” because it’s all distraction from real issues. He seems to think it’s driven from the “Christian Right” which was odd but that’s the line a lot of Labour politicians are taking, that concern over single sex spaces etc is a right wing and religious position.

I don’t agree with him and if he were my MP I might think twice BUT ..’

I refuse to vote for anyone who places the well-being of children, including whether they reach adulthood with their bodies intact, in the category of ‘things they won’t go near’. There should be no such category. I vote for an MP to exercise their judgment on all the issues, not just the ones they’re not scared of.

And those people on the ‘Christian right’ they’re so keen to ignore? They are constituents and citizens too.

@TammyOne I think I understand your position, it's unenviable chosing between two, or more, political poisons. If he's in a safe seat you can spoil your ballot with a pithy message, then it might not be completely wasted. Where I live labour don't have an earthly, so I can vote for no-one with a clean conscience. Women in the marginals have to have a think, I don't know what I would do in that situation. Fptp is stupid.

Outrageous. WTF is wrong with Leeds? So many things seem to go on there?! Is it all down to this guy?

It really worries me that so many of our politicians are content to let other people do their thinking for them. I realise that they’re frequently directed by their parties as to how to vote, but this stuff goes far beyond that.

Seriously, what Christian Right? The C of E? Arguably quite right wing regarding homosexuality; ditto the Catholic Church (the latter even full-on transphobic). But there’s a distinct absence of right wing rhetoric, tactics & oh anything else from both. Unless you’re going to count clergy wearing black shirts? 🤔 It’s just mindlessly trying to import an American argument that doesn’t map onto the UK. Frankly it’s embarrassing.

Casually dismissing “culture wars” is not just embarrassing either, and it is worse than merely foolish. He’s essentially saying “I don’t have to consider [the] views [of people] I don’t like” - which begs the question of who else he airily disenfranchises & which views will see you stripped of a voice in his Brave New World? Many Muslims’ views on social issues would align with the [actual] Christian Right - presumably he’d bin them off too? Politicians do tend to be a bit quieter about that sort of thing for some reason ie not wanting to look like racists despite the fact that much of the UK’s Christian population they’re so merrily binning off aren’t white either the great racist eejits that they (the politicians, to be clear!) are.

Doubtless it is much easier not to engage his brain. However he gets paid too much to enjoy that luxury. The lot of them need to get their act together.

Oh there was also one in a recent edition of Counsel magazine (for barristers) wanking on about the struggles of a Mx who just wants to be able to wear a blouse and drag queen style make up to court.

Apparently no one understands the struggles of not conforming to the norm at the bar as well as a white man.

Majority of 10,749 in 2019, which is massive, given how many North of England constituencies fell to the Tories at that election. When I was a teenager living in that constituency, it was rock solid Tory. It fell to Labour in 1997 and then went LibDem in 2005. Sobel took it back for Labour in 2017.

Looking at the area covered by Leeds North-West, it has a huge student population (Wikipedia says over a quarter of the electorate) which I think may have grown in recent years as the universities have expanded. That probably accounts for a lot of his votes, and his insouciance about labelling some of his constituents as bigots. He's probably grasped that tweets like that will go down well with some segments of the student vote.

My parents left Leeds a long time ago but I'd be surprised to learn that there have been huge demographic changes in the outer suburbs, so he must be counting on keeping hold of the students. Too much to hope that the next general election takes place during the long vacation, I suppose. As a PP said, Yeadon, where Mermaids is based, is in the constituency.

That's a really interesting response. It's the one used by banks and other companies who are challenged about their unquestioning support for anything alphabet related.

Are they being taught somewhere? Or is it social contagion- the all hang out in the same trendy bubble and think it's laudable?

He seems to think it’s driven from the “Christian Right” which was odd but that’s the line a lot of Labour politicians are taking, that concern over single sex spaces etc is a right wing and religious position.

You have to hand it to left-wing men. They've cleverly managed to tar any feminist who objects to them doing whatever they want - using pornography, using prostitutes, entering women's spaces - as being evil right-wingers and therefore beyond the pale. The sad thing is the number of women who are dimwitted enough to go along with it.

‘They've cleverly managed to tar any feminist who objects to them doing whatever they want - using pornography, using prostitutes, entering women's spaces - as being evil right-wingers and therefore beyond the pale.’

They’ve managed to tarnish anyone who objects to anything they could perceive as ‘sexual’ as being an evil right-winger. Look at all the academics defending people doing ‘studies’ on masturbating to animated child pornography on Twitter yesterday and today. They’ve lost their minds.

It’s a bit of a luxury position to take-throwing your lot in with the Tories. If you were on the breadline I’m not sure you would risk it.

This is not true. Why do you think they win so often? Plenty of working class people vote Tory.

Have you ever booked an appointment with him to ask about the dichotomy there?

No, and I daren't even write to him about women's sex-based rights. Quite frankly, I don't trust him (or those surrounding him) to not abuse my information to somehow "get" at me or my family for thoughtcrime.

I would rather stick pins in my eyes than ever vote Tory, so I have to content myself with not voting for biology-denying ideologue parties (I spoilt my ballot in the locals and will do the same if/when there is a GE).

To be fair, he said on Twitter that he doesn't want the votes of 'bigots' who think that women shouldn't have their own single sex spaces. Literally said 'I don't want your votes'.

So take it up with him.

Exactly.

Do Naughty Women like me obey His Righteousness in this particular Holy Command, or not?

I've not forgotten his 'bigot' tweet. If I lived in his constituency I wouldn't vote for him because he's an idiot who lacks critical thought. And yes, always voted Labour. Some things are beyond politics.

Misogynistic twonk who actively tells women not to vote for him if they are interested in protecting women's rights.

He needs the student vote, not us pesky female people.

‘Quite frankly, I don't trust him (or those surrounding him) to not abuse my information to somehow "get" at me or my family for thoughtcrime.’

This. It’s not just a choice between two different conceptions of what arrangements benefit people economically, with a disagreement about gender thrown in. These people are actively hostile to our interests, and are harming us. Not accidentally or through negligence - they know they are harming us, and they don’t care.

I think I mentioned that I did take it up with him? Essentially though, while I might not choose to vote for AS I would look at each candidate where ever you live and take a pragmatic approach.
Of course plenty of working class people voted Tory. Lots of working class people do alright for themselves - being working class doesn’t necessarily equal poor or vulnerable. But increasingly more and more people are becoming vulnerable and the thought of the Tories getting free reign to continue trashing our country fucking terrifies me. It’s not a clear cut choice of “ knows what a woman is” and “ is in thrall to nutters who want to harm children” . Absolutely go and see your MPs, write to them, protest. Half the time they are just spouting half understood slogans, they know very little about a lot of things.

I don’t see what choice we have but to vote Tory. All women will suffer from the loss of our rights, safe spaces, mixed toilets etc. Labour needs to rethink - Starmer is a coward. I’ve never voted Tory in my life but incompetent can be recovered from faster than getting our rights back.

Of course plenty of working class people voted Tory.

Yes, and many of them are what you would consider poor. They won't vote Labour for ideological reasons, that they don't believe in its goals. Like you don't vote for the Tories because you don't believe in their goals. This is not a moral equivalence, just realism.

I'm still not clear on why you think Labour, with the people they've got right now leading the party, would be any better. I'm sure they'll bleat talk about how they're going to fix everything. I'm also sure they won't.

Basically, both sides are equally shit and neither knows how to run a country, but with Labour there's the extra disincentive of trashing women's rights.

‘But increasingly more and more people are becoming vulnerable and the thought of the Tories getting free reign to continue trashing our country fucking terrifies me. It’s not a clear cut choice of “ knows what a woman is” and “ is in thrall to nutters who want to harm children” .’

He is, though.