What exactly has Andrew Neil done?

[RhymesWithOrange]

AN is acting churlish because women are not falling over themselves in gratitude for his support for women's rights in the face of gender self id.

Can someone tell me exactly what he's done bar send out a few tweets? Which are of course most welcome. But he's not exactly in Maya/Allison/Jo/Rosie/JK/Raquel/LGB Alliance territory, is he?

I agree. I'm very curious as to what it is. Is it the impending Cass Review? The Charity Commission investigation into Mermaids? Or is it simply that political parties and organisations like Stonewall have been carrying out their own private polling and discovered that the general public is completely against them on this issue?

Well, that is about as gracious an article as any of us could’ve hoped for!

Accepts his criticism as a half-timer and credits multiple women with actually doing the work.

It's a clear, calm, common-sense article and crucially published in the Daily Mail.

I'm guessing Stonewall thought sending Anderson onto Sky News would be the equivalent.

Agreed. I'm quite impressed that he accepted the criticism and pointed out what has been done to GC women in the meantime.

Thanks @Flimpychunk it does indeed!

What a great article.

There was mention on a post above about an ex-BBC colleague of his stepping out of the shadows and retweeting it. Apologies, I can't remember who posted that.

Does anyone know who this BBC person is?

I'll pop on to Twitter with my shiny new account and do some likes/bumps.
(Urrrrgh. Twitter is utterly hideous. How anyone has time to constantly broadcast their thoughts on multiple different subjects in soundbites I have no idea. And as for why you'd bother? It's mental enough being on this board but at least that's for a purpose).

It is the perfect solution.

He signals that though late to the game he will not be letting this go, and plans to spend the summer bringing himself up to speed with the work done so far.

There will be other media heavyweights who know they have been ignoring the topic as "too difficult" or a "women's issue". I hope that Andrew Neil saying that this is a scandal and that he should have been on the case earlier, causes them to pay attention. He even usefully provides a reading list.

Who cares what political stripe the late comers are. Children are being damaged, which is a societal not a political issue. Time for those within the media who are paid for their opinions to ensure they are informed. AN will have done, and be doing a lot to bring the debate into the mainstream.

I think it's an excellent article but that as far as Labour is concerned 1 or 2 docs is far less important than reversing the fact that many institutions behave as though self id exists and a GRC is irrelevant. Changing the gender marker on health records, changing the gender marker on a driving licence, being considered for opposite sex facilities of any sort even those which don't want a single sex exemption, the police saying which gender id committed a crime, compelled opposite sex pronouns. All of these should only be available with a GRC. This means no transitioning in schools as children can't get them. Uphold the laws we have and reverse the changes which should never have happened. (I'm not a compelled pronoun fan but at the moment the expectation of a change of pronoun is purely on self id)

more traction, it's all good

isn't it interesting what peaks different people? it's probably to his credit that a teenage girl being mutilated by the medical establishment was what did it for AN

I wonder whether some politicians watched Anderson making a complete fool of himself and realised that they wouldn’t be able to do any better when faced with the same lines of questioning. Beth Rigby showed how easy it is for a good interviewer to dismantle Stonewall style arguments and I’m just livid that nobody did this much sooner.

I’m sure it was the Beth Rigby interview, politicians would hate to be in his position and journalists would love to get Beth Rigby’s scoop and get a high profile TRA squirming. I hope they Keir and Stella Creasey in the hot seat.

This is really important. We're in a very odd situation at the moment where government, the Labour Party (sort of) and a lot of high profile individuals, including senior journalists, are really alert to the problems of self-ID and the damage being done to children by gender ideology. The public is increasingly aware of it too.

But at the same time highly influential organisations in every sector have been entirely captured by gender ideology: the NHS, the police, the courts, the charity sector (including children's charities), schools, universities, local authorities.

How, then, do you fight it? It's obviously not enough for government ministers to say "this is wrong". It seems it's not even enough for government to clarify legislation. All these bodies carry on implementing policies of self-ID regardless. I have to admit that every time I think we're finally getting somewhere, I have to remind myself that the NSPCC fully supports the mutilation of children, the police refuse to charge men who assault gender-critical women and public sector bodies continue to discipline or sack women who challenge self-ID orthodoxy. How do we bring about change? It feels impossible.

I think it's a brilliant article and very gracious too.

Maybe. Bit surprised he didn't notice 2 years ago when our own Keira Bell was bravely in COURT though

I think the Scotland hoo Har also brought all this closer to the fore.

That had major political consequences and I think a few had to start working out what the hell all the fuss was about.

I suspect a lot of people kept their heads down thinking it was all so ridiculous it would blow over before anything was required of them, and now its too late to feign ignorance.
The article he has written is to his credit. It shows he values facts and debate more highly than his hurt feelings, and for that reason it has the potential to have a positive impact.

It’ll be interesting to see if BBC R4’s Woman’s Hour is emboldened by Neil to interview all the women suggested to them by Twitter, whom Neil has handily listed in his article.

I suspect a lot of people kept their heads down thinking it was all so ridiculous it would blow over before anything was required of them, and now its too late to feign ignorance.

Yes. For some, hoping it would blow over meant they didn't even have to take notice of it. And for others, who had taken notice of it, they were hoping it would blow over, so they didn't have to pick a side.

Because we're now at that point.

Not picking a side is making people look almost worse than picking one.

Must admit on Twitter and Other Places I treated it like I treat the Israel/Palestine debate - kept right out of it because you can’t say ANYTHING that doesn’t upset/offend someone, no matter how careful the language. I actually said that on Twitter once and got a pile-on! QEfuckinD.

I don't know what people expect.

Sackcloth and ashes?
Mortified, blubbering howls of "Ah have sinned!!!"?

Forget it! No-one expected apologies when you peaked and no-one should demand them now.

The vast majority of people couldn't believe this at first, either. They wanted to be kind, or thought it was exaggeration. From the earliest days, patient men and women have persisted and have changed the minds of more and more people, who have gone on to change the minds of others themselves. Long may it continue!

If only there were as many acknowledgements of gratitude to those early alarm-raisers!

Tanith, great post.

The more people like AN who speak out the fewer people can put off engaging brain by delegating this issue to LBGQT+++ groups. It is everyone's responsibility to think about the implications.

Yes it's self defeating to upbraid those who come to support you. Neill is helpful.

Likewise you want to engage with people across the political spectrum. Make it a left right issue and it's a guarantee that you don't get the changes we want to see in law.

Broadly agree - except where anyone asks where the feminists who should have been shouting about it are. Upbraid those utter hairpieces with gusto.

I think that's a good article and pretty much pitch perfect.

We're not talking about the general public here but about a profession whose job it is to be curious, and I think we have every right to feel let down.

This sounds a very stupid and obvious thing to say, apologies, but people peaking are not going to change their minds back. We’re like the White Walkers in GoT - recruiting an ever larger invincible* army.

*Do they have an Arya?

Just looked at the DM article

The comments are ace, loads of Me Toos

Keep going but so good to see this shift