Graham Linehan arrested on arrival at Heathrow Part 4

[IDareSay]

These threads have mostly been used to follow the case that has taken place at Westminster Magistrate's Court over the 4th and 5th September, (and will continue on the 29th October), but were created to follow the fallout of Graham's arrest at Heathrow on his return to the UK for this court case last week, and what is allegedly a conspiracy of TRAs to intimidate and harass a number of people, including Graham, with the alleged support of various police services.

He is currently on trial for alleged harassment of a trans identified male and criminal damage to the man's phone. The charges stem from a series of events in October 2024 at Battle of Ideas.

Part 1 here
Part 2 here
Part 3 here
Graham's account of the arrest here
You can support his Substack here
Or buy him a coffee here

Free Speech Union are running a fundraiser to support a claim against the Met in reference to the Heathrow arrest. Just search FSU and Graham Linehan fundraiser and it should be easy to find. At the time of posting it has reached 64% of its stretch target.
The FSU have managed to get the bail condition that @Glinner must not post on X removed, so he is now freely posting on there again.

Most of the mainstream media have reported on the case, but none have covered it as well as Nick Wallis. Follow him on X for live posting from the court again on 29th October.
You can support Nick here (posted Friday 5th September):
"I am deeply grateful to everyone who has seen fit to bung me the cost of a coffee, a pint or even a bloody London pint since I found out I was able to come back today. If you think you can afford to make a small donation, there’s more info here:"
https://store29806256.company.site

Also good job to whoever prepped Lineham for the interview, it went very smoothly.

I wonder if this personal politic fatigue. People are not necessairly actively working against the rainbow flag, they just want to eat some Marmite without being surrounded by the controversy.

I do think that the trans-acceptance were driven in the gay community by gay men. I find a reasonable proportion of them are misogynistic (i.e. they think and act as if males are superior to females) so I guess they would see men as the victims in the trans debate?

There is a debate between gay men on trans issues on one of those YT channels, and the effect of trans women on women was not really discussed- or certainly not editied in. This is not good as the effect on women safety and security is central to the discussion as to why its so divisive.

@2021x

That’s a great shame about your work colleague.

I have a close friend who has rushed headlong into socially transitioning one of their children (now an adult). The child was a textbook case when looking at those referred to the GIDS at The Tavistock.

They’ve been binding for years, currently on testosterone & there’s talk of surgery. It’s very distressing. But the intolerance & spouting of unthinking cliches & lies is off the scale. I’ve had to withdraw to a great degree, as my friend is too far down the rabbit hole for any debate or discussion. It’s like a toxic cauldron burning in our friendship group. The flames are dampened with polite pronoun use & occasional performative ‘stunning & brave’ comments.

I think the truth is that everyone’s horrified & deeply worried for their future, but keeps it at arms length by just nodding along & playing the game.

Much raging on Reddit that this interview happened. It’s worth writing to the BBC to commend their coverage of this and ask for more and better reporting, as the TRAs and their allies are complaining to them.

Sad Times.

I agree with you. I think for me there was a point in time where I was so worried I would be on the wrong side of history, or would think I sounded like my parents when they were talking about gay rights.

I had to think about this alot i.e. why I care so much. I have come to the conclusion that Trans-rights are acutally the opposite of Gay rights but they use the same slogans.

Gay people really were fighting to just be themselves. No-one choses to be gay especially with the social and legal rammifications. Also men haven't really had a "feministic" movement i.e expanded the traditional roles of men in the same way that women have. So "being their authentic self" really means something to a gay man and reminds them that they (like women) will always have extra battle for acceptance.

Trans people want/need the opposite. They actually don't want to be themselves because they find themselves repulsive or they don't align with their rigid expectations of that gender expression. I understand this is very mentially painful for them. But they are still using the slogan "being my authentic self" which is obviously disingenous but appeals to the vulnerablilty of gay men.

I postulate that if trans-people campaigned for seperate gender neutral spaces that they would have had a lot of support from women, who know what it is like to undress in an unsafe space. I suspect this would have eventually become the norm.

What my point is, is the difference is that the trans-movement is not being conducted for a genuine need. This is what people are silently revolting against and its causing harm to the people who do need accomodations , and are taking the gay community with them.

read your editwell yes I’ve got muddled too, namechanged on a recent thread and keep forgetting to my usual swamp dragon form.
a purple, white and green dinosaur cheesecake might be a bit too pointed a response to the rainbow ones!

I've just learned of this quote

He was born with a gift of laughter and a sense that the world was mad

It's the opening line of the novel Scaramouche will you do the fandango? Perhaps the comparison with the titular character isn't particularly flattering but that sentence seems an excellent fit.

From what I can see, the Glinner stories have been in their most read all week. The penny may be dropping that fair and balanced coverage of this issue is something their audience actually wants to read... so maybe, it's worth doing a bit more.

I had to think about this alot i.e. why I care so much. I have come to the conclusion that Trans-rights are acutally the opposite of Gay rights but they use the same slogans.

Good piece on that theme from Jane Clare Jones from a few several years back. (How long has this been going on now!?)

https://janeclarejones.com/2018/09/09/gay-rights-and-trans-rights-a-compare-and-contrast/

I think - though I could be mistaken - that Lucy Manning is generally OK on this.
But, as others have be said, she has to be impartial.

Too late to add to the above: in fact, I think she’s sympathetic. I bet many BBC reporters would refuse to interview him.

In this instance, Graham is taking the role of the child in The Emperor’s New Clothes, which suits his candid, intelligent persona and his acute sense of the ridiculous, alongside his evident vulnerability.

Gooseberry is an underrated fruit these days and would taste good with blackberry.

and even better with blackcurrant

Seeing the recipe talk I’m wondering about making use of the many kilos of plums my tree has gifted me this year. Plum cheesecake could be lovely.

My sister gave us a mix of green and red gooseberries from her garden, which my adult children made into a crumble with blueberries. That was delicious.

After having tried a blue cheese cheesecake in the US, DH is trying to persuade me to make one. I love blue cheese - but not in a cheesecake!

Rainbows are a little too Marmite these days to be promoting actual Marmite.
I had the same experience in Tesco a while ago. The largest (and therefore most economical) Marmite jars were be-rainbowed and I was so put off that I bought a smaller jar (despite the lovely Elton John and his possibly very good cause).

Sam (he/him) AT mushycrouton
The very worst people in society openly support Graham Linehan, a man who was arrested for inciting violence against LGBTQIA+ people and who was on trial this week for assaulting a 17 year old.

He is unworthy of defense and he must be locked up for the safety of teenagers.

I see tweets like this, and don't know where to even begin with them.

He is unworthy of defense

Do you think this person actually understands what it means to convict people without trial and without defence? Are they THAT totalitarian?

yes

they are

I didn't see any hostility from the interviewer. Her manner was neutral and professional.

I think we are so familiar with unfair approaches that demonise the GC perspective that we can become a bit hypervigilant, overly disposed to see threat and hostility. Like a kind of mild trauma response to what has been a pretty traumatising decade or so. ~~I know I often feel literally fearful when reading/watching coverage.

It is important to acknowledge fair coverage from the BBC when it happens. So many politically engaged people on so many issues and from so many sides call the BBC's coverage partial that it has almost become a trope of echo-chamber politics, so that the claim can actually undermine the credibility of the people making it.

Of course they have not covered themselves with glory on the trans issue, but they are inching forward. I think the main problem with their news in general is not partiality but a movement away from hard news, basic reporting, expensive investigation, etc, in favour of a cheaper, audience-flattering sofa-show 'news'

There are definitely bot factories in Russia and Iran (not sure about China) who pick up on these wedge issues and drive the destabilisation, so maybe they are that totalitarian.

Gooseberries are the best, totally worth the vicious stings you get when picking. I wonder why nobody has managed to breed a thornless variety yet. Got loads in the freezer.

Does anyone here have any tips for pruning a gooseberry bush? My efforts over the years have produced such a dense thorny forest that I couldn't access most of this year's bumper crop.