Scottish Government win review for the right to place men in women's prisons

[ArabellaSaurus]

https://www.thetimes.com/uk/scotland/article/snp-court-battle-to-allow-trans-women-in-female-prisons-rpn2dff79

https://archive.ph/Dw1Wl

'SNP ministers are to fight in court to defend the right of biologically male criminals who identify as women to serve sentences in female jails.
A KC representing the Scottish government told a judge at the Court of Session in Edinburgh on Wednesday that self-ID policies in jails will remain a “live issue” in a new legal case, suggesting ministers are determined to keep them in place'

'Gerry Moynihan KC, representing the Scottish government, confirmed that controversial schools guidance, which allowed trans girls into female facilities and for biological boys to compete in female sports, had been “withdrawn”.

However, he confirmed that the Scottish government did not plan to back down on its prisons policy, which was rewritten after <a class="break-all" href="https://archive.ph/o/Dw1Wl/www.thetimes.com/uk/law/article/nicola-sturgeon-trans-women-isla-bryson-77g8zzbll" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">the Isla Bryson scandal but still allows male-born criminals to serve sentences in women’s jails if they say they identify as female.'.

'For Women Scotland had wanted their bid to have the schools and prisons policies “reduced”, meaning quashed by the courts, to be conducted under an “ordinary” procedure, which it was hoped would be quicker, cheaper and more straightforward than a judicial review.
However, Moynihan successfully argued that the case should instead proceed under the more complex route, a move likely to lead to increased costs for taxpayers'
...
'A timetable will be set in the coming weeks with a substantive hearing to decide matters expected to last two days.'

Yes, the Harkins story is shocking on so many levels. The police, who ignored concrete evidence from several women on several occasions, are basically saying, Oh well, never mind, we would deal with it better now.

Given the large number of similar stories of endemic bias in the police against women, I find this difficult to believe.

Yes. Dawn Butler and some of her staff went on a trip to LA, paid by for by GLAAD. It cost over £14k. https://www.pressreader.com/uk/daily-mail/20180522/282308205762782

I love how FWR's collective long-term memory prevents these conflicts of interest from being overlooked.

https://www.scotsman.com/news/opinion/columnists/john-swinney-is-risking-his-political-career-to-put-trans-women-in-female-prisons-5392716

I can't read the Scotsman article - is he interviewed? Does he say why the hell he wants this?

https://archive.ph/lSw86

It's a comment piece.

'Swinney’s self-enforced silence
Swinney chose to remain silent when asked about the court case. “That’s a live legal case, I won’t be commenting on live legal cases,” he said through gritted teeth on Thursday, insinuating that he was restricted by law.
Nonsense. For Women Scotland’s case is not a criminal matter, it’s in a civil court and there is no legal reason why the First Minister cannot tell the country why his government is defending the right of biological males to be housed in women’s prisons.
Perhaps his self-enforced silence is evidence that even he is beginning to realise that he cannot justify sacrificing the welfare of vulnerable women for the sake of a long-discredited policy – one that brought down his close friend and colleague Nicola Sturgeon. We can but hope.
A question of values
In the same social media post to mark Interfaith Week where Swinney wrote of his Christian faith, he preaches of the need to bring our society closer together, to hear each other and to listen with care to each other.
He boasts that the values of respect and understanding are those that underpin his administration. It was a masterclass in couthiness that Robert Burns would have relished for its satirical opportunities.
Meanwhile, more than 300 of Scotland’s most vulnerable women are prisoners of Swinney’s political dogma, trapped in jails where their human rights matter less than the demands of men who masquerade as women. What respect, what understanding, do these women get from you First Minister? Or do your Christian values not extend to women with no voice'

So he's been asked and can't come up with a good answer.

Well. Not one he actually has the guts to say out loud to a camera or a journalist and own in public.

Article in the Times:
https://www.thetimes.com/article/a5bd89b7-6fad-4748-a2ed-cbd1c1126802?shareToken=ce13ae32680c4703324f94c3dcb51223

They're unbelievable

And another article in the Times:
https://www.thetimes.com/article/aed4c4ce-a7a1-4974-8348-ca7a7628f54c?shareToken=3f115e5dd312b5d9458bb16b52180c56

Thanks for the link, it's about time the press started calling these politicians on their bullshit.

Thanks for the share. I can’t understand what’s wrong with him.

What is driving him to ignore the information he’s being given? He’s ignoring the law and preparing to challenge it somehow even though it doesn’t seem like he’s got a leg to stand on.

There must be more to his stance than meets the eye.

I'm as baffled by it as you are. It's incomprehensible.

Perhaps he really doesn't want to be first minister anymore but doesn't want to be accused of dropping the party in the shit because the rest of them are mad.

So he's looked at how Nicola came undone and thought 'I'll have a bit of that '.

Or more realistically he's the type who has gotten so used to the 'right' view and the easy woke points it gets you that he hasn't given much real thought to the issues at all other than 'JKR bad (must be, she's a Unionist) do the opposite '

I suggested something similar before @Teathecolourofcreosote
John Swinney is also on record of saying that even if he had undeniable evidence that Scotland would be considerably worse of following independence he would still go ahead with it so maybe he simply can't let something go once he latched onto it.

It's so depressing that SNP are still considered leading in the polls next may. I have been telling as many people as I can in real life how bad they are, I was an SNP supporter and voted for them for years, they've betrayed their core voters as well as women of Scotland. Idiots.

I remember feeling this way about sturgeon’s mad adherence to this nonsense

in the end I assumed money was in the mix somewhere

This is the way the SNP operate. We’ve seen it time and time again with various pieces of legislation like Named Person for example.

There is no evidence that will sway the SNP from the path they’re on.

Same with independence when even their own Growth Commission report shows we’ll be worse off for many decades they continue with their goal.

we need to be rid of them. Its depressing that at one point it looked like Labour would overtake them and then Starmer fucked it up.

The courts have to do what the Holyrood and its committees seem totally unable to do.

I think you might have nailed it SNP trying to go against the SC.
Oh look the UK won't let us so we should be independent...

Bear in mind the SNP in current form have no wish or impetus for independence, though. The set up suits them fine as it is.

But they are going on about trying to get another referendum. Which is the last thing Scotland needs.
I know far too many young people with degrees etc working in pubs.

Gesturing vaguely at a pretence of pushing for indie isn't the same as actually taking action towards that goal, though.

If Scotland became independent, all those very well paid SNP politicians would be out of a job. That would be an awful shame for them.

It's far easier to play pretendy politics in Holyrood for 80k per annum.

Alan Cummings might have missed the bit where Scottish women took the SG to court over the definition of woman:
https://www.thetimes.com/article/6a56ca8f-7a67-4a89-8242-7d2126665b3b?shareToken=6889e4a4b3ab70cc0d7a300f95feae30

Oh, fuck off, Alan.