SNP in secret attempt to challenge Supreme Court ruling on sex

[Igneococcus]

I couldn't despise those fecking weasels more if I tried:
https://www.thetimes.com/article/89b42f06-fc36-4f06-98b1-d7b93c175463?shareToken=e40f182647b48214917896a4ae34328b

Agreed. It is utterly repellent.

Bloody hell.

I recall many years ago my late mum talking about that a documentary on Guevedoces and my mum - with only her Scottish Leavers' Certificate awarded at the age of 14 - was able to understand the situation.

I do employ and/or work with biology graduates and have done for several decades now and what strikes me is how many of them are lacking a general understanding of biology. They are good at the bits they studied but they often can't put anything into context or see the bigger picture. And don't get me started on the lack of basic chemistry and physics. This is of course not all of them but many and it's also possibly not their fault but how degrees are structured.

My late husband did a Scottish Higher in Zoology* prior to going to uni. According to him, it was one of the easiest Highers you could do then - DH had left school at 15 and was working full-time whilst studying for entry to Aberdeen Uni.

I can just hear him saying "Does the loon no ken the difference atween a tup and a yowe?"

*I don't think it's currently available. Maybe they should bring it back.

Actually, I'm getting flashbacks to my either my first or second year of teaching.

One of our 3rd Yr boys had bet the rest of the year group that he'd wear a skirt to school. (He'd borrowed a gym skirt from one of the girls.) I believe he made a great deal of money out of the caper. (And yes, I'm aware of the more recent case where a load of boys wore skirts as a protest against not being allowed shorts. This was strictly for monetary gain.)

I've no doubt that all concerned would be in huge trouble now, but this was a Fife high school at the time of the miners' strike.

The depute dealt with it by leaving the boy to sit outside the heidie's office all morning. (The heidie was out at a meeting.)

The boy's Guidance Teacher was a mature entrant to teaching. (This was a 'tough school' which made a point of hiring mature male teachers when possible.)

Some of the staff were former mineworkers. The GT had formerly been employed at Rosyth Dockyard.

As I walked past the hapless seated boy, I heard the GT remarking to another mature entrant "Well, what d'ye think of this, Mr X? We're going tae have tae get the Educational Psychologist tae this lad. He doesn't know whether he pees standing up or sitting down!"

ETA The GT is no longer in the land of the living and I'm now retired.

Not just degrees. This is the SQA Higher syllabus:

DNA and the genome
The key areas covered are:
 structure of DNA
 replication of DNA
 gene expression
 cellular differentiation
 the structure of the genome
 mutations
 evolution
 genomic sequencing
Metabolism and survival
The key areas covered are:
 metabolic pathways
 cellular respiration
 metabolic rate
 metabolism in conformers and regulators
 metabolism and adverse conditions
 environmental control of metabolism
 genetic control of metabolism
Sustainability and interdependence
The key areas covered are:
 food supply, plant growth and productivity
 plant and animal breeding
 crop protection
 animal welfare
 symbiosis
 social behaviour
 components of biodiversity
 threats to biodiversity

I mean, talking online to an apparent expert talking about little girls sprouting penises at puberty, and the idyll of that society whereas the West, especially TERF Island, would only find rancour and conflict.
To add the cherry on the cake, his wife and teenage daughter agree with his take.
I should have asked if they have Zoology degrees as well, lol.

Not a Scientist, but Ive heard this is sometimes an issue with sciences in general. As more and more knowledge accrues, people necessarily become ever more specialised, and can sometimes lack broad overviews or awareness of overarching principles.

I am a scientist and from what I’ve observed from new graduates is a fundamental lack of curiosity. I think it is part of the commodification of education and the siloed approach to work - as long as you learn/know/do your bit well, you don’t need to know about anything else. Reading round the subject and showing an interest in things outside your sphere seems almost discouraged.

The standouts are the newbies who are constantly asking questions, or noticing something isn’t right and sorting it out without prompting (eg “I noticed we were always running out of methanol so I’ve arranged with stores for them to bring up a couple of bottles per week so we always have some in the lab”). They are the ones that get the first choice on juicy new projects, rather than the ones whinging about having to go to stores again because the solvent cupboard is empty. The proportion of standouts to jobsworths is diminishing year on year though.

When I was a new graduate sometime in the last ice age it was expected for you to take the initiative, and not out of the ordinary. The newbies we get are all clever, qualified and pleasant people but they require far more spoon feeding than I’d expected for someone with a graduate degree.

Some of that is the past 25 years of education where it has been from year 6 onwards increasingly about getting the result evidence in tests, which is not the same as effective education. Getting the results involves spoonfeeding specific drills and training specific responses, you train the child to jump the hoop, and that is what it has reduced to really. A friend did some supply in a secondary school not long ago and explained how the students didn't want to discuss or debate, they just wanted to be given what they needed to memorise to pass the test. We all know that has included making the right politically acceptable responses at the right moments. Thinking, questioning, and independence of thought is not encouraged.

Another Labour action that was supposed to 'improve' (and better control) education, and just did damage. But it was about the production of statistics that benefitted Labour at the time, never about benefitting children.

Oh, he knows his biology ABC, I'm sure, any number of technical terms were fired at me.
It was actually a pure politics forum, so not really appropriate for a game of biology ping pong.
Just the assumption I wouldn't know about DSDs, or even wilder, he truly considers a boy with a DSD that is brought up as a girl, develops male anatomy, would be "accepted" as a girl or at the very least a "girl adjacent" third gender, and that these traditional societies are somehow more enlightened and less hateful than those in the West.
Conflating biological fact with social justice and anti colonialism.

When I was an undergraduate, students were barely tolerated by faculty and the administration. The money came from research, and students were a necessary sideline to doing research. We knew we were zeros and the lowest of the low. So we had to run to keep up.

Now, students are customers and profit centres, paying enormous fees. They expect and pay to be spoonfed and feted as the most important people in the building.

i think it builds a different mindset.

Or even basic general knowledge. I once was sent to see a consultant dermatologist because of a mosquito bite on my arm that had never healed. I was bitten whilst in Rome.

The consultant whispered to her junior ( presumably so I wouldn't hear) that " there are no mosquitos in Rome".

Does anyone know whether MSP Ben McPherson is one of the captured? Holding a ministerial post I sadly expect so.

Still pondering whether my only choice in May will be to spoil my ballot paper.

spoiling your ballot paper is how we ended up with a UK government who got only 20% of the vote, and no viable opposition.

With a few exceptions who won’t get re selected, the SNP are a block, and a thoroughly corrupted one at that.

So? What do you suggest for a sex realist voter?

He not only voted for the GRR, but was one of Shona Robison's lapdogs (see bottom of image)

Depends on your candidates. Including list candidates.

Tories, Reform.

The former a wasted vote in most of Scotland. The latter a genuinely frightening prospect.

Have to be offline for a while, not flouncing! Will be back to consider things afresh 🤔

I'm thinking Labour for my vote in hope of reducing the number of inevitable protest (and genuine) Reform votes. The thought of a lot of Reform votes is depressing.

Unfortunately I do think lots of people just default vote for SNP without any deep thinking. I've said before when I calmly explain why I don't vote for them anymore and won't vote again for them in casual chats I usually just get puzzled bemusement back. Women's rights clearly just don't feature as an important detail even to those who wouldn't agree with the stuff the SNP is doing, it's just about having money, local jobs and council stuff that directly impacts them. The bigger picture is always lost. The SNP will count on this and just coast through unless Labour and/or the Tories really promote their campaigns to highlight all the problems in an accessible way for the casual voters. There's not long to go so I doubt they will.

I think it's worth voting for one of the good Scottish conservative MSPs. Some of them do actually challenge the Scottish government in Parliament and in the press. This brings the issues to people's attention. They have been fighting back on trans issues. If there's a real risk of Reform getting in in your constituency, then you may feel that you have no choice but to vote SNP, as arguably the lesser of two evils. The SNP will then treat your vote for them as a vote for independence.

Lists only need just over 6% of the vote to get a candidate (see most Green MSPs). So unlikely to be a waste for Tories.