Mick Hartley

Politics and Culture

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  • What Labour thinks of women

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    The postponement – aka cancellation – is doubtless due to the trans dilemma. They know they should follow the Supreme Court ruling that sex in the Equality Act means biological sex, but that would annoy all the trans women they've been pandering to all these years. The solution is obvious: just don't bother with the conference at all. Brilliant. It's only women, after all.

  • A tale of two bands

    I posted about the cancellation of Klezmer band Oi Va Voi last week. Here's Nicole Lampert at the JC – Cancelled for klezmer, celebrated for terror:

    This is the tale of two bands. One peace-loving, the other accused of celebrating violence. One has been cancelled into silence; the other has scores of big names clamouring for them to be allowed to play.

    The first is British-Jewish band Oi Va Voi. They fuse traditional klezmer music with a modern sound and have been going on unshowily, with a degree of success, for 20 years. They are particularly popular in Turkey, where they recently played three sold-out shows.

    They describe themselves as a collective with firmly left-wing, peace-driven politics. One of their best-known songs is Refugee, which includes the lyrics: “Together / We can enjoy the taste of dignity / As long as you believe in me / I’ll show you my reality.” When they've appeared in Israel, they have worked with Palestinian acts.

    Yet their Jewish identity – and the fact that they have an Israeli guest singer – was enough to get them cancelled by the Bristol venue Strange Brew, following pressure from pro-Palestine activists.

    A letter sent to the venue by the Bristol Palestine Alliance complained, among other things, that “Oi Va Voi intends to perform later this year in Israel” and that their singer’s album cover of her naked in a field of watermelons featured “dog whistle Zionist imagery”.

    Strange Brew cancelled the show, citing the watermelon cover image, often used, because of its colours, as a symbol of the Palestinian flag. This was despite the band explaining that the image reflected themes of femininity and nature. The venue said: “The use of politically loaded symbolism in this way – by anyone of any background – is ambiguous and could therefore come across as politically insensitive and/or offensive to the people of Palestine.”

    Yes, you read that right: an “ambiguous” record cover featuring watermelons is enough to see you cancelled….

    But it's the silence that speaks loudest. There has been no angry response from the music industry to these cancellations and perhaps this is the most sinister element of it all. It is hard to know whether everyone is too frightened or perhaps they simply don’t care. I am not sure what is worse.

    Contrast that with Kneecap. They are named after an IRA punishment of shooting petty criminals in the knees. Earlier this month, Liam Barker, who was kneecapped as a teenager, described the impact it had had on him. A victim of sexual abuse, he ran away from his children’s home and stole cars. He was shot in the knees by the IRA when he was 17. He said he had to learn to walk again, adding the experience had led him to lead a life “of mental and physical trauma”.

    This bank holiday weekend, Kneecap will be the headline act at South London’s Wide Awake festival in Brockwell Park. Their next UK date will be their biggest – at Glastonbury. At the last big festival they played at, Coachella, they displayed the message, “F**k Israel. Free Palestine.”

    Since then, one of their members has been charged with a terror offence. This relates to footage taken from a gig at the Kentish Town Forum last year, in which Liam O'Hanna (stage name Mo Chana) appears to shout, “Up Hamas, up Hezbollah.” At a previous gig, a member appeared to shout: “The only good Tory is a dead Tory. Kill your local MP.”

    After one gig with them was cancelled, the music industry rallied around. The likes of Paul Weller, Primal Scream, DJ Annie Mac and scores of other acts signed a letter saying: “As artists we feel the need to register our opposition to any political repression of artistic freedom. In a democracy, no political figures or political parties should have the right to dictate who does and does not play at music festivals or gigs that will be enjoyed by thousands of people.”

    Not one of these artists spoke up for Oi Va Voi….

    The argument over Kneecap is likely to come to a head soon with Glastonbury, which is going to be forced to make a decision: will they showcase this band? If they do, will they demand no political content? Will the BBC screen Kneecap’s performance?

    This row is going to be nasty and noisy, no doubt. We’ll see letters and social media posts celebrating a group, even though one of its members has been charged with supporting a terrorist organisation that glorifies the murder of Jews.

    For Oi Va Voi and other groups with an Israeli link, however, the slow silent cancellation will continue. And none of those free speech activists in the music world will breathe a word.

    Admittedly Oi Va Voi are hardly household names, but if it had been a Palestinian group cancelled for being offensive to Jews (would never happen) you can be sure these big names would be lining up in solidarity, to share their horror.

  • Driven by ‘far-right ideologies’

    From Seattle to Blackpool. On a similar theme – that belief in the biological reality of two sexes is a far-right ideology – here we are at the Fire Brigades Union annual conference.

    Delegates attending the annual conference of the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) in Blackpool this week will be asked to vote on an emergency resolution claiming that a legal campaign launched by women’s rights activists – and which resulted in the supreme court ruling that women and men are defined by biological sex for the purposes of equality law – was driven by ‘far-right ideologies’.

    The debate on the controversial resolution comes just days after the union’s general secretary, Steve Wright, and assistant general secretary, Ben Selby, released a contentious statement arguing that the ruling placed the court on the wrong side of history. That statement – which showed no sign of having been signed off by the ruling executive council – resulted in a significant backlash on social media, with many accusing the union of adopting an extreme position that did not reflect the views of mainstream members and was rooted in emotion rather than reality.

    The emergency resolution, which has been submitted by the union’s LGBT committee, is quite plainly a disgrace, and stands as a slur against all those – including many female firefighters past and present – who have made a principled defence of their sex-based rights. Many of these campaigners have spent their lives fighting against discrimination and the far-right. It is therefore appalling to suggest that they are motivated by ‘far-right ideologies’….

    If the resolution is passed, it would mean that a conference comprised overwhelmingly of men had decided that the rights of trans-identifying fellow males were more important than those of women. What a terrible picture that would paint.  

    Is there a trade union not in thrall to gender ideology? The constant drumbeat that trans people are the most persecuted people on earth just ticks all the boxes for these left ideologue dinosaurs. And the fact that women are the ones who suffer is surely a bonus for these men (though sadly they're not all men), who in reality have zero interest in women's rights, and haven't got where they are today by thinking for themselves.

  • Promoting a two gender ideology

    DMWOK – Don't Mess With Our Kids – “a religious group that promotes a two gender ideology.”

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    "They’re referring to biological truth as “a two gender ideology.”

    "The MEDIA is painting the biological truth of male and female as “dangerous ideology” pushed by “far-right” and “anti-trans” Christians. Let that sink in."

  • Penis removal on the NHS

    This is shocking. From the Telegraph:

    Two trans patients a day are having their penises removed on the NHS, The Telegraph can reveal.

    So that would be men. "Trans patients" kind of prejudges the issue. Troubled men – or boys – who are under the delusion that having their penises removed would somehow be a good idea.

    Around £20 million in taxpayers’ money was spent on “feminising genital surgery” for biological men, including teenagers, over the course of three years, despite warnings that the procedure causes long-term harm.

    A series of freedom of information requests show that 18-year-olds were among those going under the knife to have the “irreversible” surgery that will leave them infertile.

    On Saturday, clinicians called on the NHS to carry out an urgent review, saying it is “unethical” to be carrying out these procedures without evidence of the long term impact.

    It is the first time figures for this surgery on the NHS have been published and data seen by The Telegraph suggests that more than a third of the patients are under 30.

    The surgery includes removing the penis and testicles and using the skin to create a “canal” to imitate the vagina.

    The NHS says that the surgery “is not reversible” and can cause “permanent infertility”. An advice booklet lists common complications including “loss of sexual function”, incontinence, “dissatisfaction” with the visual appearance and infection.

    A number of detransitioners have spoken about the brutal impact of the surgery.

    Ritchie Herron, is suing the NHS as he says that none of his mental health issues, including depression, OCD and anxiety were addressed before he was rushed down the medical path at the age of 28.

    Young people can be referred for surgery from the age of 17, though the operation cannot take place until they are 18.

    It's astonishing that this kind of medical mutilation still takes place in the NHS. It's like “body integrity identity disorder” surgery, when people request healthy limbs be removed for no reason beyond the fantasy that they don't somehow "fit". But worse, surely, because of the huge complexity, the devastating impact this will have on someone's life, and the known dangers. Amputating a leg, say, is straightforward enough. Once it's done, it's done. Cutting off a penis and trying to fashion a vagina is on a whole different level, in so many ways.

    Dr Louise Irvine, the co-chairwoman of the Clinical Advisory Network on Sex and Gender, said: “If this surgery is intended to relieve gender dysphoria then as far as we know there is no research to show how effective it is, but we know that there is a high level of complications such as infertility, loss of sexual function, scarring and urinary problems.

    “This is a very profound surgery with long term effects on very young men, many of whom will have comorbidities such as mental health issues or autism for which they don’t receive any assessment or care in an adult gender clinic.

    “The NHS is currently doing a review of adult gender services but not surgery. We think it is a matter of absolute urgency that they review surgery. They should look at the evidence and the demographic and ask is this the best way to help young men with gender dysphoria?

    “It is highly irresponsible for the NHS to doing this surgery without any good evidence that it is beneficial. It is negligent, unethical and there should be an urgent review.”

    Stephanie Davies-Arai, the founder of Transgender Trend, added: “This is the same cohort of young people who have been indoctrinated as children into believing that they have a gender identity and that they are trans who are now being referred into adult clinics and for these surgeries.

    “These are serious procedures on young people and the NHS is spending millions on what is really elective surgeries with no health benefits but clear health risks and harm.

    “This is not what medicine is for, it is not what a health service is for. This is irreversible and it will leave these young people with medical problems for the rest of their lives with the NHS will have to deal with.”

    Exactly. This is not what medicine is for, and it's not what a health service is for.

  • OK to mock Jews, but not Jew haters

    The case of the Jewish man collared by the Met for offending Hezbollah fans….Brendan O'Neill at the Spectator:

    If you cheer such an eliminationist group, such a vile Jew-hating outfit, then it is the duty of every good Brit to offend you. To mock you and ridicule you and say ‘beep, beep’ to piss you off. That the Met, in this case, took the opposite view and sought to ringfence Hezbollah fanboys from offence is chilling.

    Then there are the staggering double standards. I’ve seen anti-Israel agitators freely prance in the streets with the most sick-making banners. I’ve seen placards calling Jews ‘Christ killers’ and comparing the Jewish nation to the Nazis. I’ve seen the Star of David tangled with the Nazi swastika – the grossest libel that depicts Jews as the heirs to the monsters who once murdered them.

    How many of these people had their collars felt? How many were interrogated for causing offence? If London is a city in which you can mock Jews but not Jew haters, in which you can defame Israel but not make fun of its anti-Semitic enemies, then I fear our capital is even more lost than we thought.

    But worst of all, there’s the galling fact that a Jew was interrogated for mocking Jew haters. That a Jewish man was arrested for making fun of a movement that views his kind as an inferior species. To my mind this is as repulsive as arresting a black person for criticising the KKK. What was the Met thinking? This is too serious to let it blow over. Heads must roll over this humiliation of a British Jew.

    But heads won't roll. "Lessons will be learned" they'll intone, but nothing will change. The Met's main concern, as they made clear, has nothing to do with the arrest of the Jewish man, but rather that they'd offended the marchers. From the original Telegraph article yesterday:

    On Friday, with regard to the repeated references in the interview to the counter-protester having offended supporters of a proscribed terrorist organisation, the Met Police said the officer “clearly misspoke when she described those in the protest as pro-Hezbollah instead of pro-Palestinian”.

    But they were pro-Hezbollah. That's the whole point.

    A spokesman added that the man “was charged following a careful consideration of the evidence” and that the force would attempt to learn lessons from the episode.

    The spokesman said: “We will reflect on the CPS decision not to proceed with the case, applying any learning to future investigations.”

  • Post-conviction sudden-onset gender dysphoria

    You assumed, perhaps, that the days of violent men being housed in women's prisons north of the border were over, post Isla Bryson. You should have a word with Jayney Sutherley. She had her release from jail delayed by more than two years because of accusations of transphobia by a man housed – for murder – in the women's prison. She'd become the spokeswoman for a number of other worried female prisoners in HMP Greenock, raising concerns about their safety. And she paid a heavy price.

    Alex Massie in the Times:

    Under Section 38 of the Criminal Justice and Licensing (Scotland) Act 2010, a person may be charged with “threatening or abusive behaviour” if they behave in such a manner in ways likely “to cause a reasonable person to suffer fear or alarm” and that this behaviour is either intended to cause said fear or alarm or is “reckless” as to whether or not it would do so.

    This is the charge Police Scotland levelled against Jayney Sutherley and of which she was acquitted in Greenock sheriff court last week. The 51-year-old was alleged to have behaved in a threatening and abusive manner towards Alexandria Stewart over a four-year period. The basis for this charge, the court heard, was Sutherley’s determination to refer to Stewart as “he” or “him”.

    Since Stewart was formerly known as Alan Baker, Sutherley might have been guilty of being impolite but in point of objective, demonstrable, fact she was entirely correct. Stewart is a man and remains such even if he insists he is not. This is a matter of biological reality. If this is “transphobic” then the truth is transphobic.

    As Baker, Stewart was convicted of murder in 2013 and subsequently jailed for life; Sutherley was convicted of culpable homicide and would have been eligible for parole in 2023 but for the case brought against her by Stewart. Prosecutors, however, produced no corroborating evidence against Sutherley beyond testimony offered by Stewart and his lover, Nyomi Fee, who is also serving a life sentence for murder.

    The kicker to all this is that the offences were alleged to have taken place between 2019 and 2023, when Sutherley and Stewart were housed together at Greenock prison. Stewart claimed to be “highly mortified that she had outed me as trans to those who didn’t know I was trans”. You can believe this if you wish to but if so I have a number of lightly-used ferries for you to purchase.

    This combination of personnel and circumstance suffices to make this a lurid and macabre affair of the kind even the darkest satirist might struggle to countenance. Yet it is all true and a reminder that in certain respects modern Scotland has thoroughly lost its mind.

    These men are not just indulged by allowing them to serve time in a women's prison:

    In the case of Stewart there is evidence, quite remarkably, that he and his partner Fee are granted indulgences far beyond those customarily afforded prisoners serving a life sentence. The pair appear to have been spotted openly indulging in what are coyly deemed “sex acts” with, we may only conclude, the prison authorities’ covert blessing. Some prisoners are more equal than others and those with post-conviction sudden-onset gender dysphoria (sic) are the most equal of all.

    Eventually there will be a reckoning for all this and when it comes it deserves to be a thundering one.

  • The gap between aspiration and execution

    On North Korea's unfortunate new warship launch:

    The Daily NK view:

    North Korea’s public acknowledgment of a catastrophic destroyer launch failure this week offers a rare glimpse into both the regime’s naval ambitions and its technological limitations. When Kim Jong Un’s second 5,000-ton destroyer became unbalanced and punctured during its launch at Chongjin port, the regime made an unusual decision to broadcast the embarrassing setback rather than bury it in secrecy. This transparency, however reluctant, signals that Kim views naval modernization as such a critical priority that even public failures cannot derail the broader narrative of military advancement.

    The incident itself speaks to deeper structural problems within North Korea’s defense industrial complex. Kim’s harsh criticism of officials for “absolute carelessness” and “unscientific empiricism” suggests systemic issues beyond a simple mechanical malfunction. The rushed timeline and workers’ apparent unfamiliarity with large warship construction point to a military-industrial sector struggling to match its leader’s ambitious timeline with actual technical capabilities. This gap between aspiration and execution has plagued North Korean weapons programs for decades, though recent Russian assistance appears to be narrowing it.

    Well, yes and no. Perhaps a reliance on Russian technological prowess is not as smart a move as Kim Jong-un believes.

    More troubling for regional security is what this destroyer program represents in North Korea’s broader strategic calculus. These vessels, designed to carry nuclear-capable missiles, fundamentally alter the peninsula’s naval balance and extend Pyongyang’s strike capabilities far beyond traditional boundaries. Even accounting for construction setbacks, North Korea’s willingness to invest heavily in blue-water naval capabilities demonstrates Kim’s determination to project power beyond the Korean Peninsula and challenge U.S. military dominance in Northeast Asian waters.

    The timing of this naval push, coinciding with deepening North Korea-Russia military cooperation and escalating regional tensions, demands serious attention from policymakers in Seoul, Washington, and Tokyo. While the destroyer’s dramatic launch failure provides momentary satisfaction to critics of Kim’s military buildup, the underlying trajectory remains unchanged. North Korea’s naval modernization program, setbacks notwithstanding, represents a long-term strategic challenge that will require sustained international coordination to address effectively.

    Also, the evidence of the disaster is there on satellite photos. Perhaps Pyongyang felt it had no choice but to come clean.

  • A bubble of smug

    Jo Bartosch at The Critic on the MPs still dangerously delusional on gender:

    Imagine you’re mid-flight on a passenger jet when turbulence strikes and the cockpit door swings open. You glance inside — only to find the pilot and co-pilot filming a TikTok dance. 

    This, in essence, was Monday’s Westminster Hall debate on Gender Self-identification. A group of preening left-leaning politicians treated Parliament not as a forum for serious deliberation, but as a stage for a self-indulgent performance. A crash seems inevitable.

    The trans love-in, introduced by Liberal Democrat Dr Roz Savage, was triggered by a petition that attracted 120,000 signatures over six months. The Government’s official response was unambiguous: it has no plans to introduce gender self-ID. But the MPs on Monday behaved as if they hadn’t read the memo — or engaged with anyone beyond their bubble of smug. 

    For over a decade, women’s rights, child safeguarding and medical ethics have been destabilised by an ideology that insists that feelings trump facts. Campaigners, parents, and professionals have tried everything: letters, protests, court cases. Finally last month, air traffic control radioed in with clarity: the Supreme Court ruling confirmed that “sex” in the Equality Act means biological sex. You’d think this might prompt politicians to recalibrate. Not a chance, says Independent Rosie Duffield MP:

    Despite the court ruling, high-profile cancellations, the books, the media investigations, the employment tribunals, the heartbreaking stories of detransitioners, even the fact that someone like JK Rowling is vilified for stating basic truths — some political parties and politicians still haven’t noticed. They seem utterly determined to carry on as if none of this matters, clinging to the belief that they are right and the rest of us are just nasty, bigoted or “transphobic” for daring to disagree.

    Savage proved Duffield’s point. She opened by boasting that a trans staffer helped write her speech — a possible reason for the tangle of muddled and misleading claims it contained (though of course Savage appears more than capable of being muddled and misleading herself). Chief among these errors: that getting a Gender Recognition Certificate requires medical reports, blood tests, and hormone prescriptions costing “thousands.” In reality, it’s a £5 admin process.

    She then went further, claiming, “Trans women without access to gender-affirming care are significantly more likely to attempt suicide — one in five will try.” She appears unaware of the peer reviewed studies showing no decrease — and in some cases, even a rise — in suicidality following surgical or hormonal interventions. Nor did she seem familiar with the high rate of mental health comorbidities among trans-identifying individuals. It wasn’t just sloppy — it was grossly irresponsible….

    Astonishing to hear that old discredited suicide canard being raised still. Yes, grossly irresponsible – but that's the Lib Dems.

    No one discussed the Cass Review, detransitioners, or the steady rise in children referred for medicalisation. Nor did anyone comment on the right of women like the Darlington Nurses not to be forced to share their private spaces with men.

    While these MPs were emoting in unison, the man once dubbed the UK’s first “openly trans MP,” Jamie Wallis — who now goes by “Katie” — was facing charges for harassing his ex-wife. This isn’t even his first scandal. In 2022, Wallis — then a serving MP — crashed his car into a telegraph pole while wearing fetish gear and fled the scene. He also previously ran a “sugar daddy” website. Politicians who lined up to salute his courage appear to have forgotten him.

    An unwelcome glimpse into the sordid reality of trans women, as opposed to the fantasy version of the most persecuted group ever.

    Most people outside Westminster assumed that when the Supreme Court clarified the law, reality would return. That institutions would begin to reintroduce sex-based policies. That women’s hospital wards, domestic abuse shelters, and changing rooms would revert to being single-sex. But in that chamber on Monday, it was clear: the cockpit crew are still filming dances, mid-dive, for their shrinking audience.

    And the rest of us? We’re still strapped in, watching the ground get nearer.

    Added: for more on disgraced former MP Jamie Wallis see this at the Glinner Update.

  • Music festivals

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