New data shows surge in trans kids’ suicides following healthcare rollbacks | Good Law Project A freedom of information request by Good Law Project has found that deaths by suicide of trans young people under 18 surged following the withdrawal of gender-affirming healthcare

One of the wickedest things Wes Streeting has ever done is push politically convenient falsehoods about suicide rates amongst young trans people. We have new data from the National Child Mortality Database that exposes the truth he tried to cover up.

But even when they've knocked the ash out at the end, they still need to carry a hideously dirty pipe around. And a tobacco pouch. And matches.
Also pipes go out all the time, so lots of re-lighting and/or realising it's gone out.
You can use all that, but it's a hella lot of faff.

Hiding your face, or your shaking hands, or forcing a pause while you think what to say. My Dad masked *so much* social anxiety with smoking. Deadly, (at the time) socially acceptable, fidget spinners that you also get to play with with your mouth.

My late father (yes cancer, probably smoking related) could open a matchbox, remove a match, close the box, strike the match successfully on the box *all with one hand*. And then flick the back end of the match with his thumb to extinguish it after lighting the cigarette.

Polanski is a pleasure to interview because he will answer any question about anyone. Wes Streeting? “Wes is attacking me every day on social media because I’m another gay man in politics who is not willing to throw the trans community under the bus and that exposes his abject immorality. He must know what it’s like to be othered but he’s more bothered about power than protecting the other. It’s disgraceful.”

Okay but Zack Polanski has been coming out with bangers

In 15 years when Peter Mandelson is next sacked from the government, having been caught red-handed robbing a bank, commentators will confidently predict that his career is definitely over this time.

I have spent fifty years rolling my eyes at conspiracy theories where all the elite rich people are in a secret evil gang, and thrillers where everyone remotely important has the same Dark Secret, and now sodding look.

'measles outbreak at the child prison' seems entirely avoidable, it's really the kind of thing that only happens if you do several unthinkably evil things on purpose all at once

New classroom poster?
#edchat #HigherEd #AcademicSky

New data shows only four complaints about trans women in single‑sex spaces A major Freedom of Information investigation by advocacy group TransLucent has revealed that concerns about trans women in single‑sex spaces are vastly overstated. Over a three‑year period, across 382...

“Over a three‑year period, across 382 public authorities in England - including local councils, NHS trusts and domestic abuse refuges - only four formal complaints were recorded regarding trans women using facilities such as toilets, hospital wards or shelters.”

Transphobic panics are manufactured.

For those of us in the UK this is 8am to 11pm. I do not have enough downloaded, but I'll live.

"Without us you'd all be speaking German", Donald Trump tells an audience in Davos, in Switzerland. Where the most common language is German.

A wider audience for your advice, so more good writing out there! Win!
Fanfic based on your work is already more likely to be well written than most other fanfic, so at least some people have been paying attention.

What My Mom's Dementia Tells Me - emptywheel My mom's getting the intervention and continuous care she needs. But this post isn't about my mother.

What My Mom’s Dementia Tells Me.

I'm not sure "lovely" is the word I'd use. "Glorious", or "beautiful", certainly - "lovely"? Possibly not.

It gets worse. Mine will be 42 thus May. This is just not plausible. "This episode was badly written!"

Which brings us to the House of Lords Digital Committee, which is looking at the government’s brilliant idea of giving away everyone’s copyright to American artificial intelligence giants, in return for a bag of magic beans that can only be seen by the very wisest ministers. A consultation on this last year found it was supported by just three percent of respondents, which must be some kind of record. That’s even smaller than the number of people who believe that the Loch Ness monster is real, or that Keir Starmer is doing a good job. On Tuesday, the committee was treated to a joint appearance from Technology Secretary Liz Kendall and Claims-To-Be-Culture-Secretary Lisa Nandy. Two secretaries of state at once! Or one-and-a-half, anyway. “I don’t think our secretaries of state need much introduction,” Committee Chair Baroness Keeley said. Other opinions are available. They had come, it turned out, not to defend their own proposals, but to bury them. “We are having a genuine reset mom

Artificial Unintelligence: the government is in full retreat over copyright, and the attempts to make it look dignified only make it funnier. My SKETCH.
thecritic.co.uk/arti...

Ice cream is usually mashed potato, because it doesn't melt.

You have varied lead characters! Some are morally questionable lawbreakers, and some are morally questionable while (at least at first) being overly concerned with staying within the law! And then there's Clem, proving you can write straightforwardly good when you choose to.

recently my friend's comics professor told her that it's acceptable to use gen AI for script-writing but not for art, since a machine can't generate meaningful artistic work. meanwhile, my sister's screenwriting professor said that they can use gen AI for concept art and visualization, but that it won't be able to generate a script that's any good. and at my job, it seems like each department says that AI can be useful in every field except the one that they know best. It's only ever the jobs we're unfamiliar with that we assume can be replaced with automation. The more attuned we are with certain processes, crafts, and occupations, the more we realize that gen AI will never be able to provide a suitable replacement. The case for its existence lies on our ignorance of the work and skill required to do everything we don't. By magicmosshka, yesterday's

the discourse on what jobs are acceptable to replace with generative AI reveals a lot about what we think of other people's jobs

All of Us Murderers All of Us Murderers eBook : Charles, KJ: Amazon.co.uk: Kindle Store

ALL OF US MURDERERS is on cheap on Amazon today! Get your Gothic second chance romance for £/$1.99! (I have no idea how long for or if it's going to other sites, sorry.)

www.amazon.co.uk/All-Us-Murde...

I still remember the first time I saw parakeets in England! I was visiting my parents (I've lived in Lancashire for decades now, but they stayed in the London area) and a flock of bright green flew up the Thames. Shockingly bright.

I understand the pressures on the BBC, but Radio 4's coverage of the Minneapolis shooting is an example of "bad balance".

It's all "the Trump regime says she was a terrorist, but Democrats say it was murder".

The BBC has the footage. It doesn't have to treat truth and falsehood as equally valid.

Yep, the level of vicious bigotry is extreme and we can cannot give an inch. There is a movement on the far right, supported by billionaires and powerful people in the White House, who want to ethnically cleanse Somalis from the U.S., and we must describe it as such and treat it as such.

Radicalisation follows an exponential growth curve, like most contagions.

Politicians are terrified of an electorate they think is far more authoritarian and angry and right wing than it actually is, because they are out of touch because the literal media - the thing that mediates between public and polity - is corrupted

I once flew home to NW England from US Midwest in January. As I got off the plane and into Manchester fog I could feel my eyeballs rehydrating.

Policy position on the rights of transgender and non-binary people in healthcare settings Our policy position is centred around the need to advocate for equitable access to healthcare, create safe and inclusive workplaces for trans and non-binary people working in healthcare settings, and ...

British Medical Association: “Our policy position is centred around the need to advocate for equitable access to healthcare, create safe and inclusive workplaces for trans and non-binary people working in healthcare settings, and end discrimination related to gender identity.”

Other people I know who go in for edible sculpture say sugar paste isa better material for shipbuilding than gingerbread.

A guy with a Napoleon III mustache is consulting a newspaper and speaking with a fellow sporting epaulets. FAUXPOLEON: I heard — and I don’t know if it’s true — that DOGS are just genetically modified HUMAN INFANTS. Isn’t that OUTRAGEOUS? Who DID that? What ELSE don’t we know about dogs?? E’PAUL: That is not true. FAUXPOLEON: I don’t KNOW if it’s true or not. But just think of what it MEANS! People EXPERIMENTING on BABIES! E’PAUL: Indeed. Good thing it’s not true! FAUXPOLEON: You gotta ADMIT that it’s SCARY to think about! E’PAUL: As a thought experiment? Okay. As a falsehood examined AS a falsehood on its face? Okay. E’PAUL: As a valid piece of actual real information worth debating as if it WERE true when it is demonstrably NOT? No. FAUXPOLEON: It MIGHT be true! E’PAUL: It is not. FAUXPOLEON: It might be SOMEDAY. E’PAUL: Okay. FAUXPOLEON: What should we DO about it? E’PAUL: Nothing. FAUXPOLEON: You’re so PASSIVE. You never want to take a STAND. E’PAUL: For… for DOGS BEING INFANTS? This is the hill you want to die on, huh

terrifying if true!

Wondermark #1020; The Unknown Knowns