Cyclefree

The more time I spend with them the less patience I have with men's tiresome behaviour or with their endless excuses for it.

I am not in favour I think of such measures. But I understand and feel the frustration. I have spent a lot of time in the last few years in all female groups and it is so refreshing not to have to worry about either assault or being patronised or ignored.

Are women-only carriages a good idea? France is fiercely split Thousands signed a petition in favour of segregation after a Brazilian woman was attacked on a Paris commuter train — but opponents say it is gender apartheid

"We don’t want to be separated — we want to be protected,”..“Our petition is just a wake-up call, the proof that there is a real problem… but if there are no efficient solutions, we should perhaps consider separate carriages, an extreme, desperate and wild measure.”

www.thetimes.com/world/europe...

☺️

Thank you

Anyway nice chatting with you again. Have missed it.

Hope all is well with you. 2025 has been an annus horribilis for me. But am surviving which is something.

As I say - not much of an improvement.

If I had to point to the one vice which makes scandals so much worse than they might otherwise be, I'd pick cowardice.

Courage is the quality we need in our leaders. That and judgment. Rarer than I would like, rarer than we need.

Hmm - I'm not sure Starmer is a big improvement in the ethical standards department frankly.

You're right that we are not as divided. But the abysmal way in which the grooming gangs issue is being deal with reflects badly on us.

And the bad treatment of women by men is an issue for us too.

He is vile. But behaviour which should see him shunned by decent people is largely ignored or excused.

So maybe there are not many decent people around or, deep down, our society does not really think this behaviour vile or particularly wrong. Or very probably both.

I know.

The key question in so many of these scandals.

See Alistair Meeks article on Medium which he has shared on here and my replies.

It was an abuse of power. Not simply an affair.

Trump is vile. How he could get voted on after that revolting "grabbing pussies" remark beats me. But that attitude is very widespread among men and indifference to it even more widespread among those who could make a difference.

Agreed. It would be good to have such conduct take down a powerful man. I am not holding my breath.

The question remains what it was in 1973 for those around him - "What did you know? And when did you know it?"

How quickly the US and US commentators have forgotten Clinton, Monica Lewinsky, a President lying & the abuse of power plus all those who excused him because .... well he was Clinton. Trump is not a one-off.

If this just becomes an issue about Trump then it will miss two very important aspects: the abuse of women & girls by men who think themselves unchallengeable and the way that those who know are silent & silence those who do speak up.

These are lessons far beyond Trump & are acutely pertinent here.

If they knew or suspected at the time and said nothing, they covered up.

Lots of people in politics and finance knew. Lots. Very very few spoke up when it might have made a difference.

Also we don't know that he hasn't already used information as leverage.

I would be very surprised indeed if Epstein had not involved senior people across the political divide. I know (for professional reasons) some of the people he was acquainted with. Power & money are what interested him. Not political views.

Joined Up Thinking? Following the conviction of Wayne Couzens for three offences of indecent exposure and his sentence to 19 months imprisonment (largely irrelevant given his life sentence for the rape and murder of Sara...

See also this for how such behaviour affects women - www.cyclefree.co.uk/joined-up-th...

Not just rape - but voyeurism, indecent exposure, grabbing breasts or crotch in public spaces etc. If they were all reported the Q's outside police stations would be miles long.

You said years ago most people underestimated how widespread sexual interest in children was. I've never forgotten that when reading stories about CSA & how many men are caught with CSA pictures. We are too unwilling to confront the darkness within us or see children as our offering to the future.

I think a lot of people have already concluded that about other state functions.

Or he thinks that there will be so many Democrats caught up in the mess that it will harm his opponents as much as him.

Well worth reading.

.... shoes of the bad guys sticks to everyone in the end. The bad smell permeates everywhere. And until men start realising that women are fully human people not simply objects to be used or support animals for men this will continue.

.... what their mates are capable of and have done. Most turn a blind eye. And most find it very very difficult to listen to women telling them what men are. They turn their ire on those telling them.

#NotAllMen is no answer to this. It was not all bankers either. But the sh*t on the ....

Ask most men whether they know rapists among their family, friends, colleagues and acquaintances and most will say no. All these assaults are not being done by a few very busy men but by ordinary men - by those friends, colleagues etc. Men do not want to admit this though some will know what ....

It is a very thoughtful piece. There is much I could say but will limit myself to this. Every single woman I know has been sexually assaulted or knows someone who has been. And not just once. And it starts happening when they are children, young girls, and continues all their lives.

I feel that about most people on the tube these days. Never having to go on it again at rush hour is a huge improvement in my life.

Er ... it has not been missed by women. It not only has not been missed by them but spoken about by them rather a lot. Men have missed this too. Maybe they can't hear our squeaky voices or something. Or more likely deliberately.

Bloody rude of him. No-one challenged him I suppose.