Category: Bullshit

  • A bad take on good news

    Good news! Advances in diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer means fewer women (and men: men get breast cancer too) are dying! Also, men are living longer! Daily Mail:

  • How the bad guys try to look like big guys on Twitter

    This Twitter thread is about Nazis, but it’s describing tactics used by the religious right, anti-LGBT groups and other awful people on the internet. By appearing numerous, the Twitter Nazis create the general impression that their movement and their ideas are mainstream. A big popular grassroots movement, rather than a fringe of a few thousand…

  • The silence of the trans

    It’s not easy being trans. Not only do you have to deal with the various unpleasantnesses that being visibly different entails, but you have to balance the demands of everyday life with constantly, viciously silencing people who want to have a debate about whether you exist, whether you’re sick or thick or whether it’s ok…

  • The sexual harassment Santa Claus

    The news that Time Magazine made the sexual harassment “silence breakers” their Person of the Year (instead of giving it to the Harasser-in-Chief, who clearly thought the accolade should be his) has resulted in pretty much what you’d expect: cries of “not all men”, whataboutery and barely disguised victim blaming. The reaction to the topic…

  • Stop sending me bloody letters

    I have the mixed fortune of living in East Dunbartonshire, which is a nice bit of the world but also a crucial Liberal Democrat seat: all the polls point to our MP, Jo Swinson, getting the boot come May 7 and the LDs are spending an astonishing amount of money trying to prevent that from happening.…

  • An unhealthy obsession with smoking

    Bizarre news from Scotland: Patients and visitors will be banned from using electronic cigarettes in hospital grounds across Scotland within weeks. NHS boards will be required to ensure that their grounds are smoke-free by April. Electronic cigarettes don’t produce smoke – they produce water vapour – so why are they part of the ban? According…

  • Primary school politics

    Last year, the local council decided that it needed to close some local schools. The process generated a great deal of controversy, because the consultation process was seen by many as a sham. The local Liberal Democrat MP, Jo Swinson, came in for particular criticism: she told parents of local schools that the decision was…

  • The best of both worlds: Spiceworld and Narnia

    Today’s Sun says that for the very first time Alex Salmond has admitted that independence won’t be easy and that we won’t have magic taps running fresh water, whisky and oil.  “Was that really so difficult, First Minister?” the leader asks. As Wings Over Scotland points out, it wasn’t difficult – and wasn’t difficult  when he…

  • What did Robin Williams have to be depressed about?

    Thoroughly predictable and saddening responses to Robin Williams’ death on Mail Online, by @technicallyRon on Twitter and via @chrisphin:  

  • Bias on Buzzfeed

    Wings over Scotland reports a sneaky bit of propaganda: the Scottish Office appears to be publishing anti-Yes stuff online without making it clear who’s doing the publishing.