Category: Uncategorised

  • More of a comment

    Kate Watson’s blog post on the scourge of events, the “more of a comment than a question” guy, is worth your time. It does a great job of explaining why he’s a menace, and what you can do to stop him derailing the Q&A. If and when the mic goes to someone and the dreaded…

  • Let the light in

    Due to a calendar quirk, here in the UK the winter solstice is a day later than usual. But now it’s here, so today is the shortest, darkest day of the year and the beginning of the road back to summer sunshine. I’m writing this at 8am and it’s still pitch black outside; it’ll be…

  • Hate, speech

    The trial of the teenage killers of Brianna Ghey, the young trans girl murdered in broad daylight earlier this year, has begun. And I’d strongly advise you not to read about it, because the details are horrific – a lesson I learnt the hard way. But on the basis of the prosecution’s evidence so far,…

  • Going the distance

    There’s a fascinating piece in Scientific American that brings together many years of debunking: The Theory That Men Evolved to Hunt and Women Evolved to Gather Is Wrong. Man the Hunter has dominated the study of human evolution for nearly half a century and pervaded popular culture. It is represented in museum dioramas and textbook…

  • How to spot an idiot

    This commencement speech, by Illinois Governor J. B. Pritzker, is wise. It’s all over the internet but in case you missed it, Pritzker talks about idiots and empathy: The best way to spot an idiot? Look for the person who is cruel. When we see someone who doesn’t look like us, or sound like us,…

  • Toxic workplaces

    I’ve said many times that I live an unusually charmed life compared to many trans people, the majority of whom are not middle-aged, middle-class media freelancers. A new workplace survey of trans people by YouGov demonstrates that for those people, things aren’t great. The study found: 65% of trans employees hide their trans status at…

  • Sparkling transphobia

    Another good piece by Vice: “Gender Critical” feminism isn’t feminist. It’s just transphobic If you read the news, it’s easy to think that gender-critical thinking is the dominant mode of British feminism. That can be terrifying for trans and non-binary people, especially when we are increasingly bombarded with transphobic headlines; an IPSO report in 2020…

  • Bring it on

    Happy New Year when it comes. I hope your 2023 is full of love, laughter and joy.

  • Redecorating

    Just an admin note: I’ve reverted the blog to its previous template because the new one mangled some characters and did weird things with quoted text. It’s not quite right yet so please excuse the dust.

  • Merry Christmas

    I’m sorry I haven’t updated the blog for a while now: family things, a ridiculously heavy workload and adopting a greyhound have kept me away from the keyboard in the last few months. There are many fun things coming in 2022, but right now my RSI-addled hands need a rest. I hope you have a…