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You don’t need me to tell you that Boris Johnson lied when he said the UK government had done everything possible to minimise the COVID-19 death toll. There is a reason we have a death toll exceeding 100,000 while New Zealand has 25, Vietnam 35 and Taiwan 7. As Devi Shridhar writes in the Guardian,… [more]
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I’ve watched two very different dramas this week: a theatrical monologue and a TV series. Both were very emotional experiences. The monologue was Overflow, written by Travis Alabanza and performed by the mesmerising Reece Lyons. It’s a one-woman show about a trans woman hiding in the ladies to escape violence. It’s not always an easy… [more]
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Last week, vocal anti-trans bigots and a fair few UK journalists (*standup comedian voice* not that you can always tell the difference, amirite?) claimed that appointing one of the most equal and diverse administrations we’ve seen meant that, er, President Biden was worse for women than Donald Trump. They even had their own social media… [more]
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This, by VS Wells, is very good. A culmination of factors appear at play. Some point to the antiquated ideologies of a generation of journalists and publishers who have dominated the mainstream media. Others say it’s intrinsically linked to political leaders who have failed to denounce hate. No matter its origins, this rampant transphobia has… [more]
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Newsweek: Straight Pride Group ‘Super Happy Fun America’ Members Arrested Over U.S. Capitol Riot …Sahady’s group describes itself on Twitter as “a right of center civil rights organization focusing on defending the American Constitution, opposing gender madness and defeating cultural Marxism.” “Gender madness” refers to transgender identity and “cultural Marxism,” according to the Southern Poverty… [more]
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Thanks to a Freedom of Information Request, we now know the source for the recent change to NHS England information about puberty blockers. A US anti-LGBT blog. Christine Burns MBE, who was instrumental in the creation of the Gender Recognition Act, on Twitter: NHS England used justifications from a US hate campaign to alter its… [more]
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Something that’s become really apparent in the final days of the Trump administration is that cranks of a feather flock together. If you believe that the US election has been stolen, chances are you also believe that the COVID vaccine contains microchips, and that furniture shop Wayfair traffics stolen children. Thanks to Twitter I discovered… [more]
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In the New York Times Magazine: The American Abyss, a longread about the attempted coup and what led to it. Post-truth is pre-fascism, and Trump has been our post-truth president. When we give up on truth, we concede power to those with the wealth and charisma to create spectacle in its place. Without agreement about… [more]
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My son and daughter go to different schools but right now they’re getting their education in the same location: my home. They’re both learning remotely, joining their classmates and teachers on Microsoft Teams and using things like my phone to take pictures of their work and upload it to the school. What’s really striking about… [more]
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Another day, another example of the private sector profiteering from poverty. This time it’s free school meals. Previously parents were given £30 vouchers to pay for their kids’ school lunches. Now, the lunches are provided for them instead. Just one problem. Instead of £30 of food, the packages contain about £5 worth of food. Bootstrap… [more]
Read me in books
My debut memoir, Carrie Kills A Man, was a Scotsman book of the year and Damian Barr’s Literary Salon book of the week, and it was shortlisted for the 2023 British Book Awards book of the year in the Discover category.
My latest book, Small Town Joy, is a celebration of queer influences on and queer artists in Scots music and is out now.
I’m also a contributor to the excellent anthology Fierce Salvage, which is also out now.
