There follows a guest post by James Delingpole, the Executive Editor of Breitbart London.
I don’t know how many people went on the Freedom March through London at the weekend, but it was definitely a lot more than the “hundreds” initially reported by the BBC and Sky [did they get Neil Ferguson to do their arithmetic?], and probably ran into the tens of thousands.
Professor Neil Ferguson estimated that their were 33 people at the protest march today in London
— Sir Truth Seekerpic.twitter.com/IZXYiTlx6m
(@Truth_S_eeker) March 20, 2021
We gathered beforehand in small ‘bubble’-like groups in Hyde Park and tried to avoid the attentions of the large numbers of police who were trying to find an excuse to disperse us or arrest us. Someone said it felt like being in Occupied Europe during the war. Everyone was slightly tense, keyed up, knowing that the police have shown themselves to be much more brutal and unforgiving towards anti-lockdown protestors than they are with, say, Black Lives Matter or Extinction Rebellion mobs.
At a pre-arranged smoke signal – everything was organised on Telegram and announced at the last minute so as to keep the police guessing – we began to coalesce and marched out of the Marble Arch entrance, up Park Lane then right down Oxford Street.
It was, as always at these events, a good natured crowd. Only a minority, I’m guessing, had been ruined by a university education. These were people that we’d call ‘salt of the earth’ and Hillary Clinton would call ‘Deplorables’. There was a great deal more racial diversity than you’d find at a BLM or an XR rally.
As we weaved through the traffic on Park Lane which had been brought to a standstill I expected hostility from the trapped drivers. What we got, though, was solidarity – especially from the bus drivers. They beeped their horns and accepted fist bumps and flowers through the windows.
I joined London Mayoral candidate Laurence Fox, leader of the Reclaim Party, who got a lot of love from the crowd for his pro-freedom, anti-lockdown, open-up-London-immediately campaign ticket. We snaked with the long conga line the length of Oxford Street heading for Holborn, acutely conscious that any moment the Territorial Support Group vans circling us like hungry wolves could close off the side-streets and kettle us in for hours in order to inflict torture by boredom, claustrophobia and bursting bladder.
On this occasion, however, the police were mostly restrained. Some said it was because the crowd was simply too large to confront; others that the police were taking a softly-softly approach after criticisms that they had been too harsh at the previous weekend’s vigil for Sarah Everard. My own suspicion is that they would have welcomed some aggro in order to discredit the anti-lockdown cause (as the state is very keen to do) but that in the event they opted for the next best thing: denying it the oxygen of publicity.
The compliant media certainly helped here. How often do tens of thousands of people march through London’s main thoroughfares on a Saturday with barely a mention in the Sunday papers? I remember, for example, last year most of the Sundays devoting double-page spreads to the Black Lives Matter march – with huge photographs and swooning copy. But this march – in support of a far less politically tainted cause: quite simply an affirmation of people’s right to work and play free of government oppression – was ignored. Sad.
Stop Press: Read Laura Dodsworth’s account of being on the demo for Spiked.
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Don’t even give it credence by publishing such utter nonsense Daily Sceptic …come on editor sort it out
Nothing to discuss here, IPSO whatever the Feck it is, has just rendered itself irrelevant, ridiculous and not fit for purpose – get rid!
It’s an important issue. If you want to remain ignorant about it, then don’t read it, and allow the rest of us the choice of whether to remain ignorant about it or not.
“important”….go on…
What’s “important”is that we are being lead in to WW3 intentionally…
What’s also “important” is the relentless assault on free speech.
There’s no life rule saying one can only find one thing at a time important.
This article is more about “gender identity” than free speech
If it wasn’t for “a man who claims to be a woman”.. This article wouldn’t even exist…
No one was saying there was…………
Ignorant about “gender identity” are you having a laugh..
It’s been rammed down our throats on a daily basis for the past 25 years…. Not sure about you, but I’m done with the bs… You keep giving it attention if you want, but that won’t achieve anything at all….
“ignorant”…..blimey..
Not ignorant about “gender identity”, ignorant about the IPSO ruling. Nobody is forcing you to know anything about IPSO if you don’t want to know.
If the Spectator prints the ruling on its website stating that indeed Mr Dawson is a woman, will it be guilty of misinformation? After all, as Michael Grove says: “Dawson may have a gender recognition certificate but no piece of paper, whatever it may say, can alter biological reality. Parliament may pass laws, but they cannot abolish Dawson’s Y chromosome.”
It does get very confusing.
I agree. It’s DS clickbait. The press doesn’t matter anymore. We get balance from within the Network Society
the Phrase “A Man Who Claims to Be a Woman” is Discriminatory
It’s an interesting idea that speaking or writing a phrase that corresponds to reality constitutes “discrimination”. But what do the Clown-Wolders really mean by “discrimination” in a case like this? What they mean is that some people still insist on noticing reality, and that that must not be allowed. Thus we’ve reached the stage where speaking the truth is heresy.
Indeed…..right think, is the only think.
Nothing new. Once upon a time you could have lost your life for stating that you don’t see any evidence of the existence of a God.
We just haven’t evolved as much as we think we have.
If journalists are not allowed to say that Juno Dawson is “a man who claims to be a woman”, then they should say that Juno Dawson is “a man who claims to be a trans woman”, which cannot be proved to be inaccurate, as it is literally impossible to distinguish a trans woman from a man pretending to be a trans woman.
How about they just ignore it …
Not everyone has your “Close your eyes and it might go away” attitude.
“Trans woman” is gibberish.
What would a trans goldfish or trans tulip be?
Nevertheless it’s a reality that some men claim to be trans women.
War Is Peace.
Freedom Is Slavery.
Ignorance Is Strength.
Truth is Thoughtcrime.
What will such types do, when it becomes completely obvious, that all those self same types lied about the Covid Vaccinations.
If saying “a man who claims to be a woman” is discriminatory, what should one say to describe a man who claims to be a woman?
Exceĺlent question but easily answered: it’s “a man-without-a-certificate-from-the-state that claims he’s a woman.”
Telling the Truth Now a Crime
Both parents onboard with ‘transing’ their 18 month old son who now thinks he’s a girl called ‘Violet’. WTAF?
Child abuse takes many forms and this is just one. Take that child off these terrible parents!
https://x.com/Artemisfornow/status/1866104931867877385
I wonder how many Britons are suddenly realising they live in a totalitarian state in which something called a “Press Watchdog” has the power and authority to dictate what can and cannot be said.
So…. If I put on black makeup and claim to be black, would a journalist be found guilty of discrimination if they described me as a “white person who claims to be black”?
Ali G…
It doesnt matter how rarified and abstracted a culture becomes. In the end the body is still the final arbiter. You will learn that in the horror to come. Imposture won’t help pretence won’t help. You will either have the spunk or you won’t. Keep your nutsack full as a bulwark against the coming attack. No cheeky little wanks. If you feel the strain is too much then grip the base of your penis and give two squeezes. After a few weeks the desire will disappear completely.
Has anyone read any of Juno Dawson’s works? Would the phrase “a man who claims to be an author” be ok?
It isn’t rocket science. Why do you think that all the nasty major corporations of this world are pushing this agenda? Do you think it is because they care about minority groups? And so why are they actually pushing it. It is just to make you feel itchy and irked in certain places whilst they carry your possessions off. Either you tune into the real game or you don’t. We live in merciless times you can’t afford to be all over the place and stupid.
It is very easy to become a fuckwit, especially in our time. How about the spirit that rebals against becoming a fuckwit. I mean a genuine impulse to avoid that fate.
Membership of IPSO is not compulsory. Spectator should leave and like Guardian, Evening Standard, Financial Times be free of it.
The phrase ‘ you are factually correct but not politically correct’ originally came from Stalin’s Russia
Shame Gove didn’t push to get the “gender” lies and nonsense scrapped when he was in a position to do it.