A Labour Government source has dismissed the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act as a “hate speech charter”. Free speech in Britain has rarely been in more peril, says Professor David Abulafia in the Spectator. Here’s an excerpt.
In an extraordinary outburst, a Government source has described the new Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act, introduced by the Conservatives, as a “hate-speech charter”. This is an outrageous distortion of the new laws that aim to guarantee free speech within universities. The best that can be said about that phrase is that, so long as we retain free speech, people are free to describe it that way. But doing so raises worrying doubts about what the new Government thinks free speech means. …
Th[e] steep decline in the ability of universities to act as places of open debate, apolitical in character, where people do feel happy to say out loud that they supported Brexit or that they sympathise with Israel, has made ever more urgent the implementation of the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act, signed into law last year by King Charles. In a manoeuvre that has astonished the more than 500 academics who signed a letter to the Secretary of State for Education, the Government has “paused” its implementation a matter of days before its provisions were to click into place. Unlike the letters about Gaza or just stopping oil, the signatories are real academics, many of them very senior, not post-docs and graduate students with little real clout. …
Now the DfE has, in a move of dubious legitimacy, decided not to put the act into effect. Bizarrely, the DfE is supported by the Union of Jewish Students and the Board of Deputies of British Jews. It is asserted that the Act would somehow unleash a torrent of antisemitic abuse, even Holocaust denial, on campus. This is a total misunderstanding of what is permissible. Under the Equality Act of 2010 and other legislation speech conducive to hatred and violence is unlawful. Expressing support for Hamas is unlawful. The expression of Neo-Nazi views is unlawful. And the torrent has already been unleashed in demonstrations that have included calls for the extirpation of the State of Israel. The Act would not and should not prevent people from arguing publicly in support of the Palestinians, for instance condemning the Jewish settlers on the West Bank in strong terms. But it would also ensure that events supportive of Israel and the trauma it suffered last October can go ahead with security paid for by the relevant university. It provides mechanisms by which no-cost complaints can be made if these conditions are not fulfilled, and enables sanctions to be imposed on universities or student unions that have failed to comply with the act. In short, the Act would greatly improve a situation for Jewish students which has turned from difficult to atrocious since October 7th.
Worth reading in full.
Stop Press: The Free Speech Union is bringing a legal challenge against Bridget Phillipson, whom it believes acted unlawfully when she ‘paused’ the Act. You can help pay the FSU’s legal costs by donating to this CrowdJustice fundraiser here.
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I’m not at all sure we should be looking for strictly biological explanations especially when the pill has been with us for so long. Were it responsible for these odious phenomena, we should have noticed long before now.
It strikes me, therefore, that the author is trying to smuggle a hard, clerico-conservative line (“Ooh, the wicked pill!”) under cover of due objections to an authentically alarming development. Far wiser to take a right-wing Enlightenment line.
So, why are so many “identifying” as deviant – to use a forceful, old fashioned term?
Can you ask? Are the streets not plastered with the new “rainbow” hammer and sickle? Do people not lose their jobs, their bank accounts, their futures if they question the “rainbow” doctrine in public? Don’t schools routinely ram this sort of crud down pupils’ throats? And are there not serious social disadvantages now imposed on authentic normality?
The young live by the approval of their peers and this in turn is shaped by the masters of culture. The masters of today’s culture are a parcel of neo-Bolshevik sh*ts, happy to push confusion and mutilation until the cows come home – presumably as “bulls”. Thus, youngsters squeeze away from the baleful inquisitors’ eyes with pleas of this or that form of impairment or handicap. They are “depressed”, they are “trans”, they are a cat! Anything to find some kind of slap on the back.
Fascinating to note, at this point, that the left in its current “rainbow” guise, has regrouped all sorts of deviancy which it once declared “healthy” alongside diseases, alongside madness itself, which evils it now pronounces good. “Fair is foul and foul is fair,” as the witches have it, “Freedom is Slavery” as Orwell updated it.
There lies your explanation – rule by yet another set of gnostic nutters; not the poor old pill.
Do we have a control? We can surely only make sense of this by comparing the rates of LGBTQness across regions. I live in Vietnam and I can state with relief and almost complete confidence that LGBTQ++++ ideology simply doesn’t exist here. I’d expect the rate of homosexuality to be much, much lower amongst millennials and genZs than the very end-days-of-Rome West, even though the amount of chemical pollution is probably just as high.
Indeed – let’s have a correlation with, say, numbers of prescriptions for contraceptives and or other hormones across these several generations, and as you say compare it across cultures.
I don’t know about contraceptive pill use in Vietnam, but I’ll wager it’s pretty high in China given the history of the single-child policy.
Also, feminisation is one thing – gender queer and the like seem uncannily parallel to academic developments since Simone de Beauvoir declared that sex-differences are assigned, not inborn.
I too lived in Vietnam in the 1990s (when I believe homosexuality was illegal there) and while it was quite under the radar, there definitely was a gay scene in Hanoi, at least. But of course, you wrote about LGBT ideology which is quite a different thing! Plenty of countries that I have worked in have a ‘gay’ scene comprised of men who would run a mile if you called them gay – I believe the sexual health people invented the term ‘MSM’ to cover this group.
The article above writes about those who ‘identify’ as LGBT, but I think if they actually ask ‘have you indulged in a same-sex fumble in the past 12 months’ they get a very different (much lower) answer, so that tends to support a social cause.
As to whether chemicals in the water could contribute, I remember when at university studying dog whelks in the Firth of Clyde – we couldn’t find one that wasn’t intersex as a result of Tributyl tin in the water – so it could be an interesting line of enquiry.
I must’ve led a sheltered life as I had to Google why Gen X, Y (millennials) and Z were so called. Turns out some Canadian scribbler called Douglas Coupland wrote a book entitled Generation-X and voila! the term stuck.
As an early ‘Boomer,’ I find the numbers at the top of the article astounding, since not having led an entirely sheltered life, I didn’t happen across my first ‘G’ until the 70s and have yet to knowingly meet ‘B’ or a ‘T.’ I tried convincing myself that I got snubbed on the dance floor at the Mecca in the 60s because many of the lasses I propositioned were of the ‘L’ persuasion. In reality, I’ve met two.
Aware of the British love of a cup of tea, it appears that progressive activists have succeeded in positioned themselves, as elsewhere within the commanding heights of British society, particularly the armed services, at a senior level within the regional water companies.
Elevated levels of bromide within Britain’s water supply have recently been detected.
As many contributors here will know, bromide has long been added to British Army tea with a variety of eccentric effects noticeable particularly amongst junior officers of Regiments such as the Royal Hussars, Lancers, Parachute Regiment and, of course, the Queens Regiment.
Could it, I wonder, be that the senior management of our water companies, under the disguise of tanker loads of sewage discharged into our rivers are also adding massive quantities of bromide?
Isn’t the ‘bromide in tea’ thing a myth?
I remember when ‘conspiracy theorist’ Alex Jones was ‘ fact-checked’ way back in 2010 for talking about this exact same thing….even though I’d heard this even before then…
“Chemicals in the water are turning frogs gay…..One of Jones’ most notorious conspiracy theories ….. In a rant that has since become a meme and a line of t-shirts, Jones said he didn’t like the government “putting chemicals in the water that turn the friggin’ frogs gay.”
Then came the studies…there a numerous ones you can look up, on-line…and all finding the same thing….
https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=124422894
Atrazine is widely used as weedkiller on American farms. And a new study shows this common chemical may have gender-bending effects on frogs. Host Guy Raz talks to biology professor Tyrone Hayes about his work with atrazine and frogs. Hayes found that 9 of every 10 male frogs he exposed to atrazine became chemically castrated. And that other 1 out of every 10? Well, he became a she….In 2002, biologist Dr. Tyrone Hayes conducted a series of experiments that revealed that the most common herbicide, Atrazine, “feminized” male frogs at concentrations below that allowed in drinking water in the United States.1 He hypothesized that Atrazine works as an endocrine-disrupting chemical (EDC), converting testosterone to estrogen in frogs. Hayes’s research ignited an ongoing political controversy over whether Atrazine causes hermaphroditism in amphibians, humans, and other species…
Is there a ‘conspiracy theory’ that isn’t bloody true!!?? LOL!
Master herbalist Stephen Harrad Buhner flagged up this issue at least 25 years ago if not longer, as well as the oestrogenic effects of other chemical like the herbicides. So no, it’s not a new issue or a conspiracy theory and there were academic papers written about it even back then. It’s something I’ve been giving thought to in recent years as much because of the dysphoria thing as the extraordinary increase in man boobs in even relatively healthy chaps, plus the increasing incidence of male breast cancer:
‘…risk factors for male breast cancer include obesity, older age, radiation exposure, a family history of breast cancer, overdeveloped breast tissue (or gynecomastia), exposure to estrogen and heavy alcohol use.’
https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/conditions-and-diseases/breast-cancer/male-breast-cancer-a-rare-increasing-trend
That is very interesting. Gerald Posner Gerald Posner investigation into the pharmaceutical industry — Gerald Posner 2020 book is a fascinating read and no he does not think the birth control pill was adequately tested before being prescribed to millions of women.
Why do we still use the term “breast cancer” when we can no longer use the term “breast feeding”? Chest cancer surely?
The second that you use a “herbalist” as a source, I’m going to ignore you.
It’s a wonder that giraffes have survived through the ages. They’re all gay, you know. What, you need proof? Well they look it!
LOL! It’s those gay little horns isn’t it??
No, it’s more about the way they run.
And throw. Sure sign of a female.
Any advice on a reliable way to filter drinking water?
Reverse osmosis water filters are allegedly the best, but both Berkefield (UK) and Berkey (US) water filters are supposed to clear at least some.
https://waterfiltergeek.co.uk/best-water-filter-to-remove-hormones-uk/
I’m confused by this bit;
”Medical advice is to stop taking the pill whilst pregnant “as a precaution“.
Isn’t the main reason females take the pill the fact that it acts as a “precaution”? A precaution against falling pregnant? Given that it is a contraceptive and everything…Surely you stop the pill then get pregnant, in that order. I’m not really sure why any sane female would be on the pill whilst pregnant. Perhaps I misunderstood something when I speed-read that…
“I’m not really sure why any sane female would be on the pill whilst pregnant.”
Maybe the medical advice is for females who are not sane, or at least not sane enough to stop taking the pill if they become pregnant.
Though apparently it is possible to get pregnant again while pregnant, it’s known as ‘superfetation’ but it’s extremely rare.
Hi Mogwai,
The link provided in my article helps to explain this, though I agree it is a little confusing. Here is a link to another article providing further information on the subject:
https://www.medicinesinpregnancy.org/Medicine–pregnancy/The-mini-pill/
Thank you!
No doubt the advice is for those who don’t know they’re pregnant. As soon as they don’t find out they should stop taking it.
No need to take the pill when pregnant as the pregnancy acts as a natural contraceptive. Unless anyone can cite evidence of a pregnant woman becoming pregnant again when already pregnant?
I think it’s far more likely that large numbers of men with the kink known as autogynephilia have suddenly been given the green light to indulge their kink and not only that, it’s now protected and recieves billions in grant funding. Not *every* person who believes themselves to have a gender that is not consistent with their biological sex has the autogynephilia kink of course but I would be willing to wager it’s the kink and not actual dysphoria that’s driving the numbers explosion.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22005209/
I’m sure it’s pure coincidence that the rise in people identifying as LGBT coincides with the West becoming more and more dystopian in just about every area.
It is very difficult for a man to examine his testosterone levels throughout his life. The tendency is to attribute things to getting older and the memories of high testosterone youth aren’t always pleasant ones. It makes a huge difference to everything and there are t hings you can do to improve this situation but it is a hard subject to tune into because it seems a bit silly and vain but this isn’t the case because it is the basis of your energy levels and affects everything about your future
I looked up the details of my drinking water by going to the website of Anglian Water, where you can do a postcode search which returns the local water quality and treatment protocols in your area. The water was described as “hard”, which is incidentally how most males in my area would describe themselves. So maybe, yes, there’s something in the water.
The hard-core hillbillies around here would balk at the suggestion they’re being feminized by the water!
Ther water is just one thing amongst many. Why doesn’t anyone notice the dramatic decline in insect populations over the last few years. You aren’t going to be able to escape the toxins they are too potent and there are too many of them. So there is acceptance that we are likely in a sub-optimal state which seems to be degrading at a rapid rate. Awareness doesn’t come to the masses in waves of information but it comes through accumulation of experience and then suddenly there is a thwack like a Zen master hitting you with his stick because you were drifting off. Look at how much cash has been withdrawn from banks in the UK over the last four weeks.
As Alex Jones puts it so succinctly: ‘They’re turning frogs gay!’
I wonder how much cancer and other damage is caused by this and whether domestic water filters in jugs clean any of this out… (water jugs, that is, not jugs growing on men!!)
This book explains it well. What we are seeing now is nothing new and took place in ancient civilisations.
This book explains it well, checkout the reviews…
https://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Return-of-the-Gods/dp/B0BBN53PWX/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?adgrpid=144239813427&hvadid=621632421555&hvdev=m&hvlocphy=9045852&hvnetw=g&hvqmt=e&hvrand=9328553555025074605&hvtargid=kwd-1674935301041&hydadcr=13663_2323583&keywords=return+of+the+gods+jonathan+cahn&qid=1690054546&sr=8-1
If you think about it, if they can disrupt your physiological functioning then all political discussions become redundant because the realm of civil discourse presupposes a world without chemical weapons. It is predicated on the idea of rational decisions and these toxins rob us of far more than that. If we can say to each other that we recognise the poisoning and we might feel it ourselves then there is the start of a movement which is going to happen anyway. If you’re canny then you can see where this is going and you will align yourself accordingly.
Can’t anyone spot the attention-seeking here. In my day, it was about getting on with a career and our lives. Suffice to say you’ll find a woodlice under a rock if you look under enough of them. Tut, tut Daily Sceptic.
I one found a wood louse in some hotel muesli, does that count?
It seems logical to me that taking a regular medication which is hormone-based and intended to prevent pregnancy, will have wider consequences if that medication gets into the rest of the population. Which it undoubtedly does through treated tap water.
I suspect it is a contributory factor, along with changes in the law relating to homosexuality and more recently transgenderism, plus several decades of social conditioning.
I applied the precautionary principle to the original “pill” decades ago and never took it. Although I did take the mini-pill for a couple of years in my early 40s. I sailed through the menopause with absolutely none of the usual symptoms ….. and I do wonder whether not taking “the pill” for several decades previously impacted that as well.
Perhaps this contributes. I know of a number of young people who in job applications etc classify themselves as Gay, Bi etc when they are not, they do this because they see it as a way to gain an edge in the job, promotion etc opportunity, as more companies now adopt D.I.E and are judged by the number of LBT whatever, race, etc it is in the companies and the employees interest to classify themselves as one of the special groups, hence the growth of those identifying as “special”. Frankly competence doesn’t matter any more, but who you have sex with is the way to get to the top.
Give people targets and guess what they will play the sytem to achieve.
“Cultural Narratives”. Or the Lemming effect. ————Once one lemming leaps over the cliff, they all start doing it. A good example of this copy cat stuff is the use of the word “Perfect” in today’s world. ——-It used to mean something that was flawless eg a perfect circle. But today it is used by those easily led to copy everyone else. —-You will hear shop assistants ask if you want a receipt and when you say “yes”, they reply “perfect”. It is the same with a waitress asking if your ready to order and in almost every interaction the reply is —“perfect”. —–This has only happened in say the last 10 years and it is a great example of how people can shift to behaviours based entirely on the cultural that surrounds them, and not wanting to be left out they adopt the new fashion. I suggest that a lot of what happens these days with gender is exactly that —-fashion.
Thank you for this elaborate rendering of Something is happening and we don’t understand it! I suggest another grouping that’s certain to reveal something the authors of this study absolutely didn’t think about, namely, by religion. The outcome will doubtlessly be that – despite drinking the same water – the percentage of people self-identifying as somehow also gay is drastically lower among muslims.
WATER will never take my manhood away. I’m determined of it! Whatever you do to me, Anglian Water, I will not submit to your dastardly aims.
Care in the Community has a lot to answer for.