Welcome to episode 20 of the Sceptic! On the show this week, host Laurie Wastell speaks to the following guests:
- I speak to Matt Ridley, the acclaimed science writer and peer in the House of Lords, on the farmers’ revolt over inheritance tax changes that rocked Westminster this week.
- Writer and former parliamentary researcher James McSweeney, for a deep dive into Britain’s political class and why it gets so much so wrong – especially on Net Zero.
- And for those donating £5 a month or more to the Daily Sceptic, Laurie is joined Connie Shaw, an outspoken gender-critical student at Leeds University, who earlier this year experienced what trans activists say is myth – a man in the women’s bathroom.
Donate to the Daily Sceptic to access our donor-only content. Follow Laurie on X. Follow Matt on X. Read James’s article here. And follow him on X. Read Connie’s article on Leeds University here. Follow Connie on X. Produced by Richard Eldred. Filmed at the Westminster Podcast Studio.
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This was interesting, although I think Connie Shaw slightly tied herself in knots trying to square her feminist and gender critical views
I would have to disagree. Connie explained right at the start how she used to believe supporting gender ideology was consistent with feminism but then went on to say why her eyes were opened by the more toxic aspects of the movement. It’s refreshing to hear someone of Connie’s generation speaking and thinking so clearly and coherently on these issues.
Frankly I disagree with Toby when he says that gender-critical (sic) feminists are our allies in the culture wars.
The trans activists are very much using the same tactics that feminists used against conservatives 40 years ago.
Feminists are not conservatives. They are just as strident and preaching division just as much as the trans activists are.
James McSweeney had some interesting things to say. I may have to buy myself a generator and wood burner, to avoid the impact of the power outages that he thinks are likely to happen.
If power outages are on the cards, then I hope they occur before the next election, and serve to hasten the demise of this dreadful government.
I am afraid that Connie Shaws just shows up the confusion and chaos caused by the overreach of feminist ideology. She has not provided a coherent basis for who she is going to let into the female toilets. She doesn’t want the measure to be some visual female ‘ stereotype ‘, because she admits to being non conforming to whatever she imagines that to be herself, but that just leaves biology, which is intrusive and hardly practical. In addition surely the male who really has ‘ gone to the effort ‘ and passes should actually use the female toilet. Does this then make Connie a terf? although this is not a helpful term , the exclusion from the toilet points up the conundrum perfectly.
Just converting public loos to unisex cubicles is an impractical way of increasing queues and desperation all around, pisses all normal people off with feminist and trans ideologs and just avoids the wider gateway problem this confusion then becomes for society, but more especially for women’s spaces and sports.
Surely the answer is to reassert, the natural, common sense and also biblical perspective that there really should be a visual distinction between male and female attire as a cultural norm. Who gets to use whose toilets and does not get bounced out is therefore a matter of whether they pass the cultural norm
This cultural norm is however not the same as stereotyping, this is the grand conflation mistake which feminist overreach has made and which needs correcting. There are many ways to be a man, and many ways to be a woman, (it’s not either a binary superman and Barbie distinction and neither is it the utter nonsense of many genders which just creates more stereotypes) , but the female version of something should always be visually distinct from the male version. Male and female are not stereotypes, they are factual distinctions which we should work with and celebrate and not suppress.
If some people want to crossdress then they need to do it well enough to pass, but passing in one context and type might not mean they would pass in all.
The whole of society should not be turned upside down by this minority based on gateway feminist ideological mistakes, emphasizing equal outcome, rather than opportunity by denying real distinctions.
The problem is resolved by reasserting the importance of retaining a visual distinction between male and female.
Why did no one mention that farm land prices are driven up by solar farm snd other government subsidised outfits.
While a farmer might be pleased to sell off a marginal or isolated field and enjoy a high price, farmers need to maintain most of it to make their business plan viable.
further, businesses other than farming used to be free of IHT. Indeed, many businesses can easily be taken off shore where IHT does not apply. Farm land can’t be moved like that.
But we know that no logic will work with a party and Government that wants to bash the Kulaks snd prefers global corporations to British business people.