Recent posts

#91

Off the Record / Re: Brexit and the waning days...

Last post by Barrister - April 25, 2024, 11:39:03 AM

I'm not getting the Cass Report.
Gender care, especially for kids, is crap.
This was well known before, though the proof for it is useful.
But the transphobic culture war zealots are celebrating as if it proves everything they say right?- care being shit doesn't mean improve care it means...don't have care?

Umm, no.

Gender care for kids is not 'well known to be crap'.  Lots of the activist types keep trying to argue that it is "settled science", when in fact the science is anything but.

Yes, culture warriors on both sides are trying to argue the Cass Report - the "left" arguing that the Cass report unjustly invalidated a bunch of studies that would've proved their point (the Report says they were of low value), while the "right" tries to argue that it should equal a ban on youth gender care (the Report just says we need more and better data).

I don't think it's correct to make this a left/right issue. There are plenty of people on the left (including Rowling) who regard the approach of Tavistock as absolutely scandalous. I'm not on Twitter so I don't know what the real transphobes (as opposed to the so-called "TERFS") are saying but most people I know who were very critical of Tavistock and Mermaids etc are fully supportive of care for gender care but argue it should be holistic and not based on ideology.

It's why I put the terms on quotes - it was useful shorthand, but not exclusively a left / right issue.

#92

Off the Record / Re: Brexit and the waning days...

Last post by Gups - April 25, 2024, 11:36:00 AM

I'm not getting the Cass Report.
Gender care, especially for kids, is crap.
This was well known before, though the proof for it is useful.
But the transphobic culture war zealots are celebrating as if it proves everything they say right?- care being shit doesn't mean improve care it means...don't have care?

Umm, no.

Gender care for kids is not 'well known to be crap'.  Lots of the activist types keep trying to argue that it is "settled science", when in fact the science is anything but.

Yes, culture warriors on both sides are trying to argue the Cass Report - the "left" arguing that the Cass report unjustly invalidated a bunch of studies that would've proved their point (the Report says they were of low value), while the "right" tries to argue that it should equal a ban on youth gender care (the Report just says we need more and better data).

I don't think it's correct to make this a left/right issue. There are plenty of people on the left (including Rowling) who regard the approach of Tavistock as absolutely scandalous. I'm not on Twitter so I don't know what the real transphobes (as opposed to the so-called "TERFS") are saying but most people I know who were very critical of Tavistock and Mermaids etc are fully supportive of care for gender care but argue it should be holistic and not based on ideology.

#93

Off the Record / Re: Brexit and the waning days...

Last post by Jacob - April 25, 2024, 11:33:19 AM

Was Josq speaking of "gender care" as a general concept when he said it's crap, or about gender care as currently implemented in the UK? Or are those two things basically the same and there's no such thing as "decent gender care" vs "crap gender care"?

Note: I don't even know what is encompassed in the term "gender care", so if either of you would care to expand on the term I'd appreciate it

#94

Off the Record / Re: The China Thread

Last post by Jacob - April 25, 2024, 11:30:27 AM

Yeah, I guess that some Chinese banks were circumventing the ban and this may result in consequences now. Which seems simple enough on the face of it, but I guess the question is what are the consequences, and what are the knock-on consequences?

#95

Off the Record / Re: Brexit and the waning days...

Last post by Barrister - April 25, 2024, 11:18:49 AM

I'm not getting the Cass Report.
Gender care, especially for kids, is crap.
This was well known before, though the proof for it is useful.
But the transphobic culture war zealots are celebrating as if it proves everything they say right?- care being shit doesn't mean improve care it means...don't have care?

Umm, no.

Gender care for kids is not 'well known to be crap'.  Lots of the activist types keep trying to argue that it is "settled science", when in fact the science is anything but.

Yes, culture warriors on both sides are trying to argue the Cass Report - the "left" arguing that the Cass report unjustly invalidated a bunch of studies that would've proved their point (the Report says they were of low value), while the "right" tries to argue that it should equal a ban on youth gender care (the Report just says we need more and better data).

#96

Off the Record / Re: Brexit and the waning days...

Last post by Sheilbh - April 25, 2024, 11:12:49 AM

And as you'd expect as they're now a minority government (and the First Minister who won the election has resigned during a police investigation), the opposition are calling for a snap election.

Tories are proposing a no confidence motion, I think next week. Labour and Lib Dems saying they'll vote no confidence, Greens and Alba unclear and independents (largely formerly SNP) want concessions.

#97

Off the Record / Re: The China Thread

Last post by Josquius - April 25, 2024, 11:07:05 AM

I thought this was already happening?
Recall hearing somewhere Russia was having big problems doing business anywhere as banks weren't risking the rest of the world for Russia.
I guess some Chinese banks are ignoring this? - with political pressure I wonder?

[US sanction threats against Chinese banks over Russia trade ties risk 'gargantuan' financial instability]

#98

Off the Record / Re: The China Thread

Last post by Jacob - April 25, 2024, 10:35:03 AM

Parts of the Chinese internet- and some of our family friends in China - are in a tizzy about Blinken's visit to China. I particular the rumour is that if the visit "doesn't go well", China may be "kicked out of SWIFT"- which our friends view in rather apocalyptic terms.

This wasn't on my radar at all, and a quick internet search gives only one hit for me - from the South China Morning Post (it's a paid article, but the headline and intro suffices, I think):

US sanction threats against Chinese banks over Russia trade ties risk 'gargantuan' financial instability

• Reports suggest US has 'preliminarily discussed sanctions on some Chinese banks' over their trade with Russia
• Analysts say moves to remove China from the Swift interbank financial system could create a 'huge problem' for global trade

Washington would create global financial instability, while damaging the United States' already tenuous ties with Beijing, if it carried out reported threats to sanction Chinese banks over their trade with Russia, and even cut China out of the Swift global interbank system, analysts said on Wednesday.

The Wall Street Journal reported on Monday, without elaboration, that Washington was drafting sanctions to help US Secretary of State Antony Blinken persuade Beijing to stop any commercial support for Russia's military production.

Does anyone have any insight on this? Has this been reported significantly in Western media. Do any of you have thoughts on likely scenarios?

#99

Off the Record / Re: TV/Movies Megathread

Last post by HVC - April 25, 2024, 10:31:26 AM

We got a lot of mermaid shows

#100

Off the Record / Re: TV/Movies Megathread

Last post by Syt - April 25, 2024, 10:27:00 AM

Did Skippy the Bush Kangaroo made it to Britain, the USA & the ROC?

Yes. Skippy and Flipper and obviously Lassie

Also: Fury. In terms of Aussie shows, we got Neighbours in the 80s/early 90s,and Flying Doctors.