Good morning 🌞

Excellent article by @cyclefree.bsky.social on the national inquiry into grooming gangs and their child sexual abuse.

As she notes, the direct issues are largely already known; other, related ones, however, remain in the shadows, to be addressed.

www1.politicalbetting.com/index.php/ar...

You do realise, don't you that the consultation process is not about deciding what the law should say nor about how it should be interpreted. The Supreme Court has already decided that and set it out very clearly in its judgment.

This is simply untrue. The Supreme Court's judgment sets out the law. Nothing further is needed. Anyone ignoring the judgment is putting themselves at legal risk. Anyone advising them to do so is being very foolish indeed.

For anyone interested in what the law actually says about single sex spaces at work and elsewhere, this is an invaluable - and accurate - guide.
www.legalfeminist.org.uk/2025/02/26/s...

I said this of her in July 2023.
www.cyclefree.co.uk/a-missed-opp...

Note the last sentence. Have seen nothing since to change tht view.

We may even - one day - get an answer to the mystery why no-one in government noticed the obvious conflict of interest caused by having the same person in charge of the Judicial Appointments Commission and the CCRC.

The 2nd describes what should happen now. Though it begs two obvious questions:
(1) How far the government in charge for 14 years was responsible for this?; &
(2) If it thought it a problem, why nothing was done about it.

The 1st para sums up much of what's gone wrong in this country's private & public sectors: too many people treating vital jobs as little better than one of many well-remunerated sinecures, for which no obvious experience or competence is required, that they try to do off the side of their desks.

Thoughts on the Assisted Dying Bill - www1.politicalbetting.com/index.php/ar...
The decision to exclude disability representatives is unfathomable, cruel & shows how little regarded they are by MPs always going on about the "vulnerable", the "marginalised" & "fairness". Empty words, as usual.

Hello - well I will share my headers and my better posts on here. So don't be too sad! X has become pretty unpleasant too. All social media these days requires picking one's way thro stinky mud. I hang on in there precisely not to cede ground to the loons. Ever the optimist!

Yes - it risks repeating 2 common failures: (1) inflating the housing market rather than building more; & (2) believing that lifting restrictions on banks will lead to growth rather than banks taking badly understood & unsustainable risks.

On Helen Pitcher, Leadership and Taking Responsibility - www1.politicalbetting.com/index.php/ar...

I agree. He is too gentle. But at least he has tried. Most men have just averted their eyes- in both horror and embarrassment.

Or cats. Bears aren't an improvement, let's face it. When Vance thought to insult us by calling us cat ladies, a lot of women thought "you fool, there's good reasons for that choice".

On 2 maybe - but the impulse for their appallingness towards women has a fundamentally different quality. A man may well not be a rapist etc but still see women as somehow contingent on male permission, as there to serve him. That attitude affects so much else beyond sex.

Robert Crampton has tried to write about it here - www.thetimes.com/article/a458...

I have many thoughts on this. But 2 for now.
1. Male sexuality has a very dark side with which women are familiar but which men are far too unwilling to confront.
2. A lot of men still find it very hard to see women as fully human, as no more than a support animal for men.

We have to assume now that the US under Trump is no longer an ally and may become a hostile actor. The implications - both financial and strategic - are immense.

Yes - it is worrying. NATO is either dead or has to go ahead without the US. The implications of either simply have not been addressed by NATO members, as far as anyone can see.

Since Inquiries are in the news, a look at what some well known ones have taught us ........
www1.politicalbetting.com/index.php/ar...

She is singularly lacking in charm. Now charm can be overrated but a politician - esp a leader - should have some ability to connect, charm, persuade & appear interested in others.

For someone who became leader at her second attempt she seems very vague as to why she wants to be leader.

I think the answer to that is "Oh yes she can."
See www1.politicalbetting.com/index.php/ar...

Cricket and Afghanistan: not normally subjects of interest to me. But the treatment of women is. Why England should not play cricket against Afghanistan - www1.politicalbetting.com