Alex
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alexical.bsky.social
Alex
@alexical.bsky.social
120 followers 180 following 97 posts
Software/DevOps in the public sector. Non-binary trans (they/them).
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alexical.bsky.social
Like, it is the literally EHRC's job to form a view independent of Government and to apply pressure to enact change.

The Minister can't reasonably say "pipe down" in that context, and should instead be engaging publicly to explain why the code of practice can't be approved "as soon as possible".
Screenshot from a Guardian article titled "Phillipson calls for ‘less public debate’ from EHRC on gender recognition rules": """ Bridget Phillipson has urged the equalities watchdog to focus more on helping ministers do their jobs and less on having public debates as a row continues about how long it will take to implement new rules on gender recognition. The comments by Phillipson, who is the equalities minister as well as the education secretary, come after the Equality and Human Rights Commission took the unusual step of urging the government to “act with speed” in approving its statutory guidance on responding to a landmark supreme court ruling on transgender rights. """
November 4, 2025 at 11:57 AM
alexical.bsky.social
Lucifer statues just can't not be sexy. I don't make the rules (sculptors make the rules)
Sir Jacob Epstein’s Lucifer (1945). A gold masculine figure with wings unfurled upwards. He has longer hair and wears no clothes above his hips except for chest-binding. Lower "underwear" is similarly scant, with thongs around the upper thigh and across the groin. I think some would describe his build as "ripped". Image from https://www.birminghammuseums.org.uk/stories/lucifer-at-home-in-birmingham
September 24, 2025 at 12:19 PM
alexical.bsky.social
I've always been fascinated by how high streets evolve (including Cornmarket here). Like if you look up above the store fronts there are always so many eras and styles smushed up against each other. I assume older ones are regularly replaced over the decades, or maybe it's also some filling in gaps?
A view from StreetView of the upper storeys of the buildings on the west side of Cornmarket, from the north end. From the distance, there's the Clarendon centre, an older fancy looking building, a rectangly concrete thing (said without judgement), something in brick, and then various rendered buildings that look 20th C but are probably actually older behind the render? idk, I am not a buildings expert!
September 22, 2025 at 10:14 AM
alexical.bsky.social
Delighted to see this relic reclaimed and still going strong.
An ofo-branded bicycle locked to a cycle stand with a chain lock. The saddle and one of the grips is missing, but it otherwise looks to be in reasonable shape. The ofo dockless bike hire company collapsed in 2020.
June 28, 2025 at 6:39 PM
alexical.bsky.social
Did you see that the EHRC board minutes from March mentioned section 14?
Screenshot from the Minutes of the 124th meeting of the Board of the EHRC, on 25 March 2025: 9. Unimplemented Equality Act 2010 Provisions 9.1 The Board discussed the potential implications of implementing sections 1, 14 and 106 of the Equality Act 2010. 9.2 Members agreed that EHRC should request further information on proposals from the Office for Equality and Opportunity (OEO) and relevant data and metrics that underpin potential changes. 9.3 The Board agreed to delegate consideration of EHRC’s position to the Public Reporting Committee, in first instance. Action: EHRC to request further information from the OEO on unimplemented provisions of the Equality Act.
June 4, 2025 at 11:05 AM
alexical.bsky.social
Did you see this from Appleby, ascribing trans presentation to mental distress, instead of like, people actually being trans?

The prejudice is farcical.
Post by Prof Louis Appleby on 18 April: "We should all be concerned about mental health of young people whose distress is expressed through gender identity. But they need reassurance re the #SupremeCourt judgment, not alarming rhetoric. Not hostility & prejudice but support. And the best mental health care we can offer."
May 9, 2025 at 4:47 PM
alexical.bsky.social
As I read it, breastfeeding is only protected in the six months after having given birth, so neither trans nor cis women who induce lactation are protected. This really needs to be updated to remove the requirement to have given birth.
Screenshot of section 17 of the Equality Act 2010, "Pregnancy and maternity discrimination: non-work cases". Of relevance, paragraphs 3 and 4: (3)A person (A) discriminates against a woman if, in the period of 26 weeks beginning with the day on which she gives birth, A treats her unfavourably because she has given birth. (4)The reference in subsection (3) to treating a woman unfavourably because she has given birth includes, in particular, a reference to treating her unfavourably because she is breast-feeding.
May 6, 2025 at 9:48 AM
alexical.bsky.social
Erewhon repeats
Screenshot of the Wikipedia article about "Erewhon" (1872) by Samuel Butler: In Erewhon, illness is crime and crime is illness. As a result, citizens are imprisoned for offenses like physical ailments, misfortune, or ugliness while those who commit conventional crimes like fraud or theft are seen more sympathetically as exhibiting symptoms of moral afflictions and prescribed sessions with a "straightener" (essentially a psychologist) for treatment. The lack of compassion for physical sickness is reflected in the role of physicians in Erewhonian society, which is described as something more akin to that of a judge or law enforcement officer than that of a doctor. This system of law and medicine is a satirical inversion of the pattern in western society where crimes are punished and physical illnesses are treated — Immorality is a matter of luck beyond one's control while sickness falls into the purview of one's individual autonomy.
April 19, 2025 at 9:49 PM
alexical.bsky.social
You need to provide your birth certificate, but can evidence your current name and object to your birth name being included on the marriage certificate and register.

Here's an email I received from the NRS about it in June 2021:
Screenshot of email, with the following text: It is desirable that a person’s name on their marriage schedule and certificate should link directly to their birth or adoption entry however this is not always appropriate. I always advise registration staff that no reference should be made to a person’s deadname with limited exceptions. It is not our intention to out anyone who is transitioning or has transitioned and has not yet applied for or does not wish to apply for a GRC. Furthermore should a GRC be obtained we would need to re-register the marriage to remove reference to the deadname so not referencing the deadname at all makes sense. There is a facility to omit your deadname from your marriage schedule and certificate available because there is an option for any party to a marriage regardless of the reason for the change of name to omit reference to their birth name where they have not had a change of name legally recognised in Scotland. The registrar should have invited you to ‘object strongly’, usually by email, to the inclusion of your deadname. This objection allows them to prove to the Examiner checking the entries that the omission of the deadname was made with your consent and not by the registrar acting of their own accord.
April 16, 2025 at 10:31 AM
alexical.bsky.social
Some confusion whether Cass did tell NHSE to only offer PBs within trial. Report said she did, but refs a July 2023 letter that isn't on the website... There's a July 2022 letter, but that only asks for the trial, not restrictions. Later in report says NHSE has "set out" that they'll be trial only.
Snippet from NI advice saying "The Review advised [puberty blockers] should only be offered under a research protocol." Snippet from the Cass Report, paragraph 84: "The Review's letter to NHS England advised that [puberty blockers] should only be offered under a research protocol." Snippet from the Cass Review's letter to NHS England dated July 2022 (not July 2023 as referenced by the Report). Cass suggests that "consideration is given to the rapid establishment of the necessary research infrastructure to prospectively enrol young people being considered for hormone treatment into a formal research programme [...] with a more immediate focus on the questions regarding puberty blockers." It does not suggest restricting access to puberty blockers for any patients before, during or after the research. Snippet from the Cass Review, paragraph 160: "NHS England has set out that [puberty blockers] will only be available under a research protocol. [...] If an individual were to take puberty blockers outside the study, their eligibility may be affected." It implies it was NHS England's decision, but also that puberty blockers would be available (privately?) outside of the study.
February 5, 2025 at 6:56 PM
alexical.bsky.social
yes this is comfortable to use why do u ask
The same Pocket / Master Gear Converter set up from the side. The Pocket is about 2cm thick, but all the extra bits plugged into it take that to about 6cm in a very chunky way.
January 16, 2025 at 12:36 PM
alexical.bsky.social
My new gaming rig (in the fullest sense of the term 😉)
An Analogue Pocket handheld games console, with a Game Gear cartridge adapter (unseen), a Master Gear Converter (huge and chunky), and a SEGA Master System Sonic The Hedgehog 2 cartridge, all stacked together. The Analogue Pocket screen shows Sonic gameplay, just so you know that this ridiculous contrivance actually works.
January 16, 2025 at 12:28 PM
alexical.bsky.social
Conclave was excellent. So sharp. So much drama. Ridiculous levels of flouncing. And yes, exactly one Cardinal Archbishop who you'd take home to meet your parents.
Gif of Cardinal Lawrence, leader of the conclave, talking to his assistant. Overlaid is a text box: "Ralph Fiennes: I am sequestered, don't tell me anything! Also Ralph Fiennes: OK, but if it's drama-worthy tell me now while I still have time to start said drama during this conclave 👀"
January 7, 2025 at 12:00 PM
alexical.bsky.social
Windows (95? 98? I don't know; it was a long time ago) dialog with the question "Do you really wish to quit?" and the options "OK" and "Cancel" in that order.
December 3, 2024 at 7:19 PM