The Reformed Are Always The Most Passionate...

Smokers, most of all. And now we can add former progressives:

In order to maintain the fantasy that our sex is unconnected to our bodies, the truth must be bent and beaten in the fire of academic language. That is why trans activists talk about sex being ‘assigned at birth’ – an abuse of language, if ever I heard one. Is the sex of a newborn ‘assigned’ by a capricious midwife? Of course not. Rather it is observed and recorded as a matter of fact.

‘Assigned’ is one of the more successful hijackings of English achieved by gender ideologues, yet you will hear it parroted across many organisations from the NHS to the BBC – the sort of institution where you really would expect people to know better.

Says which transgressor against progressive orthodoxy? Why, none other than Graham Linehan, former darling of the BBC crowd, for his portrayal of organised religion in 'Father Ted'. And enthusiastic supporter of right-on causes like abortion rights and the removal of Page 3.

Who unfortunately thought that granted him immunity from the identity politics crowd.

Until he made the mistake of declaring biological reality existed and was immutable. And the mob turned on him, as of course, mobs are wont to do...

I’m worried we’re entering an era of pre-chewed, prissy art that offends no one. But it’s not comedy writers who are the victims of all this: it is women who are the real casualties.

Gender ideology is a disaster for women. They are expected to make room for men in their changing rooms and their safe spaces. They are being robbed of the language to describe their reality by unintelligible academic ‘gender experts’, by teenagers encouraging each other online, by parents who are profoundly mistaken, and by well-meaning people who, confused by the ever-changing terminology, still believe they are defending what used to be called transsexuals. All these forces working together are, whether they know it or not, providing a smokescreen for fetishists, conmen and misogynists to pursue their own agenda.

In years to come, we will look back at this scandal, at the ruined bodies, the confused crime statistics, the weakening of safeguarding and the rollback of women’s rights and wonder how it was left to go on for so long.

Because those institutions you sneer at were taught, by progressives, to genuflect to the 'offended', of course, under pain of boycott, legal action and campaign. By people like you.

It's your petard. Enjoy it.