Always Remember Why You're Hired...

Rapper Macklemore has been dropped from Ed Sheeran's US tour after making pro-Palestinian comments on stage earlier this month.

And predictably, the usual suspects are up in arms about it! 

The artist - whose real name is Benjamin Haggerty - had been the opening act for Sheeran's Loop tour, but was criticised by Jewish groups after saying "Free Palestine" at two concerts and making political speeches. Macklemore stood by his comments on Monday, confirming that he had been cut from the tour and writing in a statement that the real victims are the Palestinian people in Gaza.

Ed Sheeran has not yet commented, and who will replace Macklemore for the rest of the tour is unknown.

And now even more third-rate acts are throwing their toys out of the pram and turning down probably the best chance of paid work to come along in a long time, all to virtue signal over a bunch of Stone Age savages.

The controversy began on 4 September, when Macklemore, a long-time pro-Palestine activist, performed at Ed Sheeran's concert at the MetLife Stadium in New Jersey. He told the audience: "A big part of the reason why I wanted to do this tour in the first place is so that I could stand up in stadiums like this and say two words that are very, very dear to my heart: Free Palestine."

All of the remaining support acts on Ed Sheeran's US tour have quit, after the rapper Macklemore was dropped from the line-up for making pro-Palestinian remarks on stage. Among them were Finneas, the brother of pop star Billie Eilish, who said in a statement: "Artists must not be silenced when they speak up for the oppressed."

Expecting you to do the thing you were hired for (sing) instead of what you want to do (hector concertgoers) isn’t ‘silencing’, you absurd child!

Just Make It Stop!

Ahh, we're back in the wacky world of science fiction and fantasy, as viewed through the warped lens of Reactormag's genital-obsessed columnists.

Growing up as a queer person in Indonesia meant continually starving for representation.

It’s a Muslim country, no one’s going to stick their heads over that parapet, not if they want to keep the on their shoulders! 

However, when I turn to Western media, more often than not I’m met with disappointment—I find that I cannot relate to the queer characters at all.

Really? It’s just a Western conceit that thinks the only important thing is the sexuality then? 

Recently, my friends shared a post about the Amsterdam Rainbow Dress. I get the intended sentiment. It’s a call for inclusivity and equal rights for everyone in every country in the world. Still, I can’t help but wonder, with a definite sense of bitterness: Is that all these countries are to the people behind this project? Why does it feel like the dress is saying “we are more civilized than you are”? The dress gestures at solidarity, but flattens out nuance and historical reality in a way that feels in keeping with a particularly Western, European brand of paternalism that conveniently turns very real people actively fighting for their own rights into caricatures and passive victims.

Welcome to enlightenment! That’s exactly how it works-you’re a tick in the box to the very people who commissioned this post. 

Why do I, a queer person of color, have my existence reduced to the narrative that “your country is homophobic” and yet in the media, white characters get to be queer and live rich lives without being trapped and confined within the limits of an outsider’s view of their existence?

 Because your country IS homophobic, of course. And that's hardly the worst thing about it, is it?

The graphic novel follows Indu, a trans boy from the moon who struggles with culture shock when he and his adoptive mother move to New Earth. The language barrier makes it difficult for him to connect with his stepfamily and make friends at school, but Indu discovers that New Earth’s queer community are happy to welcome him.

We aren’t just a “developing country.” We aren’t going to be reduced to the neo-colonized tourist traps that have taken over Bali. We are so much more; we are of a rich history and culture that’s under constant threat of being forgotten if we don’t preserve it through our own stories.

You haven’t been able to preserve anything else of your culture in the face of Muslim expansion and conquest, have you? 

Is That A Typo, BBC News?

 Because to most of us, it matters not at all...

Despite living with one arm, Jess doesn't see herself as disabled, saying the barriers she faces are societal. "If I use a public toilet and the tap has to be held down, that impacts my ability, not because I can't do it, but because the designer hasn't thought about me."

Why would they? They are designing for the majority, not the minority - I'm sure it's possible for someone to design an after-sales option. In fact, they already have - our office toilet washbasins operate by simply sticking your hand under a magic eye on the tap shaft. 

When Jess shared her original experience on LinkedIn, someone messaged her to say his AI app would create an image of a woman with one arm. "I tried to create it and the same thing happened, I couldn't generate the image," she says.

She told the person, but they never replied to her and she says that's typical of conversations around disability. "The conversation is too awkward and uncomfortable so people back away."

Are you sure that's the reason? Is it not simply that they are backing away, rolling their eyes at yet another single issue loon who thinks the world revolves around her problems, and boy, does that get tiresome...

Well, It Is A Dead Language

A bereaved woman has said her fight to get a death certificate in Welsh following the loss of her husband had been frustrating, emotional and draining. Afryl Davies, from Cardiff, is calling for the right for birth, marriage and death certificates to be issued bilingually "in honour" of her husband Aled Glynne Davies.

Well, it’s a Labour stronghold so wasting money on minority issues is only to be expected, I guess… 

Cardiff West MP Alex Barros-Curtis is pushing to get a law passed that would also make certificates issued in Wales bilingual by default, as well as giving people in England the choice. Mrs Davies said the change was important for her and her family, as well as "everybody in Wales or beyond".

Remind me again just how small the percentage of Welsh speakers is? 

"He was very passionate about taking the Welsh language to everybody in Wales. That was his mission... that the Welsh language belonged to everybody," she said.

If that’s the case, surely they have the right to say ‘No thanks’ in English? 

Why Should ‘Reform’ Not Mean Less Funding, Frances?

In the days after the budget, the headlines were dominated by talk of Rachel Reeves’s “tax and spend” bonanza. The message was clear: austerity is officially over. When there was concern about squeezed incomes, it was solely for workers. As the Mail front page put it: “Reeves’ £40bn tax bombshell for Britain’s strivers”. Almost a week later, there has still barely been a word about the policy set to hit the group long scapegoated as Britain’s skivers: the billions of pounds’ worth of benefit cuts for disabled people.

Talk about single-issue loons, and up pops Frances, like a handicapped version of 'Candyman'... 

It’s no wonder that many disabled people – and charities and journalists for that matter – thought this meant Labour would implement the outgoing Tory policies. In fact, the government has no such plan. When I spoke to the Department for Work and Pensions, it confirmed it will make the same “savings” the last government committed to – but it cannot as yet say how those savings will be made.

Lots of people made assumptions about the likely direction of a Labour administration, and lots suddenly found their hopes crushed, so you're in good company. 

A spokesperson confirmed to me that the WCA needs to be “reformed or replaced as part of a proper plan to genuinely support disabled people into work – bringing down the benefits bill and ensuring we continue to deliver the savings set out by the previous government. But these sorts of changes shouldn’t be made in haste. That’s why we’re taking the time to review this in the round before setting out next steps on our approach.” When I pressed, they added that changes to the WCA – whatever they may be – will come into effect in early 2025. There is something faintly ludicrous about the government announcing billions of pounds of cuts to disability benefits before working out how it is going to do it...

No surprise, though I think Net Zero still takes the cake for Worst Policy of the Decade. 

It is right that the WCA – long known to be a dangerously faulty assessment – is consigned to the scrapheap. But “reform” should not mean less funding, and reducing funding should not be the purpose of reform.

Why should 'reform' not mean less funding? Why take an option off the table? Do you need this?

 

Double-Barrelled Name Quadrupled!

My maths isn't up to this!

A primary school headmistress who was sacked and accused of assault after tapping her own toddler's hand while he played with a bottle of hand sanitiser has been awarded more than £100,000. Shelly-Ann Malabver-Goulbourne was trying to get her three-year-old to stop playing with the bottle in her office when she used two fingers to attract his attention, an employment tribunal heard.

Wow, usually, this wouldn't even be worth mentioning, let alone calling the police over. The police, Ambush? Yes indeed, Reader... 

Despite the police ruling that her actions were 'reasonable chastisement' by a parent, Ms Malabver-Goulbourne, 46, was found guilty of gross misconduct and sacked.Yet an employment judge concluded there was no evidence that she had committed 'physical chastisement or an assault' and ruled her dismissal unfair.

So who instigated this, and has lost the school £10k as a result?  

'It was around 6.20pm and [Ms Malabver-Goulbourne] was packing up her things to go home after having a meeting with Ms Bhagwandas, the designated lead for safeguarding,' the hearing was told.

Ah! Well, if you sack a teacher for tapping a child on the hand, what do you do to someone who lies about a colleague's actions and files a false report, I wonder? 

When Genuine Concern Translates As 'Hate Speech' To Crazy People...

A good example of the insanity that drives the current trans movement is encapsulated in this Tweet that I saw on Monday morning:

 

Intrigued as to what poor MsRowling could have done now to stir up the crazies, I read on:

The cognitive dissonance is to be expected - every one of the people in this thread believes they are right and everyone else is wrong. and furthermore, they'll be proven right at some point in the future. 

If Denmark had Twitter back in the 1930s, this is what a discussion on any dissent about the policy on sterilisation of mentally ill people would look like...

So at this point, I backtracked to find out what, exactly, had been retweeted. Had it been something controversial? 

Reader, it was this:

That's not only not at all a controversial view, it's a warning from a medical professional about the dangers of the 'treatment' other doctors are gaily indulging in. 

'Treatment' that leads to cases like this one:

A couple told of their horror after discovering teachers were aware their autistic teenage daughter was taking sex hormones when they had no idea. The parents said they were put in an 'impossible situation' after staff hid her 'social transition' from them. They had met the headteacher at her large secondary in south-east England and made it clear they did not agree to her being called a boy's name or pronouns.

But then they found out some teachers had been calling their daughter, now 16, a boy's name. Horrified, they hired lawyers to demand to see the school's records. These revealed some staff knew the pupil was taking cross-sex hormones to make her body more masculine and using a chest binder to flatten her breasts.

Ms Rowling must look back on her body of work and wonder if Voldemort was perhaps too tame a villain, considering what real life is showing people are capable of... 

Sounds Like They've Got Your Number...

A (former) government LGBT adviser on flouncing off because Liz Truss and Kemi Badenoch won't capitulate to every demand:

“The language that I hear from them is of us being woke, or of being loud lobby groups, and what they don’t seem to understand is the reason we have to shout is because we are hurting, because there are people who are vulnerable who are going unheard and unnoticed.”

Frankly, I wish it were possible not to hear any more from these people.  

Ozanne also said Truss and Badenoch are “known among the community as the ‘ministers for inequality’” because they do not “understand LGBT people, particularly transgender people”.

Sounds like they understand you all too well. And you're not 'a community', you're just the loudest voices. 

"But he had such confidence to say what he did publicly..."

And why shouldn't he?  

Cornerstone Barristers yesterday ended Mr Holbrook's association with their chambers after he refused to take down the offending online posts from January 17.

His 'offensive opinion' was to call a stroppy teenager a stroppy teenager. That's all. And he's not grovelling to her, or anyone else.

He said: 'I don't accept that a policy premised on reasonableness should be outlawed as discriminatory.

'Those, like Ruby's parents, who advocate a particular political view must accept the right of others to criticise it. Equality laws put considerable force on schools to accommodate cultural differences.'

In an article for The Critic , Mr Holbrook wrote: 'The only reason that chambers proceeded to expel me, despite my resignation, was because the salivating attack dogs wanted some red meat to chew.

'Chambers was compliant enough to jump to their barking but it made no difference to me – save to enhance my reputation as a free speech advocate.'

He said he would now do pro bono work, via the Free Speech Union, for anyone similarly 'cancelled' in their workplace.

Good for him. And the stroppy junior political activist? She's clearly furious that he dares to continue to have his own opnion.

'I'm not against people expressing their opinions but it was unfair for him to talk about what I went through at the age of 14, and to call me a "stroppy teenager of colour" for simply calling out a discriminatory policy.

'I had hoped he would take it down and possibly even apologise. He has now written two articles continuing to challenge the validity of my case.'

As is his right. Or did you not really understand what you were saying in the first seven words of your comment? 

Miss Williams said: 'Afro hair is a protected characteristic. We want the choice to wear our natural hair – like everybody else – without being judged.

'I don't know what people thought went on that makes them call me 'stroppy'. He seemed so proud to say it, showing how much privilege someone has to write whole articles on a topic they know nothing about. I'm just fighting for the same school rules that others have.'

But you're not - you're demanding special privileges based on your colour. You're demanding to judge other people without them having the power to judge you right back. Perhaps he'd have been better off calling you a 'thick student of colour' instead. 

You're certainly showing yourself to be exactly that.  

Here's A Thought, Ladies: Maybe They Weren't Rapists At All..?

 

The inaccurately-named Centre For Women's Justice seems to need a lesson in what 'justice' actually is...

We have done this in the light of the recent plummeting volume of cases prosecuted and our own case work, which tells us that rape myths and stereotypes continue to infect the system.

Other research tells us something different, though. Who to believe, the people who understand the law, or the single issue whackjobs who believe arrest = guilt (but only if you're a man)..?

Our report makes a series of recommendations designed to ensure accountable leadership, radical thinking in our court system including a commission on juries and the adversarial approach, funded independent legal advocates, a ban on previous sex history, and adequately funded holistic specialist support services for survivors.

If you start from a standpoint that all acccusations are true, why don't you go the whole hog and demand the abolition of the trial system entirely?  

"On the first part of the journey, I was looking at all the life..."

A spokesperson said: “We reiterate the apology that was issued after the horse ran. Racist language is not tolerated in our sport, whether intentional or accidental. We are opposed to racism and prejudice in all its forms and are committed to making British racing an open, diverse and inclusive industry that is welcoming to all.

“We are deeply concerned as to how this happened and are reviewing the processes for approving the names of racehorses,” the spokesperson concluded.

There was no word as to whether disciplinary action would be taken against whoever submitted the name.

The name of the horse? Jungle Bunny. A racial epithet from the Sixties and Seventies that's probably been forgotten by everyone in the Twenties.

So...how did this happen?

Emma Evans, the wife of the horse’s owner-trainer David Evans, said the naming had been an innocent mistake deriving from the name of the filly’s sire, Bungle Inthejungle.

“David’s daughter gave us the horse and there’s a computer game called Jungle Bunny Run, which her son loves playing,” Evans said. “I just thought, that’ll do. I had no idea. It was completely innocent and that is the gospel truth.

“None of the staff said anything, nobody else said anything and I’m totally flabbergasted,” she added. “I’m upset because we’ve had our Sunday ruined by everybody ringing about it. It makes you look like a racist, which I am certainly not.”

You probably aren't. But that doesn't matter any more. Does it? 

It's no longer about the perceived 'evildoing' of the perpetrator, but more about the egregious virtuesignalling and chestbeating 'anti racism' of those condeming them. These people are eagerly throwing meat to the crocodile in the hope they won't be eaten.

Another 'Only In Brighton' Story...

More vegan meals look likely become available in Brighton and Hove school canteens.

The news emerged after Brighton mother Jill Pearson-Klein urged councillors to stop sidelining veganism and labelling it as a “special diet”.

But it is... 

“Today’s children need to move towards a more plant-based diet to have a future on this planet and we need to be encouraging them to do so.” She spoke out at a “virtual” meeting of Brighton and Hove City Council’s Children, Young People and Skills Committee on Monday.

First, it's 'encouragement'. Later, it's Hobson's Choice... 

She said: “I am asking the committee to ensure veganism is no longer sidelined as a ‘special diet’ in schools and that a vegan choice is available every lunchtime to all children in all schools to enable them to make more responsible food choices.”

And if they don't want to eat it, what then? 

Haven't you ever browsed the 'remainder' aisle in a supermarket, Jill? Two things are always on it: beef mince and vegan food! 

Councillor Clare, who chairs the committee, said that vegan children were registered as receiving a “special diet” to ensure they were not given meat, eggs or dairy food. She said: “This is not to sideline this choice or treat the child as different but to ensure they receive appropriate foods.

“We will look at reviewing our use of language around this with our catering contractor.”

Why? Why appease people like this? Don't you know you're just emboldening them? 

And...is there a dearth of vegetarian and vegan food on the menu then? 

Eight of the 15 vegetarian dishes on offer in schools across Brighton and Hove were suitable for vegan children, the committee was told.

Fifteen!?! There must be a lot of demand...

The Greens were keen to promote “meat-free Mondays” when they first took office nine years ago, trying it out at the Cityclean depot in Holligdean. The move was not universally popular with the binmen and street cleaners based at Cityclean and the idea was dropped shortly afterwards.

Heh!  

The Ratchet Only Turns One Way...

Laws covering so-called revenge porn are not fit for purpose and police still need more training, experts say.

The 'experts' in question being the usual suspects, of course.

Victims should receive anonymity and laws need to include threats to share images, according to Sophie Mortimer from the Revenge Porn helpline.

Yes, it's 'activists get what they want then push for redefinition to prove they were right all along' again.

Figures from 19 forces in England and Wales revealed police investigations have doubled in the last four years but the number of charges has fallen.

Because the CPS knows full well that most of these cases aren't going to win over a jury?

In October 2016, Alice Ruggles, 24, was murdered by a former boyfriend who cut her throat after breaking into her home in Gateshead.

After her death it emerged that her killer, Trimaan Dhillon, had threatened to share intimate images of her online as part of a campaign of stalking and harassment.

Alice's mother, Dr Sue Hills, said threatening to share images should be made part of the law. She said her daughter may have sought help sooner if Dhillon had not held the threat over her.

And she may not have needed to 'seek help' if you'd raised her with more self-respect than to take and share these sort of images in the first place.

In Which Only One Party’s ‘Quality Of Life’ Counts For Anything…

Progressives and activists are outraged by yet another policy that makes normal people say ‘Well, about time!’:

… a creeping and insidious campaign by this and many other American cities to drive the homeless out of their midst by a combination of police harassment and increasingly draconian new ordinances that make being homeless a criminal offence.

Oh, really? Gosh! No, not really. Just more hyperbole:

It is a charge the city vehemently denies. But so far this year, it has passed two such laws, one making it illegal to urinate in public…

Those inhuman monsters! Isn’t it everyone’s human right to crap on the pavement whenever they feel like it?

… and another serving notice that any belongings left unattended on public property can be confiscated.

And, presumably, fumigated. Or incinerated.

More are pending, including one that would make it hard for charities to serve meals to the homeless in public spaces.

Why is it that the National Parks Service can set up these signs, while we are supposed to pretend that this concept doesn’t also apply to humans?

The town is far from alone in drawing the ire of civil rights groups. A new study by the National Law Centre on Homelessness and Poverty (NLCHP) tracks similar attempts to criminalise street living in 187 cities in the US. “Many cities have chosen to criminally punish people living on the street for doing what any human being must do to survive,” it states.

We, as a society, would rather they didn’t live on the streets. It’s dirty and dangerous for them, and for those who live and work around them. And so we provide services to ensure that they don’t have to live on the streets.

Some are unable or unwilling to take up those opportunities.

What else are we supposed to do with them?

“More cities are choosing to turn the necessary conduct of homeless people into criminal activity,” said Maria Foscarinis, director of the NLCHP. “Such laws threaten the human and constitutional rights of homeless people, impose unnecessary costs on cities, and do nothing to solve the problems they purport to address.”

It is not ‘necessary’ for people to urinate & defecate on the street. It’s a health hazard. It’s not a constitutional right to do so!

“The suggestion that the city is criminalising homelessness is without merit. Fort Lauderdale has a distinguished history of compassion toward those in need,” a city spokesman Matt Little told The Independent. But he also alluded to the pressure that comes from business owners to remove the homeless. “Protecting our quality of life and business environment ensures continued funding for humanitarian needs.”

The activists and progressives seem concerned only with ensuring their own quality of life, at the expense of everyone elses’. Which is pretty typical of the sort of people that would demand no laws against public defecation.

"The Only Jobs We Really Care About Are Our Own!"

A Deptford pub named after the former job centre it now occupies has been accused of "insulting" the area and making unemployment "a joke".

Oh? By anyone we should be listening to?

Lewisham People Before Profit have written to pub company Antic...

Ah. That's a 'no', then?

...asking them to change the name of The Job Centre pub - which has been given a generally positive reception until now.

By which you mean, normal people aren't fussed, but a bunch of idiots have spat their dummies...

Their letter states: "In the case of your bar, the Job Centre name you have chosen underscores the fact that a location that once housed a service for the many struggling people in the neighbourhood has been replaced with a bar catering to those who can afford the sort of upmarket pub food your website promises.

"By choosing to decorate with an ‘eclectic mix of vintage décor and quirky design features inspired by its function as a place that once served the unemployed’ (a quotation from your website), you turn the experience of the unemployed—an experience so widespread and painful in the current climate that it is literally driving people to suicide—into a style feature for the amusement of those with disposable cash."

Translation: "Sod off, yuppies! We need the sort of underclass that might vote for us in this area (always assuming they can stop watching 'Jeremy Kyle' for ten minutes)..."

” Many will write this off as a ludicrous proposal…”

Ellie Mae O’Hagan jumps the shark leek:

It’s time to end the English domination of Wales and Scotland, regardless of outcome of the referendum in September.

Oh, really? How?

To do this, I propose schoolchildren take part in compulsory lessons in Welsh and Scottish studies, during which they at least learn how to speak basic Welsh. I don’t see why not: Welsh is an official British language, the oldest language in Europe and the most common in Britain after English.

Ahahahahahahahaha! Gosh, is it April 1st already?

Are They In League With The PinkStinks Loons..?

But no, it's not the usual suspects, but the equally loony LimpDumbs:

Liberal Democrat politicians have taken aim at the bright new pink paint job on a former jeweller’s in Surbiton saying it spoils the building’s appearance.

The garish yellow colour scheme of the shop a few doors away is OK, I suppose?

FP Turner and Sons, which closed on Christmas Eve last year, has been painted bright pink by its new owners.

And now Liberal Democrats in Surbiton have started a petition to ask the owners to change their minds.

Why a petition? Why aren't they demanding it comply with building regu...

Oh.

But the petition admits: "Planning law cannot help as it specifically allows for the application of paint to a building, even in a conservation area."

LOL!

Because You Are Only Allowed To 'Shock Revellers' For Certain Things...

It's new year's eve, and out come the usual warning posters, such as the ones that crop up, every year, on the Tube. Makes sense, surely? I mean, it's dangerous to get so drunk that you lose all inhibitions and put yourself in a dangerous situation.

Who could argue with that?

Well, step forward Karen Ingala Smith, of the anti-violence charity Nia:

‘The only ones being helped by the anti-getting-blotto Tube campaign poster are Tube drivers and the only ones who can stop Tube accidents are Tube drivers,’ she insisted.

‘There is no other crime in which victims are made to take responsibility. We know that the vast majority of Tube accidents are not reported to the police and women are less likely to report Tube accidents if they are made to feel that they are responsible.

‘This campaign reinforces the excuses made by Tube drivers as they attempt to discredit the women they run over and to justify their crime.’

Sound bonkers? Well, yes. That's because she is...

Alisdair Calder McGregor, a local Liberal Democrat politician, said the council had engaged in ‘shameful neo-puritan victim blaming’.

/facepalm

The binge drinking posters are part of Calderdale’s ‘Don’t let your night out become a nightmare’ campaign that deals with drink-driving, personal safety and alcohol-related violence. Other images include a dishevelled man holding a bottle with the words ‘Invasion of the Mindless Drunk’.

Strangely, no men's groups could be reached for comment on that one...

The ‘Indy’ Soldiers On With #FirstWorldProblems…

…and it’s that perennial favourite of the chattering classes – ‘girl toys’ vs ‘boy toys’:

In November last year, the campaign group, Let Toys Be Toys, was formed with the aim of persuading shops in the UK and Ireland to stop using signage that divides along the gender divide. So far, it's succeeded in getting 13 retailers to agree, including big hitters such as Toys R Us, Sainsbury's, Tesco, Hamleys and Debenhams.

Ah. And are you representative of the millions of parents out there searching Toys-R-Us for that special gift?

Tessa Trabue, one of 10 parents who make up active membership of the campaign, is particularly proud that Boots removed the "boys" signage from above the science toys as a result of their pressure.

The mechanisms of the campaign are simple but effective. "[It's] a mixture of us and our supporters taking images and tweeting pictures from shops," she explains. As soon as those images are out there, the group follows up with letters and phone calls.

"For the majority of stores this has worked," she says.

"Often when we point it out to them, there's a genuine look of realisation, and they say they haven't meant to alienate children from playing with certain toys."

I guess not. You just have a loud voice.

Trabue appreciates that sometimes it's hard for shops to make a decision on how to organise toys, given that the packaging shouts one gender or the other. That's a subject the group is going to tackle in the new year.

Whatever happened to the WI? Ladies, wouldn’t jam-making be a quieter, gentler, less aggravating pursuit?

Do you really have that much spare time on your hands?

But given that the group has nearly 5,500 followers on Twitter, the purchasing power they represent already seems to be an inspiration for shops to think more creatively about layout.

5500 followers, eh? Amateurs...

But it’s all about finding that elusive little thing that makes you feel superior to everyone else, really:

Earlier this week, historian Dr Thomas Dixon, of Queen Mary, University of London, posted a picture of the latest toys from Lego on Twitter: "I love Lego, but not this. Violence for boys; pets and trees for girls…"

I got in touch with him about what he feels the ramifications are for children, and he emailed back, assuring that he is not an expert, just a parent and Lego-lover who is frustrated.

"For me," he writes, "the sadness is the limitation being placed on children's development and imaginations by this kind of thing. Many parents can see through it and try to ignore it. But each individual advert is part of an all-pervading fog of cliché and prejudice, which is very hard to escape."

Yes, you're the special one. You can see this stuff, all the other, dimmer parents can't.

… we need to become cognisant of an insidious trend that is dictating what our children spend their time doing in their formative years. It doesn't make sense.

Oh, blimey, another one!

Once you start to notice, it becomes very clear how prolific this pernicious practice is: I had a little gulp this week when I saw that even good old Kinder Egg has pink and blue versions.

Oh, calamity! And look at the stick you get if you dare try to suggest 'Look, ladies, is this really so important?'...

Well, That Takes Most Nursery Rhymes And Fairy Stories Off The List Of Approved Reading...

Primary schoolchildren are to be educated about domestic abuse and healthy relationships.

Is this meddling never going to stop? Not that this is the stupidest idea, as Longrider points out...

The Good Relationships are Equal and Trusting (GREAT) project will be piloted in Stanley Road and Gorse Hill schools, Worcester, along with others in Redditch and Kidderminster, in the new year.

The Worcestershire Forum Against Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence is backing the scheme, under which year six pupils will attend four two-hour sessions.

/facepalm

The forum’s strategic co-ordinator Martin Lakeman said he was happy to support the programme, which will focus on teaching youngsters how to spot signs of abuse and to respect each other.

“Making sure children are aware of these issues from an early age is vital to encouraging healthy relationships in adulthood,” he said.

And some awkward questions during story time, I bet...