Tag: united kingdom

Trans men and lesbians would get IVF priority two years ahead of heterosexual couples under NHS plan – as campaigners slam proposals as ‘grossly discriminatory’

Family campaigners have criticised as ‘grossly discriminatory’ plans to give trans men and lesbians access to NHS-funded IVF two years ahead of heterosexual couples.

Under the controversial proposals, trans men – those born as women who now identify as men – will be automatically assumed to be unable to conceive, as will lesbians and single women.

This means they will be immediately eligible for IVF on the NHS – costing an estimated £5,000 a cycle – if they meet the other criteria, such as a body mass index between 19 and 30, not smoking, being under 43 and not having a partner with a child from a previous relationship. 

Heterosexual couples, meanwhile, will still have to prove they can’t have a baby naturally within two years.

The proposed changes will cover a vast swathe of England including Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire, Northamptonshire, Leicestershire and Lincolnshire.

The plans, explained in a document called ‘The Case For Change’, are out for an eight-week public consultation ending in January, meaning the new policy could come into force next year. 

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Geology is racist as it is ‘linked to white supremacy’ claims Queen Mary University of London professor

A geography professor at a leading British university has described the study of rocks and the natural world as racist and linked the academic field to ‘white supremacy’.

Kathryn Yusoff, who lectures at the prestigious Queen Mary University of London, said that the geology as a subject was ‘riven by systematic racism’ and influenced heavily by colonialism.

The study of prehistoric life through fossils was also branded as an enabler for racism, with the professor referring to the field of palaeontology as ‘pale-ontology’.

Arguing that geology began as a ‘colonial practice’, Professor Yusoff stated in her book ‘Geologic Life’ that the extraction of metals such as gold and iron had created hierarchies, pushed materialism, ravaged environments and was the route cause of climate change.

Claiming that ‘geology continues to function within a white supremacist praxis’, the academic referenced the theft of land, mining and other geological practices as having led to the creation of white supremacy and a resulting ‘geotrauma’.

Professor Yusoff’s new book focuses on geology between the 17th and 19th centuries and puts forward the notion that non-white people have a closer relationship to land than white people.

‘Broadly, black, brown, and indigenous subjects… have an intimacy with the earth that is unknown to the structural position of whiteness,’ she wrote. 

Ms Yusoff is described as a professor of ‘inhuman geography’ on the official Queen Mary University website.

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Section 12 means British police are treating their own officers as terrorists now

A police officer has been arrested by counter-terrorism police in Gloucester over social media posts regarding Israel and Palestine. It’s no longer just journalists and social media users that police are targeting, it’s their own officers now.

The officer is suspected of “supporting Hamas” in breach of Section 12 of the Terrorism Act 2000. Police have explained they’re going through the officer’s devices for analysis and say we should not jump to conclusions.

This is fair enough, and given the details are sparse, I’m not going to discuss the ongoing investigation, or the officer’s potential guilt or innocence. I am, however, going to discuss how police have handled similar cases in which they appear to have overstepped the mark because there are concerns to be addressed. Those concerns involve whether the law is being followed in this and similar investigations.

Police recently visited the home of journalist Asa Winstanley and took his devices for analysis, even though he was not under arrest. It seems they wanted to look through his devices to find the excuse to arrest a journalist.

If police were correctly applying the law in this instance, this would tell us that our laws are authoritarian. If they were not correctly applying the law, this would tell us they are acting in an authoritarian manner. Either way, we would be witnessing a form of authoritarianism. It is therefore reasonable to ask in each case if police are correctly applying the law. We need clarity because we have the impression our rights are under attack. This is obviously unacceptable in a so-called free society.

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UK government begins to implement digital IDs and tackle “misinformation” just like the UN wants it to

The following are summaries of articles published by Reclaim the Net over the last ten days, from 23 October to 13 November.  You can read the full article by following the hyperlink in the section title.

Table of Contents

  1. Ex-Facebook VP Joins UK Media Regulator Ofcom Sparking Fresh Conflict of Interest Concerns, 6 November 2024
  2. Tracking Health or Tracking You? The UK’s Expanding Health Surveillance, 23 October 2024
  3. UK Government Makes Major Digital ID Push, 3 November 2024
  4. UK Government To Test Digital ID on Veterans by 2025, Amid Plans for Wider Use, 13 November 2024
  5. UK Government Demands Regulator Create Social Media Overhaul to Curb “Misinformation,” Plans New Censorship Committee by 2025, 24 October 2024
  6. UN Wants Digital IDs To Combat “Hate Speech,” “Misinformation”, 7 November 2024

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‘King Arthur’s Hall’ is five times older than thought, researchers discover

A historic site in Cornwall linked to King Arthur has been found to be 4,000 years older than previously thought after a new survey was carried out by a team of researchers, including experts from the University of St Andrews.

The team, including Dr. Tim Kinnaird from the School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, carried out a survey of the mound on Bodmin Moor, named King Arthur’s Hall, confirming the site dates back to prehistoric times.

The monument was previously listed as dating back to the medieval period, but it is now believed to date back 4,000 years earlier to the Neolithic period, thanks to a team of specialists from the universities of St Andrews, Reading, and Newcastle.

The site consists of a rectangular bank of earth and stone formed with 56 standing stones, some measuring up to 1.8 m, which are either leaning, recumbent or partially buried. It’s protected by Historic England, which listed it as an early medieval animal pen from around 1000AD. However, there had been some speculation that due to integrated standing stones, the mound was much older.

Dr. Kinnaird and his team used a technique called optically stimulated luminescence, or OSL—the date the mound to the neolithic period making it around 5,500 years old—4,000 years earlier than previously thought. OSL is used to date when sediment was last exposed to light, prior to burial.

Dr. Kinnaird said the findings were a “major revelation.”

“It’s extremely exciting that we’ve finally been able to date construction of this enigmatic monument, previously grounded in myths and legends.”

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Telegraph Journalist Gets “Hate Incident” Visit From Police Over Year Old Tweet

A journalist with the London Telegraph has been visited unannounced at her home by police in the UK who told her they are investigating a “non-crime hate incident” over a tweet she posted a year ago.

Yes, really.

Allison Pearson relates what happened on Sunday in an article, noting that police will not tell her which post is the subject of the investigation, nor will they tell her who her accuser is or what they feel offended about.

The only detail given was that it is some sort of accusation of “racial hatred”.

The police also made it clear that she should refer to her accuser as a “victim”.

The Telegraph notes that Essex Police said on Tuesday night that officers had opened an investigation under section 17 of the Public Order Act 1986 relating to material allegedly “likely or intended to cause racial hatred”.

A police spokesman said “We’re investigating a report passed to us by another force. The report relates to a social media post which was subsequently removed. An investigation is now being carried out under section 17 of the Public Order Act.”

Pearson charges that the visit is “living proof of a two tier justice system,” and describes the incident as “Kafkaesque.”

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US Lawmakers Investigate Biden White House-Affiliated UK Censorship Group’s Plot To “Kill” Elon Musk’s X

Among the investigations currently carried out by the US House Committee on the Judiciary and its Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government is the one into a case involving UK-based “censorship group” – the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH).

In a letter dated November 7, Committee chairman Jim Jordan is asking CCDH CEO Imran Ahmed to, by November 21, comply with a subpoena issued on August 30, 2023.

We obtained a copy of the letter for you here.

According to Jordan, it covers the group’s activities as well, including documents showing the Biden-Harris administration’s alleged collusion with Big Tech to censor Americans’ lawful online speech.

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Counsellor wins £70,000 after ‘trans heresy hunt’ at rape charity

A trauma specialist has been awarded almost £70,000 and won a public apology from the rape crisis charity who forced her out of her job in a row over women-only spaces.

The payment to Roz Adams was twice the anticipated figure and came after a tribunal found she was the victim of a “heresy hunt” at Edinburgh Rape Crisis Centre (ERCC), where her “sex realist” beliefs were at odds with those of Mridul Wadhwa, the trans activist who was the centre’s chief executive.

Adams suffered harassment after she stood up for a female victim who wanted assurances she would receive counselling from a woman, with Wadhwa identified as the “invisible hand” behind the counsellor’s persecution.

For 16 months under Wadhwa, who identifies as a trans woman but has no gender recognition certificate, the ERCC had no women-only spaces. Referrals to the centre have been paused while its safeguarding procedures are revamped.

In his remedy ruling, Ian McFatridge, the judge, ordered the centre to publish a statement and to refer survivors of sexual assault to Beira’s Place, the women’s refuge established by the author JK Rowling as an alternative source of support for female victims of sexual violence.

The ERCC has been ordered to apologise publicly to Adams for alleging that she was transphobic and acknowledge that there was no evidence to support the allegation and that its disciplinary action against her was wrong.

The centre is also required to acknowledge Adams “was motivated by a wish to act in the best interests of service users when she questioned how to respond to the service user” and that nothing the counsellor did constituted bullying or harassment.

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UK government’s tax plans will destroy family farming; farmers to gather in London to protest

A rally is being held in London to protest against the UK government’s agricultural policies.  Organised by the National Farmers’ Union (“NFU”), which represents more than 46,000 farming and growing businesses, the rally is taking place on 19 November.

In a vlog published on Friday, NFU President Tom Bradshaw outlined the plans and urged NFU members to send in their videos to demonstrate the impact that the Budget announcement will have on their business.

Bradshaw began, “Members, farmers, I know that today many of you are feeling angry and betrayed. And we absolutely share that frustration. We understand what the impact of the removal of APR [agricultural property relief], or this family farm tax, which has been implemented could have on you, your farm and your family. We want you, our members, to be involved in the next steps.”

Farmers have also been posting videos on social media, see HERE and HERE.

Agricultural Property Relief (“APR”) is a relief from inheritance tax on the transfer of agricultural property.  In her budget,  Rachel Reeves announced significant changes to the UK Inheritance Tax regime. Business Property Relief (“BPR”) and APR claims will be capped at £1m per taxpayer with inheritance tax of 20% applying on the full value of farms and rural estates above £1m.  The tax is effective from April 2026.

The cuts to APR potentially jeopardise thousands of family farms by increasing the Inheritance Tax burden. APR provides critical relief on the transfer of agricultural property, allowing farming families to pass their established food-producing business down to future generations.

This change could force family farms to sell off land to pay inheritance tax, potentially breaking up family businesses and destabilising food security. Why should non-farmers care? “Preventing farms from being sold or broken up is a public interest issue, too. Food security in the UK is declining in several sectors, making the country more dependent on imports,” The Guardian reported.

The Country Land and Business Association will be making urgent representations to the Treasury on how this will affect 70,000 farms.

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‘Kill Musk’s Twitter’: British Intel Again Targets Donald Trump

On October 22nd, independent journalists Paul D. Thacker and Matt Taibbi published a bombshell investigation, exposing how the intelligence-adjacent Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) hatched a covert plot at the start of 2024 to “kill [Elon] Musk’s Twitter.” This highly politicised attack on ‘X’ is just one component of a wider British invasion of the US political sphere, designed to sabotage Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, guarantee the election of Kamala Harris, and keep Washington embroiled in the Ukraine proxy war quagmire.

CCDH was founded by Morgan McSweeney, a British political svengali widely credited with masterminding Keir Starmer’s landslide July general election win, now closely advising Harris’ presidential campaign. The organisation, which targets both left and right dissident voices for censorship and deplatforming, was spun out of Labour Together, a “think tank” McSweeney led 2017 – 2020. In this position, he drew up Machiavellian plans for Starmer’s seizure of power, and neutralising then-Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and his party support base, much of which subsequently came to fruition.

CCDH was a key element of McSweeney’s anti-Corbyn crusade. Officially founded in early 2019, its first act was to launch Stop Funding Fake News (SFFN). Initially operating without any clarity on who or what was funding and running the endeavour, it promoted boycotts of independent English-language news outlets. Resultantly, major businesses were pressured into withdrawing their adverts from target websites, to starve them of revenue. The approach was devastatingly effective, shutting down several websites and forcing others, like The Canary, to downsize.

Fast forward to today, and McSweeney is leading a pack of veteran British political strategists Stateside who, in the words of Politico, are teaching Harris and her campaign “how to win.” Multiple mainstream reports indicate this unprecedented support is concerned with maintaining the “Grand Atlantic Alliance” between London and Washington, and ensuring Starmer isn’t left “alone” in backing Kiev. Given the Machiavellian histories of McSweeney and CCDH, it is beyond doubt these efforts are but the visible tip of something far larger, and more destructive.

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