Down with this sort of thing...

Occasionally I block people on social media.  Sometimes it's because they are boring.  Sometimes it's because they are offensive.  And somethies it's because I can see smoke coming out of their profile.  

For some time I have blocked from my view Graham Linehan - A fact which I am sure makes absolutely no diference to him.  Graham seems to spend all his time these days in arguments with the trans community.  I unlocked him the other day to find his account padlocked.  But now it is unpadlocked.  I wonder what that was all about…

Anyway these arguments range from should trans women be allowed to play football with other women (cis women?) to should trans people be able to poo in women's toilets... to...

The most thorny question of all - at what point should sex change therapy for trans children begin.

This last question seems to be the biggest of the hot button topics about which Graham has vociferous arguments.

He seems to claim that giving trans children drugs to postpone puberty is some kind of child abuse.
This resulted in a memorable appearance on Newsnight in which Graham compared the Tavistock Hospital treating children with gender dysmorophia as being on the same level as the Nazis experimenting on children.

Mind you I don't think Josef Mengele specifically set out to experiment on children as much as twins purely because that would give him a control subject but let's not go there...

In the interview Graham makes a point about the staff turnover at the Tavistock and engages in a lot of disjointed thinking and the interviewer berates him for using the Nazi analogy to the point that neither of them really have any meaningful discussion.  That’s exactly the sort of thing the Nazis would have done…

As far as I can tell Graham's point is it makes no sense giving children the "choice" to become transgender at such a young age because you wouldn't let them make choices about having sex at this stage so how can they decide their sexuality if they don't really understand sex yet...?

Meanwhile his detractors argue that delaying puberty in children with gender dysmorphia reduces the chances of suicide in later life.

However, both agree that the process of delaying puberty can be reversed at any later time by the patient simply stopping taking the puberty delaying drug.

So really what's the problem with either…
…the children not taking the drug till they're 16
…or the taking the drug before they're 16 as either way this stage is reversible.

Assuming the side effects are minimal.  Or are they?  It doesn’t seem a biggie either way to me.

I’m not a biologist so… but …well… that said I had to laugh at the parent in one interview who said their child was much happier on puberty blockers.  Mate, most teenagers would be happy if they weren’t going through puberty.  It’s not a nice time for anyone.  Indeed I think a lot of us would be happier if we could just turn off our sexuality from time to time.  That’d be overpopulation and infidelity rubbed out by … The thing is if they’re neither taking hormones to change sex or experiencing their own hormones then these children on puberty blockers are neither experiencing being male or female but actually living in a form of temporary chemical castration? 

Don’t quote me I’m not a chemist…

It seems a bit silly to give children puberty blockers before 16 in my view as from what I've read even if they go through puberty into the sex they don't want this too can be reversed.

Of course either way they might have miserable childhoods but childhood is supposed to be miserable in my experience.  So it seems like just a choice of different miseries.  I may be wrong…

Anyway, I do not know the answer to these questions as not being a feminist, not being a woman and not being trans I don't feel as though I don't have a something-that-is-inoffensive in this fight.  And I don’t know why this takes up so much of Graham’s time but I thought I’d join in for fun…

I have however never seen the point of segregated toilets - let's leave the urinal in the past. 

As to the issues re football.  Let's keep it simple and ban football altogether. 

Like it is at the moment... no sport on my TV …bliss.

Thames Water explain why they're not responsible for compensating us for the poo in the garden...

I write further to my email of 13 March 2020.

I'd like to make you aware of ongoing works on our sewer system .... 

Further to my investigations, I've found the works to rectify the sewer collapse detailed in my email to you of 5 February 2020, are yet to be completed. This is because of delays in obtaining council approval to carry out further surveys of our sewer drains. Therefore, I'm unable to state categorically this defect caused the flooding to your property, contrary to what you may have been advised on the day of your plumbers attendance.

However, I've also found there are works in another road, where a blockage caused by rag, concrete and a collapse were found. Works are still ongoing to resolve all issues in the area. Due to the complex nature of the work, and time involved, I'm unable to tell you at this time if both events are related or which one definitely caused the flooding. 

The basis of your claim is for the re-imbursement of expenses for investigating and clearing the flooding while it was something we could've done at no expense to you. The cause of your claim, therefore, doesn't originate in the technicalities surrounding these waste events which may have directly caused damage to your property, resulting in your loss. Rather, your claim is for financial loss resulting in expenses incured while you carried out investigations privately. 

Our stance is based upon the fact we were not notified of the external flooding infront of your property, prior to your investigations. We were unable to conduct any investigations to establish if this was a private matter or not, or to determine the source of the flooding. These facts will remain unchanged regardless of the outcome of our ongoing investigations. 

Sadly, our decision to deny your claim again, remains unchanged. I trust this explains my position. In the absence of any new information, your case remains closed.

Apparently we didn't leave the human poo in the garden long enough before removing it.  Or waiting for them to muster up the enthusiasm to...

They couldn't even be bothered to offer us the tiny sum offered under the 

guaranteed standards scheme (GSS)

Payment equal to 50% of annual sewerage charges (Minimum payment of £75. Maximum of £500) ...Well, there are 12 flats affected ...does that entitle us to £6000 ?

Khan imprisons us in South London...

I feel like I've given up on this blog like I've given up on everything.  Today Mr Khan increased the congestion charge to £15 and extended it to 10pm just to revenge himself on night workers.  With nobody on the roads there's never been a better time to close them so now ...

Yes, Khan has also closed London Bridge and Waterloo Bridge and Old Street while the City of London has decided to close any street it can find at all.  Basically any roads into Central London from the south will be closed to keep us out.  It's a long time coming but so it goes... freedom.. No more just driving into town.  It isn't just the neccessity of going places but the loss of freedom that is sad.  I will miss parking in Lincoln Inns Fields and walking to the Round Table.  I will miss driving over to Sam Rhodes Comedy Explosion or up to the Kings Head.  I will miss the exitement of driving over Westminster Bridge and feeling that Westminster and Whitehall is not just a tourist location or a government location but part of my every day.  I'll miss the Strand underpass at the end of Waterloo Bridge that goes under the theatres and used to be part of the Kingsway tramway subway.  I still miss driving down Oxford Street.  But the future is the car free city.  What will happen to gigging then.  Guess we'll all go out of town ... when we're allowed out again.  This leaves me in the worst physical location for gigging in the country.  I have to circumnavigate the whole of central London to go to north London ... but I guess when the pandemic is over we'll all be so poor we'll be moving back into mud huts...

Of course we could vote out Mr Khan but due to Covid-19 unfortunately last March's elections have been delayed till 2021.  Leaving him in the strange position of being in power but not having a mandate...

I think it might still be possible to cross the river at Westminster, Blackfriars and Tower Bridge but London Bridge and the City of London will be sealed off.  Waterloo Bridge and the Strand underpass will be closed... And I'm not sure if you'll be able to go South to North and there will be few east west routes.... 

For some time I have been mildly curious and concerned about Boris’s furniture...

For some time I have been mildly curious and concerned about Boris’s furniture...

Call me old fashioned but in a national emergency I don’t really want to be addressed by somebody sat at a drop leaf table… or is it a sideboard…?  Whatever… it looks completely out of proportion to him and the rest of the room.

He looks like a child doing his homework at the sideboard because someone else is using the dinner table.  Also it’s very shiny so I’m constantly distracted by the reflections of his hands.  I also find my eyes drawn to the edges of the drop leaf. 

I’m sorry but this isn’t good enough… I don't our glorious leader to have a desk the size of that of Adenoid Hynkel in the GreatDictator ...but we could at least go for something like the Resolute Desk in the Oval office....

...  I’m not expecting the French President’s desk from the Salon room of the Élysée Palace...

...but this sideboard - and it may well be old and made from a nice polished oak - does look at though it has escaped from a clearance centre somewhere.  As a Nation … do we really want all our most important decisions made at a drop leaf sideboard? 

The Prime Minister’s desk should reflect the importance of the decisions made at it ...but all this drop leaf desk says as a statement of interior decor is … impotence.  It's as though he was playing bridge and thought ...oh dear the BBC are here best put the cards away...

Couldn’t they have used the cabinet table?  Or this…

 

…say what you like about wisdom Harold Wilson’s decision to devalue the pound but it was made at a really solid looking desk. 

A desk that says I’ve sat here and thought about it a lot… not … I’m doing my homework at a sideboard.  It's as though we and him have been shoved in the corner... for why is he not addressing the nation from the middle of the room ...not a doorway?

This also raises the question … why is Boris addressing us from a state room of some kind that he clearly doesn’t actually work in?  Perhaps he doesn’t want us to see his real desk because he doesn’t want us to know what he’s thinking?

There are no details.  For example … the Queen…

…usually sits side on to a table when addressing the nation in a kind of “I’ve paid a lot of money for this dress so I’m putting all the money on the screen” way.   And there are personal effects.  Family photos. 

Obviously this is more difficult for Boris because he had more than one family … but come on … they must be able to do better than this…?  The thing is... despite all the supposed intimacy of his bodylanguage ...his home furnishings don't really let us into his inner world at all...? but I should stop there before this turns into the incident where I gave promotional advice to Gerard Batten and accidentally caused a referendum…

...why am I giving Boris interior design tips?

 

Petrol Less than £1

Given that the covid alert level..

... Is meant to be an integer between 1 and 5 why, according to Boris, it is calculated by a function which is bounded by 0 and infinity?

Of course what he really needs is a sigmoid or logistic function...?

Do the virus lockdown

At first you must stay in
You can’t go out
In, out, in, out
Covid all about

You do the virus lockdown
To flattern the curve
That's what it's all about

 

Woah, do the virus lockdown
Woah, do the virus lockdown
Woah, do the virus lockdown

Doors shut
Once a day
Blah Blah blah

 

Then Boris says stay in
But now you can go out
In, out, in, out
Covid all about

You do the virus lockdown
And you can go to work
but really you should not go out

 

Woah, do the virus lockdown
Woah, do the virus lockdown
Woah, do the virus lockdown

Mass tests
not yet
fully rolled out

 

Yes you can go to work
by cycling, foot or walk
In, out, in, out
You can drive about

You do the virus lockdown
But not if you’re in
manufacturing – then you should go out

 

Woah, do the virus lockdown
Woah, do the virus lockdown
Woah, do the virus lockdown

Infection
still high
Money run out

 

Not a 34 year old Continuity error...

You know you've been locked down too long when you start noticing the continuity errors in Colin Baker Dr Who stories.  Here is a whopper from Trial of the Timelord episode 13....

The Master summons Glitz and Mel to attend the trial and they arrive in coffin shaped boxes. 

.... These arrive in the same room as the Tardis was in... They walk up the stairs to the trial room and after there has been a lot of banter they run down the same stairs to the matrix door... 

.... As they enter the room the coffin boxes are clearly visible at the bottom of the stairs... 

... But by the time Glitz and the Doctor has reached the bottom of the stairs the boxes have disappeared and the Tardis is back 

It happens very fast but once you've seen it you have to wonder why it took you 34 years to notice... 

Actually it's not a continuity error.  There are two rooms - the room the Tardis is in and the room that the Coffins are in and a doorway between them that is the same shape as the door to the Trial room but as these are the same shape it creates the illusion of a false perspective in this shot.  I think there are some establishing shots that have been cut for time that would have made this all clearer ...oh well, at least I'm not completely losing it...

Sunday can't come too soon...