It really is heartening. Even in theatre world I’ve seen a change. At my community theatre group last week we had a ‘supply’ tutor instead of the usual one who demands we introduce ourselves with names + pronouns (which I alone decline). Almost nobody bothered with pronouns - it just goes to show!

There was a mad period in British publishing a few years ago where several - usually female - authors were cancelled by strident witch hunts (also usually whipped up by women, sadly). Kate Clanchy, a wonderful poetry teacher who inspires and mentors refugee kids, was one of the authors affected.

The thing is, they aren’t. Your philosophical belief in innate gender is a minority belief, and an unscientific one.

Nobody is being banned. All competitors will compete in the correct class for their sex. That is how fair sport works.

Monisha Rajesh, one of the three main people who attacked Kate Clanchy, has blocked me! With the 6-part podcast starting soon, she’s maybe going to understand just a little of what she put Kate through.

Brilliant!

I always enjoyed this wonderful drive-by on Alfred Lord Tennyson from Philip Larkin.

polyarchive.com/the-literary...

Actually it’s significantly less than 1%. Around 390 men get breast cancer in the UK each year, whereas around 56,400 women do. Enough women to fill a major football stadium like Etihad or Emirates, while you could fit the men into a school hall. www.cancerresearchuk.org/about-cancer...

Kate Clanchy: I was cancelled. It made me contemplate suicide

www.thetimes.com/article/7681...

Kate Clanchy who has just received an apology from her publisher?

Absolutely. “…the conscious act of pretending not to know what one knows, a form of spiritual cowardice disguised as moral surety” - perfectly describes both the Emperor’s New Clothes aspect AND the vocal outrage of clothes-viewers about we who say with simple clarity that there are no clothes.