MJBee

[Charlie Walsham @CharlieWalsham_]

There are times when I ask myself whether I’m being a bit too hard on my employer when I accuse it of grotesque breaches of impartiality.

And then I hear interviews like this.

It’s absolutely staggering that Karen Dalziel, the senior BBC editor responsible for Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour, can talk about the very definition of a woman as though it’s some endlessly shifting, contested concept.

During an interview with Ros Atkins (who actually does his job properly), marking 80 years of Woman’s Hour, Dalziel is asked about the Supreme Court ruling which established that the words woman and sex in the Equality Act refer to biological sex.

Her response is revealing. She talks about the story moving, about how a legal judgment that settles something at one point is, for many people, merely a beginning. She even invokes the history of women getting the vote, as though the biological definition of a woman is another chapter in some great unfolding struggle for equality.

Think about the offensive absurdity of this.

For most of the 80 years that Woman’s Hour has been broadcasting, the meaning of the word woman was perfectly well understood. Yet here we are, celebrating that anniversary, with the programme’s own editor apparently treating that biological reality as something endlessly open to reinterpretation, rather than a fact that should underpin the programme’s coverage.

Giving equal weight to the proposition that any man who declares himself a woman thereby becomes one is not a neutral, impartial position. It’s an ideological one.

Dalziel isn’t finished though, and keeps digging. She suggests Woman’s Hour listeners are too old to “understand the terminology”. Presumably, these daft old bats are holding onto the quaint, hopelessly unfashionable idea that a woman isn’t a costume or a feeling but a biological reality. If only their befuddled brains could catch up with the enlightened metropolitan consensus!

It absolutely enrages me listening to this.

Because this is how the BBC has been hollowed out from within. By people in influential editorial positions so ideologically captured or cowardly that they can no longer distinguish between impartial journalism and progressive orthodoxies.

The BBC cannot restore its reputation for impartiality while people who mistake ideological conformity for editorial balance occupy senior positions.

Until they’re removed, every last one of them, all the BBC’s grand declarations about impartiality aren’t worth the paper they’re written on.

[Scott @Havenlust]

David Hockney

[#WOMENSART @womensart1]

Iconic anti-war poster, originally by Lorraine Schneider, 1966 #WomensArt #PosterAndBannerWeek

[The Golden Age @thegoldenaged]

Rainy Ghibli days ☔️

[Darren Johnson @DarrenJohnson66]

Both this writer and Olivia Colman seem to confuse gay culture (liking Madonna, Eurovision, drag acts etc.) with being gay (liking sex with other men, penises, male bodies etc.) You don't need to be in the slightest bit interested in gay culture to be gay. https://t.co/Z9uiKiZfLg

[Progressive Misogyny @JustMisogyny]

We now go live to @BBCWomansHour to ask a man how he feels about it, and a woman if she's thought about how the man feels about it.

[David Betz @DavidBe31099196]

PSA: If you live in the UK you can get a library card with which you can get a PressReader account that gives you free access to all national and many international newspapers, magazines, and so on. Many people have totally given up on the mainstream news, understandably, but it’s good to check in once in a while and there’s no need to pay because you already did through taxes. In short, join your library and use it because libraries are awesome.

[Patrick Dexter @patrickdextervc]

Auld Lang Syne on the cello with my dog. Happy New Year from Ireland!

[Restoring Your Faith in Humanity @HumanityChad]

Let’s make her famous, she deserves that 🥹❤️

[Abigail Shrier @AbigailShrier]

Mark,

With all respect, stay away from our kids. We can’t take much more of your ‘help.’

[Nicky Clark @MrsNickyClark]

Can I plead with the women blithely stating how they’ve never had a problem with a male clinician to stop.
Safeguarding isn’t there for the majority who don’t abuse or for the majority of women capable of making informed choices, safeguarding exists for voiceless women & girls.

[Tonia Antoniazzi @ToniaAntoniazzi]

Prostitution is not a job. It is the oldest form of sexual exploitation and a devastating manifestation of gender inequality. We must do more to protect women and challenge the systems that enable this exploitation. #ViolenceAgainstWomen #FemicideCensus #IWD2025

[Impressions @impression_ists]

Sunrise by Turner

[Serena @Serena_Partrick]

Boycott Afghanistan.

[Mark Williamson @markrwilliamson]

Cambridge snowflakes by Sir Isaac Newton.

Merry Christmas everyone.

[2 Tone Dublin @TwoToneDublin]

Our favourite from @TheEnglishBeat for #TwoToneTuesday
Save It For Later 🖤🏁

#2ToneDublin

[MJBee @MJBee3]

Oh too sad. Ground breaking journalism.

[Simon Baron-Cohen @sbaroncohen]

Devastated to hear Steve Silberman has passed away. He was a brilliant writer, and had a huge heart. His book Neurotribes was an incredible contribution to the field of neurodiversity and a legacy for autistic people. My deepest condolences to his husband. I will miss him

[Helen Nettleship @Nettleshippy]

I’d start by not calling trafficked and raped children “sex workers” ⁦@guardiannews⁩

‘I miss home’: 13-year-old Nigerian girls trapped as sex workers in Ivory Coast | Nigeria | The Guardian https://t.co/08bdPD0Q8e