I love my surgery & been a patient since I was 4 yrs old,so that’s 56 years this year.
But today when they called to book our severely learning disabled daughter’s annual health review,I had to gently but firmly say “My name isn’t Emily’s mum, it’s Nicky”
#CallMeByMyName
Pride seems to be incendiary now. So many angry voices decrying its intention & questioning any allyship.
I grew up in the 80’s & remember the fear (& the loathing) Sadly it seems there are many loud & cruel voices again
We mustn’t get dragged backwards.
Happy Pride 🌈
Henry Nowak’s family wanted the public conversation to be about knife crime and how to tackle it.
Instead it the public discourse is about the hurt feelings of Nigel Farage & Kemi Badenoch.
Stop focusing on the wrong people.
I loved the first two episodes of #tiptoe.
The storytelling about the multifaceted culture wars, the rage they engender & the division between natural allies, has never felt more important to highlight than now.
I highly recommend this series. 💜
Memory Lane...
There's a welcome tribute to the prolific comedy writer Carla Lane tonight at 8pm on BBC Four. Photos of her with The Liver Birds stars Nerys Hughes and Elizabeth Estensen taken by Allan Ballard for @RadioTimes in 1975.
BREAKING
Donald Trump wanted a personalised red dispatch box as a gift from Keir Starmer
Sir Olly Robbins, the then permanent sec at the Foreign Office, said it would 'mean the most' to Trump
The suggestion was that it should have a gold crest and lettering 'mimicking' a government ministerial box but with 'President of the United States' inscribed
Robbins had concerns
What became of the box is unclear
It was 'commercially costed, designed and the manufacturer gave a lead time of 8-10 weeks
The discussion around the box - and discussions with the manufacturer - appears to have engulfed the most senior levels of government. There are dozens of emails about it involving Robbins, McSweeney, other senior figures in No 10...
A woman who witnessed Rosamund Pike's speech "berating" an audience member for texting during the Inter Alia West End show told us there were gasps and cheers
https://t.co/Fv7mFXAfwT
This phrase probably above all others in this debate, has caused the most reactions & vitriol. Policing speech (on both sides) and the dire consequences of “wrong-speak” (on both sides) has led so many allies and feminists just to avoid the subject entirely.
James Murray, the new health secretary who previously said 'I believe trans women are women', recants that view
'I have changed what I would say. I wouldn't say that phrase anymore. Over the last few years a lot of us have thought about this question in some detail
'The Supreme Court has obviously ruled very clearly that biological sex is what matters is what matters when it comes to the equality act and determining the importance of single sex spaces
'I believe that single sex spaces should be protected on the basis of sex, on the basis of biological sex, whilst at the same time believing in dignity for trans people. Single sex spaces within the NHS need to protected on the basis of sex'
1 1/2 million on the streets of Islington today. Celebrating Arsenal yes, but celebrating ourselves too.
Notting Hill Carnival with less cannabis & more red & white.
North London in all it's inclusive brilliance
Never been so proud to be your MP ❤️
Total answer to Tommy Robinson
On a personal level of course I feel for Nicola Sturgeon but this interview of hers with @bbclaurak is excruciating. The motor home alone sounds bizarre. #bbcLaurak
@heatherthefair@bbclaurak You’ll have to forgive me but I don’t feel the onus is on me to explain why I feel empathy for another human being in distress.
No axe to grind and clarity of point. We didn’t vote to be worse off financially, educationally, scientifically, holidayingly ( I know there is no such word😂) and health wise.