Mike Lloyd

Phlegmatic pragmatist. Militant centrist. Low quality tuba player.

[Janet Murray @jan_murray]

I didn’t really get the problem with gender ideology at first.

I’m liberal-minded about most things. ‘Live and let live’ has generally been my motto. I believed in inclusion, kindness and not causing unnecessary offence.

I knew some adults chose medical treatments or surgery to resemble the opposite sex. That seemed to me a matter of personal autonomy. Adults can do what they wish with their own bodies.

What I hadn’t realised — and I feel slightly embarrassed admitting this — was that I’d misunderstood what was being claimed.

I thought “transgender” meant a form of self-expression. A man who liked wearing women’s clothes. Someone changing their name. Gender non-conformity.

What I hadn’t grasped was that some activists weren’t just asking for tolerance. They were asserting that declaring yourself the opposite sex made you the opposite sex. Not metaphorically. Literally.

And that this wasn’t just cultural. It had legal consequences.

It meant men who said they were women were demanding access to women’s sports, prisons, domestic violence shelters and hospital wards.

It meant the rewriting of healthcare language — “pregnant people”, “bodies with cervixes” — to avoid saying “women”.
It meant children struggling with identity being affirmed onto medical pathways with lifelong implications.

And also redefining same-sex attraction. Lesbians called ‘bigoted’ for not wanting relationships with men who identify as women. Gay men accused of prejudice for saying they’re not attracted to female bodies.

I’d also overlooked how deeply this had spread into public institutions, schools and workplaces.

And how easily disagreement was framed as cruelty. Speaking up felt risky — because others were being publicly humiliated for doing so.

None of this is abstract.

Because sex is the basis on which safeguarding works. On which data is collected. On which cancer screening programmes run. On which fair sport and single-sex spaces depend. It’s written into law — including the Equality Act — because material differences matter.

If sex becomes a ‘feeling’ rather than a biological category, those protections become unstable.

And once reality becomes negotiable, everything does.

Once I saw it, I couldn’t unsee it.

But I needed to be sure.

So I read. Books, research papers, policy documents. When I finally spoke publicly, there was backlash from all directions.

Many women thanked me, while some feminists criticised me for speaking too late.

Others were angry about a past interview I’d done with the parent of a transgender person, accusing me of promoting harm.

It takes courage to speak when you know your reputation, friendships or livelihood may be on the line — when you know raising your voice could strain, or even end, relationships you value.

Once I understood what was at stake, staying silent was no longer an option.

I lost my livelihood simply for saying I didn’t like the phrase “pregnant people”. That alone tells you something is deeply wrong.

It shouldn’t be this way.

I don’t expect praise for admitting it took me far too long to understand what was happening. Or to say so publicly.

I can only be honest about what I believed then and what I understand now.

But it does take courage to admit publicly that you got something wrong. All I hope is that by acknowledging I wasn’t paying enough attention, another woman (or man) might feel emboldened to do the same.

Because, as many of us know first-hand, there can be professional, social and financial consequences to speaking out.

And I won’t pretend I understood something before I did, simply to make myself more acceptable to those who got there sooner.

Which is why I will never judge another woman for how long it takes her to find her voice.

Because every voice matters. Whenever it is raised.

[Mike Lloyd @SaneMike]

@dieworkwear When I was at school in the late seventies until mid eighties we wore uniform blazers that we could only take off with permission from the teachers. And permission was only given if it was particularly hot.

[Mike Lloyd @SaneMike]

@ATRightMovies

[Mike Lloyd @SaneMike]

Bogus window cleaner

[🇬🇧📺 Classic British TV 📺🇬🇧 @Classicbritcom]

Remembering the late Great Actor Dudley Sutton who passed away 8 years ago today 😇🙏

[Trades Union Congress @The_TUC]

These two workers from Luton want Suella Braverman to know they're both English.

#BBCQT

[Mike Lloyd @SaneMike]

@ATRightMovies

[Mike Lloyd @SaneMike]

@ATRightMovies Not a film, but never saw too much of this guy.

[Mike Lloyd @SaneMike]

@BrilliantMaps @FerusdeGeo I suspect a trick question and it’s where B3,B4,C3 & C4 converge.

[Mike Lloyd @SaneMike]

@balconyshirts She’s going to spend the rest of her life watching the Sixth Sense over and over again!

[Mike Lloyd @SaneMike]

@prodnose The Men They Couldn’t Hang
Aretha Franklin
Bruce Springsteen
Simple Minds
Edward Tudor-Pole
Queen
U2
AC/DC
Steve Earle
Maximo Park

[Mike Lloyd @SaneMike]

@Only9built 2, 5, 8, 10 & 15

[Richard Dawkins @RichardDawkins]

In a free country, you are entitled to believe you are a woman with a penis. But not to take it into a female changing room, nor to cheat your way into a female athletic competition, nor in any way to impose your private delusion on the rest of us.
https://t.co/eZdizfnsMs

[Mike Lloyd @SaneMike]

@BrilliantMaps Basques and Catalonia both cross the border into France as well.

[Mike Lloyd @SaneMike]

@bolderston_mark Lovely car. Shame about the shit brown colour.

[Mike Lloyd @SaneMike]

@IrkthePurists Let us know. I haven’t had one for years. Used to eat them as a student with a tin of beans and some bread and butter.

[Mike Lloyd @SaneMike]

@fesshole Fair play. If he won’t commit, why should you?

[Political Satirical @PS_is_Back]

Just seen some woman walking down the road wearing her #Reform UK Political Uniform.

I didn't like what she said.

So I hit her over the head with my walking stick.

I said "Boohoo" to her as she started crying.

So I kicked her while she was down and told her "Oh come on!" when she threatened to call the police.

@RobertJenrick am I doing this right?

[the caped joo sader @capedjoosader]

Regarding yesterday’s protest in Dover.

My view as an ex copper is that the law should be simple. No one can wear a face covering at any form of protest. If you are law abiding then you have nothing to hide.

To those on the left condemning it.
You are happy for masked crowds to walk the streets calling for Jews to be killed. During the BLM marches ( that turned violent) labour mps including dawn butler used this site to instruct people on how to avoid being identifiable.
You can not condone and condemn the same behaviour,

Same goes for the right, if it’s wrong for the left to hide their identity then it’s equally wrong for those you agree with to do the same.

But to the political class condemning yesterday. This is your fault, no one else’s but yours. You have overseen a very clear 2 tier approach over the last 2 years.

So either completely ban all face coverings at any protest or wind your necks in.

And before anyone points out there is legislation to allow police to order the removal, this is the problem. It’s not invoked equally and every one knows it.

[Mike Lloyd @SaneMike]

@NafeezAhmed @MarinaPurkiss Right wing intellectual is still an oxymoron

[Wittgenstein's Slab @frolix22]

Five members of Just Stop Oil are currently serving 4+ years in prison for discussing, in a Zoom call, blocking roads.